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-- Shakespeare

Brevity on the Net

Thursday, May 19, 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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Information:

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Youth Who Outgrow Foster Care Struggle

A new study released by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago examines the effects of “aging out” of the foster care system at age 18. Nationally, some 20,000 youths who were once removed from their homes because of abuse or neglect leave their second home – the child welfare system – because they get too old for it. (Any parent of an 18 year old can tell you that typical 18 year olds are far from adulthood and that adulthood occurs slowly over time.) Often today young people live with their parents well into their twenties. The study says aging out can have devastating consequences. It looked at more than 600 young people, mostly 19 years old in Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin who recently left foster care or will soon leave. 
From the study:

• More than a third of those coming from foster care had no high school diploma or GED, compared to 10% of people their age.
• They were also far more likely to be pregnant, unemployed, unable to pay the rent, or getting counseling.
• Those who left foster care at 18 were 50% more likely to be unemployed and out of school than those who stayed in.
• About 14% of those who left care reported finding themselves homeless at some point.
  11.5% reported sometimes or often not having enough to eat.
• Those who were allowed to stay in the foster care system beyond their 18th birthdays seemed to fare better than those who were independent at 18.

Click here to read the Executive Summary of the Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth: Outcomes at Age 19 and/or to download the full report.

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Los Angeles and Gangs

L.A. Home Turf for Hundreds of Neighborhood Criminal Groups
A LA Times reporter takes stock of what is known about gangs in Los Angeles, presenting statistics about gang size and composition, where they’re located, how the LAPD and the Sheriff’s Department are working to reduce gang violence, and trends in gang activity.

L.A. Violence Crosses the Line
A lengthy (8 page) article on Mara Salvatrucha, which has between 30,000 and 50,000 members in half a dozen countries, including up to 10,000 members in the U.S. The gang’s extreme violence, vast reach and increasing sophistication have made it a top priority at the highest levels of law enforcement.

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A Class Divided: Examining the chasm between student success and failure

The Rocky Mountain News looked at the dropout rate in Denver and studied a class of kids, beginning in eighth grade. With the help of an associate professor at the University of Colorado-Denver, Alan Davis, the News analyzed not only what happened to the class, but what role grades, attendance, poverty and other factors played in whether students graduated.

The results represent what Colorado’s biggest urban school district faces with a student body that is 81% minority and 64% poor.

A snapshot of this class shows:

• One in three received a diploma from a Denver high school.
• 27% of Hispanic eighth graders graduated compared to 34% of black students and 45% of whites.
• About 37% dropped out.
• About 21% of the original class transferred to schools outside the Denver system.

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Judge Joan Lefkow’s Testimony

On May 18, federal Judge Lefkow, whose husband and mother were killed by a man who had intended to kill her, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The link above will take you to a Chicago Tribune article on her appearance before the Committee. This link will take you to a copy of her testimony.

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Girl in Internet Child Porn Case Has Been Found

A couple of weeks ago I reported on the girl who had grown up on the Internet in child porn photos and the search of the Toronto police to find her. The Toronto police released photos of the room in which she had been photographed and, within hours, identified the hotel room. It turns out the girl has been in foster care since 2003, when her adoptive father was arrested on charges related to trading Internet child porn. The girl was originally from Russia and was adopted when she was five.

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The Choice of Life

This article from The Washington Post is a parent's account of a teen who attempted suicide, the depression that brought him to attempt suicide, medications, the importance of family and the challenge of handling a troubled adolescent. The section on teenage depression is particularly good.

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Girls’ Film on Teen Pregnancy is Airing Nationally

Four girls from Mission High School in Mission, Texas - deep in South Texas along the Mexican border - have made an award-winning 16 minute film promoting condom use that is being made available to public schools in Texas. It is a frank discussion about sexuality from a region in Texas where 37 of 1,000 girls get pregnant by age 17, the highest teen pregnancy rate in Texas, and among the highest in the nation. “Toothpaste,” a teen code word for condoms will be shown at film festivals and on Showtime too. “Toothpaste” features two teen girls’ decisions on whether to have sex with their boyfriends.

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Question from a Reader

Judy Sadoski, from Keene, New Hampshire, asks if anyone knows of good shoplifting programs for small communities. Everything she’s found is geared for a much larger community. If you run, are involved in, or know about a good shoplifting program for a small community, please send me an email and I’ll pass it on to Judy so she doesn’t get inundated with the kind of email crud my email address routinely gets.

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Graduated Sanctions: An Effective Intervention Strategy for Addressing Delinquency

If you missed the live teleconference when it aired in March at the National Conference on Juvenile Justice, you now have an opportunity to see it again.

You have three options:

• Watch the archived broadcast on your computer (no charge) – click here
• Order a videotape of the teleconference for $12.25- click here
• Order a DVD of the teleconference for $12.25 – click here

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Learn the Signs. Act Early

The National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities presents an Internet page for parents. Information here will help parents recognize a delay in childhood development which could be a sign of a developmental problem, particularly autism. Includes developmental milestones from 3 months of 5 years, fact sheets about screening, autism, cerebral palsy, vision loss, mental retardation, hearing loss, and ADHD.

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Chicago’s Broadway Youth Center Provides Support to Transsexual Youth

The Broadway Youth Center is one of only a few places across the country with support for those who are questioning their gender. Often these young people have strained or broken relationships with their families because it is much less common to be transsexual than lesbian or gay. On Wednesday nights young transgender people between 14 and 24 can meet other youth who identify themselves as transgender or are questioning their gender identify.
Click here to link to information about the Transgender Youth Drop-In Center at the Broadway Youth Center.

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Girls Are at Greater Risk in the Justice System

According to studies out of Ohio State University in Columbus, girls are actually at higher risk than boys because the problems girls face are very different from those confronting males. Stephen Gavazzi, professor human development and family science at Ohio State, and his colleagues, have been following 305 juveniles detained by authorities in a study to be published in the Criminal Justice and Behavior Journal.

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Teen Plans Lessons for Teachers on Teen Homelessness and Foster Care

Ashley Keiran of Portland, Maine entered foster care at 14 and kept it quiet except for a few supportive teachers and people she trusted. Now, as a parting gift to her school and with money from a youth leadership development grant, she is preparing to design and lead two training sessions for Portland High teachers on the educational challenges faced by teens who are homeless or in foster care.  Her intent is to sensitive teachers to the sheer logistical burdens faced by homeless teens or teens in unstable foster care situations.

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US Teenagers Think Oral Sex Isn’t Real Sex

A study of nearly 600 young California teenagers indicates that, having been told to be abstinent and warned of dangers of sex such as pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, they have decided that oral sex is the safest choice. The study says teenagers see oral sex as a way of preserving their virginity while allowing intimacy and sexual pleasure.

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Conferences and Announcements

Scholarship for Young Men of Color – The orphan Foundation of America is promoting the Casey Family Program’s Senior Year Scholarship for young men of color in college and vocational training programs. The nonrenewable scholarship of up to $5,000 can be used toward unmet tuition needs or outstanding student loans. Since October 2004 about 40 awards have been made. The deadline for expending the funds is December 31, 2005. To learn more, click on the link above.

Tying It All Together: Comprehensive Strategies for Safe and Drug-Free Schools - The Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools 2005 National Conference  will provide educational leaders with a valuable opportunity to explore these topics and receive information that can influence policy design and effective decision making. The conference will be conducted August 15-17, 2005 in Washington, D. C.

Persistently Safe Schools 2005 - Funded by OJJDP, this conference is designed to translate the latest research on school violence and its prevention into improved professional practice and strategies for schools. The conference will be conducted September 11-14, 2005 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by the Hamilton Fish Institute.

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The Economic Costs of Drug Abuse in the United States 1992-2002

The Office of National Drug Control Policy examines the cost of drug abuse to the country. In 2002, the economic cost of drug abuse was estimated at $180.9 billion, representing both the use of resources to address health and crime consequences as well as the loss of potential productivity from disability, death and withdrawal from the legitimate workforce. The study identifies trends:

• The costs of drug abuse have increased an average of 5.3% per year from 1992 to 2002. This rate is slightly above the 5.1% annual growth in the gross domestic product for the entire economy.
• The most rapid increases in drug abuse costs have been in criminal justice efforts, particularly increased rates of incarceration for drug offenses and increased spending on law enforcement and adjudication.

This is a massive report available for download by section. I found the Executive Summary to be sufficient for my needs. 

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Joey Binard, Senior Program Manager
Technical Assistance Resource Center
Juvenile & Family Law Department

NCJFCJ's Brevity is supported by grant #1999-JN-FX-0008 from the 
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice