Poll Shows People Believe That Kids Can Be Rehabilitated

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Georgia has some of the toughest juvenile crime laws in the nation that focus more on punishment than rehabilitation. A new report suggests that the public may have different attitudes.  Some highlights:

People believe rehabilitation and treatment can reduce crime AND are willing to pay extra taxes to provide those services;
They support rehabilitation even for young people who commit violent crimes;
They oppose young offenders being sent to adult criminal court without an individual determination made in each case;
They agree that non-white youth are more likely than white youth to be prosecuted as adults; and
believe strongly in a separate juvenile justice system. These findings are from the National Juvenile Justice Network’s recently updated “Polling on Public Attitudes About the Treatment of Young Offenders.” The information was collected between 2005 and 20007 and the document also looks back at public attitudes during the 1990’s. To read the full document, click here.

The Power of Partnerships

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Advocates for troubled teens can greatly benefit from partnering with families, according to the National Juvenile Justice Network.   NJJN’s An Advocates Guide to Meaningful Family Partnerships: Tips from the Field outlines ways to build advocate and family coalitions that push for practices that are fair and appropriate for kids. Louisiana’s Tallulah Correctional Center for Youth was infamous for “broken bones, black eyes, fractured jaws, and rapes” according to a report in Alter Net: Civil Liberties.  The facility was finally shut down once a major family group merged with a major advocacy group, the National Juvenile Justice Network points out. For more information about advocates partnering with families:

An Advocates Guide to Meaningful Family Partnerships: Tips from the Field

National Juvenile Justice Network

Moms Want Justice: Meaningful Family Partnerships in Juvenile Justice Reform

Alter Net: Civil Liberties

How Money Crunch Can Spur Reform

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A new report makes the case for juvenile justice reform despite financial constraints.  The study, called The Real Costs and Benefits of Change, comes from The National Juvenile Justice Network, and outlines pro-active measures that advocates can take to cut spending without cutting effective programs. Their core mission is to put fewer young people in jail or detention, without sacrificing safety.  It recommends using the budget crisis facing cities and states to promote shutting down facilities by showing how much money can be saved; and using that money to fund less expensive community-based alternative programs.

The authors lay out specific tactics and cite numerous examples in Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois, California, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, New Mexico.