Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (https://jjie.org/tag/parenting/page/4/)
No one is 100 percent sure what Christmas in the Dykes’ house will be like this year. But Zach Dykes, 17, a senior at metro Atlanta’s Hillgrove High School, is pretty sure it’ll be better than last year’s. It almost has to be. Zach was in the Cobb County Youth Detention Center on drug charges until Christmas Eve last year. His older brother, Robbie, 23, was in prison, serving an 18-month prison sentence on a drug conviction.
For more than two decades, Georgia State University professors Phillip Davis has studied corporal punishment as a form of discipline in the home. Today, you can find him in his office atop a downtown Atlanta high-rise, nestled in a mountain of books, research papers and students' work that seems nearly as tall as the building. Through his largely survey- and interview- based research, Davis has taken a variety of approaches to assessing the dynamic of spanking, slapping, whipping and other forms of corporal punishment within American households. “Nine out of 10 people have done it, and nine out of 10 adults got it when they were kids in one way or another,” Davis said. “ Most who use it grew up with it, so it’s all very normal -- as in ancient history.”
And, in fact, corporal punishment is a practice that dates back to ancient history in varying forms, but the ancient practice has been coming under some very modern scrutiny.
In the continuing debate over the dangers of violent videogames, new research shows the brain function of gamers is actually altered in as little as one week of play. Researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine found a direct relationship between playing videogames and subsequent changes to portions of the brain associated with cognitive function and emotional control, according to Science Daily. The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. Researchers randomly assigned 28 young men aged 18 to 29 into two groups of 14. The young men had little previous exposure to violent video games.
"I was at this party when I was 17," he said. "We were all telling stories and one of my friends said something about tampons soaked in vodka."
Alden, who declined to give his last name, said he immediately got a tampon from a girl at the party, soaked it in Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum and inserted it into his anus.
"It burned a little," said Alden, "but other than that, it didn't cause any pain."
A recent YouTube video of a Texas judge beating his then 16-year-old daughter with a leather belt has reignited the debate over the effectiveness and morality of corporal punishment in the home. Judge William Adams, 51, contended he did nothing wrong and was simply punishing his daughter for stealing after the teen was caught downloading illegally distributed music from the internet. Local police in Aransas, Texas have launched an investigation into the judges actions, but under state law -- provided the actions were administered in the interest of “reasonable punishment” – prosecutors may not have a statute to stand on. Corporal punishment in the home had long been permissible under Texas law, and in 2005 state legislators took steps to strengthen those rights. House Bill 383 effectively set the standard for parental discipline as “reasonable punishment” and placed the burden of proof for abuse cases in the hands of the prosecutors.
Children, even toddlers and infants, are at risk of identity theft. In fact, kids under the age of 18 are 51 times more likely to become victims of identity theft than their parents, according to a recent report by Carnegie Mellon CyLab. Out of a representative sample of more than 40,000 juveniles, 10.2 percent, or 4,311 kids, fell prey to some sort of identity theft or fraud, compared to just 0.2 percent of adults in 2009 and 2010. According to CyLab, the main reason minors' identities are so valuable -- specifically their Social Security numbers -- is that there’s no process in place to double check what name and birth date are officially attached to each number. Thus, “as long as the identity thief has a Social Security number with a clean history, the thief can attach any name and date of birth to it.”
Minors also make a tempting target because the theft may go undetected for years, according to the credit-reporting agency TransUnion.
Parents, picture this: your kid is opening a mostly green bag of candy. Nothing unusual, especially for this time of year, so you probably think nothing of it. Then, they take out a lollipop, and you take a second look: It’s shaped like a marijuana leaf. How would you react? City leaders, anti-drug activists and parents across the country aren’t sweet on this new candy.
Oct. 23 is the beginning of Red Ribbon Week, a national campaign to -- in the words of the organizers -- "unite and take a visible stand against drug abuse." One of the substances the campaign will have no trouble getting people to stand against is methamphetamine, a drug that has ravaged the nation for years. One look at the powerful images of the effects the substance can have on a user can push one toward action. While not in the headlines as frequently as in the past, statistics clearly show it is still a serious problem in the United States.
Millions of young kids are already on Facebook, even though the site can’t legally allow anyone under 13 to create a profile. And if the previous statement were a status update, Facebook would “like” it. The popular social networking wants all youngsters to be allowed; this way they can begin sharing early. Consider this: When anyone shares on the site, Facebook benefits by allowing marketers to use the data and it makes money. Giving all kids the right to sign up would insure the site’s continued dominance.
Medical experts have been warning of a potentially lethal new designer drug exploding in popularity across the United States over the past year. The stimulant is sold as “bath salts” and in many states it was perfectly legal, despite the dangers, until the Drug Enforcement Agency placed an emergency ban on the salts earlier this month. JJIE has reported on the danger of drugs and others like it many times over the past few months. Now, this infographic produced by the Pat Moore Foundation offers a look at not only the dangers and uses of the drug, but also a time line of Mephedrone's, the active ingredient, brushes with the law. The above story is reprinted with permission from Reclaiming Futures, a national initiative working to improve alcohol and drug treatment outcomes for youth in the juvenile justice system.