Upcoming Conferences To Highlight Juvenile Justice, Crimes Against Children

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Juvenile justice and child welfare issues will be the focus of two upcoming national conferences. The Washington, D.C.-based Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is sponsoring the “Conference for Children's Justice & Safety
 Unite, Build, Lead” October 10-14 in National Harbor, Md. The four-day forum will bring together juvenile justice practitioners and policymakers from across the nation to review current trends and promising practices in juvenile justice. The “Conference for Children's Justice & Safety 
Unite, Build, Lead” will feature workshops, plenaries and keynote sessions beginning October 12. Topics covered will include crimes against children, anti-gang strategies, children's exposure to violence, disproportionate minority contact, girls' delinquency, tribal youth programs, emergency planning for juvenile justice, faith-based and community involvement, mentoring, truancy and bullying and substance abuse.

Probation Domination

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Probation was the most serious verdict in one-third of teen crime in the U.S. In 2007, 1.7 million delinquency cases were handled by courts with juvenile jurisdiction. This has increased 34% over the past three decades. Nearly 60% of the cases were ordered by the court while the remainder agreed to some form of voluntary probation. This is according to a report by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Kids Who Abuse Drugs Are More Likely to Commit Serious Crimes

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Most young people who land in juvenile court have been using drugs, which may shed light on why some kids commit moreserious crimes and continue getting into trouble. Kids involved in criminal activity are much more likely than other juvenile offenders to abuse drugs and alcohol, according to a study commissioned by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The Pathways to Desistance study, called Substance Use and Delinquent Behavior Among Serious Adolescent Offenders, looked at more than 1,300 young offenders over 7 years. The study shows kids involved with drugs need income and they have trouble coping and making decisions. They get into trouble and fail to take responsibility for their actions.

Why Kids End Up In Jail And What They Have In Common

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About 20 percent of kids in jail are there because of a violent crime and about 69 percent of those kids say they knew their victims. In addition, 44 percent of incarcerated youth were under the influence of alcohol or drugs when committing an offense and about 55 percent committed their current offense with someone else. This information comes from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, which released its latest bulletin called Youth Characteristics and Backgrounds that focuses on the characteristics of young people in jail to better understand the reasons why they’ve offended. The Office looked extensively at jailed kids between 10 and 20 years old. Here are some other fascinating facts:

Although boys on average commit more serious offenses like murder, rape, kidnapping and robbery, girls have been arrested more than boys in the past decade. The majority of kids locked up (51 percent) are 16 or 17 years old.

Sixty Percent of Kids are Exposed to Violence

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More than 60 percent of children have been directly or indirectly exposed to violence within the past year, according to a national study by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Nearly one-half of kids surveyed were assaulted at least once in the past year and more than 1 in 10 were injured in an assault.

Conducted between January and May 2008, the National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence, measured exposure to violence for kids 17 and younger. They looked at conventional crime, sex crimes, school violence and threats, family violence and more. Attorney General Eric Holder recently unveiled the Defending Childhood Initiative, focused on this issue. So far, the Department of Justice has aware $5.5 million to eight cities (none of them in Georgia) to focus on:

Providing appropriate programs and service for families and children
Increasing access to quality programs and services
Developing new services where gaps exist.

Millions Go to Youth Programs Nationwide

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WASHINGTON - The Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs (OJP) today announced $60 million in discretionary awards to leading national organizations to strengthen, expand and implement youth mentoring activities and youth development programming throughout the nation. An additional $37 million in grants to local mentoring organizations will be awarded in Fiscal Year 2010. These grants are administered by OJP's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. "These awards are part of an ongoing commitment by the Department of Justice to give young people an opportunity to participate in activities that will enrich their lives," said Laurie O. Robinson, OJP's Assistant Attorney General. "Through these organizations, youth are provided programs that help keep them in school, out of trouble, and most importantly, put them in direct contact with caring adults who provide crucial support and guidance."

Federal Funding Hinders Juvenile Justice Reform

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The federal government expects the states to do more to prevent delinquency but is offering up less money to help with the problem. That’s a formula for tension, which became apparent this week as a 15-member federal committee heard state officials’ complaints about the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, according to Youth Today. The committee, which is charged with assessing juvenile justice reform, heard plenty at its second meeting about the OJJDP from Joe Vignati of the Georgia Governor’s Office for Children and Families, among others. Vignati and two others spoke about OJJDP compliance monitoring and funding issues. The three state officials agreed that OJJDP’s training and technical assistant is exemplary, but argued that the lack of funding is hindering efforts to support programs.

Twenty states now receive only a minimum allocation of $600,000 through the OJJDP. Funds for alternatives to imprisonment, such as emergency foster care and shelters, “have dried up,” said Nancy Gannon Hornberger of the Coalition for Juvenile Justice in Washington, D.C.

Among the concerns Vignati raised:

Data on juvenile justice and delinquency is inconsistent between the states.

Teen Gangs in 2008: Stats

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32.4 percent of towns, counties and rural areas around the nation reported problems with teen gangs in 2008. The number of gangs rose 28% over the past six years according to a recent report from the OJJDP.  Gang-related crime and violence, including aggravated assaults, drug sales and firearm use increased. In cities with more than 250,000 people, gang-related homicides rose by 10%.

Gang prevalence in South

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In May, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention released a report in its National Gang Center Bulletin entitled: History of Street Gangs in the United States. Here is an interesting fact about Georgia and the South:
The states with the largest number of gang counties in 1998 were Texas (82), Georgia (61), California (50), Illinois (42), and Florida (40), with the South replacing the Northeast as the region with the most top-ranking states. Hence, the Southern region appeared to catch up with other regions in the prevalence of gang activity just before the turn of the century. --Photo courtesy of Mike Burns' photostream

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.