• Brevity is the soul of wit.
  -- Shakespeare

Brevity on the Net

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

 A weekly newsletter about juvenile justice
from the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges,
Brevity brings you news and information from around the country and on the Internet.

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This will be a short Brevity. In the past week the attention of the country has been on hurricanes. It’s been a slow news week for juvenile justice.

Kids in Crisis

On Sunday, October 9, 2005 MSNBC will present Kids In Crisis, a one-hour special that documents for the first time ever on videotape, child welfare officials removing two young boys from their home in  the middle of the night. This documentary traces an Indiana family's battle with physical abuse within their family circule and the Indiana legal system.

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Statutory Rape Known to Law Enforcement

At a national level, the incidence of statutory rape is relatively unknown. However, the FBI’s NIBRS System National Incident-based Reporting System) captures a broad range of information reported to participating law enforcement agencies throughout the country which teaches about the victims and offenders in statutory rape incidents. This report characterizes victim and offender attributes and law enforcement responses to incidents of statutory rape. Highlights of the report’s findings:

• In 2000, there was 1 statutory rape for every 3 forcible rapes involving a juvenile victim reported to law enforcement.
• Most (95%) statutory rape victims were females.
• Regardless of victim gender, almost 3 of every 5 victims of statutory rape were age 14 or 15, with relatively equal proportions in each of these ages.
• Three of every 10 statutory rape offenders were boyfriends or girlfriends and 6 in 10 were acquaintances.
• An arrest occurred in 42% of statutory rape incidents with the probability of arrest declining as victim age increased.

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National Center for Children in Poverty Reports

Child Poverty in States Hit by Hurricane Katrina – This fact sheet provides a portrait of poor children in the Gulf Coast states ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans and the surrounding regional have long been home to some of the poorest children in the country. Over 13% of children in Louisiana live in extreme poverty. Families, left behind, and trapped in areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama had few resources –i.e.,  cash, assets, credit cards, bank accounts, cars.

Who Are America’s Poor Children? –  Twelve million children live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level ($19,000 for a family of four). Five million families have incomes of less than half the poverty level and the numbers are rising. On average, it takes an income of at least twice poverty to cover a family’s needs. Statistics:

• Nationwide, 17% of children live in poverty (12 million)
• The District of Columbia has the highest child poverty rate – 30%.
• Across the country poverty rates range from 7% in New Hampshire to 25% in Arkansas.
• 33% of black children live in poor families. 28% of Latino children live in poor families. 10% of white children live in poor families.
• 26% of children of immigrants are poor.
• 20% of children under age 6 live in poor families.
• 19% of poor children lack health insurance.

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Life Success for Children with Learning Disabilities

Learning Disabilities researchers at the Frostig Center in Pasadena, California have identified key factors that contribute to success. They are:

Understanding and nurturing these factors can aid in a child’s development and ability to overcome LD. This web site features a Guide for Parents that describes each of the six success attributes, makes recommendations on how to develop them in children, and includes tips on how to recognize if a child possesses any of these important characteristics. A Guide for Teachers offers assistance to teachers, activities, and resources for students with LD.

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How Do Court Continuances Influence the Time Children Spent in Foster Care?

The Washington State Institute for Public Policy asked this question and found, on average:

• Continuances increase the duration of dependency and termination cases.
• Continuances in dependency cases increase the time children spent in foster care.
• Continuances prior to fact-finding add a total of 20.2 days of foster care.

The complete report and an executive summary are available to read or download at the link above.

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What I Call Life

Jill Wolfson, co-author of Somebody Else’s Children, has written a new book released this month; this one is a fictional tale about a teenage girl in foster care. The book is intended for the ten-to-thirteen-year-old crowd. From an Amazon.com review of What I Call Life:

Cal, who prides herself on her independence and is fiercely protective of her mother, insists that she'll be going home any day and that what is happening is not at all part of her real life. Meanwhile, time passes, the girls learn to knit, and the Knitting Lady tells stories about two girls from long ago: one who was abandoned at an orphanage by her own mother, and another who was sent west on an orphan train. Set against these narratives, the present-day story involves shifting alliances, a search for a younger sister who may or may not exist, and a clear-eyed view of life in a group home and/or with fosters (regarding placements, one girl tells Cal, Everything gets decided behind your back).

Jill’s web site is a kick to read. Roam around its pages for instructions on how to knit, take a peek in her dresser drawer, learn about the 19th Century orphan trains, and read about her writing students in juvenile hall as they give her advice on raising her 15-year-old son.

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Recommendations for Success: New Hampshire’s Strategy to Reduce Underage Alcohol Problems

New Futures of New Hampshire has released a roadmap on underage drinking with close to 50 recommendations for individuals, communities, and the state as a whole. New Hampshire is one of the first states in the nation to lay out a single state strategy on underage drinking. The recs are in five categories: public information, education, opportunities for limiting access, coordination, and research and evaluation. New Hampshire’s plan is available for download (22 pages. Pdf file) at the New Futures web site. Click on the link above and again at “Reducing Underage Alcohol Problems.”

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U. S. Immigrant Population by The Numbers

The Pew Hispanic Center, in a new report, says that immigration has been picking up, following along with the reviving U.S. economy and more jobs. Immigration – both legal and illegal – topped 1.5 million in 1999 and 2000. That number dropped to 1.1 million people in 2003, but bounced pack to 1.2 million in 2004.

More than 34 million immigrants now live in the United States. They make up 12% of the nation’s population. That number has tripled since 1970, when the foreign-born population was 9.6 million.

Mexico accounts for about a third of all U.S. immigrants. Other Latin American countries accounted for about 20% of all immigrants. Asia accounted for slightly more than one-fourth. Europe and Canada combined to account for about 14%.

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Restorative Justice In Texas: Past, Present & Future

Marc Levin, director of the Center for Effective Justice at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, has written a report that highlights several existing successful restorative justice programs in Texas and offers recommendations based on effective restorative practices in other jurisdictions. The report is available to read/download at the organization’s web site (28 pages. Pdf file). Click on the link above.

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Maine Turns Down Sex-Ed $$$

The state of Maine has stopped accepting federal funds for an abstinence-based sex-education program, in part because federal guidelines do not allow any of the money to be used to teach so-called “safe sex” practices. Maine is the third state in the country to turn down the federal money. 

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Using an Indicator Reporting Program to Reduce Alcohol and Drug Problems in Your Community

Join Together has just released the 2005 edition of “How do we know we are making a difference? A community, alcohol, tobacco, and drug indicators handbook.” The handbook assists communities to develop indicator reporting programs to identify their most important local substance use problems, boost fundraising efforts, focut community prevention and treatment strategies, and measure the impact of new policies and programs. The handbook, together with a web site, will teach you how to use this tool. The handbook can be ordered at the web site. Click on the link above.

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Developing and Evaluating Courthouse Security and Disaster Preparedness: A Collaborative Process between State and Federal Courts.

A new report released by the Justice Management Institute, the report describes a project conducted by JMI which developed a 2and a half day and a 1 day curriculum for local trial court teams on courthouse security and disaster recovery. The complete 215 page report is available at the SJI repository library serving each state*. Copies can also be obtained by contacting the Justice Management Institute at askJMI@jmijustice.org.

*Names and addresses of these libraries are available on the State Justice Institute website: http://www.statejustice.org.