The revisions contain significant juvenile justice reforms, including alternatives to detention for youth who have committed status offenses or who are classified as low-to-medium risk, increased emphasis on risk assessment, increased attorney presence throughout the entire sequence of juvenile proceedings, and a reclassification of designated felonies to include a separate “Class A” and "Class B," so that less serious offenses carry shorter maximum sentences.

Crafting the bill was a years-long and often painstaking process, says Polly McKinney of JUSTGeorgia. Striving for maximum transparency and stakeholder input, JUSTGeorgia advocates spent hundreds of hours collecting feedback, often working line-by-line in a room of up to fifty people.

McKinney commented, “Trying to get everybody on the same page--prosecutors, child advocates, judges. It takes a long time. And it takes good will. You hope that every piece of legislation you make as an advocate is able to incorporate the good will of everyone.” In the end, such efforts paid off: the bill passed both Georgia’s House and Senate unanimously, and was signed into law by Governor Deal on May 2, 2013. “To me,” says McKinney, “that’s such a beautiful legislative victory, because everybody voted yes.”

The rewrite, says Julia Neighbors, former project manager at JUSTGeorgia, represents a crucial shift in the thinking that informs juvenile justice policy. With the help of data from the Pew Center on the States and the Governor’s Criminal Justice Reform Council, drafters found that detaining youth was both costly and ineffective. "So we said, 'Let’s figure out a way to get the outcomes we want and keep kids in the community, so if we do detain youth, it should be only the highest-risk [youth],’” says Neighbors. “So that’s been a real shift in philosophy.” 

McKinney echoes this optimism in the changing logic behind juvenile justice legislation. “People are starting to see the importance of prevention. We have tons of correction, but the prevention side is where it needs to be happening. That’s how we can help these kids become productive adults. It’s a change from a model that deals with ‘bad kids’ to one that deals with ‘kids in trouble.’”

>>Click to read JUSTGeorgia’s full summary of the HB 242 reforms.

Photo: SeeMidTN.com (aka Brent), under Creative Commons license.

• The National Juvenile Defender Center released its report "Missouri: Justice Rationed: An Assessment of Access to Counsel and Quality of Representation in Juvenile Delinquency Court." The report identifies key barriers that prevent Missouri youth from accessing quality legal representation in Missouri. 
• "Family Comes First: A Workbook to Transform the Justice System by Partnering with Families," from the Campaign for Youth Justice, is the first comprehensive analysis of current family engagement and family partnership practices in juvenile justice systems across the country and provides practical tools and resources for juvenile justice system practitioners invested in undertaking a family-driven approach to juvenile justice. 
• Nicole Pittman at the Human Rights Watch challenges the view that registration laws and related restrictions are an appropriate response to sex offenses committed by children in her report, "Raised on the Registry: The Irreparable Harm of Placing Children on Sex Offender Registries in the US." 
• Finally, a concise, inspiring summary of the partnership between Models for Change and the state of Pennsylvania on reforming the state's juvenile justice system: "Pennsylvania and MacArthur's Models for Change: The Story of a Successful Public-Private Partnership."

What are the numbers in your state? In this webinar, staff from NJJN’s Fiscal Policy Center will help you find the answer, by reviewing our new step-by-step guide! Second in a series, the toolkit is intended to help reformers and policymakers craft cost-effective policies for youth in trouble with the law.

When: May 29, 2013, 11 am PST / 1 pm CST / 2 pm EST

>>Register here. 

>>Download "How to Calculate the Average Costs of Detaining a Youth."

Plus: Don't miss the first toolkit in the series, "How to Calculate the Cost of Youth Arrest."

Photo: Richard Ross.

When your juvenile justice system puts youth on probation, does it assess them for risk? If so, do staff know how to use these assessments effectively? Or do the assessments just sit in a file, waiting to be dusted off?   

Whether your agency or jurisdiction is trying to choose the right risk assessment tool, or it already has one in place, you'll find this webinar from the National Juvenile Justice Network (NJJN) helpful. Dr. Gina M. Vincent, leading author of Risk Assessment in Juvenile Justice: A Guidebook for Implementation, published in 2012 by Models for Change, gives an overview of the guide and how your jurisdiction can use it to do a better job of identifying youth needs and collecting hard clinical data to aid in resource planning.

The guide covers everything from the basic concepts of risk assessment and how to select an evidence-based assessment tool, to staff training and effective use of the assessment tool in court decision-making and case management practices.

Some topics the webinar will touch on:

• What do we mean by "risk"?
• What can risk assessments accomplish? What can't they accomplish?
• Is it necessary to separate risk assessments from needs assessments?
• What do we know about best practices for using risk assessments for pre-trial detention or community re-entry, instead of probation?
• What other policies and procedures need to be in place for successful risk assessment implementation in a system, especially probation?
• How does a jurisdiction engage stakeholders in the process?

WHO SHOULD WATCH THIS WEBINAR:  judges, district attorneys, and public defenders, as well as probation chiefs, agency administrators, and reform advocates interested in promoting evidence-based practices.
 
ABOUT THE PRESENTER:
Dr. Gina Vincent, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor and Director of Translational Law & Psychiatry Research in the Center for Mental Health Services Research in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA. She is also the Co-Director of the National Youth Screening & Assessment Project (NYSAP), one of the national technical assistance centers for the MacArthur Foundation's Models for Change Initiative – a national juvenile justice reform effort. Dr. Vincent has a young investigator's award from NIDA and has received funding from NIMH and the MacArthur Foundation for studies relevant to risk for reoffending, mental health problems, and substance abuse among youth involved in the juvenile justice system.
 
>> Watch the recorded webinar now.

>> View Dr. Vincent's slides (PPT show).

>> Get the NJJN policy update. 

The National Juvenile Justice Network and its partner, the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (JJIE.org), are launching a new online resource called the Juvenile Justice Resource Hub. The hub pulls together information and resources to provide a high-quality overview of key issues in juvenile justice, strategies for change, and resources that include research, toolkits, and links to national experts. It can be found at http://jjie.org/hub.

“We’re building the resource hub because we think it fills a need,” said Sarah Bryer, director of the National Juvenile Justice Network (NJJN). “We’d like it to be a starting point for advocates, policymakers, practitioners, and journalists – a place where you can get a quick overview of the issues, see what other communities are doing to reform the juvenile justice system, and learn where to go to get more information.” 

NJJN will serve as a curator and aggregator of research and resources, which will be made available on the hub. In turn, the hub is hosted by JJIE.org, published by the Center for Sustainable Journalism at Kennesaw State University. “This development solidifies JJIE.org’s role as the go-to source for news, information, and now layers of research into issues pertaining to youth and justice,” said Leonard Witt, executive director of the Center for Sustainable Journalism.

Much of the research and resources on the hub—though by no means all—have been produced as part of the  Models for Change initiative of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, which is funding the hub. Models for Change supports a network of government and court officials, legal advocates, educators, community leaders, and families working together to ensure that kids who make mistakes are held accountable and treated fairly throughout the juvenile justice process.

“All of the Foundation’s juvenile justice grants are aimed at generating momentum for change that makes juvenile justice more fair, effective, and reflective of the differences between kids and adults,” said Patrick Griffin, program officer for juvenile justice in U.S. programs at the MacArthur Foundation. “We’re supporting the partnership between JJIE and the National Juvenile Justice Network because we think that more and better information in the hands of the field and the public—particularly information about where and how and why change is happening around the country—will speed this process.”

This year, the Juvenile Justice Resource Hub will post material in the areas of mental health, indigent defense, evidence-based practices, aftercare, racial and ethnic fairness, and community-based alternatives for youth in trouble with the law. The first focus area to be published will be mental health. In months to come, the site will focus on issues such as why so many youth of color end up in the juvenile justice system, and why so few of them get appropriate legal counsel.

CONTACT
Benjamin Chambers
202-467-0864 x556
chambers AT njjn.org

Sarah Bryer
202-714-1162 (cell)    


(Washington, DC) The National Juvenile Justice Network (NJJN) responded today to the plan released by the National Rifle Association (NRA) to address school safety. NJJN says the NRA plan is a dangerous distraction that will leave schoolchildren unprotected.  

 “Our schoolchildren’s safety comes first. Putting the NRA in charge of school security is like putting McDonald’s in charge of school lunches: it may taste good, but it’s not nutritious. What we need is a complete set of tools to keep our kids safe and in schools that are conducive to learning,” said Sarah Bryer, Director of the National Juvenile Justice Network.

“Armed guards and metal detectors can’t detect kids with mental health problems,” said Jim Moeser, co-chair of NJJN. “The NRA may be good at training guards to handle weapons safely, but what we really need are school counselors and psychologists who can help build school environments in which no child is isolated or bullied, where every student is connected with caring adults.”

Many experts agree that armed guards don’t keep kids safe, including Larry Johnson, the president-elect of the National Association of School Safety and Law Enforcement Officials. School shootings are rare, and the students who commit such horrific acts often have significant mental health issues. They are not thinking rationally and they do not respond to the same deterrents that work for everyone else. Only by investing in school counselors and school psychologists who can better identify and help these troubled students can we reduce violence.

A truly successful path to safer schools—according to the U.S. Secret Service, the Department of Education, and the International Association of Chiefs of Police—would be to encourage school administrators and communities to develop prevention measures and crisis management plans. By establishing good communication within the school and community to identify and address potential threats, by creating a climate of connectedness within the school so that everyone feels that he or she belongs, and by providing support and mental health services for those who need them, schoolchildren, staff, and surrounding communities can create a recipe for genuine safety.

NJJN recommends that government and school officials take a comprehensive approach to addressing school violence that is proven to keep children, staff and communities safe.

***
The National Juvenile Justice Network is made up of 42 juvenile justice coalitions and organizations in 32 states that advocate for state and federal laws, policies and practices that are fair, equitable and developmentally appropriate for all children, youth and families involved in—or at risk of becoming involved in—the justice system. For more information, visit www.njjn.org.

>>Download a copy of this press release here -- with additional resources for the press.

Photo: SFView, under Creative Commons license.

RECORDED APRIL 9, 2013

Are you a juvenile justice reform advocate? In this webinar with Zoe Savitsky (see right), Trial Attorney in the Educational Opportunities Section of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and Barbara Briggs (below right), Senior Attorney at the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County, you can learn about DOJ's recent landmark settlement with the School District of Palm Beach County, Florida.
 
The settlement agreement stemmed from a Legal Aid complaint, which led to DOJ's investigation into whether the district's system of discipline discriminated against students based on national origin and limited English proficiency, in violation of their civil rights.
 
The settlement agreement will help the district create an inclusive and fair school discipline policy that, among other things:

• IL: Commission Recommends Moving all 17-Year-Olds into Juvenile Court
• NJJN Webinar - The Juvenile Defense Standards and Advocates
• (Almost) Everyone Is Hiring!

Plus, our don't miss our juvenile justice roundup:

• Get the 411 on youth arrest rates and state statutes. » Review it here.
• Looking to other states for inspiration on how to get wide-ranging juvenile justice reform legislation passed? The Schubert Center for Child Studies recently released a case study of how Ohio did just that. » Download The Bridge to Somewhere here. 
• New research on youth in detention from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), summarizing the Northwestern Juvenile Justice Project. The project is the first large-scale, prospective, longitudinal study of drug, alcohol, and psychiatric disorders in a diverse sample of juvenile detainees (in this case, from Cook County, IL). » Learn more here.
• On Mar. 1, 2013, The New York Times used the appointment of Robert Listenbee Jr. as the head of OJJDP to write an editorial making the case against locking up young people in trouble with the law. Even better: the Times cited the recent data snapshot from the Annie E. Casey Foundation's KIDS COUNT initiative, and Common Ground, a report released by the Justice Policy Institute (you can find both reports here).
• Are you a leader working in a field that serves youth in the juvenile justice system or youth at risk of ending up there? Apply now to attend a certificate program at the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform (CJJR) at Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute (first application deadline is Mar. 28). In addition to the week-long certificate programs in multi-systems integration it has offered in the past, CJJR now offers shorter certificate programs of intensive study in information sharing, youth in custody, and reducing racial and ethnic disparities in juvenile justice. » Learn more here.

• New KIDS COUNT Data Snapshot on Juvenile Incarceration. While the United States still leads the world in locking up its young people, a new KIDS COUNT data snapshot from the Annie E. Casey Foundation shows the nation's confinement rate is the lowest it has been in 35 years. However, racial disparities persist.

• Lessons Learned From Five States That Reduced Juvenile Confinement By More Than Half.   Common Ground, a new report from an NJJN partner, the Justice Policy Institute, looks closely at the states that have been the "top performers" in reducing their juvenile incarceration rates between 2001 and 2010 -- Connecticut, Arizona, Minnesota, Louisiana, and Tennessee.

• Juvenile Justice Reform In Connecticut: What's Worked. Juvenile Justice Reform in Connecticut: How Collaboration and Commitment Improved Outcomes for Youth, from the Justice Policy Institute,  takes a deeper look at Connecticut's juvenile justice system reforms, profiling the work of the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance, an NJJN member.

>> Download our bulletin on the three reports here.

• Michigan Judge Says ALL Youth Deserve Chance at Parole
• NJJN Applauds Choice of Listenbee to Lead OJJDP (see newsletter)
• NJJN Is Hiring
• NJJN "Pathways" Webinar Recording Now Available

Plus:

Megapalooza of Juvenile Justice Resources

• National Juvenile Defense Standards Released!
• Report Finds Colorado's Juvenile Defense System Wanting -- Makes Recommendations to Improve It
• Register Now for the Coalition for Juvenile Justice's Annual Conference
• Nationwide Survey Finds Police Officers Receive Almost No Training to Work with Juveniles
• Mississippi School Crisis, and Recommendations - New Report, "Handcuffs on Sucess"
• Advancement Project to Host Two Trainings for School-to-Prison Pipeline Activists
• Webinar on Family Engagement from OJJDP and National Center for Youth in Custody

Okay, "megapalooza's" not a word. But you get the idea: cornucopia. Embarrassment of riches. Gold mine. Wellspring. Treasure trove. Check it out:

1. Nationwide Juvenile Defense Standards Released. The National Juvenile Defender Center (NJDC) released the National Juvenile Defense Standards, a huge step forward in helping local jurisdictions define and support zealous advocacy for youth. The document was developed and published with the support of Models for Change.

The standards represent a comprehensive understanding of the role and duties of the juvenile defender in the 21st century juvenile court system, and seek to strengthen and guide the ethical and professional performance of the juvenile defense attorney. The standards present a national approach to ensuring zealous, competent and diligent defense practice in juvenile court and set out a framework for representation that is anchored in the law, science, and professional codes of responsibility.
 
Click to request a hard copy of the Standards.

2. NJDC also just released a comprehensive report on Colorado's juvenile defense system. Titled, Colorado: An Assessment of Access to Counsel and Quality of Representation in Juvenile Delinquency Court, The report identifies systemic and practice barriers to providing effective representation for children accused of crimes and makes recommendations for reform. Although specific to Colorado, other states may find much to learn from.

3. The Coalition for Juvenile Justice will be holding its annual conference May 1-4, 2013, in Washington, DC. Follow the link to:

•     submit a workshop proposal;
•     nominate someone for an award; or
•     register for the conference.

4. More police in schools? Not so fast, says Strategies for Youth (SFY). In its most recent report, If Not Now, When? A Survey of Academy Training in Juvenile Justice, the group reports on a nationwide survey it conducted that reveals that police recruits are not adequately trained to work with youth and are often unaware of the most effective, developmentally appropriate communication and intervention strategies.
 
The survey found that on average, the nation’s police academies’ training on juvenile justice and youth issues represents only one percent (1%) of total academy training hours, and is six hours in length. Police academies’ curricula focus almost exclusively on juvenile law. The survey found that most academies provide officers no information on juvenile brain development and its implications for youth conduct, or best practices for working with youth.
 
“In its recent decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court has acknowledged the proven differences between teen and adult brains, yet most police remain unaware of this information,” said Lisa Thurau, Executive Director of SFY. “This has serious implications for every police/youth interaction, from the escalation of minor confrontations, to the reading of Miranda rights and police interrogations.”

5. Looking for more resources on the Newtown tragedy? Congressman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott convened experts on preventing youth violence at a summit on Jan. 22, 2013. His office has posted a plethora of presentations, statements, and reports on the topic.

6. Mississippi schools have a crisis on their hands -- extreme, over-the-top disciplinary practices are pushing many students (the majority youth of color) into juvenile court. The Advancement Project, the Mississippi ACLU, and the Mississippi NAACP document the crisis and make recommendations to resolve it in a new report, Handcuffs on Success: The Extreme School Discipline Crisis in Mississippi Public Schools.

7. Want better skills to run an effective campaign to plug the school-to-prison pipeline? Consider enrolling in an ActionCamp 2.0, presented by The Advancement Project and several other organizations. You can choose to attend one in New Orleans, LA on April 19-21; or in Denver, CO on June 28-30.

8. Need help engaging families in reforming the juvenile justice system? Tune in on Feb. 13, 2013, 2pm - 3:30 pm EST, for a webinar titled, "Expanding on the Definition of Family and Engagement to Provide Better and More Effective Services."  

Description:  
This is the second webinar in a series sponsored by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the National Center for Youth in Custody. In the first webinar in this series, expert panelists addressed the importance of engaging with families to ensure positive outcomes for youth in the justice system.  Building on that theme, this webinar will explore the definition of “family,” discuss what it means for agencies and practitioners to meaningfully “engage” with families, and offer strategies for involving and empowering families of court-involved youth.  

Moderator:
Dr. Jeffrey Butts, Director of the Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York
 
Panelists:
Grace Bauer, Co-Director of Justice for Families
Mark Seymour, college student and youth advocate.

In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court prohibited mandatory sentences of life without parole for juveniles in Miller v. Alabama. Last fall, a Michigan state appeals court determined that Miller would apply almost exclusively to future cases, leaving most of the 356 individuals sentenced under the law no hope of parole.   

According to The Detroit News, O'Meara said that, "as a matter of law and morality," Miller should be retroactive. "To hold otherwise," he said, "would allow the state to impose unconstitutional punishment on some persons but not others, an intolerable miscarriage of justice." 

Photo: Scott Lenger, under Creative Commons license.

Research continues to show a youth's capacity for change—even among the most serious offenders—as seen in the results of the Pathways to Desistance Study (which was partially funded by Models for Change). The study is a comprehensive examination, over a seven-year period, of the life changes and criminal behavior in a group of over 1,300 adolescent youth who committed serious offenses.

In the webinar, Edward Mulvey, Ph.D., who leads the Pathways study, discusses how adolescents who commit serious offenses change as they enter early adulthood. The findings from this study so far have substantial implications for how we provide services to, and formulate policy for, these adolescents.

About the speaker: Dr. Mulvey is a Professor of Psychiatry and directs the Law and Psychiatry Program at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

» View the webinar recording here (Windows Media Player). Unable to view it? Right-click on the link, and click "Save as…" or "Save link as…" and save it to your hard drive, then view with Windows Media Player or other software.

» NJJN Video: Dr. Mulvey discusses what research has taught him about serious offenders.

» NJJN Fact Sheets: "Emerging Findings and Policy Implications from the Pathways to Desistance Study" and "The Truth About Consequences."

Photo: Eldeeem, under Creative Commons License. 

>> Download the National Juvenile Defense Standards.

>> Request additional support or a hard copy of the Standards.

• Maryland Advocates Stop Youth Jail
• National Task Force Releases "Defending Childhood" Report on Children & Violence (see link in newsletter)
• NJJN Is Hiring
• NJJN Speaks Out on Gun Violence Plan
• New Website Promotes Safe Communities (see link in newsletter)

Plus:

• Reminder: NJJN Webinar: What The Pathways To Desistance Study Means For Juvenile Justice
• Workshop: Building a Movement for Girls

Q: Who were your key partners in making this happen?

Too many to name here! But I really want to thank Advocates for Children & Youth, Public Justice Center, Community Law in Action, the Baltimore Algebra Project, and Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle.


Q: What was your biggest barrier, and how did you overcome it?

Probably public opinion … and we’re still working to get it turned all the way around, though we're definitely in a better position.

With these kids, once you start listing their charges, like murder and rape, people get turned off and think they're the worst-of-the-worst.

But then you explain that these are just charges, most kids haven’t been convicted, 70 percent of the cases are dismissed or sent back to juvenile system and fewer than 10 percent of the kids are convicted … That gets people to say, “Oh, I get it. This jail is a stupid idea.”

We had trouble getting media at first, so we did hardcore grassroots organizing. At one point, we were having community meetings twice a month. We went to the schools, churches, showed documentaries about what it was like inside the facility, met with legislators one-on-one, just kept it going. Then, when the media did show up, we tried to build relationships with certain reporters so they got facts right, and so on.

Q: What lessons would you share with other advocates?

The biggest thing is to keep going! Seriously, that's one of the biggest things: keep working, non-stop. Don’t let them tell you it's set in stone, that there’s nothing you can do. I don't know how many times we were told by government officials, legislators – even community members! – “It’s gonna happen, you can't stop it.” You just have to keep meeting and trying -- there's always a way!

Q: What's next?  

We are introducing legislation this session to changing the policy of automatically prosecuting kids as adults. We are still working to educate and organize the public, and are hopeful we will be victorious soon.

• recommendations to the Vice President's Task Force & Congress in response to the Newtown tragedy;
• resources on school safety, mental & behavioral health, violence prevention, intervention, and healing;
• articles, op-eds and press statements; and
• contacts for experts and organizations.  

Please post a link to your website and check back often for action alerts, and news updates. We'd appreciate if you would share this new resource with your networks!

(Washington, DC) The National Juvenile Justice Network applauds President Obama for his response to the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut and his genuine interest in addressing gun violence. Nevertheless, there is one piece of his plan that the National Juvenile Justice Network (NJJN) feels could have adverse effects on the safety and health of our nation’s students.

The President is calling for an increase in the use of school resource officers (SROs), and states that the existing COPS program resources could be reoriented to give police departments an incentive to hire up to 1,000 school resource officers and school-based mental health professionals. While an increase in counselors and mental health professionals in schools can do much to improve school climate and provide supports to teachers and school communities, research on the effectiveness of SROs is limited and mixed; several studies show that SROs have little to no impact on school crime and violence, and security guards may even lead to more disorder.¹   Worse yet, the presence of SROs in schools also leads to needless referrals of youth to court for minor school code infractions and can push youth onto a path of school failure and delinquency.²

In fact, the U.S. Secret Service and the Department of Education concluded in a study of all known school shootings between 1974 and 2000 that law enforcement personnel do not stop most school shootings. Instead, they found that “[m]ost school-based attacks were stopped through intervention by school administrators, educators and students-or by the attacker stopping on his own.” This is largely because these incidents are usually very short, many lasting 15 minutes or less.³

As a result, instead of increasing the number of SROs, schools should take a more effective—and less costly—approach to school security. For instance, some concrete steps can be taken to improve the security of school campuses by adding things like cameras, shatterproof glass, and security systems to protect children in school in ways that do not have the negative effects of SROs. A truly successful path to safer schools, however — according to the U.S. Secret Service, the Department of Education, and the International Association of Chiefs of Police — would be to encourage school administrators and communities to develop prevention measures and crisis management plans. When combined with good communication within the school and community to identify and address potential threats, a climate of connectedness within the school so that everyone feels that he or she belongs, and support and mental health services for those who need them, schoolchildren, staff, and surrounding communities can create a recipe for genuine safety.

According to the International Association of Chiefs of Police, prevention programs have broad benefits for students and school communities because they:

• lower rates of delinquency, disruptive behaviors, harassment, bullying, suicide, and all other forms of violence and antisocial behavior;
• increase the likelihood troubled youth will be identified and receive treatment;
• improve the learning environment by reducing intimidating, disruptive, and disrespectful behavior; and
• prepare communities for responding to not only shootings at schools, but also all other human-made and natural disasters.⁴

Given the potential negative effects of SROs on teen success in school and later life, the U.S. Department of Justice should require that:

• Any new SROs hired under the President’s proposal should have training on child and adolescent development and how to interact with children and teens.
• SROs should also receive specialized training in youth development, working with youth with disabilities, de-escalating potentially violent situations, and recognizing and assisting youth with mental health needs, including trauma.
• School officials and SROs should also clarify their roles and responsibilities through a formal memorandum of understanding that covers the broad spectrum of inappropriate youth behavior, with specific attention to what types of behavior truly necessitate a court referral. It should also be clear how SROs will communicate with school staff and administrators during an incident that threatens the safety of students and how to determine who is in charge during a crisis.
• Data on police activity and court referrals — broken down by race and ethnicity of students involved — should be collected and reported to state and local governments.
• School districts and local juvenile justice systems should be required to work together to minimize the use of police in student discipline, and the number of students suspended or expelled from school, especially for minor infractions.

NJJN strongly advises against any increase in SROs in schools and recommends that government and school officials take a sensible approach to addressing school violence that is proven to keep children, staff and communities safe.

>>Download NJJN's response to President's plan to address gun violence.

***
The National Juvenile Justice Network is made up of 43 juvenile justice coalitions and organizations in 33 states that advocate for state and federal laws, policies and practices that are fair, equitable and developmentally appropriate for all children, youth and families involved in—or at risk of becoming involved in—the justice system. For more information, visit www.njjn.org.

_____________________________

1. Justice Policy Institute, “Education Under Arrest: the Case Against Police in Schools” (November 2011):10-11, accessed January 7, 2013, http://www.njjn.org/uploads/digital-library/Education-Under-Arrest_JPI_Dec-20-2011.pdf.

2. Justice Policy Institute, “Education Under Arrest,” 13-20.

3. U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Education, Threat Assessment in Schools: a Guide to Managing Threatening Situations and to Creating Safe School Climates (Washington, D.C.: May 2002), at http://www.secretservice.gov/ntac/ssi_guide.pdf.

4. See the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Guide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence, 2nd Edition (2009):1, at http://www.theiacp.org/Portals/0/pdfs/schoolviolence2.pdf.

Photo: MGShelton, under Creative Commons license.

• Michigan Legislature Passes Two Key Reforms
• Institute Fellow Speaks Out About Downsizing In Maryland
• Child Welfare: Gateway To Juvenile Court For African-American Youth
• NJJN Webinar: What The Pathways To Desistance Study Means For Juvenile Justice

Plus:

• New OJJDP Bulletin: Transfer Of Juveniles To Adult Court
• Upcoming Webinars: Positive Approaches To School Discipline

Youth of color are overrepresented in both systems, but there’s been little research that links the two.  The December 2011 Models for Change Knowledge Brief, “Is There a Link between Child Welfare and Disproportionate Minority Contact in Juvenile Justice?” does just that.  Researchers looking at system data from Illinois found that:

• African-American youth are overrepresented in the child welfare system.
• African-American youth in the child welfare system are more likely to be arrested or detained when compared to other youth involved in child welfare.
• Child welfare youth are more likely to be formally processed in the juvenile justice system.
• What are the policy implications? Download the update to learn more!

>> Child Welfare and Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Juvenile Justice System