Tagged With "criminal justice reform"
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Governor Signs Bill to Close State's Troubled & Systemically Racist Youth Prisons With an Ambitious Plan to Reimagine CA's Youth Justice System [witnessla.com]
By Celest Fremon, Witness LA, October 2, 2020 At approximately 4:42 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, September 30, Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 823 , a budget trailer bill that will lead to the closure of the state’s troubled and violent youth prison system. Yet the bill is far more than that. It is also is designed as an historic reform measure intended to fundamentally transform the way that the state and its 58 counties approach youth justice. Furthermore, the bill includes the creation of...
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FREE Event: Trauma-Informed Correctional Design with Boston Architectural College!
Join us on December 8th for this discussion on Transforming Correctional Design for Justice Reform! Work in corrections or youth justice? Engaged in the social justice movement? Are you a designer or architect? This is one talk you can't afford to miss! Christine Cowart, of Cowart Trauma Informed Partnership will join Janet Roche, faculty member and Alumni Council member of Boston Architectural College (BAC), in alive-broadcast event, to discuss the implications of trauma-informed principles...
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LA County’s new probation chief is known for San Diego County juvenile justice reforms (dailynews.com)
Adolfo Gonzales began work Monday as Los Angeles County’s chief probation officer, overseeing a system that supervises more than 40,000 juveniles and adults and managing an annual budget of over $1 billion. A former San Diego County probation chief, Gonzales brings 43 years of law enforcement experience to his new position, including being chief of the National City Police Department and assistant chief with the San Diego Police Department. Gonzales was appointed to the position last month...
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Now Available Online! Transforming Correctional Design for Justice Reform!
Did you miss our talk on Transforming Correctional Design for Justice Reform? Based in the irrefutable facts of the biological effects of trauma, this talk is now available for you to stream!
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Youth Detention Facility finds culture of kindness more effective than punishment
A corner of the Multi-Sensory De-escalation Room, All MSDR photos courtesy of Valerie Clark When a young person enters the de-escalation room in the Sacramento County Youth Detention Facility , they’ll find dimmed lights, bottles of lavender, orange and other essential oils, an audio menu featuring the rush of ocean waves and other calming sounds, along with squeeze balls, TheraPutty, jigsaw puzzles, and an exercise ball to bounce on. TheraPutty, squeeze balls and more Sometimes, with a...
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A Case for Better Funding of California’s Community Alternatives to Juvenile Detention and Probation [jjie.org]
By Emma Knight | June 1, 2021, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, Supporters of the juvenile justice status quo wrongly claim that community-based organizations are not yet strong enough to serve all youth who may otherwise cycle through juvenile courts, detention centers and on and off parole rosters. Ideally, opponents to reform say, youth would be served by nonprofits close to home, but that cannot happen until enough suitable nonprofits are available. This line of thinking ignores...
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The Juvenile Justice Task Force report gave us a roadmap to reform. Now it's up to lawmakers to finish the job | Opinion [penncapital-star.com]
By Malik Pickett, Pennsylvania Capital-Star, June 27, 2021 Glen Mills, Wordsworth, Devereaux, and most recently the Delaware County Juvenile Justice Center are all highly publicized scandals involving the abuse of children inside Pennsylvania juvenile facilities. Abuses such as these precipitated Gov. Tom Wolf’s creation of the Pennsylvania Juvenile Justice Task Force which studied the Commonwealth’s juvenile justice system for 16 months to create recommendations for reform. Last week, the...
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Nonprofits push parole reform and housing for parolees [jjie.org]
By Anna Deen, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, July 16, 2021 Since being released from New York City’s Rikers Island jail — where he’d been sentenced to four months for not being where his parole officer expected him to be on a certain day and time — Dakem Roberts has been living in a Brooklyn homeless shelter. It was his latest incarceration since, in the late 1970s, when he was 16, he was arrested and sentenced to life in prison. He’d been arrested for his involvement in a robbery...
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Despite setbacks, Philadelphia Innovators press on with juvenile justice reform (bloombergcities.jhu.edu)
Innovation seldom follows a straight line—and often one of the most challenging phases of creating a new project is maintaining early momentum and adapting to unexpected changes beyond your control. That’s where Lisa Varon and Rhonda McKitten find themselves. Varon, as project manager, and McKitten, as project director, are two of the leaders behind Philadelphia ’s drive to create a Juvenile Assessment Center that aims to create a more appropriate intake experience for young people, one that...
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Custodial Sanctions and Reoffending: A Meta-Analytic Review [journals.uchicago.edu]
By Damon M. Petrich, Travis C. Pratt, Cheryl Lero Johnson, and Francis T. Cullen, University of Chicago, October 2021 ABSTRACT Beginning in the 1970s, the United States began an experiment in mass imprisonment. Supporters argued that harsh punishments such as imprisonment reduce crime by deterring inmates from reoffending. Skeptics argued that imprisonment may have a criminogenic effect. The skeptics were right. Previous narrative reviews and meta-analyses concluded that the overall effect...
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For more than a century, Texas youth prisons have fostered abuse [washingtonpost.com]
By Bill Bush, The Washington Post, October 25, 2021 The Department of Justice recently announced a civil rights investigation into widespread reports of “physical and sexual abuse by staff and other residents, excessive use of chemical restraints and excessive use of isolation” in five youth prisons operated by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department. Citing reports that 11 staff members had been arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing youths, spokeswoman Kristen Clarke described “reports of...
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Join us October 27, 2021 for the inaugural event in our Trauma-Informed Criminal Justice System series, “The Relationship between PACEs and the Criminal Justice System”
Please join us for a new series entitled: Trauma-Informed Criminal Justice. This monthly series will feature conversations facilitated by Porter Jennings-McGarity, PACEs Connection Midwest and Tennessee community facilitator and criminal justice consultant, with special guests to discuss the need for trauma-informed criminal justice system reform. Using a PACEs-science lens, this series will examine the relationship between trauma and the criminal justice system, what needs changing, and...
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Examples of Current Trauma-Informed Judicial Systems
Please join us for a new series entitled: Trauma-Informed Criminal Justice. This monthly virtual Zoom series will feature conversations facilitated by Porter Jennings-McGarity, PACEs Connection’s criminal justice consultant, with special guests to discuss the need for trauma-informed criminal justice system reform. Using a PACEs-science lens, this series will examine the relationship between trauma and the criminal justice system, what needs changing, and strategies being used in this area...
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Help reunite families victim to mass incarceration to stop ACEs. Senate Bill 6164 Webinar - Get your loved one out of jail/prison sooner in WA State!
Free educational Webinar invite! Topic: Ending Mass Incarceration and Uniting families Join WashingtonCAN on 12/6 and 12/9 to learn about a tool that could help your loved one get resentenced and released early in Washington State! My name is Rashell and I’m the Lead Organizer with Washington Community Action Network (WashingtonCAN), a grassroots organization with 44,000 members that advocates for mass liberation and an end to mass incarceration, through lobbying, advocacy, and grassroots...
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Much Like the Victims They Try to Help, Gun Violence Prevention Workers Have Scars [time.com]
Chronic stress, trauma exposure, frequent threats of violence and the relentless grind of gun crimes’ impact: A recently-released report from the University of Illinois Chicago reveals in stark terms the strain and struggles that many frontline violence prevention workers face as they try to combat gun violence. In 2022, Chicago is coming off another record year of homicides, similar to many other major cities across the U.S. 797 people were killed in 2021 with 3,677 non-fatal shootings—an...
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Ending Isolation in Youth Facilities Certificate Program (Center for Juvenile Justice Reform)
Applications due April 8, 2022 at 11:59 pm. Click HERE for the application. The Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University, in partnership with the Center for Children’s Law and Policy (CCLP), the Justice Policy Institute (JPI), the Council of Juvenile Justice Administrators (CJJA), and Arnold Ventures, is pleased to announce a request for applications for the Ending Isolation in Youth Facilities Certificate Program. This will be the second time we are offering this...
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AECF: Pediatric Organization Calls for Juvenile Justice Reforms
A new resource looks at the prevalence of trauma among youth in the juvenile justice system and outlines ways to protect their mental and emotional well-being. The fact sheet , produced by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), is part of a growing call from child and adolescent health experts to reform longstanding juvenile justice policies and practices. “Efforts aimed at improving our juvenile justice system must extend beyond issues related to youth arrest...
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New Trauma Informed Criminal Justice Initiatives Coming to PACEs Connection!
We are excited to launch several exciting new initiatives designed for PACEs Connection’s trauma-informed criminal justice communities this fall. You talked, and we listened! Using the excellent feedback we have received from those of you who have participated in our trauma-informed criminal justice CRC, GRC, and SRC events this year, beginning in September we will offer more opportunities for connection and dialogue for individuals and communities interested in this specific realm of...
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Juvenile Justice Resources
7 Common Characteristics of Juvenile Mental Health Courts Source: Gains Center, SAMHSA Description: Identifies seven common characteristics of Juvenile Mental Health Courts (JMHCs) as part of a National Institute of Justice – funded study,...
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The Annie E. Casey Foundation Juvenile Justice Reform Agenda
The Foundation’s juvenile justice reform agenda is designed to improve the odds that at-risk youth can make successful transitions to adulthood. We are working to create a system that locks up fewer youth and relies more on proven, family-focused interventions that create opportunities for positive youth development. To learn more, visit https://www.aecf.org/work/juvenile-justice .
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How much would the NAS poverty reduction packages reduce referrals to CPS and foster care placements? Would they reduce racial disproportionality in child welfare? (nasonline.org).
Because of a collaboration with Columbia University and UW-Madison, we have answers to these questions. By Peter Peter Pecora, Casey Family Programs, March 17, 2023 - Overview The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) recently released a “ roadmap ” to reduce child poverty by as much as half through the implementation of a series of social policy packages. The aim of this study was to simulate the reductions in Child Protective Services (CPS) involvement and foster care placements that are...
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The Covington Curriculum Conference Returns to Minnesota
Strengthen your understanding and practice of gender-responsive, trauma-informed interventions when you train with Dr. Stephanie S. Covington at this national conference.
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Register Now for Inaugural Statewide Summit: Leveraging North Carolina’s Assets to Prevent Childhood Trauma — Virtually & In Raleigh April 27-28!
Information from Summit Brochure and registration site available here . North Carolina’s first Statewide Trauma Summit – a virtual and in-person summit – will beheld Thursday and Friday, April 27-28, in Raleigh, at The McKimmon Conference and Training Center, Summit leaders announced recently. “Momentum is growing in NC for building trauma-informed systems that strengthen resilience and weed out systemic and often intergenerational sources of child trauma. To advance this work, it is...
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A Letter to Kyle
To mark the anniversary of the passage of the landmark legislation of the Georgia Mental Health Parity Act, we are sharing a letter written a year ago by Roland Behm, Co-founder of the Georgia Mental Health Policy Partnership, Board Member and Former Board Chair, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) Georgia Chapter. The letter is to his son, Kyle, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2010 as a junior in college and died by suicide in August 2019.