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San Diego’s Reading Program for Juveniles Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes – This is a section of video clips. The Project of Hope clip features Judge James Milliken talking about the reading program he instituted to help reduce recidivism by teaching juvenile offenders to read. San Diego Insider #152 clip talks about learning disabilities and juvenile crime. Juvenile Court Book Club, Inc – A book club implemented at four sites in San Diego. Monthly at each site 20-25 club members meet with adult volunteers to discuss a wide range of life issues. Books serve as a springboard for discussions. A donated library of age appropriate books has been created at each facility. ++++++++++ Boston Success Initiative – Transitioning Juveniles Back to the Classroom The Boston Success Initiative is a transitional school where juveniles who are being released by DYS facilities can go to prepare for their return to public high school. It is an intermediary step that provides them with the opportunity to catch up to their peers so they won’t be so far behind when they enter a regular classroom. ++++++++++ California Prisons Turn Toward Rehabilitation, Away From Imprisonment The State of California has joined a national movement of political leaders who believe it is time for a new approach to incarceration. States large and small are shortening criminal sentences, diverting drug offenders and beefing up efforts to help parolees rejoin society. ++++++++++ Baseline Recidivism Rates FY1998-FY2002 – Georgia This research brief from the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice examines the post-release criminality of 89,464 youthful offenders released from three major programs from 1998 to 2002. As someone who doesn’t read research papers easily or well, I was pleasantly surprised by the readability of this publication. ++++++++++ The Use and Abuse of Juvenile Detention: Understanding Detention and Its Uses This paper from the National Juvenile Defender Center examines appointment of counsel, the use of post-adjudication and post-disposition detention, discusses how to prevent the over-use of detention, and looks at promising programs and strategies. 6 page pdf file. ++++++++++ News about California’s Youth Prison System California Kids with Mental Illness Warehoused in Juvenile Detention The Bazelon Center reports on the state’s failure to provide adequate services to California children in detention, finding that: Most California juvenile detention facilities hold youth who are awaiting mental health services in the community. Some children are as young as eight years old. In four facilities, children with mental illness are held in detention centers without any charges against them. Over a six-month period, more than 750 incarcerated youth waited for community mental health services in California. The average stay for youth in detention awaiting treatment is about twice as long as the average stay for all detainees. Nearly all the California juvenile detention facilities that hold youth waiting for community mental health services report that some youth have attempted to harm themselves or others while in juvenile detention. Yet over half of these facilities provide no mental health training for staff. California juvenile detention facilities spend an estimated $10.8 million each year to house youth who are waiting for community mental health services.
For Young Offenders, A Softer Approach The Schwarzenegger administration has agreed to put therapy and positive reinforcement at the heart of California’s youth prison system, rejecting more punitive approaches in favor of models proved successful in other states. 10 Ideas for Reform From the San Jose Mercury News, October, 2004, 10 changes proposed by juvenile justice experts and reform advocates to reform California’s youth prison system. ++++++++++ Program helps reduce juveniles in detention Clark County Juvenile Detention Center in Las Vegas, Nev., a year ago was overcrowded. Today there is room to spare. In December 2003, the average daily population of the detention center was 243. Its official capacity is 235. In December 2004, the average was 191. Clark County is a participant in the Annie E. Casey Foundation Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative, which helps fund the county’s project to process cases more quickly and efficiently. ++++++++++ Colorado’s Youth Offender System is a Success About half the teens who graduated from an experimental prison program dealing with violent young adults remained felony-free five years later, according to the first comprehensive report on recidivism in the YOS program. The young people in this program are at the highest risk to reoffend. They are young, violent offenders with a long history of illegal behavior beginning at a young age. There are problems with the YOS program, among them budget cuts and limitations on substance abuse treatment. ++++++++++ Unlocking the Future: Detention Reform in the Juvenile Justice System The 2003 Coalition for Juvenile Justice Annual report demonstrates that juvenile court jurisdictions throughout the United States needlessly sweep into locked detention many young people with mental health, substance abuse and family problems. The report shows that contrary to popular belief, the majority of detained youth are not older, violent offenders. It also highlights positive reforms made by a few notable jurisdictions. Read the report overview at the link above. The report is $10 per copy and available from CJJ. See ordering information at the link above. ++++++++++ Maryland looks at the Missouri Juvenile Justice Model Missouri’s approach to dealing with troubled teens has met with an unusual degree of success. Studies show that far fewer of the juvenile offenders who go through Missouri’s system to on to commit crimes that land them in adult prison than is the case elsewhere. Missouri’s approach does not cost any more than Maryland’s, which is widely criticized. Richard Mendel, who has written three national reports on juvenile justice and youth crime prevention, believes Missouri’s attitude is the main reason for its success. “I think the basic difference is that Missouri treats these kids as good kids who need some held to get their lives straightened out. Most everywhere else, they are treated like criminals.” ++++++++++ Child Trends Databank Reports on Detention and Prison ++++++++++ A Death in the Box The most recent New York Times Sunday Magazine (October 31) features a lengthy article on prison housing, or the lack of it, for mentally ill inmates. This article examines the life and prison experience of 21-year-old Jessica Lee Roger, who successfully hung herself in “the box,” an isolation cell, in 2002. The box is the most severe punishment in prison. It is a small barren chamber set apart from the general prison population with a concrete floor, a steel door and no clock. It is particularly difficult for mentally ill inmates to handle. ++++++++++ Prison Rape Elimination Act PREA, passed into law last year, will begin soon with a survey of prisoners across the country in adult, juvenile and jail facilities and former inmates to determine the prevalence of sexual assault in the incarcerated population. The first round of surveys is anticipated for early 2005. The article also profiles Michigan and Louisiana for what those states are doing in this arena. ++++++++++ Florida to Pay for Teen’s Death The state of Florida has agreed to pay the family of Omar Paisley $1.45 million for the youth’s 2003 death from a ruptured appendix at Miami’s juvenile lockup. Following Omar’s death nearly 25 DJJ officials left the state agency and two nurses were charged with manslaughter. ++++++++++ Left Adrift on Parole Three out of four young adults paroled from the California Youth Authority are arrested on new criminal charges within three years after emerging from a system that failed to provide them for a constructive, law-abiding life. This article from The Mercury News follows one young former inmate as he attempts to negotiate his world with little preparation or assistance. He doesn’t know how to write a check, manage a bank account, or how to drive. Programs to assist him make the transition back to society don’t happen. ++++++++++ Locked Up Too Tight: It’s Hard to Prevent Abuse in Prisons like These Vincent Shiraldi and Mark Soler teamed up to write this editorial piece that appeared in the Washington Post on September 19. It discusses abuse in youth prisons in the U. S. historically and in the context of the Abu Graib abuses in Iraq and the success of Missouri’s youth system in which only 8% of youths released from Missouri’s facilities wind up in adult prisons compared to 30% in Maryland. ++++++++++ Justice for Children: Detention as a Last Resort – Innovative Initiatives in the East Asia and Pacific Region This UNICEF publication contains four main chapters and you may want to consider simply downloading the chapters of most interest to you because the complete document is 104 pages. Chapters address legal assistance of children, diversion and restorative justice, and rehabilitation and reintegration. ++++++++++ Southern Juvenile Defender Center At this site you will also find a summary of new research on adolescent brain development and a nice selection of downloadable reports similar to the one above. See particularly the 50 State Survey of the Statutory Definition of Status Offenders and White Paper on Juvenile Assessment Centers. ++++++++++ Unjust Medicine Martha Shirk of Youth Today looks at why health care in juvenile justice facilities is often atrocious and what is being done about it. The article includes interviews with Earl Dunlop, executive director of the National Juvenile Detention Association; Dr. Jerry Klein, the medical director for the Santa Clara County juvenile detention center in San Jose, Calif.; Judith Stanley of the National Commission for Correctional Health Care and other national figures. From the July/August 2004 issue. ++++++++++ Prince George's County Creates Services for Juveniles in An Adult Facility In Prince George County, Maryland the county has created a corrections program in an adult facility that targets juveniles' healthcare, nutritional, rehabilitative and educational needs. The country program began with a task force that traveled to adult jails that house juveniles in Washington State, Pennsylvania and Florida to build a program for this special population of juveniles. ++++++++++ Swing States: Crime, Prisons and the Future of the Nation A new report from the Justice Policy Institute found that prison spending grew five times as fast as education spending between 1985 and 2002. Nearly 2 million adults are ineligible to vote due to felony disenfranchisement laws in some states. Both trends disproportionately affect the African American population in 17 states. The nation is deeply divided and the study says that Republican and Democrat states, as groups, show clear and competing trends in their use of incarceration as a tool to reduce crime. The study concludes that public opinion has shifted and now supports change to reduce overcrowding in prisons and to relieve fiscal pressures. The study’s recommendations: - Sentencing reforms to return discretion to judges so the punishment fits the offense and the offender.
- Release reforms to reward participation in rehabilitative programs and ensure that prison exits at least keep pace with prison admissions.
- Supervision reforms to minimize returns to prison for technical violations.
- Federal funding to evaluate the success of state generated innovations and to expedite the replication of successful approaches.
- Restoring the franchise to people who have paid their debt to society.
++++++++++ OJJDP’s Performance Standards for Juvenile Correction and Detention Facilities Project Wins the Innovations in American Government Awards The award is shared with four other projects/initiatives. Each of the five winners will receive a $100,000 grant to support replication activities. The PBS project collects information for juvenile facilities and tracks injuries, suicidal behaviors, assaults, time in isolation and youth academic performance to make needed improvements. ++++++++++ Washington State’s Juvenile Boot Camp – It Works The Washington Juvenile Basic Training Camp (BTC) was evaluated by WSIPP to determine whether the basic training camp program reduces recidivism and is cost beneficial to taxpayers and crime victims. The evaluation compared youth who were eligible for the BTC but were admitted to the Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration. The study’s findings: - Participating in the BTC resulted in a statistically significant reduction in violent felony recidivism, but not felony recidivism, an estimated savings in taxpayer costs of $4,367.
- It costs the state $7,686 less to send a youth to the BTC than to a regular institution followed by parole.
- The net result is that the BTC saves taxpayers an estimated $12,323. When costs avoided to crime victims are considered, the total avoided costs of the BTC are $22,660.
The WSIPP (Washington State Institute for Public Policy) evaluation includes a description of the Washington boot camp and how it works. ++++++++++ Missouri to Advise Louisiana on Youth Prisons The state of Missouri is recognized as one of the best in the country for its juvenile facilities. Officials from Louisiana have made an agreement with Missouri officials to help transform Louisiana’s system. Louisiana’s three secure facilities for young offenders have been criticized for being too much like adult prisons To look at one of the elements of Missouri’s model juvenile justice, click on this link to the Missouri Juvenile Offender Classification System. The system includes an empirically validated risk assessment instrument and a classification matrix. ++++++++++ Four Teenage Girls Sue the State of Ohio The four accused Ohio officials of failing to provide them with lawyers after guards physically or sexually assaulted them while they were in a juvenile prison. Their allegations are part of a federal lawsuit that claims Ohio’s Department of Youth Services routinely denies juveniles access to legal help |
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