connection: Side view of a young man comforting a sad young woman in a train station

Opinion: How Human Connections Can Save Our Youth

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There are thousands of years’ worth of documented history and stories of our connection with each other. There are millions of love stories and historical accounts of all kinds of relationships interpreted in books, movies and even sketched onto buildings and structures that speaks to our powerful bond. 

Could this be the answer to the age-old question — what is the purpose of life? Science tells us it is. We are programmed to connect, not to self-destruct. If this is so, then why is it that we are suffering through a suicide crisis? 

A crisis is when a non-common negative occurrence increases in trend and frequency.

Caren Harp, the nominee to be administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

OJJDP Nominee from Liberty University Wrote About Brain Science for Us

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In May 2017, here at the JJIE.org, Caren Harp, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the next administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in the Department of Justice, wrote in great detail her thoughts about juvenile justice.

In her opinion column she writes about “misplaced reliance on nascent neuroscience and neuroimaging evidence.” It “invites pushback from those who favor a retributive system, and it may create some unintended and unwanted consequences for youth and young adults.”

Caren Harp, the nominee to be administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Adolescent Brain Science: Proceed With Caution

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The renewed focus on adolescent development in juvenile justice is welcome and overdue. Adolescence is potentially the best opportunity to intervene effectively with youth to help them develop empathy, impulse control and good decision-making skills.