Models for Change

06/12/2017

How do we protect the successes of juvenile justice reform?

A new brief looking at the challenges facing reform work calls out the need for sustaining a network of collaborators, vigilance regarding changes in society that may require adaptations, and how successful reforms can themselves create unexpected vulnerabilities.

http://modelsforchange.net/publications/856

The mid-1990s saw the beginning of resistance to the punitive reform in juvenile justice that had gripped the nation for about ten years. A new perspective on juvenile justice arose, acknowledging that adolescents needed a different response to their offending than for adults. The reform proposed th...

09/09/2016

Fines, fees and restitution mandates are levied on juvenile offenders to varying degrees in every state, a new national survey of these practices has found. The effects are greatest on the poor and racial minorities, creating a two-tiered system of justice, according to the report, published by the Juvenile Law Center a legal aid and advocacy group in Philadelphia.

In juvenile systems intended to help wayward youths go straight, the study found, these costs are often counterproductive, drawing young people, especially poor minorities, ever deeper into the maze of criminal courts and straining already-fragile families.

Fees and fines are levied on young offenders in every state but have an outsize effect on racial minorities and the poor, creating a two-tiered system of justice.

07/12/2016

For our children who sleep in adult jails and prisons, the deprivation of liberty extends far beyond the restrictions on their movement. Despite being treated as adults in the criminal courts, children under 18 who are prosecuted as adults are hypocritically denied the freedoms granted by adulthood (voting, serving in the military, living independent of their parents, completing compulsory education, etc.). This inconsistency begs the question: Is incarceration itself the punishment, or are we sanctioning further punishment once children are incarcerated? Sadly, the answer is the latter.

At our country’s 240th birthday, I am reminded of our forefathers’ preamble to the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the...

07/05/2016

Maryland's second-highest court has ruled that youths should not appear shackled in juvenile courtrooms, a decision that cements long-standing efforts to curb the controversial practice.

In a unanimous decision this week, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals issued the first order requiring judges and magistrates to unshackle youths during juvenile court proceedings unless the person poses a security threat.

Maryland's second-highest court has ruled that youths should not appear shackled in juvenile courtrooms, a decision that cements long-standing efforts to curb the controversial practice.

06/27/2016

Youth in the juvenile justice system often have been exposed not only to multiple types of interpersonal victimization — polyvictimization — but also to other childhood adversities (such as separation from or impaired relationships with biological parents and family). In total, this more than doubles the number of traumatized youth in juvenile justice programs (i.e., 67 to 75 percent) who need effective services in order to recover from not only PTSD but also for a wide range of related emotional, developmental, academic and behavioral problems (such as substance use, attention deficit, oppositional-defiant, affective, anxiety, dissociative, sexual, sleep and eating disorders, suicidality self-harm and exploitation [e.g., sexual trafficking]).

These stark facts have led to a national (and international) call to action in the past decade for juvenile justice systems to become “trauma-informed.” The 2012 report of the U.S. Attorney General’s Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence identified nine practical steps based on the experience of experts in law enforcement, the judiciary, juvenile justice services, child protective services, racial and ethnic disparities, and traumatic stress.

It is essential that trauma-informed reforms go beyond simply acknowledging that many justice-involved youth have been traumatized, and provide practical skills that adults and youths together can use.

06/21/2016

For 53-year-old Henry Smolarski, and thousands of others across the country, the work of Marsha Levick means he will not die in prison.

Smolarski has been incarcerated since he was 17. He is one of thousands of inmates who were given a life without parole sentence when they were juveniles—a sentence that was recently ruled unconstitutional based in large part on the work of Levick and the Juvenile Law Center, which she co-founded.

Although Levick's work regarding sentences for juveniles impacts thousands of inmates across the country, the results of her work have been felt most heavily in Pennsylvania, which is the state with the highest number of juveniles who were sentenced to life without parole, and in Philadelphia in particular, where about 300 inmates—the largest of any jurisdiction in the country—faced the now unconstitutional sentence.

For 53-year-old Henry Smolarski, and thousands of others across the country, the work of Marsha Levick means he will not die in prison.

06/16/2016

During our coverage of the Every Student Succeeds Act, we've focused on English-language learners, students of color, and students from disadvantaged economic backgrounds, among others. But the law also makes some noteworthy changes for a group of students that often gets ignored—those being educated in the juvenile-justice system.

Some of the key changes included in Title I Part D of the law are designed to help students who are transitioning out of juvenile justice back into traditional public schools, or trying to, at least. The transfer of credits and academic records is addressed. And there's a renewed emphasis in ESSA for those students to get on the same academic track as their peers in traditional public schools. Other outstanding issues, however, are not addressed in ESSA.

Key changes under the Every Student Succeeds Act aim to help students who are transitioning out of juvenile justice back to traditional public schools, or trying to at least.

06/16/2016

As Pride Month celebrations kick off this June, the National Juvenile Defender Center and the Movement Advancement Project are collaborating to elevate the experiences of le***an, gay, bisexual, transgender, q***r and/or questioning (LGBTQ) youth in the juvenile justice system. Research shows that LGBTQ youth are funneled into juvenile court at rates far higher than their peers—and the disparity is even more staggering for youth of color, who make up 85 percent of LGBTQ youth housed in secure detention.


Advocates and legislators nationwide are making exceptional headway to improve juvenile court policies around LGBTQ youth and end disproportionate contact with law enforcement and court systems. One crisis, however, remains largely unaffected: children’s access to counsel. In a juvenile justice system crippled by prejudice, a child’s attorney is the last—and sometimes only—line of defense against unfair treatment and senseless punishment.

This blog was co-authored by Christina J. Gilbert, Staff Attorney and Policy Counsel, National Juvenile ...

06/07/2016

Public servants responsible for making laws and interpreting them, our legislators and judges, are prone to “rational lies” when there is an existing bent of mind on a particular subject. For some that disposition, if not the truth, will never be straightened out, regardless of how much truth is flung at them.

When this occurs, we abandon our own independent judgment to chase judgments that tend to promote our own self-interests, whether political, social, religious, economic or whatever. Among some of these public servants are those who have convinced themselves that their rational lies are the truth.

And when this occurs, the odds of reversing this disease I call “rationalitis” is almost nonexistent. There is no medicine for this disease. The reasons Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, gives for being the sole dissenter holding up the passage of the Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention Act reauthorization is a perfect example of rationalitis.

05/04/2016

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.”

Former Shawnee County Judge Jean Schmidt isn't interested in a quiet retirement.

04/26/2016

Under pressure from the courts to reduce his state’s prison population, California Gov. Jerry Brown has thrown his support behind a plan that’s likely to slash the number of teens who get prosecuted as adults.

If approved by voters, the Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act of 2016 would block district attorneys from charging a suspect under 18 as an adult. Instead, a judge would decide whether teens accused of a violent crime should stand trial as an adult.

Under pressure from the courts to reduce his state’s prison population, California Gov. Jerry Brown has thrown his support behind a plan that’s likely to slash the number of teens who get prosecuted as adults.

04/26/2016

Fortunately, some young people impacted by the justice system have been able to overcome reentry barriers and succeed. Last year, Robert F. Kennedy Juvenile Justice Collaborative featured some of these young people at the Congressional Black Caucus’s Annual Legislative Conference with honorary host Rep. William Lacy Clay of Missouri on a panel where young women and men detailed perspectives and best practices. These panelists, leaders in their respective communities, identified key aspects of youth reentry, including access to education and financial aid; medical care, including behavioral healthcare; and opportunities for job training and employment in a diverse range of careers. In addition to these more obvious reentry resources, the young panelists also described the importance of having caring adults involved in their lives upon reentry. Fostering such connections are crucial as we continue improving reentry prospects for young people across the country.

Emphasizing the significant barriers confronting women and men returning to their communities from incarceration, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch des...