What is Forecasting?
Why Should Juvenile Justice Agencies Use This Web Site?
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Assessing Alcohol, Drug, and Mental Disorders in Juvenile Detainees – OJJDP Fact Sheet reports on the progress of the Northwestern Juvenile Project, a research project that is examining the unmet needs for mental health and substance abuse services of youth involved in the juvenile justice system. Preliminary data from the baseline study of juvenile detainees show that two-thirds of the youth have one or more ADM disorders. Females have far greater mental health needs and greater risk factors than males. The Northwestern Juvenile Project is the first large-scale longitudinal study of ADM disorders, service needs, and services use among juvenile detainees.
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Public Opinion on Mandatory Sentencing
The results of new national research published by the Open Society Institute say that most Americans believe the country’s criminal justice system is ineffective,
Three major findings from the report:
- Americans want to attack the underlying causes of crime rather than the symptoms.
- Prevention is the nation's premiere criminal justice goal.
- Harsh prison sentences are being reconsidered as a primary crime-fighting tool, especially for non-violent offenders.
According to this research, public opinion has fundamentally shifted over the past few years. Today the public favors dealing with the roots of crime over strict sentencing by a two-to-one margin, 65% to 32%. The shift has primarily come in the attitudes of those groups that traditionally favor a punitive approach to criminal justice. A solid majority of every demographic group -- including men, whites, and people with less than a college degree -- supports an approach dealing with the causes of crime.
By two to one Americans describe drug abuse as a medical problem that should be handled mainly through counseling and treatment (63%) rather than a serious crime that should be handled mainly by the courts and prison system (31%). Americans are nearly four times more likely to describe the war on drugs as a failure (70%), than the 18% who say it is a success. This crosses all demographic lines.
Fifty-six percent of adults now favor the elimination of three strikes policies and other mandatory sentencing laws in favor of letting judges choose the appropriate sentence.
Seventy-seven percent of all Americans believe that expanding after-school programs and other crime prevention programs would save money by reducing the need for prisons.
Changing Public Attitudes Toward the Criminal Justice System is available online as a pdf file and downloadable at www.soros.org/crime/
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An Implementation Guide for Juvenile Holdover Programs
I received this manual in the mail this week and I have to say I’m impressed by its contents. It is a joint product of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), and American Probation and Parole Association (APPA).
A juvenile holdover program is a short-term, temporary holding program for youth. Its not a new idea. Informal holdovers have been around a long time. This manual captures the experience of holdover programs from around the country and puts the way to make it happen in your community into your hands. The manual’s contents include sections and risk and assessment tools, sample forms; basically, a complete how-to guide to setting up a juvenile holdover program.
You can read and/or download the contents on line.
For a hard copy of An Implementation Guide for Juvenile Holdover Programs (285 pages plus appendices) write to NHTSA, NTS-21, 400 Seventh street, SW, Washington DC 20590 or fax to 202-493-2062
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The Kansas Juvenile Justice Authority
In its fourth year of existence, the Kansas Juvenile Justice Authority (JJA) played a significant role in a 25 percent drop in youth admissions in state correctional facilities in 2000. The JJA is a new model for the Kansas juvenile justice system. It operates in partnership with local communities to develop local solutions to local problems.
JJA partners with local communities to provide prevention programs, community services and supervision for juvenile offenders. It operates four juvenile correctional facilities for violent, serious and chronic juvenile offenders. Its mission is to:
- improve public safety
- hold juvenile offenders accountable
- help juvenile offenders live responsibly and productively in their communities.
The JJA reforms include easing penalties for some juvenile crimes, while retaining mandatory incarceration for violent and extremely serious crimes. At the same time JJA provides funding for local prevention programs. Communities hold public forums on how to use the state funds to treat or prevent juvenile crime.
A judge can consider sending a juvenile offender to a correctional facility only after exhausting all community options and if the crime is severe or habitual enough under the new sentencing laws.
The JJA website includes a couple of full-color graphics-heavy fact sheets to look at and/or download.
Fact Sheet #1 –Facts and Figures About the JJA
Fact Sheet #2 - Facts about the Kansas Juvenile Justice Authority
There is also a chart showing the juvenile justice process in Kansas to look at and/or download.
