Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (https://jjie.org/tag/priority/page/14/)
San Francisco's KQED public radio offers this piece about California Governor Jerry Brown's proposal to eliminate the state's juvenile justice system over the next three years, a move that could save the state more than $100 million.
Last week, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals refused a petition from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan that would have overturned an earlier ruling allowing families denied certain autism therapy coverage to push forward with a class action lawsuit. Last November, a judge’s ruling in Potter v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan gave clearance to parents to sue the organization for rejecting Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) as an insurable treatment, which Blue Cross deemed an “experimental” form of therapy. The rejection of Blue Cross Blue Shield’s petition gives the go-ahead for two families to press forward with a class action suit, on behalf of all families denied therapy coverage by the organization. The case is the second such class-action lawsuit brought against the organization in three years, following 2010’s Johns v. Blue Cross, a previous Michigan case in which the organization reimbursed almost 100 families that were denied Applied Behavior Analysis therapy coverage. Despite Blue Cross’ claims that Applied Behavior Analysis is an unproven form of treatment, many organizations, including the National Institutes of Mental Health, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the American Academy of Pediatrics, have all lauded the treatment as an effective form of therapy.
This story was produced by New America Media and The San Francisco Public Press.
On the 900-mile trek of mostly desert that stretches between Eritrea and Egypt, hunting for humans has become routine. Eritrean refugees who have fled their homeland fall prey to Bedouin or Egyptian traffickers. The refugees are held for ransom. Those with relatives abroad who can pay for their release might survive. Those who do not are often killed.
A proposed overhaul of juvenile justice laws could revolutionize the way Georgia treats abused and delinquent children, local officials told a state legislative panel Thursday. But, they cautioned, the reforms are doomed to failure without proper funding. The state House Judiciary Committee on Thursday unanimously approved a 243-page rewrite of the state's juvenile code, but only after hearing dire warnings from prosecutors and a defense lawyer about the consequences of underfunding. The bill, among many other provisions, would require that local district attorneys prosecute cases in juvenile courts. It does not state, however, who would pay the bill.
A study conducted in a sexual assault resource center found more than 70 percent of alleged offenders were known to the victims. The report by researchers at the University of Tennessee, “Percentage of Named Offenders on the Registry at the Time of the Assault: Reports from Sexual Assault Survivors,” used one year of data from the resource center during which it provided services to approximately 1,300 people. Full names were provided for more than 60 percent of the known assailants. Of those 566 cases only 4.8 percent were found on a sex offender registry and even fewer, 3.7 percent (21 cases) were listed publicly due to the date of conviction. More than 95 percent of the alleged offenders were know personally to the victims in the 21 cases where the offender could have been identified by the sex offender registry. Researchers concluded the sex offender registries might have limited impact due to the fact that they only include convicted sex offenders.
A growing segment of today’s youth are undereducated, underemployed and failing to build a solid economic foundation for their future, according to a study by the U.S. Department of Labor. These so-called opportunity youth are more likely to require government services, report worse health status and are more likely to be involved in criminal activity, the study found. Within the 16-24 age group, the study found at least 6.7 million (17 percent) could be classified as opportunity youth. Many have dropped out of high school or college and have been unable to find work. According to the report, opportunity youth represent a significant burden to taxpayers.
Following disheartening National Assessment of Educational Progress marks in 1996, the Alabama State Department of Education (ASDE) introduced a program, the Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative (AMSTI) to improve the state’s lagging test scores. The National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, part of the Institute of Education Sciences, recently published an evaluation of the effectiveness of the Alabama initiative
The evaluation compared test scores of class groups that had received AMSTI instruction for one year with a control group that did not. Research findings indicated that students that had received AMSTI instruction scored, on average, two points higher on Stanford Achievement Test (SAT-10) mathematic problem solving assessments than students that had not received initiative instruction. Researchers estimate the total “effects” of a full two years of AMSTI instruction to average an increase of 4 percentile points on SAT-10 mathematic problem solving assessments, with AMSTI students having the equivalent of “50 days of additional student progress over students receiving conventional mathematics instruction.”
Similarly, AMSTI students were found to have higher test scores in both reading achievement and science than non-initiative-instructed students. The report finds AMSTI pupils scoring an average of 2 percentile points, roughly the equivalent of 40 additional days of student progress, than students that had received no AMSTI instruction.
A recent bill passed by the Mississippi House of Representatives could have unforeseen consequences for the state’s youth, according to one juvenile justice judge – particularly the notion that the proposed legislation would inadvertently make teenage kissing a reportable offense. House Bill 16, the Ryan Petit Child Protection and Child Rape Protection Act of 2012, is currently undergoing review by a state Senate Judiciary committee. Meanwhile, Natchez Judge John Hudson says the bill is too far-reaching, with definitions that would require certain professionals to report teenage kissing as acts of “sexual abuse.”
The bill, Hudson noted, would require community members deemed as “mandatory reporters” of sexual abuse – teachers, police officers, health care providers, clergy members and film developers – to contact authorities upon observing or suspecting sexual abuse. The problem, Hudson identified, was with what he considered a vague description of what “sexual abuse” entails within the bill. Under the bill’s current language, “sexual abuse” is defined as “the involvement of the child in any sexual act with a parent or another person, or the aiding or intentional toleration of a parent or caretaker of the child’s sexual involvement with any other person.” Additionally, the bill defines “children” as minors 16 and younger, meaning that certain adults witnessing junior high school students kissing would be legally required to report the incident to local police.
Local farm advocates in Iowa are concerned a new set of child-labor laws would inadvertently restrict the number of future farmers and place unnecessary restrictions on family farms.
According to The Daily Iowan, the U.S. Department of Labor proposed a new set of rules in 2011 that prohibit children under the age of 16 from working in manure pits or with certain animals unless their parents completely own the farm. However, many smaller farms in Iowa are multigenerational, Russ Meade, president of the Johnson County Farm Bureau told The Iowan. "We have a diverse makeup of smaller farms that rely heavily on extended family involvement," Meade said. "[The regulations] would significantly restrict kids' ability to participate." Iowa farmer Kurt Dallmeyer said the rules could impact the number of children interested in farming, putting local farms at risk in the future and increasing the trend of factory farms in the state.
NEW YORK -- Getting shot was probably a critical turning point in Ray Tebout’s life, he says. It was 1990. Tebout had just turned 16 and was living on the streets of the South Bronx, selling drugs and doing his best to survive. And then some guy had to go and shoot him in the foot. The day of the shooting Tebout was on the corner selling drugs when “a guy wanted something from me,” he said.