Tagged With "Ben David New Hanover County DA"
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In California, Data Shows a Widening Racial Gap As Juvenile Incarceration Has Declined (chronicleofsocialchange.org)
(Image source:gardenapd.org) In the past two decades , the number of youth who are detained or incarcerated by juvenile justice systems has plummeted, a trend largely attributable to declining arrest rates and buffered by intentional system reform. But as the overall numbers have dropped, the racial disparity inside those juvenile facilities has increased, according to new data from the W. Haywood Burns Institute . And in some states, including California, the gap is getting much wider. In...
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Incarcerating Youth Should Be 'Last Resort' During Pandemic [thecrimereport.org]
By Andrea Cipriano, The Crime Report, May 7, 2020 On any given day, approximately 43,600 people younger than 18 years of age are held in youth detention facilities across America. Even under normal circumstances, many detention facilities are unable to provide a clean and safe environment for these young individuals, and the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the trauma these children experience in detention, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Incarcerating young people...
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Interview: Trauma-Informed Care with Transition-Age Youth [psychologytoday.com]
Last month, an article titled “The Tragedy of Baltimore” in the New York Times Magazine described the upsurge in violence in a city long known for its “blight, suburban flight, segregation, drugs , racial inequality, [and] concentrated poverty.” At the center of the storm are transition-age youth, who too often face long odds and challenging futures in the communities where they live. I recently had the opportunity to talk with Patricia Cobb-Richardson , MS. For the past 20 years, she has...
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Interview: Trauma-Informed Care with Transition-Age Youth [psychologytoday.com]
Last month, an article titled “The Tragedy of Baltimore” in the New York Times Magazine described the upsurge in violence in a city long known for its “blight, suburban flight, segregation, drugs , racial inequality, [and] concentrated poverty.” At the center of the storm are transition-age youth, who too often face long odds and challenging futures in the communities where they live. I recently had the opportunity to talk with Patricia Cobb-Richardson , MS. For the past 20 years, she has...
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Introducing myself, Morgan Vien & NEW Practicing Resilience Community
Hello! I’m a Community Manager for the Practicing Resilience for Self-Care & Healing community. This is an introduction to me and this new community. I graduated with a B.S. in Public Health from Santa Clara University June 2017. And I’m interested in preventing chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, at the community and population level by addressing biological, psychological, and social factors that affect chronic disease outcomes. As the...
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Is There Any Correcting Going On in "Correction" Facilities For Juveniles?
Tear Down the Juvenile Jails; They Make Bad Situations Worse [JJIE.org] By: Judge Steven Teske| July 10, 2017 Summary and Analysis by: Julius Patterson| July 30, 2017 This article really hits home for me. Judge Steven Teske talks about how Juvenile prisons need to be torn down. This article also focuses on how there’s a difference between being unruly and being a criminal. Jail is not always the answer for these young men and women. Statistics show that youth that have been incarcerated are...
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It’s self-defeating to bill parents for their children’s jail time (www.sacbee.com)
California law allows counties to charge parents for every night their child is locked up, for renting ankle monitors, for alcohol and drug tests, for public defenders and for other costs. The fees are meant to help counties recoup their costs, without being excessive or unfair. State Sens. Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles, and Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, have put forward Senate Bill 190 , which has a hearing Tuesday before the Senate Public Safety Committee, to end these fees. They say the...
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Jail & Prison Resources
Addressing Correctional Officer Stress: Programs and Strategies Source: NCJRS Description: A guide to assist corrections administrators is addressing employee stress. Link: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/183474.pdf Correctional Officer...
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"Justice and Recovery" (2017) Pathways RTC
FOCAL POINT IS PRODUCED BY THE PATHWAYS RESEARCH AND TRAINING CENTER (RTC) AT PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY IN PORTLAND, OREGON Research demonstrates that the prevalence of mental health conditions among justice system involved youth is alarmingly high, coupled with a strong likelihood of multiple traumatic exposures. Unfortunately, while the need for appropriate and timely treatment is acute, the juvenile justice system seems challenged in meeting it. The authors of this issue of Focal Point...
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Juvenile crime rates plummet amid new approaches to tackling youth crime [SanDiegoUnionTribune.com]
When San Diego County went looking for grant funds to help build a 300-bed jail for juveniles, officials argued that the 1950s-era Juvenile Hall on Meadowlark Lane was strained to the breaking point. “There is literally no more room at the inn,” the county warned in a grant application in 1999 seeking $36 million in construction funds for what would become, in 2004, the East Mesa Juvenile Detention Facility. [For more of this story, written by Greg Moran, go to ...
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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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Juvenile Justice Reform - FrameWorks MessageMemo
This MessageMemo presents the Strategic Frame Analysis® that the FrameWorks Institute and the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice conducted on behalf of the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Tis analysis synthesizes existing research generously sponsored by the Ford Foundation and the Rosenberg Foundation. It also draws upon FrameWorks’ decade-long investigation of children’s issues conducted largely in partnership with the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University,...
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Kids in Prison: Racial Disparities, Longer Sentences and a Better Way (wnyc.org)
This series has been supported by the Solutions Journalism Network , a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems. Kids in Prison: Getting Tried as An Adult Depends on Skin Color Part 1: Hundreds of minors as young as 14 are being tried as adults in New Jersey, and almost 90 percent of them are black or Latino kids. Kids in Prison: Germany Has a Different Approach, Better Results Part 2: Our reporter went looking for a state with...
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Kids Under 12 Can No Longer be Sent to Juvenile Hall for Most Crimes Starting in 2020 [capradio.org]
By Steve Milne, Capital Public Radio, December 20, 2019 One of the last pieces of legislation from former California Gov. Jerry Brown’s final year in office would end the prosecution of pre-teens who commit crimes, other than murder and forcible sexual assault. Right now, California has no minimum age for sending children to juvenile hall. Beginning in the new year, counties will no longer be allowed to process kids under 12 years old through the juvenile justice system. Instead, they will...
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L.A. County severely restricts solitary confinement for juveniles [LATimes.com]
Los Angeles County on Tuesday approved sweeping restrictions on the use of solitary confinement for juvenile detainees, joining a larger movement against a practice that some consider cruel and unproductive. The Board of Supervisors' action bans solitary confinement at youth camps and halls except “as a temporary response to behavior that poses a serious and immediate risk of physical harm to any person.” In those cases, the supervisors said, the isolation should be only for a brief “cooling...
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L.A. Supervisors Demand Plan to Help “Crossover Kids,” Young People Failed by Two Juvenile Systems [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
We know that, statistically speaking, kids who spend time in Los Angeles County’s foster care system — or any foster care system, for that matter — have worse outcomes when they reach adulthood than youth who’ve never wound up in the child dependency system at all. Over the past few years, new California state laws that are sensitive to this problem, along with community-based programs and dedicated child advocates, have helped to ameliorate those bad stats to some degree. Yet there is...
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LA County Supes Seek Better Care And Outcomes For Pregnant And Post-Partum Incarcerated Women And Girls And Their Babies (witnessla.com)
On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to identify ways to better support pregnant women and girls in the county’s jails and juvenile lockups. The motion, authored by Supervisors Hilda Solis and Janice Hahn, directs the Department of Health Services and the sheriff’s department, in coordination with other relevant county departments to report back to the board in 90 days with data on the number of pregnant women and girls in sheriff’s department or probation custody,...
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Law Enforcement and Corrections Resources
Cops, Kids, and Domestic Violence Source: National Child Traumatic Stress Network Description: Law enforcement training DVD and support documents (which can be used independently). Link: Video –...
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Lincoln High dedicates new courtroom facility for mock trials, criminal justice classes (sandiegounified.org)
The Lincoln High School Criminal Justice Program and Mock Trial Team offer work and real-life-related experiences for high school students to explore careers and how to address real issues related to our criminal justice system. The Mock Trial team at Lincoln has been in existence for four years, and will be competing in the annual county-wide Constitutional Rights Foundation Mock Trial competition at the end of February at the Superior Court of San Diego. The case being argued in this...
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Listening to Killers: Bringing Developmental Psychology into the Courtroom in Murder Cases
Only 1/1000 have an ACE score of 9 or 10. In his new book, James Garbarino, shows us how we as society creates killers through overwhelming ACEs . He is empathetic and shows lets us know the reality, most killers are...
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Meet the ‘Monsters:’ Documentary Looks at California Juvenile Debate [JJIE.org]
One’s kicking himself over an unrequited lifelong crush. One dreams of being a Navy SEAL. Another leads you on a mocking tour of his new home. They’d seem like typical teenage boys — if they weren’t awaiting trial for violent crimes. Juan Gamez, Antonio Hernandez and Jarad Nava are the youthful offenders at the heart of “ They Call Us Monsters ,” a new documentary that follows their lives in a Los Angeles juvenile detention center. They’re held in a special wing of the lockup reserved for...
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Michigan Senate votes to try 17-year-olds as juveniles (freep.com)
Michigan would no longer automatically treat 17-year-old criminal defendants as adults under bills that cleared a significant legislative hurdle Wednesday and may soon reach the desk of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The Republican-led Senate, for the first time, overwhelmingly passed "raise the age" measures after not embracing them in past sessions. The GOP-controlled House plans to approve a similar plan Thursday, after which lawmakers will work to resolve differences over how to ensure the state...
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Momentum Builds in States to End the Youth Prison Model (aecf.org)
America’s longstanding youth prison model — which emphasizes compliance, control and punishment — exacerbates youth trauma and inhibits positive growth while failing to enhance public safety. Not surprisingly, this model is fading across the nation. In January 2018, New Jersey became the latest state to announce plans to close a youth prison as part of a comprehensive effort to reform its juvenile justice system. The Garden State is following in the footsteps of Virginia, Connecticut and...
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More than eight in 10 men in prison suffered childhood adversity – new report [phys.org]
Male prisoners are much more likely than men in the wider population to have suffered childhood adversities such as child maltreatment or living in a home with domestic violence, according to a new report by Public Health Wales and Bangor University. The findings suggests that preventative action and early intervention to tackle Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) could prevent crime and reduce costs for the criminal justice system . In this new survey of men in Her Majesty's (HM) Prison...
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My Brother's Killing Messed Me Up [jjie.org]
By Tyrone, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, October 7, 2019 March 7, 2012 my oldest brother was killed. He was killed by the NOPD (New Orleans Police Department). Coming home from school March 7, 2012, my oldest brother and his friend was sitting outside. They were just chilling and talking. Once he saw my siblings and I get off the school bus, he told us not to come outside until we finished our homework. I told him “OK” and we walked past him to the front door. First thing I remember...
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Nevada County Probation Department implementing Transitional Age Youth Program in Juvenile Hall
By Michael Ertola, Chief Probation Officer California State Assembly Passed Public Safety SB 1004 on June 28, 2016, to allow five California counties to implement a pilot program to house Transitional Age Youth (18-21 years old) in their Juvenile Halls. The five counties include Nevada, Napa, Butte, Santa Clara and Alameda. The Chief Probation Officers of California (CPOC) sponsored bill SB 1004 to provide appropriate housing, programs and services needed by Transitional Age Youth. SB 1004...
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New Hub Resource: Smart, Safe, and Fair: Strategies to Prevent Youth Violence, Heal Victims of Crimes, and Reduce Racial Inequality (jjie.org)
“Smart, Safe, and Fair: Strategies to Prevent Youth Violence, Heal Victims of Crimes, and Reduce Racial Inequality,” published through a collaboration between the Justice Policy Institute (JPI) and the National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC) addresses how to help youth involved in violent crime — both offenders and victims. Confinement of youth convicted of crimes has decreased; however, violent crime convictions have not. The report shows that confinement of youth is more expensive and...
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New Resource! Secondary Traumatic Stress in Child Welfare Practice: Trauma-Informed Guidelines for Organizations
The Chadwick Center for Children & Families at Rady Children's Hospital San Diego has just released a set of trauma-informed guidelines with concrete strategies for approaching secondary traumatic stress (STS). While these guidelines were created for intended use within child welfare systems, they may be easily adapted into other child-and family-serving organizations. These guidelines were created as part of the Chadwick Trauma-Informed Systems Dissemination and Implementation Project...
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New Tool Will Help Form Responses to Adolescent Domestic Battery [JJIE.org]
In December 2015, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation published the “ Adolescent Domestic Battery Typology Tool ” to improve the way the juvenile justice system responds when a youth is facing arrest or system involvement for battering a parent or caregiver. To those outside the juvenile justice system, it might be surprising that such a tool would be needed. Those who work in or with the system might well wonder, “What took us so long?” The good news is that the tool is now...
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One on One With the Police (nationswell.com)
The organization, Pennsylvania Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC), trains Philadelphia cops to empathize with inner-city youth. Its seminars aren’t a certain fix to rebuilding trust between police and the communities they serve, but data collected from DMC and other case studies around the country, suggest they are making a difference. These types of meet-ups, which are formally known as “facilitated dialogue,” also appear to be associated with a drop in crime. After forums in a Boston...
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Parent Handouts updated and available In Dari, English & Spanish
The updated parent handouts are now available in Spanish as well as English and Dari. Here's the blog post with links to all three versions of each flyer. All versions of the Understanding ACEs and Parenting to Prevent & Heal ACEs parent handouts can be downloaded, distributed, and used freely. Both flyers were made with generous support from Family Hui, a Program of Lead for Tomorrow, who is responsible for making the Spanish and Dari translations available. These are updates of the...
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Past trauma causes many women to wind up in jail [thehill.com]
As a trauma psychologist and researcher, I applaud the article in "The New York Times" this morning, on how providing incarcerated mothers the opportunity to interact and play with their children during visits may reduce the trauma of separation. But, as the Senate thinks about bipartisan prison reform , I urge them to take a broader trauma-informed approach. This is necessary for effective correctional management, prisoner health and successful re-entry to our communities, particularly for...
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Peer Court to Tackle Truancy Trouble [commercial-news.com]
By Carol Roehm, Commercial-News, September 29, 2019 Vermilion County students who are truant or have issues with chronic absenteeism now will have the option of answering to their peers rather than to a courtroom judge. Maria Sermersheim became the new truancy coordinator for the Vermilion County Regional Office of Education on Aug. 13. She also will continue her work as the local Peer Court coordinator. “She brings great experience working with youth in Peer Court,” former truancy officer...
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Racial Bias in Criminal Risk Scores Is Mathematically Inevitable [PSMag.com]
The racial bias that ProPublica found in a formula used by courts and parole boards to forecast future criminal behavior arises inevitably from the test’s design, according to new research. The findings were described in scholarly papers published or circulated over the past several months. Taken together, they represent the most far-reaching critique to date of the fairness of algorithms that seek to provide an objective measure of the likelihood a defendant will commit further crimes.
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Report Outlines New Therapeutic Approach Coming to L.A. County Juvenile Detention Facility (chronicleofsocialchange.org)
A new report outlines a roadmap and summary of the “L.A. Model,” a collection of therapeutic-based practices aimed at improving care for youth in Los Angeles County juvenile detention facilities. Using the L.A. Model, the Kilpatrick campus offers a chance to “bring L.A.’s juvenile justice system into the 21st century.” The new approach calls for a facility based on small group arrangements in a therapeutic environment with an emphasis on creating a culture of care and respect among all staff...
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Riots, escapes and pepper spray: Virus hits juvenile centers [apnews.com]
By Margie Mason and Robin McDowell, Associated Press News, May 2, 2020 Nicole Hingle wasn’t surprised when the call came. Frustrations had been building inside juvenile detention centers nationwide as the number of coronavirus cases continued to climb. Now, her 17-year-old son Jace, was on the phone telling her around 40 kids had rioted at his facility in Louisiana — the same state where more than a dozen youths escaped during two breakouts at another site this month. Hingle said her son...
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San Francisco cops go back to school to better understand teens (sfchronicle.com)
Seven teens loitered in a San Francisco park, and before long two police officers shuffled over and started grilling them. “Get over here,” a female officer yelled. “Sit your ass down.” Five of the kids stared at the officer with wide eyes and promptly planted themselves on the ground. Two others crossed their arms and ignored the officer’s commands. Suddenly, the officer burst out laughing and hugged the flustered kids. “Sorry,” she said, “sorry!” This was the first role playing exercise of...
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Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) speaks out about Community Violence and Introduces TIC Bill [chicagodefender.com]
It is noteworthy that in his press conference to introduce his new bill, The Trauma Informed Care for Children and Families Act, Senator Durbin (D-IL) speaks out about the impact of community violence. “As we work to address the root causes of violence, we need to focus on the impact that community violence and other traumatic experiences have on Chicago’s children,” said Durbin. “During a visit to the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center last year, I learned that more than 90 percent of...
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Shifting Gears on Juvenile Justice: FrameWorks Communications Toolkit
A collection of framing research, recommendations, and sample communications. This toolkit is designed to help reformers and advocates in the juvenile justice field increase public understanding of: * the science of adolescent development and the need to incorporate a developmental perspective into criminal justice policies designed for youth; * why the current approaches to juvenile crime aren’t working; * age-appropriate treatments and interventions that improve outcomes for those already...
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Solitary Confinement of Youth Used Frequently, Unfairly, New Report Says [JJIE.org]
Solitary confinement in juvenile facilities remains too widespread, is unnecessary and counterproductive, is unfairly applied and is harmful, a new report says. In addition, experts lament the fact that there’s “a desperate need for better data on disparate treatment within facilities,” said Jessica Feierman, associate director of the Juvenile Law Center and one of the report’s authors. In the report, which aims to bridge the information gap, the center presents raw testimony from people who...
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Some 350 Florida Leaders Expected to Attend Think Tank with Dr. Vincent Felitti, Co-Principal Investigator of the ACE Study; Expert on ACEs Science
Leaders from across the Sunshine State will take part in a “Think Tank” in Naples, FL, on Monday, August 6, to help create a more trauma-informed Florida. The estimated 350 attendees will include policy makers and community teams made up of school superintendents, law enforcement officers, judges, hospital administrators, mayors, PTA presidents, child welfare experts, mental health and substance abuse treatment providers, philanthropists, university researchers, state agency heads, and...
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States That Raise the Age See Less Recidivism, Cost Savings, JPI Report Says [JJIE.org]
More states are getting rid of laws that automatically bump teenagers from juvenile courts when they reach a certain age, abandoning a model of punishment proven to be expensive, ineffective and not flexible enough to improve outcomes for offenders or society, a new study says. The Justice Policy Institute focused on national trends and on what it called positive results in states that have most vigorously adopted policies designed to help teenagers and not send them to adult prisons.
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Stopping School Pushout for: Girls Involved in the Juvenile Justice System (nwlc.org)
Girls are the fastest growing population in the juvenile justice (JJ) system, with girls of color, LGBT and gender nonconforming youth, and girls with disabilities being overrepresented relative to school enrollment or share of the overall population. For instance, Black girls make up 15 percent of girls enrolled in public schools but 30.8 percent of girls in juvenile justice center schools. Girls who enter the juvenile justice system are likely to have suffered sexual abuse, violence, and...
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Supporters Gear Up for New California Law That Eliminates Direct File [JJIE.org]
A new California law that gives all juveniles the right to a hearing before they can be transferred to adult court will require training and vigilance across the state to put in place, supporters say. Among the many boxes to check off: Many defenders, prosecutors and judges have to learn how to apply the law’s intricacies. The juvenile system as a whole has to prepare to offer services to teenagers who likely would have ended up in adult prison. And the legal community will have to grapple...
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The Art of Using Film to Transform the Lives of Formerly-Incarcerated Youth (nationswell.com)
A New York City documentary center allows those that rarely have a voice to speak freely — provoking viewers to confront misconceptions and wrongly-made assumptions. Comics, with their rowdy action boxed within firm, familiar lines and violence reduced to harmless bams, thwacks and kapows, give Mario Rivera the ability to escape from reality. “When you’re reading the comic book, you’re no longer thinking about your problems,” says Rivera, a 24-year-old New Yorker who served time in prison...
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The Broadway Theater Company Giving Troubled Teens a Second Act (dailygood.org)
Stargate Theatre pays at-risk youth to script and stage performance pieces. Their aim: to reduce recidivism, teach literacy and provide work experience that looks far better on a CV than jail time. An alternative-to-incarceration program recommended Thompson to Stargate, a pilot project founded last year by the prestigious Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC), which produces Broadway and Off-Broadway plays. The unconventional Stargate theater troupe pays “court-involved” and at-risk teenage boys...
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The Fine Print in New York’s Raise the Age Law [TheMarshallProject.org]
After decades of debate, New York this week raised the age at which juveniles are automatically tried as adults, from 16 to 18. It was one of the last states in the country to make the shift — and it was hailed as a triumph. “This is one of the strongest raise the age bills passed to date,” said Marcy Mistrett, C.E.O. of the Campaign for Youth Justice, a national advocacy group that fought for the change in New York and is still working on a similar bill in North Carolina, now the only...
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The Forgotten Ones: New Jersey’s Locked-up Girls [JJIE.org]
Have you heard of the Bordentown School ? Founded by the Rev. Walter Rice, Bordentown — officially named the New Jersey Industrial and Manual Training School for Colored Youth — was a co-ed public boarding school for black students, run by the state of New Jersey between 1886 and 1955. Dubbed the “ Tuskegee of the North ,” after Booker T. Washington’s Tuskegee Institute, the exclusive school focused on preparing young black men and women to be future leaders, emphasizing vocational training...
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The Importance of Connection | Alissa R. Ackerman | TEDxCSULB (www.YouTube.com) & Commentary
Cissy's note: The TedTalk below is given by one of my good friends, Alissa. When she first told me about the restorative justice work she was doing with Dr. Jill Levenson, speaking with convicted of sexual offending, where she shared about her experiences as a survivor of sexual assault, (aka, without her "professional shield," as she says), I was concerned. Was it safe, wise, and helpful? What would the impact be on her? Part of me felt that it's not the place of survivors to help...
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The Impressive Top-to-Bottom Makeover of the Massachusetts Juvenile Justice System (NationSwell.com)
In Massachusetts, which created the nation’s first juvenile correctional system around 1846 , the punitive model common to most states persisted for a century and a half. In the late 1990s, however, a group of fed-up employees teamed up to reform youth courts, juvenile detention facilities and probation offices from within. While much of the country continues to arrest more than 1.02 million children every year, Massachusetts reduced the number in custody down to a daily average of about 190...