Preventing Sex Abuse in Detention

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The Justice Department is proposing new standards for preventing and detecting sexual abuse in prisons and youth detention centers.   One proposal would require that medical staffers question children about abusive sexual behavior and consensual sex inside detention.  Advocacy groups, including Children’s Defense Fund and Equity Project are warning that doctors and nurses should not be forced to investigate or question children about sex offenses because it could interfere with doctor-patient relationships.   Youth Today reports on a letter from seven national advocacy groups to Attorney General Eric Holder.

New DJJ Chief Believes in Power of Law and Prayer

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Garland Hunt plans to rely on the Good Book as much as his law books for guidance in his goal of keeping thousands of juveniles who’ve run afoul of the law from graduating into Georgia’s criminal justice system for adults. Instead, Hunt, the new commissioner of theGeorgia Department of Juvenile Justice, is determined to see as many of them as possible graduate from the DJJ’s school system, with either high school diplomas or GED certificates.

Juvenile Drug Courts Training – Due June 15, 5pm Eastern

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The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), is seeking applications for funding under its Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 Juvenile Drug Courts Training and Technical Assistance Program. This program furthers DOJ’s mission by building the capacity of state and local jurisdictions to implement best practices for drug court programs.

State Failed to Investigate Complaints in Juvenile Court Kickback Scandal

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The country's troubled juvenile-justice system got a wakeup call in Pennsylvania. For more than four years, two senior juvenile-court judges took kickbacks of $2.6 million in exchange for packing thousands of kids off to privately owned detention centers. And this month a state board admitted it never investigated complaints made against the judges.

Troubled Kids Need More Options

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The need for Georgia law to provide more options for distressed kids is the focus of an editorial piece in this morning’s Savannah Morning News. The piece outlines a 12-year-old boy’s hearing in Chatham County.  Under Georgia law, Juvenile Court Judge Patricia Stone had two options for the boy who was charged with armed robbery with a shotgun: jail or probation. The boy has had several incidents at school for fighting and has also gotten into three fights at the detention center where he was being held before his hearing, according to the editorial.  It points out that kids like this should have another option that will provide counseling and supervision. Some experts believe the Children in Need of Services plan in the proposed new juvenile code  is the answer. More information:

Full Editorial

Children in Need of Services