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PACEs in Youth Justice

Discussion of Transition and Reentry issues of out of home (treatment, detention, sheltered, etc.) youth back to their families and communities. Frequently these youth have fallen behind in their schooling, have reduced motivation, and lack skills to navigate requirements to successfully re-enter school programs or even to move ahead with their dreams.

Tagged With "Teen Court"

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Through Restorative Community Meetings, Juveniles Repair Harm And Avoid Lockup [WitnessLA.com]

Samantha Sangenito ·
In a new report , the non-profit Impact Justice explored the effects of a program in Alameda County that employs restorative justice techniques to keep juveniles out of lockup. Community Works West’s Restorative Community Conferencing (RCC) program diverts more than 100 young people away from the juvenile justice system each year, according to the report. The program brings the youth—supported by their family and community—face to face with their crime victims to engage in a dialogue to...
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Too young for juvie? California bill bars prosecution of kids under 12 [SacBee.com]

Samantha Sangenito ·
Sen. Holly Mitchell sits at her desk on the fifth floor of the Capitol and holds up a book. On the cover a small boy in oversized jeans and a Tommy Hilfiger T-shirt stands on a plastic milk crate, too small to reach, as a police officer presses the young child’s ink-soaked fingertips onto a piece of paper. “That image just stuck with me,” Mitchell said. The senator from Los Angeles is pushing a bill through the Legislature that would bar the state from prosecuting children under age 12. In...
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Trauma-informed Courts: How to Create One and Why You Should [jjie.org]

Marianne Avari ·
By Brenidy Rice and Judge Ann Gail Meinster, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, July 17, 2019. Modern courtrooms function more like emergency rooms than traditional courtrooms. The sound of the gavel replaces the siren. Clerks, judges and attorneys are the first responders while the podium becomes the center for the differential diagnosis and treatment. More than ever before, courts are inheriting and being asked to resolve fundamental societal issues that bring people into contact with...
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Trauma-Informed work within Legal/Courts Systems

Lisa Wright ·
Hi all & happy 2018! Our Greater Richmond TICN formed a Trauma-Informed Legal/Courts Committee two years ago with the intention of bringing a focus to professionals within the disciplines related to legal/courts (law enforcement, prosecutors, defense attorneys, sheriffs, judges, clerks, probation/parole officers, detention center staff). We know that these professionals are exposed to primary, secondary and vicarious trauma on a regular basis and acknowledged that training and supports...
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Trump Will Appoint Caren Harp to Lead Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (socialjusticesolutions.org)

President Trump announced his intention to appoint former Arkansas prosecutor Caren Harp to serve as administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the division of the Justice Department that oversees federal funding and standards related to juvenile justice. Harp has been an ardent supporter of the community prosecution model, which eschews adjudication as an end goal. According to Harp’s own work on the issue , community prosecution is defined by three things:...
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Virginia Suburb Shows That Diversion, Victim-centered Agreements Work [jjie.org]

Marianne Avari ·
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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Virginia Suburb Shows That Diversion, Victim-centered Agreements Work [jjie.org]

Marianne Avari ·
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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What Happens When Teens Run the Court (attn.com)

"From what I’ve seen, it’s really effective for youth to be able to understand what other youth are going through — and they really do have a personal understanding that adults may not be able to," Laura Cohen, a law professor who helps facilitate the teen court at Southwestern Law School, told ATTN:. "It’s a model that works." Michael Rubin, a former attorney who supervises the teen court at Fairfax High School, agreed that the model has been "extremely successful," noting that the juvenile...
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A Baby Court Offers Hope for Families [Kristof.Blogs.NYTimes.com]

Samantha Sangenito ·
As a family court judge in Flint, Michigan, I see poverty flood my courtroom in a vicious cycle of cases in dependency, delinquency, criminality, and then back to dependency. The mantra in family court is that no one should lose their kids because they’re poor. The sad reality is that this happens all too often when generational poverty creates what Nicholas Kristof calls a “broken class.” Many times it falls to the courts to fix families. It would be nice if it were easy. But often courts...
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A Community Garden Became an Alternative to Juvenile Detention [CityLab.com]

Samantha Sangenito ·
The first time Tatiana visited the Curtis “50 Cent” Community Garden in Jamaica, Queens, she didn’t want to touch the dirt. “It was scary,” she says. “I just had to stick my hand in real quick and get it over with.” That was around two years ago. Tatiana, then in 10th grade, had racked up around 200 absences at her nearby high school. She was failing all of her classes, and a handful of petty crimes had landed her in juvenile court. Through the Queens Youth Justice Center , an...
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A Court of Their Peers (northcoastjournel.com)

The judge is chewing gum. Her hair is piled in a messy bun on top of her head, where a pair of sunglasses also rests. She giggles shyly as she walks up to the podium and adjusts the microphone. Teen Court is now in session. A national diversion program, Teen Court is operated locally through the Boys and Girls Club of the Redwoods. The crime is real, the court is real and the sentence is real, although the emphasis is on rehabilitation rather than punishment. The goal is to steer young...
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A system of care for traumatized children (socialjusticesolutions.org)

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, and is an opportunity to highlight a system of care for those children victimized and traumatized by abuse. In Montana, a collaborative team (the Linking Systems of Care Committee) and in Virginia (the Partner Agency Team) is involved in The Linking Systems of Care for Children and Youth Demonstration project funded by the Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Victims of Crime . This unique project is designed to provide...
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A Trauma Primer for Juvenile Probation and Juvenile Detention Staff

Dr. Cathy Anthofer-Fialon ·
A Trauma Primer for Juvenile Probation and Juvenile Detention Staff August 12, 2015 Juvenile justice probation and detention workers play an important role in helping system-involved youth and families navigate justice and social service...
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Advocates Hope NY Court Ruling on Warrants for Foster Youth Leads to Reform [jjie.org]

Marianne Avari ·
NEW YORK — Christina Young remembers the day the cops came for her at school. She was 15 years old — a sophomore at Murry Bergtraum High School for Business in lower Manhattan. She and four of her friends were sitting together at a table in the school’s large and chaotic cafeteria. It was lunch time but they weren’t eating. They didn’t like eating lunch at school. They didn’t have a reason why really, they just didn’t like to. Instead they used the time to hang out, and listen to music on...
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Association of Childhood History of Parental Incarceration and Juvenile Justice Involvement With Mental Health in Early Adulthood (JAMA Open Access)

Karen Clemmer ·
Question Is a childhood history of parental incarceration and juvenile justice involvement associated with mental health conditions in early adulthood? Findings In this nationally representative cross-sectional study, young adults with a history of both parental incarceration and juvenile justice involvement reported more mental health conditions compared with peers with no justice system exposure during childhood. Meaning Parental incarceration and juvenile justice involvement may be...
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California would virtually eliminate money bail under proposed legislation (sacbee.com)

California lawmakers have unveiled a sweeping plan to overhaul pretrial release in the state that could virtually eliminate the use of money bail. Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-Los Angeles, and Assemblyman Rob Bonta, D-Alameda, introduced legislation last December to change a system they argue unfairly punishes the poor by keeping them stuck in custody if they cannot afford expensive bail rates. Updated with new details last Friday, the proposal envisions instead a system of risk assessment to...
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Can New Zeland Provide the U.S. With a Model for Juvenile Justice Reform [psmag.com]

Alicia Doktor ·
Skyrocketing incarceration rates, over-representation of ethnic minorities, a fixation on punishment rather than rehabilitation—this isn't describing the modern criminal justice system in the United States. It's New Zealand's in the 1980s. After watching its criminal justice system devour six times more indigenous Maori youth than their white counterparts, New Zealand passed the Children's and Young People's Well-Being Act in 1989. The legislation, which limited police power to arrest youth...
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Charging Youth as Adults has Public Health Impact, Report Says (socialjusticesolutions.org) 56 page report

Advocates in California say that for too long the hazardous health consequences of incarcerating juveniles in the state’s justice system have been obscured by overly punitive rhetoric around public safety. The authors describe a court process that offers few opportunities for youth to deal with childhood trauma that often leads to involvement with the justice system. When it comes to transfers of youth to the adult system, racial disparities are widespread . As a result, they say, high rates...
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Chronicle investigation spurs calls to close foster care shelters (sfgate.com)

The state attorney general's office is looking into hundreds of dubious arrests at California's shelters for abused and neglected children that were detailed last week in a San Francisco Chronicle investigative report . A County officials have called for immediate reviews of the newspaper's findings that shelter staff contacted the sheriff an average of nine times a day last year, with children booked at juvenile hall nearly 200 times in 2015 and 2016. The county shelters are the first stop...
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The Judge Who Helped Make Toledo Juvenile Justice Ready for Primetime (socialjusticesolutions.org)

Vice put juvenile justice front and center with a one-hour HBO documentary hosted by Michael K. Williams, star of the network’s acclaimed series “The Wire.” The special – Raised in the System – uses Lucas County, Ohio, as a primary example of a system trying to reduce the use of incarceration in working with juvenile offenders, limiting lockup to only the cases involving very high-risk youth. Denise Cubbon, lead judge of the Lucas County, Ohio juvenile court “Judge Cubbon and her team...
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Court Resources

Joanna Weill ·
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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Dayonn Davis Stole a Pair of Nikes. He’s Going to Prison for 5 Years. Why? [JJIE.org]

Samantha Sangenito ·
This column was originally written for VOXatl.com . Dayonn Davis was 15 when he committed a crime that would get him tried in court as an adult. A Facebook sale of a pair of Oreo Nikes, priced at around $100, went sour when the Columbus, Georgia teen attempted to steal them. Without the knowledge of Davis, a friend pulled out a pistol and everybody ran. Reluctantly, Davis finally gave up the name of his armed friend, but the victim could not pick him out of a lineup. For that 2016 crime,...
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Does Abuse Lead to Incarceration For Girls? Usually Yes [jjie.org]

By Janelle Hawes and Jerry Flores, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, September 10, 2019 Recently a trial judge in Washington state’s King County Superior Court discussed his three years presiding in juvenile court. Roger Rogoff described this time as “the most emotionally-charged, inspiring and terrifying of my 25-year legal career,” citing the complicated and conflicting nature of the juvenile justice system as well as the tension, apprehension and nuances of decision-making in this...
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Effort to Reduce School-Based Arrests Benefits Nearly 15,000 Additional Students This Year in Connecticut (cmhnetwork.org)

Eighteen Connecticut schools in six districts are participating in the Connecticut School-Based Diversion Initiative (SBDI) during the 2016-17 school year bringing the total number of schools served by SBDI to 37. SBDI is a school level intervention designed to prevent youth from entering the juvenile justice system by connecting students to community-based mental health services as an alternative to arrest. Among schools participating since 2010, the average reduction in court referrals...
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Everyone Studying Juvenile Justice Must Read This Important Book [jjie.org]

Alicia Doktor ·
Hallelujah! It’s about time someone wrote a book that informs readers about the unadulterated truth of how we treat kids in America. It isn’t flattering, and worse, the future doesn’t look promising despite reform movements peppered across our nation. In his book “ The Evolution of the Juvenile Court: Race, Politics, and the Criminalizing of Juvenile Justice ,” Professor Barry C. Feld employs a historical approach coupled with a prolific blending of artistic and technical prose to convey...
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GENDER & TRAUMA Somatic Interventions for Girls in Juvenile Justice: Implications for Policy and Practice (40 pages - Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality)

The impact of gender on the experience of trauma is less widely discussed, though it is significant in scope. In multiple studies, girls have reported higher rates of adverse childhood experiences than boys in all categories, especially girls in the juvenile justice system. Girls report sexual abuse at particularly disproportionate levels and are more likely than boys to experience such violence within intimate relationships. Girls are also at greater risk of developing negative mental...
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Getting Therapy Instead of Serving Time [TheAtlantic.com]

Samantha Sangenito ·
Children as young as 13 can be tried in adult criminal court for serious crimes in New York state. But instead of redirecting troubled kids, prison hardens them. That’s why the New York Foundling, a private children’s-advocacy organization, offers an alternative, Families Rising , a diversionary option that mandates family therapy in exchange for delayed sentencing and avoiding a criminal record entirely if the program is completed successfully. The program also costs significantly less than...
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Global Youth Justice Trainings Teen/Student/Youth/Peer Court and Peer Jury (globalyouthjustice.org)

Description: Global Youth Justice, Inc. champions 1,700+ volunteer-driven youth justice and juvenile justice diversion programs called Teen/Youth/Student/Peer Court and Peer Jury on 4-Continents, making it the most replicated juvenile/youth justice program around the globe. And, adults and youth from hundreds of additional communities around the globe are in various stages of implementing one of these rapidly expanding affordable youth-led juvenile justice and youth justice diversion...
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Holding Evil Accountable

Dr. Cathy Anthofer-Fialon ·
When I worked in juvenile probation there were times youth were labeled with the diagnosis BAD. They were just bad kids. There are even maximum security juvenile detention centers for kids with the BAD diagnosis. Kids who seem to have been born evil. As a criminal justice academician, I have read details of some of the most hideous crimes ever committed. I have a PhD in criminal justice. Currently I teach criminal justice to undergraduate students eager to begin their careers in...
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In Bid To Curb Violence, Chicago Gets Some Ideas From Teens Behind Bars [NPR.org]

Samantha Sangenito ·
In Chicago, where the number of shootings last year soared, it's often young people who become both perpetrators and victims. The Cook County Juvenile Justice Center holds about 200 to 300 young residents awaiting trial at the Temporary Detention Center. Among these residents are Leonard and Nigel, both 17 years old. Because of the rules of the juvenile court, Nigel and Leonard's full names and specifics about their cases can't be disclosed. The two, along with several other detainees, were...
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In Court, Children are Unseen and Unheard [chronicleofsocialchange.org]

Alicia Doktor ·
My 16-year old client – a young woman who had already spent several years in foster care – just wanted to share her story in court. She hoped to tell the judge the ways in which group home staff were mistreating her. She wanted an outlet to share her dreams about what she was going to accomplish after exiting the system. She craved the opportunity to hear – firsthand – what was happening in her case. Her case was about her. She desired to be a part of it. Yet, hearing after hearing, the...
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Inside / Outside: Your Choice – A Letter from Prison, by John Mendoza F65673

Gary Levenson-Palmer ·
The Mendocino County Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Commission is happy to present the book Inside/Outside: Your Choice - A letter from Prison by John Mendoza F65673. The book is geared towards youth between twelve and eighteen years old. The link to the website is: inside-outside.me This book was made possible by a grant from the Mendocino County Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Commission and the generous donations of Heroes for Youth, sponsored by CASA (Court...
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Integration of TIC in the Justice System [Trauma Informed Oregon]

Karen Clemmer ·
I have avoided writing this blog because there is so much that needs to be addressed regarding the judicial system and trauma – the theme of this newsletter. But of course, it is this avoidance that I, we must resist because avoidance often perpetuates harm. To talk about the judicial system means we have to talk about racism, systemic oppression, power, economics, and trauma and that can feel overwhelming. Even what we call the system can lead to inaccurate assumptions and connections. For...
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Is Juvenile Justice Beyond Repair? [TheAtlantic.com]

Samantha Sangenito ·
The Youth First Initiative wants to help end the use of youth prisons. The justice-advocacy group works from the premise that detaining minors—whether in youth facilities or in prisons—is not just a poorly executed practice; it is simply beyond repair. “This model of incarceration is broken—it does not work,” says Liz Ryan, the president and CEO of the Youth First Initiative . “It actually has never worked.” The United States has been incarcerating child offenders for a couple hundred years...
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JCCS Students Express Themselves, Learn Skills with Music Program (sdcoe.net)

When asked to express himself through music for the first time, a 17-year-old spending seven months in the East Mesa Juvenile Detention Facility wrote a powerful song about what it felt like to miss his daughter's first steps and other milestones while detained. He was one of 24 students from San Diego SOAR Academy's East Mesa site who participated in a six-week program organized by the nonprofit group David's Harp Foundation . "The collaboration with David's Harp is more than music...
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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 court judges waking up to trauma’s effect on kids [whyy.org]

Alicia Doktor ·
If one is looking for the most traumatized youths in Philadelphia, a good starting place might be Judge Lori Dumas’ courtroom. Dumas’ program – Working to Restore Adolescents’ Power (WRAP) – is designed for juvenile victims of sex trafficking who have also been charged with crimes. Dumas sits with each defendant for face-to-face meetings to build trust. An interdisciplinary team that also includes a prosecutor, defense counsel, and treatment providers seeks to avert criminal proceedings in...
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Juvenile Justice Resources

Joanna Weill ·
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 and Teens in Court Program at the Chadwick Center (ChadwickCenter.com)

Renee Silvestre ·
"The Kids and Teens in Court program is one of the many programs at the Chadwick Center designed in accordance with the agency’s mission to provide prevention, intervention, and education programs to children and their families. The program assists children, teens, and their families for the courtroom experience by 1) teaching relaxation skills; 2) providing education about the court process and their rights and; 3) introducing the courtroom and offering an opportunity to participate in a...
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Legislation seeks juvenile justice system reforms (wavenewspapers.com)

Sens. Ricardo Lara, D-Long Beach, and Holly J. Mitchell, D-Los Angeles, coauthored eight equity and justice bills, four of which focus on young children in California’s juvenile justice system and another four that target injustices in the adult prison system. Among the bills is Senate Bill 190, which this week was approved by the Senate Public Safety Committee. The measure would eliminate administrative fees faced by families with children in a youth detention or youth probation facility.
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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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Los Angeles Eyes Chicago Program as Replacement for Voluntary Probation (chronicleofsocialchange.org)

As the Los Angeles County Probation Department dismantles a controversial shadow probation program in schools, some county education officials worry that they will be left with fewer resources to work with young people who misbehave at school. The county is now looking at importing Becoming A Man, an intervention model developed in Chicago that targets high school boys for small-group sessions and comes with impressive credentials. Some advocates say they would prefer a local replacement.
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Mental Health in Criminal Justice Resources

Joanna Weill ·
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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Nash Bridges: Renowned Judge Building L.A.’s Plan to Reach Crossover Youth (chronicleofsocialchange.org)

In March , the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a motion that promised to tackle one of the most pressing issues the county’s child welfare and juvenile justice systems face: how to change the tragically life-altering effects of being caught up in both. For oft-labeled “crossover youth,” having a foot in both systems can easily result in incarceration, homelessness and substance abuse issues later in life. Amid the bleak outcomes for foster youth and those involved in the...
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Parole Boards Bar Young Offenders From Chance of Release, ACLU Report Says [JJIE.org]

Samantha Sangenito ·
In the wake of Supreme Court decisions that have limited extreme sentences for juveniles, states are relying on parole boards to put those rulings into effect. But those boards operate with little transparency, rarely focus on how a prisoner has changed while serving their time and ultimately seldom grant parole to serious offenders, the ACLU researchers said. “It’s wonderful there is attention on making sure juveniles and other young people aren’t going to die in prison, but all the...
 
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