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Now available on audio CD, the 32nd National Conference on Juvenile Justice Proceedings – Orlando, Florida, March 2005 NCJFCJ records sessions at this annual event so that participants can have access to all the conference sessions they were unable to attend. Each conference participant receives a copy. We have some spare copies this year and offer them to you at half-off, or $25 for the 2-CD set which also contains a complete agenda for the conference. Simply contact Cheryl Lyngar to place your order. ++++++++++ National Curriculum for Caseflow Management in Juvenile Dependency Cases Involving Foster Care This groundbreaking new curriculum is the joint product of nine national organizations, of which NCJFCJ is one. The goal of the National curriculum is to improve the court system’s ability to oversee the movement of foster care cases to shorten the time needed for children to reach permanent placement. It emphasizes the need for state courts and child welfare agencies to work together to improve outcomes for children and is designed to foster collaboration between them. The link above will take you a JERITT web page about the project and links to the curriculum (82 pages, downloadable), a news release, a short overview of the project (4 pages, downloadable), and Improving Outcomes together, an issue brief by Fostering Results and the ABA (29 pages, downloadable). ++++++++++ Seattle Courthouse Shooting An advocate for fathers’ rights in family court, who had protested for over 15 years over the unfairness of the child support he was ordered to pay, was shot Tuesday, June 21, outside the federal courthouse in Seattle. Perry Manley claimed that child support was a form of involuntary servitude in which a man is forced to work to support a child he is not responsible for raising. He was dressed in camouflage and carried a backpack strapped across his chest while he held a grenade that was later determined to be inactive. The three articles below will fill you in on the details: ++++++++++ This article from the Kansas City Star describes security changes in local courts and a variety of violent incidents in court. ++++++++++ Child Molester May Have Molested Children as Many as 36,000 Times Dean Arthur Schwartzmiller kept a series of spiral-bound notebooks with notes on more than 36,000 encounters with children listed in categories such as “Blonde Boys,” “Cute Boys,” “Boys Who Say No,” together with codes that appear to indicate how he abused them. Despite being arrested at least nine times for molesting boys in an arrest record begun 35 years ago, Schwartzmiller managed to avoid lengthy prison terms, coach youth football, and move in with another convicted sex offender. ++++++++++ International Gang Study Concludes That Youth in Gangs Should be Reintegrated into Society Neither War nor Peace, a major new study of ten countries, finds that gangs everywhere offer youth physical security, identity, employment, and thrills. It also finds that governments are encouraging the growth of organized armed groups – or gangs – by imprisoning and even executing their members, instead of helping young people to rise above the poverty and social disintegration that is pushing them to join gangs in the first place. It draws on three years of research in Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Jamaica, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, the Philippines, South Africa, and the United States. Gang expert John Hagedorn at the University of Illinois researched gangs in Chicago for the report. The Executive Summary is 11 pages with recommendations and downloadable. ++++++++++ What Happens to the Kids When Gay Couples Split? In this article two questions are at issue: What makes a person a parent? Is it biology, existing legal standards, or whether that person acts like a parent? In this case a homosexual couple with seven-year-old twins decided to split up and the breadwinner of the couple refused to pay child support because, she argued, “I’m not the children’s father.” ++++++++++ 28% of America’s 8th Graders Are At Risk of Not Graduating High School Students who enter ninth grade reading significantly below grade level are 20 times more like to quit high school than are their highest achieving classmates. The Alliance for Excellent Education says there is a connection between literacy levels and staying in school. At this site you can click on your state to see how your 8th graders are doing. ++++++++++ Judge Brings Personal Experience to Domestic Violence Bench Judge Erica Yew presides over Santa Clara County, California’s domestic violence court. She was the victim in a violent relationship and makes her personal history public to spread awareness about domestic violence to others. ++++++++++ Juveniles Who Think in Pictures Get a New Approach to Learning A pilot program in Iowa aimed at helping justice-involved youth with learning difficulties improve their thinking and reading skills gives youth the tools they need to improve their reading abilities. Seventeen adjudicated juveniles, visual-spatial learners, who primarily think in pictures, were taught a variety of techniques geared toward their learning style. ++++++++++ Kaiser Permanente’s Domestic Violence Prevention Program Kaiser Permanente Northern California launched this program in 1998 and has since rolled it out to all 24 medical centers in the region. Since then, findings of domestic violence have increased three-fold among patients. The program is unique because it takes domestic violence screening beyond the emergency room and connects those experiencing violence in the home with a network of resources quickly, both within the health care setting and in the community. ++++++++++ Teen from Queens and Her Family Deported Because She was a Potential Suicide Bomber Tashnuba Hayder, the daughter of Muslim immigrants, spent seven weeks in detention and was released on the condition that she leave the country immediately. Her case is the first terror investigation in the U.S. known to involve minors and is indicative of how deeply concerned the government is that a teenager might become a terrorist. Tashnuba’s mother asked to take “voluntary departure” with her daughter back to Bangladesh. Tashnuba believes she was singled out because she is a non-citizen, thus allowing investigators to invoke immigration law, and bypassing criminal and juvenile proceedings. Lengthy article from the New York Times Sunday Magazine. ++++++++++ Mentally Ill Kids Will Be Behind Bars for Three More Months The State of New Jersey needs another three months to find enough treatment beds to accommodate about 50 mentally ill children on any given day who remain in county-run detention centers despite judges’ orders that they be moved to treatment facilities. ++++++++++ Comprehensive Family Assessment Guidelines for Child Welfare New guidelines are intended to help State and tribal agencies conduct comprehensive family assessment for families involved with the child welfare system. Comprehensive family assessments take into account not only presenting symptoms but also underlying causes for behaviors and conditions affecting children. For more details and to download the report, click in the link above. ++++++++++ Theatrical Therapy for Juveniles Good behavior at Camp David Gonzalez in Los Angeles County, California, earns juveniles the right to participate in a theater group made possible for a partnership between the Los Angeles County Department of probation and the professional writers and actors of the Unusual Suspects Theater Company. Unusual Suspects is a non-profit organization that trains juveniles offenders to write, produce and act in plays that encourage nonviolent resolution to conflict and addresses experiences with poverty, abuse, drugs, parental abandonment and racism. ++++++++++ Violence Rises among Teen Girls The Boston Globe reports on incidents of violence among girls in Boston.
++++++++++ Resource: JRSA – Justice Research and Statistics Association JRSA is a national nonprofit organization of state Statistical Analysis Center (SAC) directors and other researchers and practitioners throughout government, academic, and criminal justice organizations. JRSA conducts and publishes policy-relevant research on justice issues, provides training and technical assistance, and maintains a clearinghouse of state criminal justice activities. Click on the link above to visit the JRSA web site.
Conferences and Events Upcoming NCJFCJ Conferences - For more details on the conferences listed below, click on this link.
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