Tagged With "Foster Care System"
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Suicides in California Prisons Rise Despite Decades of Demands for Reform [sfchronicle.com]
By Jason Fagone and Megan Cassidy, San Francisco Chronicle, September 29, 2019 The suicide rate inside California prisons, long one of the highest among the nation’s largest prison systems, jumped to a new peak in 2018 and remains elevated in 2019, despite decades of effort by federal courts and psychiatric experts to fix a system they say is broken and putting lives at risk, a Chronicle investigation has found. Last year, an average of three California inmates killed themselves each month...
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Surviving all the way to college: Pathways out of one of America’s most crime ridden cities [Journal of Interpersonal Violence]
photo: Daniel Case/ CC "The purpose of this study is to better understand the factors and processes related to resilience of youth who are among the most at risk for academic failure and involvement in the criminal justice system. To address the research questions about resilience and risk, in-depth interviews were conducted with a racially and ethnically diverse sample ( N = 146) from one of the “most dangerous” cities in America. To obtain an objective assessment of risk, crime data were...
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System Changes Could Improve Relationships between Incarcerated Mothers and Their Children [chapinhall.org]
By Amy Dworsky, Colleen Schlecht, Gina Fedock, et al., Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, March 2020 The dramatic increase in the number of women in state and federal prisons in recent decades has led to calls for gender-responsive policies and practices that address the needs and circumstances of incarcerated women and recognize the central role that motherhood plays in many incarcerated women’s lives. This brief describes the results of a project undertaken by researchers from...
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The case for capping all prison sentences at 20 years [vox.com]
America puts more people in jail and prison than any other country in the world. Although the country has managed to slightly reduce its prison population in recent years, mass incarceration remains a fact of the US criminal justice system. It’s time for a radical idea that could really begin to reverse mass incarceration: capping all prison sentences at no more than 20 years. It may sound like an extreme, even dangerous, proposal, but there’s good reason to believe it would help reduce the...
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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 law said an ex-felon couldn’t be a nurse. So this single mom got the law changed. (washingtonpost.com)
When Lisa Creason was a 19-year-old single mom, she robbed a Subway shop. Or, at least, she tried to. One evening in 1993, she walked in without a plan, without an ultimatum, and demanded money from the cash register. When she was denied, she took off. That spontaneous decision, which she said she made out of desperation to provide for her baby girl, would cost her for the next two decades. But it never defined her. On Thursday, Creason, now a 43-year-old mother of three and a nursing school...
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The Legislative Primer Series on Front-End Justice: Young Adults in the Justice System (ncsl.org)
Overview This report is part of a series that explores policies that impact the front end of the criminal justice system. Each brief looks at who is entering the “front door” of the criminal justice system and gives examples of legislation, national initiatives, best practices, promising programs, and key research on timely issues. The series provides legislatures with the tools they need to consider cost-effective policies that protect public safety. Young adults , ages 18-24, represent...
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The Most Successful Prison System in the World is Also the Most Radically Humane (wake-upworld.com)
“Every inmate in a Norwegian prison is going back to the society. Do you want people who are angry — or people who are rehabilitated?” ~ Are Hoidel, Director of Norway’s Halden Prison. A Revolutionary Model While the typical prison in the U.S. relies heavily on concrete, coils of razor wire, barren land free of any trees or plant life and lethal electric fences, along with towers manned by snipers, a maximum security correctional facility two hours north of Oslo, Norway has stunned...
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The Problems With California’s Broken Bail System Are Vividly Illustrated As A 26-Year-Old Pregnant Mother Is Bailed Out Of An LA Jail For Mother’s Day (witnessla.com)
Since its inception in May 2017, the #FreeBlackMamas program has spread to an impressive number of cities across the nation. According to program organizers, in slightly more than one year, over 14,000 people have donated to bring nearly 200 mothers home to their families and communities in the cities of Oakland, Los Angeles, St. Petersburg, Montgomery, Memphis, Durham, Atlanta, Houston, New York City, Little Rock, Charlottesville, Charlotte, Kinston, Birmingham, Baltimore, Philadelphia, St.
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The Regulated Classroom Goes to California
Have you ever had the experience of becoming the living embodiment of an illustrated children’s book character? Yeah, that’s happened to me. I am Froggy. The Froggy that goes to school Froggy. In the children’s story, Froggy feels anxious about his first day of school. His healthy and natural nervousness (the body’s stress response system is activated by novelty) manifests in his dream. In his dream, he misses the bus and shows up to class in his underwear. I am feeling “Froggy.” Two...
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The Unfinished Business of Juvenile Justice [JJIE.org]
Lawmakers in New York, North Carolina, Missouri and Texas are currently debating proposals that would move 16- or 17-year-olds (or both) out of the adult criminal justice system and into the juvenile court. This development comes after seven states raised their age of jurisdiction over the past decade. In those states, as a result, half the number of youth who were previously automatically sent to adult courts now appear before a juvenile court judge — an outcome that increases the...
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The unsung heroes of Oakland's drastic decline in gun homicides (theguardian.com)
There is a saying, made famous by the criminal justice reformers Glenn Martin and Piper Kerman, that those closest to the problem are closest to the solution, but are also furthest from the resources and power to address it. For Sherman Spears, his own experience of being shot and treated at a local Oakland hospital was a turning point in his life. He founded Youth Alive!’s Caught in the Crossfire , the first hospital-based violence intervention program . It has become a national model to...
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These Photos Show What Life Is Like for Girls in Juvenile Detention (Mother Jones)
The number of kids entering the juvenile justice system has declined steadily in recent years, yet girls continue to represent an ever-growing share of those arrested, detained, and committed to custody. In his latest collection of...
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Thoughts on creating ‘restorative justice’ (modbee.com)
(Image Credit: shellyduffer.com) Restorative justice, which has been in the news lately , includes some interesting concepts about bringing criminals face to face with their victims to show them the impact of their crimes. The theory is that meeting those victims and hearing what they have suffered can lead to conciliation – or a coming to terms about what happened. When it works, restorative justice helps the offender take responsibility for his or her actions, possibly out of remorse or an...
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Throwaway Kids: 'We are sending more foster kids to prison than college’ (kansascity.com)
For the past year, The Kansas City Star has examined what happens to kids who age out of foster care and found that, by nearly every measure, states are failing in their role as parents to America’s most vulnerable children. https://www.kansascity.com/news/special-reports/article238206754.html Read more here: https://www.kansascity.com/news/special-reports/article238206754.html#storylink=cpy
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TIC: News and Notes for the Week of October 21, 2019 [dhs.wisconsin.gov]
ACEs, Adversity's Impact There is only one boat: The myth of normalcy by Dr. Gabor Mate Understanding historical trauma to strengthen community Childhood trauma linked to early, premarital childbirth and poor health for women Early life racial discrimination linked to depression, accelerated aging When mothers are killed by their partners, children often become 'forgotten' victims. It's time they were given a voice Children's language skills may be harmed by social hardship Does racism...
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Top Trends in State Criminal Justice Reform, 2019 [sentencingproject.org]
From The Sentencing Project, January 2020 The United States is a world leader in incarceration and keeps nearly 7 million persons under criminal justice supervision. More than 2.2 million are in prison or jail, while 4.6 million are monitored in the community on probation or parole. More punitive sentencing laws and policies, not increases in crime rates, have produced this high rate of incarceration. Ending mass incarceration will require changing sentencing policies and practices, scaling...
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Top Trends in State Criminal Justice Reform, 2019 [sentencingproject.org]
From The Sentencing Project, January 2020 The United States is a world leader in incarceration and keeps nearly 7 million persons under criminal justice supervision. More than 2.2 million are in prison or jail, while 4.6 million are monitored in the community on probation or parole. More punitive sentencing laws and policies, not increases in crime rates, have produced this high rate of incarceration. Ending mass incarceration will require changing sentencing policies and practices, scaling...
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Trauma informed education in juvenile justice settings
Jane Stevens contacted me about posting our presentation delivered at the correctional educators conference this last spring. We have been delivering online professional development to all of the educators in the Ohio Juvenile Justice setting in order...
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Trauma Informed Services to End Mass Incarceration [ACLU N CA]
Sammy A. Nuñez was born into deep poverty in an abusive household. One of his earliest memories includes waking up to his mother’s blood dripping on his face as his step father beat her. This life of fear, anxiety, and trauma would form a child full of anger who would go on to replicate the violence that he had witnessed at home. The education system failed to step in and counsel a child in pain , and instead Sammy was pushed out from school and further down the road toward incarceration.
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Treat Historic Trauma to Rehabilitate Prisoners, Psychologists Say [belfasttelegraph.co.uk]
By Tess de la Mare, Belfast Telegraph Digital, January 2, 2020 The traumatic histories of offenders stuck in the prison system should be treated as a public health issue to break cycles of offending, psychologists working with inmates have said. But despite the often complex histories of violent offenders, in the UK’s squeezed prison system there are limited resources available for rehabilitation. Forensic psychologist Dr Naomi Murphy runs a five-year intensive psychotherapy programme for...
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Virginia Suburb Shows That Diversion, Victim-centered Agreements Work [jjie.org]
Over the last several years, the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court (JDRDC) of Fairfax County, Va., has been working on transformative efforts around juvenile justice in an effort to keep low-risk youth from entering the system and address disparities for youth of color. One large area targeted by these efforts was the diversion programming and Juvenile Intake Office. In Virginia, intake officers are decision-makers. It is their responsibility to review charges from petitioners...
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We Need to Understand How to Provide Trauma-Informed Care [JJIE.org]
The philosophy of trauma-informed care is becoming more and more embedded in the philosophies and practices of child-serving agencies. When a child experiences a single traumatic event and is fortunate enough to be surrounded by supportive and nurturing adults, that trauma can generally be assessed and usually treated effectively with the help of parental support. When a traumatized child responds with internalized distress such as sadness, depression or anxiety, our systems appear to...
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Why Focus on Resilience? 2019 BPT Conference Big Idea Session with Teri Barila
“There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in” -Desmond Tutu. This quote captures the essence of why resilience matters. To Community Resilience Initiative, Resilience is not about “lifting yourself up by your bootstraps” or “bouncing back” from serious harm or injury. To us, Resilience is about self-discovery and self-awareness based on what the ACE Study, neurobiology, and epigenetics tell us...
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Why Jails Are Booming (citylab.com)
A new report from the Prison Policy Initiative shows that the populations of local jails are swelling for reasons that have little to do with crime. State prison rates have come down modestly overall, reports the Sentencing Project , and some states can boast double-digit decreases since the turn of the century. City and county jails, meanwhile, have been bloating. Roughly two-thirds of states have seen jail populations at least double since 1983 a dozen have seen jail populations triple.
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Young Adult Court: Ending Mass Incarceration with Trauma Informed Criminal Justice
The last two decades have given rise to a body of research establishing that young adults are fundamentally different from both juveniles and older adults in how they process information and make decisions. The prefrontal cortex of the brain — responsible for our cognitive processing and impulse control — does not fully develop until the early to mid-20s. At the same time that young adults are going through this critical developmental phase, many find themselves facing adulthood without...
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YPD hosts specialized training for over 170 officers and advocates
I had the chance to attend a training for law enforcement and others, described below, in Yarmouth, MA, a few weeks ago. The presentation, "Trauma Informed Response Training for Law Enforcement & Multi Disciplinary Team Members," was given by retired detective Justin Boardman . Boardman was joined in the morning by the chief domestic violence prosecutor of the Cape & Islands, Michael Patterson. Here is a news story excerpt about the training from the Cape Cod newsletter (yes, the...
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Zuckerberg-Backed Data Trove Exposes the Injustices of Criminal Justice (wired.com)
AMY BACH WAS Â researching her book about the US court system when she met a woman named Sharon in Quitman County, Mississippi. One July day in 2001, Sharon said, her boyfriend took her under a bridge and beat her senseless with a tire iron. Sharon passed out numerous times before her niece intervened and stopped the man from killing her. In photos from the emergency room after the attack, Sharon's brown, almond-shaped eyes are swollen shut. She reported the crime to the police, who wrote up...
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Re: Trauma Informed Education in Juvenile Justice
Here is the powerpoint I delivered. The presentation when well. Lots of interest. I am working with a professional development organization called PESI. They are a non-profit corporation that delivers a lot of professional development. I have my original course on supporting and educating traumatized students submitted to them and it should be available in less than two weeks
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Re: Trauma Informed Education in Juvenile Justice
Jennifer Thank you for your interest in our work Hi Robert, I'd like to hear more about this effort -- specifically, when you say 'educators' do you mean staff who teach within the detention facility? Most of the individuals who took the training are direct teaching staff. Many counselors and administrators took the training as well. And, were any of the detention staff trained in TI as well? What do you mean by TI? No no detention staff were trained. The focus was on improving teacher...
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Re: Policy
Hi Margaret, I'm assuming you're looking for Trauma-Informed policies as it relates to Criminal Justice. There have been some Crim. Jus. posts in the ACEsConnection.com/Blog, that I've seen,which may have links in the Blog to the story post, such as the Trauma-Informed programming in the Hawaii Women's Prison. The California [Men's] Honor Prison in Los Angeles utilized Trauma-Informed programming, while it was operational. I don't know if it still is. Prisoners there, voluntarily renounce...
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Re: Without access to credit, ex-cons may return to lives of crime [thehill.com]
I too am an ex-offender and when I got out of prison...I cleaned up my credit, bought a home, started a non-profit, finished school, received a Masters and 2 State of WA, Dept of Health licenses to provide Therapist guidance in Mental Health & Addiction. I also started this journey after I swallowed a 1/4 ounce of crack cocaine and called on God to save me, after 9 days out of Prison. Here is a Link to the story they wrote about me: https://www.seattlepi.com/loca...n-s-list-1206233.php I...
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Re: Without access to credit, ex-cons may return to lives of crime [thehill.com]
Alfred, thank you for sharing a glimpse into your life. You have so much to teach all of us! Please consider sharing parts of your story on our home page. Our hope is that members of ACEs Connection feel safe and supported enough to share how the adverse childhood experiences they experienced impacts or impacted their life. Your road to recovery is a riveting story just waiting to be shared! No pressure at all, just a nudge. Karen
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Re: How to Build a Better Jail (nationswell.com)
I had the pleasure some years ago, of working with an architect who had previously been on the staff of the National Clearinghouse on Criminal Justice Planning and Architecture, at the University of Illinois-Champaign/Urbana, which was contracted by the Justice Department to develop National Standards for new prison/jail construction and programming. With the subsequent advent of 'trauma-informed care' and our better understanding of the role of ACEs, I wondered what changes might be...
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Re: Proposition 47: A failure to learn history’s lesson (sacbee.com)
Anna, I'm saddened to hear of this gentleman's pain and our systems not supporting his healing. Every "system" should intentionally focus on supporting who they serve heal. Every professional who supports humanity should have their system support their own well being with compassion. Every individual deserves hope... I'm uplifted knowing all of our 12,000 + ACEs Connection members, and many others, are on the front line of systems change and creating cultures of caring. We've come a long...
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Re: Humboldt County Jail speaker series aims to inspire inmates (kiem-tv.com)
Congratulations Robert! Tremendously exciting to hear of you becoming a VISTA and a Toastmaster! Collaborating closely with many re-entry folks over the years who've been incarcerated and are now transforming lives and communities through modeling and mentoring others, I'm continually inspired by their wisdom and heart-based leadership. Always sharing with them the power of their voice , the most inspirational words and insights come from those with lived experiences. And I just love the...
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Re: YPD hosts specialized training for over 170 officers and advocates
How did I miss this? It certainly can be, there are a few different ideas around the interview process in the Justice System. I'd be happy to explain. Just too much to write. One of the problems is getting in front of people is smaller areas. The Justice System and especially Law Enforcement don't have funding to do the right thing. Crazy as that sounds, in fact, it is mostly the Community Non-Profits that hire me to speak to their Law Enforcement. Let me know if you would like to chat...
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Re: For Male Victims Of Child Sexual Abuse, Untreated Trauma Can Lead To Run-Ins With The Law (wpin.org)
Overseeing development of the first Day Reporting Center in the state of TN which went on to be acquired and replicated by the TN Dept of Corrections was a tremendous honor to me. During that time I learned many involved in the justice system have histories of childhood trauma. Thank you for sharing this story and the wonderful work this gentleman is now doing to mentor other youth! Trauma is not an excuse for drugs or crime but it offers an explanation for it.
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Re: Putting Their Prison Pasts Behind Them (nationswell.com)
That's fantastic, Becky! Thank you for forwarding to one of the Assistant Commissioners of state corrections! Please consider inviting them to join our ACEs in Criminal Justice community on ACEs Connection. With so many solutions shared in many communities and criminal justice systems (such as, the most humane prison in our world - Norway prison system ), learning from so many innovative approaches, and community-driven solutions, the site would also benefit profoundly from the Assistant...
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Re: Banning in-person jail visits is foolish and needlessly cruel (latimes.com)
Yes... absolutely concurring with you Rick. Individuals who are incarcerated need opportunities to heal, within the system and when they return to their community. It's heartbreaking to realize how many sons and daughters are treated as caged animals. Knowing there are pockets of hope and healing with the criminal justice system, my hope is all of our collective synergy and momentum will support the transformation of the justice systems (juvenile and adult, courts, jails, prisons, detention...
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Will the Coronavirus Make Us Rethink Mass Incarceration? (newyorker.com)
For decades, community groups have pointed out the social costs of mass incarceration: its failure to address the root causes of addiction and violence; its steep fiscal price tag; its deepening of racial inequalities. The coronavirus pandemic has exposed another danger of the system: its public-health risks. In April, the American Civil Liberties Union worked with epidemiologists and statisticians to show that, without protective measures in jails and prisons, including rapid reductions in...
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"How to talk policy and influence people": a Law and Justice interview with Fritzi Horstman
In this "How to talk policy and influence people" interview with Fritzi Horstman, founder and CEO of the Compassion Prison Project (see http://compassionprisonproject.org/), we discuss childhood trauma, the significance of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) science, offending behaviour, addiction, violence and the fact that the men and women who end up in prisons are often among the most traumatized members of any society. We talk about the power of the "Step Inside the Circle"...
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Proposition 47 and Racial Disparities in California [ppic.org]
From Public Policy Institute of California, June 16, 2020 About the Program While the COVID-19 pandemic has required changes to law enforcement and correctional policies, widespread protests over the police-involved deaths of African Americans have intensified concern about racial and ethnic disparities in our criminal justice system. In recent years, California has implemented significant reforms that, while not motivated by racial disparities, are narrowing them. PPIC researcher Brandon...
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California jail population plummets during the pandemic. Could this lead to long-term change? [sacbee.com]
By Jason Pohl, The Sacramento Bee, May 27, 2020 California’s long history of altering its criminal justice system — from requiring life in prison for third-strike offenders to reducing the punishment for hundreds of crimes — is having another moment that could dramatically alter how the state locks people up. In a seismic, almost overnight shift, California has jailed 21,700 fewer people — nearly one-third of its daily population — in county lockups since the new coronavirus hit the state.
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Stepping Up: A National Initiative to Reduce the Number of People with Mental Illnesses in Jails
The Stepping Up initiative recently celebrated 500 counties joining the national movement to reduce the number of people with mental illnesses in jails. Four years ago, The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center , the National Association of Counties (NACo), and the American Psychiatric Association Foundation (APA Foundation) launche d Stepping Up in response to a public health crisis: the disproportionate number of people in jail who have mental illnesses. The human toll of this...
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Barton: Address childhood trauma for criminal justice reform (The Times)
By Kevin Barton, July 1, 2020, The Times. 'By the time a crime is committed and a victim is harmed, the root causes of that crime may have occurred long ago.' It is impossible to work within our American criminal justice system and witness the events over the past several months without asking whether there is a better way of doing things. The disparities that we see throughout society in areas such as education, housing and healthcare are even more apparent when viewed through the lens of...
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New episode of Transforming Trauma! Compassion Prison Project: Bringing Trauma-informed Care into the Prison System with Fritzi Horstman
Transforming Trauma Episode 017: Compassion Prison Project: Bringing Trauma-informed Care into the Prison System with Fritzi Horstman In this episode of Transforming Trauma, our host Sarah Buino is joined by Fritzi Horstman, Founder and Executive Director of the Compassion Prison Project . Through her work, Fritzi aims to bring trauma-informed care to a population in high need of trauma healing and not likely to receive it: men and women in prison. Sarah and Fritzi discuss Adverse Childhood...
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Newsom to release 8,000 prisoners in California by August amid coronavirus outbreaks [sfchronicle.com]
By Jason Fagone, Megan Cassidy, and Alexei Koseff, San Francisco Chronicle, July 10, 2020 Gov. Gavin Newsom will release approximately 8,000 people incarcerated inside California’s prison system by August, in a move that comes amid devastating coronavirus outbreaks at several facilities and pressure from lawmakers and advocates. The releases, which were announced just before noon Friday, will come on a rolling basis, and they’ll include both people who were scheduled to be freed soon as well...
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California reaches milestone with ACEs initiatives pulsing in all 58 counties. Next: All CA cities.
Karen Clemmer, the Northwest community facilitator with ACEs Connection, was already deeply interested in the CDC/Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study when she and a colleague from the Child Parent Institute were invited to lunch by ACEs Connection founder and publisher Jane Stevens in 2012. But that lunch meeting changed everything. Karen Clemmer “Jane helped us see a bigger world,” says Clemmer. “She came with a much wider lens. She didn’t look only at Sonoma County, she...
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A year without visits: COVID-19’s impact on children with incarcerated parents (North Carolina Health News)
By Hannah Critchfield, July 16, 2020, NC Health News. Correctional facilities throughout the state have shut down in-person visitations to help quell the spread of COVID-19, creating one more roadblock for kids trying to navigate the criminal justice system to stay connected with a parent. In any other year, on Father’s Day, 11-year-old Marley Bennett and her grandmother would pack up their pre-made lunches and drive to Orange Correctional Center for a visit with Marley’s father. They’d sit...