Pennsylvania
Models for Change Mentioned
The Shreveport Times (LA)
‘Editorial: Juvenile justice reform finding increased traction in salvaging troubled youth’ –
July 11, 2010
Louisiana juvenile justice reform has become a persistent light that has survived the floodwaters of Katrina and the red ink of a state budget shortfall…Collaboration with the national MacArthur Foundation has resulted in a better presentencing system of evaluating youths, determining who is a real risk and those who are better served with local services…
The Alexandria Town Talk (LA)
‘Your Mail: Uniform standards coming’ – July 14, 2010
(Story also printed in The Houma Courier (LA) and The Advocate (LA))
During the recent session, the Legislature took a long-awaited -- and very necessary -- step toward juvenile justice reform. In collaboration with the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana and the Louisiana Models for Change initiative, I sponsored a measure establishing a plan and time line for implementing standards, providing monitoring and oversight and requiring licensing of juvenile detention centers across the state…
Pennsylvania Summary
The Citizens’ Voice (Wilkes-Barre)
‘County dropped from suit’ – July 11, 2010
A federal judge has removed Luzerne County from a series of civil-rights lawsuits filed in the aftermath of a kids-for-cash corruption scandal…
The Citizens’ Voice (Wilkes-Barre)
‘Boback weighs in on juvenile victim fund’ – July 13, 2010
When the Pennsylvania General Assembly was debating many bills tied to the 2010-11 budget, one measure that received strong support from area legislators was House Bill 2572, which created a Special Juvenile Victim Compensation Fund…
The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre)
‘More dismissals likely for county’ – July 13, 2010
A federal judge’s ruling that dismissed Luzerne County from two of the “kids-for-cash” lawsuits will likely result in the county’s dismissal as a defendant in several other suits that make similar claims, an attorney for the county said Monday…
The Legal Intelligencer (Philadelphia)
‘Luzerne Co. Dismissed From Kids-for-Cash Suits’ – July 13, 2010
(Subscription Required)
The Reading Eagle
‘Exeter Township hearing set on group home amendment’ – July 13, 2010
The Exeter Township supervisors will hold a public hearing later this month on a zoning change that could affect a western Pennsylvania nonprofit's plans to open a group home for juvenile delinquents…
The Delaware County Daily Times
‘Guest Column: Student-run youth courts are a proven alternative’ – July 15, 2010
The Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice Report on the Luzerne County judicial scandal revealed a multi-systemic failure. Juvenile offenders — some as young as 12 years of age — were taken from their parents and placed in detention facilities for weeks, sometimes months, for extremely minor offenses. To put these youths in juvenile detention for minor transgressions at a cost of several hundred dollars a day for months on end is unconscionable public policy…
The Philadelphia Daily News
‘May ruling gives hope to 5 pa. kid-lifers’ – July 17, 2010
Two months after the U.S. Supreme Court restricted life in prison without parole for juveniles, a team of Philadelphia attorneys yesterday filed petitions for relief on behalf of five juvenile lifers desperate for a second chance at life…
The Philadelphia Inquirer
‘Karen Heller: Life terms for juveniles?’ – July 18, 2010
The United States leads the world in incarcerating juveniles for life without the possibility of parole.
And Pennsylvania leads all states, by far, in a practice most nations condemn as inhumane…
The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre)
‘5 judges to attend conference in Hershey’ – July 21, 2010
Five Luzerne County judges will travel to Hershey this week to take part in the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges, where one of the main topics includes juvenile delinquency and dependency…
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
‘Teen defendant in Daugherty slaying wants juvenile court’ – July 22, 2010
A Greensburg teenager charged with five other adults in the February torture and murder of a mentally challenged woman wants her case transferred to juvenile court…
National Summary
The Washington Post
‘Editorial: DYRS has made great strides, but more are needed’ – July 12, 2010
A REPORT BY the court monitor in the long-running lawsuit over the District's juvenile justice system shows that, despite high-profile problems, the city is on the right track with its reforms. Indeed, the progress being made in a number of critical areas should prod city officials to resolve the lingering deficiencies that threaten to undermine the good work…
ABC News
‘Juvenile Justice: Too Young for Life in Prison?’ – July 12, 2010
At the age of 16, Cameron Williams lives a life far removed from the world of other teenagers.
Williams, who celebrated his sixteenth birthday in jail, faces up to 110 years behind bars for second-degree attempted murder and use of a weapon to commit a felony…
WHBQ-TV (TN)
‘New Initiative for Juvenile Offenders’ – July 12, 2010
Mayor A C Wharton said juvenile offenders need more than a trip to the detention center to turn their lives around. He announced a new Memphis police initiative that offers more than incarceration…
The Post and Courier (SC)
‘Sustain juvenile justice reform’ – July 13, 2010
It is because of the S.C. Department of Juvenile Justice's remarkable progress in recent years that it should be able to weather severe budget cuts. But eroding the agency further would be a serious mistake…
WRC-TV (DC)
‘Councilman Proposes Less Secrecy About Violent Juveniles’ – July 13, 2010
A D.C. councilman proposed releasing the records of the city's most violent juvenile offenders…
The New York Times
‘Federal Oversight for Troubled N.Y. Youth Prisons’ – July 15, 2010
Four of New York’s most dangerous and troubled youth prisons will be placed under federal oversight, strict new limits will be imposed on the use of physical force by guards, and dozens of psychiatrists, counselors and investigators will be hired under a sweeping agreement finalized on Wednesday between state and federal officials…
WBEZ Radio (IL)
‘What Friedenauer's Resignation Means for Juvenile Justice’ – July 15, 2010
The man charged with overseeing Illinois Juvenile Justice system is stepping down. Kurt Friedenauer resignation comes amidst continued questions about the effectiveness and future direction of the system that's responsible for rehabilitating youth offenders in Illinois…
New York Daily News
‘Look ma, it's my digital mug shot NYPD database stores pics of worst kiddie cons’ – July 15, 2010
THE NYPD IS creating a database of digital mug shots for pint-sized suspects as young as 11, the Daily News has learned…
The Indianapolis Star (IN)
‘Opinion: Juvenile offenders carry pain of abuse back into community after release’ – July 16, 2010
The pain -- the kind of pain a mother feels when her child is deeply wounded -- is still evident in Sandra's voice, years after her 13-year-old son was raped by other inmates in an Indiana juvenile prison…
Chicago Sun-Times (IL)
‘Dept. of Juvenille Justice merging with DCFS’ – July 16, 2010
Gov. Quinn announced a major change of direction in dealing with juvenile delinquents in Illinois Friday…
The New York Times
‘Editorial: Injustice for Children’ – July 17, 2010
If New York abides by the settlement it reached this week with the Justice Department, mentally ill children in four of the state’s infamous youth prisons will finally get decent psychiatric care and will no longer be subject to brutal disciplinary practices. As important as it is, however, the settlement cannot be a substitute for the overhaul of the state juvenile justice system proposed by Gov. David Paterson’s juvenile justice task force…
Associated Press (AP) – Philadelphia Bureau
‘Life terms imposed on juveniles appealed’ – July 18, 2010
Posted on:
Attorneys in Philadelphia, citing a recent Supreme Court ruling, have filed petitions on behalf of five people who were juveniles when they were sentenced to life in prison in Pennsylvania…
Associated Press (AP) – Casper Bureau (WY)
‘Report Blasts Wyoming's Juvenile Justice System’ – July 18, 2010
Posted on:
A new report suggests Wyoming faces questions over whether its system of dealing with juvenile offenders violates constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment…
The Casper Star-Tribune (WY)
‘When the punishment doesn't fit the crime’ – July 18, 2010
One stood before a judge for the first time and pleaded guilty to firing a paintball gun at a neighbor's home. He was ordered to complete 40 hours of community service and pay a $20 court fine…
The Indianapolis Star (IN)
‘My View: We pledge to keep juveniles safe in our care’ – July 18, 2010
As commissioner of the Indiana Department of Correction, it is my responsibility to ensure, to the greatest extent possible, the safety and well-being of juveniles committed to our care by the state's juvenile justice system…
The State Journal-Register (IL)
‘Quinn signs 'sexting' bill, other public safety legislation’ – July 19, 2010
Gov. Pat Quinn has signed a package of public safety legislation that includes new provisions about "sexting" and child sexual abuse…
Sheboygan Press (WI)
‘Community Conversation: Juvenile facilities do have value’ – July 20, 2010
A July 14 "Community Conversation" by Attorney Matthew House in The Sheboygan Press reminded me of a quote from the late newscaster Walter Cronkite: "Objective journalism and opinion column are about as similar as the Bible and Playboy magazine." Mr. House's criticism of the Wisconsin juvenile correctional facilities is lacking in fact and objectivity…
San Diego Union-Tribune (CA)
‘Study: Most arrested juveniles have drugs in system’ – 07/22/2010
A study released Wednesday shows a strong relationship between drug use and juvenile delinquency and calls for continued prevention and intervention efforts on behalf of the region’s at-risk youth…
The Washington Post (DC)
‘Editorial: A rushed judgment of D.C.'s new juvenile justice chief’ – July 23, 2010
ADVOCATES FOR the District's troubled youth are concerned about Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's decision to appoint a new leader of the city's juvenile justice system. But their charges that Mr. Fenty is abandoning reform efforts are reckless and could undermine the reforms they support…
Top Stories – Models for Change Mentioned
Editorial: Juvenile justice reform finding increased traction in salvaging troubled youth
The Shreveport Times (LA)
July 11, 2010
Louisiana juvenile justice reform has become a persistent light that has survived the floodwaters of Katrina and the red ink of a state budget shortfall.
The shift continues from centralized criminal prep schools to community-based rehabilitation that can better convert troubled youths into productive adults. Thank a series of governors committed to change and lawmakers who left the Office of Juvenile Justice with at least a standstill budget amid harsh cuts across state government.
Caddo Parish especially has worked to convert its standing as one of the largest producers of juvenile offenders for state institutions to a parish finding more alternatives to incarceration. Dual initiatives work both to keep troubled teens out of the justice system and those who do wind up in court out of state-run secure care centers. An offender may get help coping with emotional or substance abuse issues, while wraparound services bolster families unable to create a healthy home life.
Though Caddo has had an array of services, not so long ago matching an offender to the right program was more like throwing darts than a systematic determination of the right fit, says Steve Snow, alternative detention site coordinator.
Five years ago, 30 percent of offenders who were removed from their home were youths making their first appearance in court, or on their "first referral," Snow said. That number is down to 10 percent.
The parish's detention center became a crowded triage collection point even for youths who didn't need to be there. But no longer are 45 youths being held in a center built for 29.
Funding from local government, the Community Foundation and other sources have helped address truancy and create a misdemeanor center that tries to keep minor offenders out of the court system.
Collaboration with the national MacArthur Foundation has resulted in a better presentencing system of evaluating youths, determining who is a real risk and those who are better served with local services. A website is even in the works that not only will help the system track cases but provide resources to help youths handle bullies or parents to map out what services are in their neighborhoods, said Caddo Commissioner Matthew Linn.
None of this would be possible without judges, the district attorney and Caddo commissioners being open to innovation. Stronger collaborations with the school system could drive success even further.
Statewide, there is a need to revisit zero tolerance policies that automatically push schoolyard combatants into the juvenile justice system, said Mary Livers, a Shreveport native who is deputy secretary for the state Office of Juvenile Justice. Of the 340 youths referred to Caddo's Misdemeanor Referral Center last school year, 300 were for school fights, said Snow. And that doesn't include students released to their parents. Neither should truants or children deemed ungovernable by their parents be pushed prematurely into the system.
More effective programs and services at the campus level for students and their families can head off problems. Underwriting family service officers and expanding collaborations for diversion and other programs would be wise investments for Caddo schools and cost-effective strategies for the taxpayer. "Prevention is cheaper than disaster response," said Kathie Boyett, Learning to Finish coordinator for Alliance for Education.
The community needs to encourage education innovations such as expanding summer school beyond simple remediation, says Scott Hughes, Alliance executive director. School volunteers, in fact, may be needed more in the summer to help students stay on track than during the academic year.
For all the success in juvenile justice, it remains a huge issue. But the thing about reform is that once you start, it's hard to stop.
Your Mail: Uniform standards coming
The Alexandria Town Talk (LA)
July 14, 2010
Published in The Houma Courier (LA) on July 15, 2010:
Published in The Advocate (LA) on July 23, 2010
During the recent session, the Legislature took a long-awaited -- and very necessary -- step toward juvenile justice reform.
In collaboration with the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana and the Louisiana Models for Change initiative, I sponsored a measure establishing a plan and time line for implementing standards, providing monitoring and oversight and requiring licensing of juvenile detention centers across the state.
Standards for detention centers have not been updated in 13 years, and the state stopped licensing the facilities 10 years ago.
This has led to a vast disparity among centers across the state. While some are working well, such as those in Jefferson and Calcasieu parishes, others, like those in Terrebonne and Orleans parishes, have been oppressed by problems and costly litigation.
Creating uniform standards for juvenile detention centers and ensuring that those centers are properly regulated will go a long way toward providing a better quality of care for the youth of Louisiana.
Louisiana is working toward creating a juvenile justice system that holds young offenders accountable for their actions, provides for their rehabilitation, protects them from harm, increases their life chances and manages the risks they pose to themselves and to the public.
The passage of this monumental legislation is a huge step in the right direction for juvenile justice reform. It would not have passed without the continued dedication of all the people who continue to work toward the goal of a better system for our youth.
There are too many people to call by name, but thank you to all for the cooperative endeavor that made this possible.
Damon Baldone
State Representative, District 53
Top Stories - Pennsylvania
County dropped from suit
The Citizens’ Voice (Wilkes-Barre)
By Michael R. Sisak
July 11, 2010
A federal judge has removed Luzerne County from a series of civil-rights lawsuits filed in the aftermath of a kids-for-cash corruption scandal.
U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo said the county was not liable for the actions of two former judges who shipped juveniles to for-profit detention centers in exchange for $2.8 million in kickbacks.
The former judges, Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan, were state employees and had no final policy-making authority within the county government, Caputo said.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuits, thousands of youths and parents victimized in the scheme, "do not allege any specific policy or custom of Luzerne County caused their constitutional violations," Caputo said.
An attorney representing the county in the lawsuits, John G. Dean, called the ruling a "tremendous victory" for Luzerne County and taxpayers.
"The unheard victims were the taxpayers of Luzerne County," Dean said. "Now the taxpayers aren't going to be burdened with this lawsuit going forward."
Caputo's ruling, issued Friday, echoed his decision in November severely limiting the county's liability in the civil rights lawsuits.
In the November ruling, Caputo rejected arguments from the plaintiffs that the county is liable for Ciavarella and Conahan's actions, as well as those of county district attorneys, public defenders and probation officials.
Caputo also rejected the argument that the county commissioners who approved contracts with the two for-profit centers at the heart of the kids-for-cash scandal could be held liable.
Caputo's ruling does not apply to a lawsuit filed last week accusing the county, former commissioners Greg Skrepenak and Todd Vonderheid and other officials of aiding and abetting Conahan and Ciavarella.
Boback weighs in on juvenile victim fund
The Citizens’ Voice (Wilkes-Barre)
By Pat Rushton
July 13, 2010
When the Pennsylvania General Assembly was debating many bills tied to the 2010-11 budget, one measure that received strong support from area legislators was House Bill 2572, which created a Special Juvenile Victim Compensation Fund.
The legislation was introduced by Rep. Todd Eachus (D-116) of nearby Butler Township and received strong support on the house floor from Rep. Karen Boback (R-117), whose district includes parts of Mountain Top. The bill, which eventually passed and was signed into law, creates a $500,000 fund for victims still owed restitution for crimes committed by juveniles whose cases were thrown out by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Because the cases were overturned, many victims of crimes committed by some of those juveniles have no way to collect restitution owed them.
Throughout the house debate on the measure, Rep. Boback, who has supported law enforcement and victims’ rights throughout her tenure in the General Assembly, was staunch in her support of its passage. "I strongly support legislation to establish a Special Juvenile Victim Compensation Fund that would provide restitution for victims of juvenile criminals whose sentences were vacated by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court," the legislator told me.
Boback consistently has recognized that while some juveniles' cases were mishandled, there were many very real victims in many of those cases. "We cannot let the egregious breach of trust by corrupt judges to eclipse the very real pain and suffering experienced by these victims who deserve to be made whole," she stated. "The domino effect of heartache and suspicion caused in Luzerne County by this perversion of justice cannot be erased, but we can create this fund to help victims of crime find closure," the legislator added.
More dismissals likely for county
Friday’s dismissal of county as defendant from two juvie suits won’t be last, lawyer says.
The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre)
By Terrie Morgan-Besecker
July 13, 2010
WILKES-BARRE – A federal judge’s ruling that dismissed Luzerne County from two of the “kids-for-cash” lawsuits will likely result in the county’s dismissal as a defendant in several other suits that make similar claims, an attorney for the county said Monday.
U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo on Friday dismissed the county from two consolidated complaints filed on behalf of hundreds of juveniles who allege they were wrongly incarcerated as part of a scheme orchestrated by former judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan.
The order finalized a prior ruling by Caputo that dismissed the county and several offices, including the public defenders and district attorney’s offices, from any liability. Caputo had ruled the county could not be held liable for actions taken by Ciavarella and Conahan because they were employees of the state, not the county.
Three other lawsuits separate from the consolidated complaints remain pending. Specific allegations in each suit vary, but all are based on the general concept that Conahan and Ciavarella conspired with the owner and builder of two juvenile detention centers and others to wrongly incarcerate juveniles so that the defendants could benefit financially.
The ex-judges were indicted in September on 48 counts, including extortion, bribery and wire fraud. Federal prosecutors say the men improperly accepted more than $2 million in exchange for rulings that benefited the PA and Western PA Childcare juvenile facilities the county utilized.
Ciavarella is awaiting trial on the indictment. Conahan has agreed to plead guilty to a single count of racketeering conspiracy.
Attorney John Dean represented the county in the consolidated case, which was filed on behalf of the lead plaintiff, Florence Wallace. He said issues in the other cases are virtually identical and he expects Caputo will dismiss the county from those complaints as well.
The county filed a motion to dismiss in one of the cases, filed by Wayne Dawn, in May. A ruling on that motion is pending. The county was voluntarily dismissed as a defendant in another case, filed by Raul Clark, Dean said.
Dean said he has not yet been served with the most recent case, filed last week on behalf of Joseph Rimmer and Zane Farmer. That suit differs from the others in that it names former commissioners Greg Skrepenak and Todd Vonderheid as defendants along with the judges and other persons.
Dean said he has not yet evaluated that case thoroughly, but believes the county will be dismissed from that case as well based on the same legal principle that led to its dismissal in the consolidated complaints.
Luzerne Co. Dismissed From Kids-for-Cash Suits
The Legal Intelligencer (Philadelphia)
By Shannon P. Duffy
July 13, 2010
(Subscription Required)
A federal judge has ruled that Luzerne County cannot be held liable in the kids-for-cash corruption scandal that has led to criminal charges against two of the county's ex-judges because no county officials with policymaking authority played any role in the alleged scheme.
In an opinion handed down on Friday, U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo concluded that Luzerne County must be dismissed from a spate of civil rights suits filed by juveniles who claim their custodial terms were tied to a bribery scheme in which former Judges Michael T. Conahan and Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. allegedly took payments in excess of $2.8 million in return for promising to sentence juvenile offenders to for-profit detention centers.
Conahan has since pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering, but Ciavarella has maintained his innocence.
Caputo found that even though both of the disgraced judges at times served as president judge and therefore played a role in crafting the county court's budget, they never became county officials in that process. Under Pennsylvania law, president judges merely make budget recommendations and have no power over county officials in the ultimate decisions, Caputo found.
Under the separation of powers in Pennsylvania government, Caputo found, county judges are always considered state actors, not county officials…
Exeter Township hearing set on group home amendment
Proposal could affect plans for a facility for juvenile delinquents
The Reading Eagle
By Kristin Boyd
July 13, 2010
The Exeter Township supervisors will hold a public hearing later this month on a zoning change that could affect a western Pennsylvania nonprofit's plans to open a group home for juvenile delinquents.
The amendment would allow the Exeter supervisors to keep the township's group home definition and create a separate category for group institutions.
Group institutions would be permitted to house juvenile delinquents, though the amendment would limit them to operating only in light industrial districts, township solicitor Andrew Bellwoar said.
The supervisors voted 4-1 Monday to approve advertising the amendment and public hearing, scheduled for July 26 at 7 p.m. in the township building, 4975 DeMoss Road. Member Kenneth A. Smith voted no.
Aldelphoi Village of Latrobe, Westmoreland County, wants to establish a facility for up to 14 male teens, ages 12 to 18, in the juvenile justice system for minor offenses. The nonprofit has a contract to buy 485 Walnut Road, formerly Bernet's Golden Age Guest Home, a facility for senior citizens.
Aldelphoi operates 17 similar facilities throughout the state.
The Exeter group home would house teens who, but for unstable home environments, would be sent home on probation. Boys in the program would stay for six to nine months and be supervised around the clock by at least two staff members.
The home would not offer specialized treatment programs, such as drug and alcohol treatment or sex-offender programs.
Still, some neighbors are concerned about the safety of their children and of those who play baseball at the nearby Exeter Township Little League complex on Schoffers Road.
If the zoning amendment is adopted, Aldelphoi would have to go before the zoning hearing board for a conditional use hearing on the proposed center.
Guest Column: Student-run youth courts are a proven alternative
The Delaware County Daily Times
By GREGG VOLZ, Times Guest Columnist
July 15, 2010
The Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice Report on the Luzerne County judicial scandal revealed a multi-systemic failure. Juvenile offenders — some as young as 12 years of age — were taken from their parents and placed in detention facilities for weeks, sometimes months, for extremely minor offenses. To put these youths in juvenile detention for minor transgressions at a cost of several hundred dollars a day for months on end is unconscionable public policy.
The report outlines both a virtual breakdown in all three branches of government and a system plagued by tension between those who wanted the juvenile justice system to punish misconduct, and those who wanted it to teach youth how to avoid repeating bad behavior.
Also at fault, according to the report, “is the fact that there exists an inaccurate perception about the children who come into the juvenile courts.” While some accounts conjure up images of “juvenile predators” or “gang leaders,” our juvenile courts generally deal with less serious conduct — cases that reflect common immaturities among juveniles.
The commission’s report severely criticizes the zero-tolerance policies in public schools that cause “a less serious range of conduct” to be processed in court, condemning the frequent use of the justice system as a school disciplinarian. In discussing overuse of the courts and detention facilities for minor disciplinary infractions in schools, the report states, “there are alternatives that are much better and effective in ensuring a safe, secure and supportive environment for each child who attends school in Pennsylvania.”
Student-run youth courts are a better alternative because they put a stop to the school-to-prison pipeline. This revolutionary court system effectively uses student panels to screen low-level school disciplinary offenses and filter cases that ought not result in children being expelled from school or entering the stigmatic juvenile justice system.
Youth courts are an early intervention, multi-purpose youth development tool that can reduce truancy, improve student citizenship and school climate, and give youth a voice.
Youth courts keep student offenders attached to school, while training students to process school disciplinary infractions without relying on adult participation and without referring cases to juvenile officials. By using creative sentences, or “dispositions,” youth courts teach responsibility and the consequences of rule breaking, yet avoid the expensive and traumatizing impact of the juvenile justice system.
Moreover, students who operate youth courts report it improves their own behavior, increases their interest in school, teaches them needed socialization skills, and allows them to help their peers.
In 2006, Chester Upland was a school district where students were almost as likely to go to prison as attend college. In 2007, we initiated a peer-justice youth court.
The proceedings are similar to those in juvenile court, but court officials are all high school students. There is a judge and a jury, the respondent is given the opportunity to explain his actions, and the jury issues its verdict.
Sentences are tailored to the offense — a student found destroying property may be asked to spend time with the school’s maintenance crew, or a youth may be ordered to apologize to a teacher. No matter what the sentence, all respondents receive mandatory jury duty as part of their disposition. The lessons — including conflict resolution, problem solving, teamwork and leadership — are invaluable.
The court works because, just as negative peer pressure contributes to bad behavior, positive peer pressure contributes to positive behavior. The court follows restorative justice principles in trying to restore the victim, school, neighborhood, family and offender. Youth court jurors tell the respondent, “We are not trying to punish you; we are trying to help you.”
The Luzerne County judicial scandal has provided an opportunity to re-examine how Pennsylvania helps its youth and to create the best youth courts in America.
To do this it should first appoint a committee of educators and lawyers to analyze and report on the best national youth court practices. It should then enact a statute to govern school-based and juvenile justice-based youth courts, establish a statewide association of youth courts, and provide a dedicated funding stream for youth courts.
Skepticism is high, and confidence in our judicial system has been tested. Having personally seen young lives transformed by participation in youth courts, I know there is a better way to manage juvenile justice.
Though the Interbranch Commission is set to expire at the end of the month, it is imperative that the General Assembly appoint a neutral, competent entity to oversee the implementation of all its recommendations. Systems resist change. Only oversight from an objective and nonpartisan entity will ensure successful change — then, and only then, will public confidence be restored.
Gregg Volz is a senior fellow with the Stoneleigh Foundation, an organization committed to supporting talented practitioners, researchers, and policymakers to develop and test new ideas and approaches that will improve the well-being and future for young people with the greatest needs. A sponsor of successful youth courts in Chester, he is an expert in juvenile justice and offers suggestions for expanding the use of youth courts statewide.
May ruling gives hope to 5 pa. kid-lifers
The Philadelphia Daily News
By DANA DiFILIPPO
July 17, 2010
Two months after the U.S. Supreme Court restricted life in prison without parole for juveniles, a team of Philadelphia attorneys yesterday filed petitions for relief on behalf of five juvenile lifers desperate for a second chance at life.
Many of the 2,000 juvenile lifers nationally are flooding courts with requests for reconsidered sentences in the wake of the high court's May 17 ruling which found that juveniles cannot be sentenced to life without parole for any crime short of homicide.
Pennsylvania leads the nation in the number of juvenile lifers, with more than 450. Yesterday was the deadline for Pennsylvania's juvenile lifers who have already exhausted appeals to apply for relief under this "new law," said attorney Bradley Bridge.
Most juvenile lifers - more than 90 percent nationally and all of those in Pennsylvania - have murder convictions, so it would seem the high court's ruling wouldn't apply to them.
But their advocates have latched onto language in the federal ruling in which the justices argued that juveniles have limited moral culpability for their criminal actions because their adolescent brains aren't as fully developed as adults'.
Bridge said the justices "talk about the fact that children are different than adults. Well, children are different from adults whether they're charged with a murder or whether they're charged with a robbery.
"We are not suggesting here that any of these people should automatically be released. All we are contending is that they should be entitled to be considered for parole," he added. "They should have the opportunity to prove that they have learned and grown and changed."
Not everyone agrees.
"It's a slippery slope," said Jennifer Bishop-Jenkins, of Chicago, co-founder of the National Organization of Victims of Juvenile Lifers.
"I personally supported this ruling, because I don't think life-without-parole for juveniles for a non-murder is appropriate."
But with a crime as heinous as homicide, the courts should weigh the rights of victims more heavily than those of offenders, said Bishop-Jenkins, whose pregnant sister and brother-in-law were shot to death by a 16-year-old in 1990.
"Victims also have rights," she said. "Victims have a right not to be revictimized, not to be tortured for the rest of their lives, and it does literally torture victims to have to go to parole hearings every two years or deal with a reopened case."
A number of juvenile lifers already have filed petitions for relief, including Stacey Torrance, whose case was championed by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International in a 2005 report on the subject. Torrance was 14 when he helped plan a North Philadelphia robbery in 1988; his adult cousin and another man killed the victim.
The juvenile lifers who filed for relief yesterday include:
* Tamika Bell. Bell was 16 when she and a friend robbed three people in a car parked at Penn's Landing in September 1995. Her friend shot the driver, Max Broyko, to death, and then both girls fled. Bell is now 31.
* Aaron Phillips. Phillips was 17 when he and two adult friends robbed a man in 1986 in Montgomery County. Phillips, now 41, and his accomplices were unarmed, but one of the robbers pushed the victim to the ground during the robbery. The victim died 18 days later from heart disease, but a coroner blamed the stress of the robbery as a contributing cause of death, prompting Phillips' arrest for murder.
* Sharon Wiggins. Wiggins, now 59, was 17, mentally ill and a drug addict when she and two teenage friends robbed a Harrisburg bank at gunpoint in December 1968. Wiggins and an accomplice both shot a customer who tried to stop the robbery.
* John Pace. Pace was 17 when he tried to rob a man in September 1985. Pace, now 42, hit his victim, Randolph Baldwin, repeatedly with a blackjack, and Baldwin died 10 days later.
* Joseph Ligon. Ligon, now 73, was 15 when he and a group of other teens, who had just shared a bottle of wine, began asking adult passers-by to give them money in February 1953 in South Philadelphia. The teens attacked and stabbed several of the passers-by, killing two.
Karen Heller: Life terms for juveniles?
Pa. is the U.S. leader in jailing young people without any hope of parole.
The Philadelphia Inquirer
By Karen Heller, Inquirer Columnist
July 18, 2010
The United States leads the world in incarcerating juveniles for life without the possibility of parole.
And Pennsylvania leads all states, by far, in a practice most nations condemn as inhumane.
"Pennsylvania is at the top, and not in a good way," says the Juvenile Law Center's Marsha Levick.
The state has at least 450 inmates charged with homicide committed when they were juveniles, some as young as 14.
"International standards recognize that children, a particularly vulnerable group, are entitled to special care and protection because they are still developing physically, mentally, and emotionally," argues a 2005 Human Rights Watch report.
The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that juveniles cannot be sentenced to life without parole (LWOP) for any charge other than homicide, citing the country's "evolving standards of decency" and the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
On Friday, based on that decision, a group of area lawyers filed post-conviction release petitions in Philadelphia, Montgomery, and Dauphin Counties on behalf of five inmates sentenced as juveniles who are now serving LWOP for homicide. Three cases involve robberies ending in murder committed by a codefendant.
What does it say about a society that locks up juveniles and says they have no chance for redemption, rehabilitation, and change? Are prisons places to educate, discipline, and reform inmates - correctional institutions - or are they human warehouses to incarcerate people until they die?
Joseph Ligon was 15 when he and five boys from South Philadelphia went on a crime spree, killing two men and stabbing six others.
Ligon was sentenced to life without parole. In 1953.
He's now 73. He has spent more than half a century in prison, mostly at Graterford.
"It's simply wrong to look upon him as the same person who committed the crimes," says Bradley S. Bridge of the Defender Association of Philadelphia. "He has done all that we, as a society, would want him to do," adding that "he's gone through rehabilitation."
The Supreme Court's May decision and its 2005 ruling banning capital punishment of juveniles cite neuroscientific evidence of the developmental difference between children and adults. "Their brains are not fully formed. They don't understand the consequences of their actions. They're more susceptible to peer pressure," Bridge argues.
Pennsylvania's juvenile incarceration rate is so high because the state requires LWOP for all defendants convicted of first- or second-degree murder, whether they are adults or juveniles. This mandate deprives judges of discretionary sentencing. Following the crack epidemic of the late 1980s and early 1990s, when juvenile homicide rates soared, the state pushed more teens into the adult system, even for first-time offenses.
And yet the practice has had no noticeable effect on reducing crime.
Meanwhile, costs keep rising, with $1.8 billion appropriated for prisons next year. The state spends an average of $32,000 annually on each of more than 51,000 inmates. With age, health costs can accelerate to $200,000 a year, ironically at the time when an inmate is at the lowest risk of committing criminal violence.
"Punishment without rehabilitation is a failure," says Sen. Stewart Greenleaf (R., Montgomery), Judiciary Committee chair, who has held hearings on juvenile sentencing. "Everybody's entitled to second chances."
Many inmates have committed horrible crimes. No one is protesting their innocence.
"The challenge we're raising isn't letting them all out on the streets," says Temple law professor Sara Jacobson. "We are just asking for the possibility of parole and redemption, that what an inmate has done in prison for years and years should count. That you've been good, and understand what you've done."
Jacobson is handling the petition of John Pace, who committed a second-degree felony in Philadelphia at 17, during a robbery, assaulting a victim who later died. Upon advice of counsel, Pace pleaded guilty, believing he would receive a reduced sentence. Instead, he was sentenced to life without parole.
A juvenile's failure to grasp the consequences of his actions as well as the complexity of the legal system puts him at a severe disadvantage compared with adults. Pace is now 42, having served almost a quarter-century at Graterford.
Yet children grow. Teenagers can be dumb. They can do terribly wrong things. But they can learn.
"Kids have a capacity for change," says Levick. "They have a greater capacity for rehabilitation than adults." Children enter the criminal-justice system "without us knowing enough about them at the time of sentencing," she argues. Instead, Levick says, the approach is "let's lock them up and throw away the keys."
Last month, State Rep. Kenyatta Johnson (D., Phila.) introduced a bill abolishing juvenile life imprisonment without parole, allowing prisoners to apply at age 31 for parole, then every three years thereafter. Current inmates could appeal for resentencing. Meanwhile, lawyers are hopeful their petitions will prod the judicial system to reexamine sentencing.
At age 73, Ligon "looks like somebody's grandfather," Bridge says. "He's no longer a danger to anyone." He's lived almost all of his life in prison.
"To continue his incarceration seems cruel and unseemly. It says something rather bad about our society when we do not allow people to demonstrate, by any objective criteria, that they have changed," Bridge says. "It's simply medieval."
5 judges to attend conference in Hershey
The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre)
By Sheena Delazio
July 21, 2010
WILKES-BARRE – Five Luzerne County judges will travel to Hershey this week to take part in the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges, where one of the main topics includes juvenile delinquency and dependency.
The conference, which begins this afternoon and runs until Saturday afternoon, is one of two meetings scheduled each year for state judges to come together to discuss their judicial districts, county President Judge Thomas Burke said.
“This is one of two primary opportunities for continuing education for judges,” Burke said.
“It’s an opportunity to interact and collaborate with judges from the other 59 judicial districts in Pennsylvania.”
Burke said he and county Judges Joseph Cosgrove, Tina Polachek Gartley, Joseph Augello and Joseph Van Jura will attend.
He said the meetings, the first held in February this year, allow judges to discuss how they operate their courts, handle procedures and to learn how other counties operate specific areas of the court system that Luzerne County may want to adopt.
Burke said areas of discussion will include juvenile delinquency and dependency, civil court matters, forensic/scientific evidence, technology updates and their impacts on the present and future, including texting and social networking, ethics and an overall update on changes in law.
Juvenile matters came to the forefront in the county when the state Supreme Court last year overturned the convictions of more than 5,000 juveniles who appeared before then-Judge Mark Ciavarella after finding that he violated their due process rights.
The court found that Ciavarella, who is awaiting trial on corruption charges, failed to advise juveniles of their right to an attorney and would often incarcerate them for minor offenses.
Teen defendant in Daugherty slaying wants juvenile court
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
By Rich Cholodofsky
July 22, 2010
A Greensburg teenager charged with five other adults in the February torture and murder of a mentally challenged woman wants her case transferred to juvenile court.
The lawyer for 18-year-old Angela Marinucci filed court documents today in which he claimed the teen is not a threat to the public and would be amenable to treatment and rehabilitation, all conditions that would merit her case to be handled by the juvenile court system.
Marinucci, along with Ricky V. Smyrnes, 24; Melvin Knight, 20; Amber Meidinger, 20; Peggy Darlene Miller, 27; and Robert Loren Masters, 36, are charged with first-degree murder for the Feb. 11 stabbing death of 30-year-old Jennifer Daugherty in the Greensburg apartment they briefly shared.
Police contend the group tortured Daugherty for about three days before killing her, stuffing her body in a trash can and leaving in a snow-covered parking lot along Main Street.
Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck is seeking the death penalty against Smyrnes, Knight and Meidinger. Because Marinucci was 17 at the time of alleged crime, she is ineligible for the death penalty.
Defense attorney Michael DeMatt said in his court filing that Marinucci's age qualifies her to have her case heard in juvenile court. Marinucci turned 18 earlier this month.
Marinucci also wants barred from evidence a confession she gave to police, purportedly about her involvement with Daugherty's torture or murder. DeMatt claims that statement was improperly obtained by police because Marinucci did not have an adult with her to advise her at the time the confession was made.
On Wednesday, Knight asked that his trial be moved from Westmoreland County because of intensive media coverage the case has received since February. Marinucci yesterday also asked that her case be severed from her co-defendant's trials and that it be moved from the county because of pretrial publicity.
Top Stories - National
Editorial: DYRS has made great strides, but more are needed
The Washington Post
July 12, 2010
A REPORT BY the court monitor in the long-running lawsuit over the District's juvenile justice system shows that, despite high-profile problems, the city is on the right track with its reforms. Indeed, the progress being made in a number of critical areas should prod city officials to resolve the lingering deficiencies that threaten to undermine the good work.
In a report filed last week, Grace M. Lopes, special arbiter in the 25-year-old Jerry M. class-action lawsuit, credited the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) with making "very significant progress" in meeting court requirements for how committed and detained youth are housed, educated and provided with exercise and recreational programs. Singled out for high praise was the education program at New Beginnings, the department's secure facility in Maryland for committed juveniles. The Maya Angelou Academy, operated by the See Forever Foundation, was called one of the "best programs" ever seen by Ms. Lopes's education expert; its transformation, from one of the nation's worst programs to one of its finest, was characterized as "remarkable." The better the department educates its troubled youths, the less likely they will reoffend. The jurisdiction on which the District modeled its reforms, Missouri, is reported to have the lowest recidivism rate in the country. Treating troubled youths humanely and protecting public safety are not mutually exclusive, and DYRS officials have reported encouraging progress in reducing the city's rate of recidivism. Those facts have sometimes gotten lost in the understandable concern about community safety that has accompanied recent crimes involving juveniles supervised by the department.
Still, it would be a mistake for officials to view this glowing court report as reason not to address the department's management and systemic failures. If anything, it should spur them to redouble efforts to apprehend youths who abscond, to provide enough secure beds and to properly supervise youths released into the community. Failure to improve these efforts could undermine public support for reform.
Mayor Adrian M. Fenty deserves credit for continuing the sweeping reforms started by his predecessor, Anthony A. Williams, and sticking by the changes even as criticism mounted. But there is still work to be done.
Juvenile Justice: Too Young for Life in Prison?
Numerous Juveniles Are Facing Longer Sentences in Adult Courts
ABC News
By HUMA KHAN
July 12, 2010
At the age of 16, Cameron Williams lives a life far removed from the world of other teenagers.
Williams, who celebrated his sixteenth birthday in jail, faces up to 110 years behind bars for second-degree attempted murder and use of a weapon to commit a felony.
In November, Williams shot at a police officer in Omaha, Nebraska as he was being chased after being pulled over in a car with two other men.
He's also charged with robbery and assault in another county.
Even though he is a minor, Williams was charged in an adult court because of his troublesome history and the "serious nature of the crime," the county attorney's office said.
"Anybody who pulls a gun and aims it at a police officer is a very serious threat and I would consider him a very dangerous individual," chief deputy Brenda Beadle told ABC News.
Williams is one of many young adults facing the prospect of life in prison as the debate over whether juveniles should be tried as adults rages on.
The Justice Department estimates that about 10 percent of all homicides are committed by juveniles under the age of 18. Nearly every year, the FBI arrests more than 33,000 young adults under the age of 18 for offenses.
The number of violent crimes committed by young people declined substantially from the 1990s to 2003, but then surged again that year, with the estimated number of juvenile murder offenders increasing 30 percent, according to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Juvenile Judge Elizabeth Crnkovich, one of five judges in Douglas County's juvenile courts -- a system Williams has been through in the past -- says there is a disturbing trend of increasing violence among young people.
"Uniformly in our communities, more and more young people are engaging in more and more dangerous and serious behavior. And I see as a result of that, more prosecutors and the citizens generally seem to be exerting more pressure to charge these youths as adults, as opposed to having them processed through the juvenile justice system," she said.
Juvenile courts focus on rehabilitation, unlike adult jails and prisons, where criminals are subject to incarceration and much harsher sentences. Today, virtually every juvenile offender who has a past criminal history, or is arrested for a violent crime like rape or murder, is tried in an adult court.
The trend began in the 1990s, when virtually every state expanded the rules under which juvenile offenders could be charged as adults.
"The juvenile justice system has been 'reinvented' in the image of the adult criminal justice system," Robert Schwartz, co-founder of the Juvenile Law Center, and Thomas Grisso, a clinical psychologist at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, wrote in an executive summary for their book, "Youth on Trial." "In the words of one 'get-tough' advocate, juvenile offenders 'are criminals who happen to be young, not children who happen to be criminal."
In May, the Supreme Court handed down a decision that will soften sentences against some juveniles. The nation's highest court ruled that juvenile offenders who haven't been convicted of murder cannot be sentenced to life in prison without any chance of parole. The United States was the only country, prior to the ruling, that did not have a such a law.
Opponents of trying juveniles in adult courts say more needs to be done for the nation's young criminals, and that the law needs to take into account their psychological development and maturity.
The current system is "so at odds with what the research tells us about the kids," said Marsha Levick, deputy director and co-founder of the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center. "We're deciding at a point in his life when we simply don't have the ability to know who he'll be in 10 or 15 or 20 years."
"It's equal to sentencing someone to die in prison," she said. "It's making these irrevocable decisions about kids under circumstances where the research doesn't support making those kinds of decisions."
But prosecutors say they only consider this scenario if the juvenile is deemed too dangerous for society.
"We do consider all the options for a juvenile court if they don't have a record. Based on the nature of the offence, we automatically send them to juvenile," Beadle said. "There are several layers you go through before you try individuals as an adult."
If the judges are lenient, Williams may still be able to walk free after serving half his sentence -- which could amount to a couple of decades -- but there are many more young offenders that may never experience life outside of prison.
In the same county as Williams, two other teens, Juan Castaneda and Eric Ramirez, are charged for first-degree murder in a 2008 crime spree that killed multiple people.
There are similar cases around the country of juvenile offenders that have committed violent crime. Just last week, a 12-year-old boy in Missouri was charged with two counts of first-degree murder for killing his mother and stepfather. In Pennsylvania, another 12-year-old boy is charged with murdering his father's pregnant fiance.
Meanwhile, juvenile courts are also seeing more cases of non-violent crime.
In 2007, courts with juvenile jurisdiction handled an estimated 1.7 million delinquency cases, up 44 percent from 1985, according to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Williams' attorney says it is difficult to predict whether the young offender would commit another violent crime in the future, but that he should have gone through all other court-ordered programs available to teenagers before being charged as an adult.
"We can never predict the future. I'm guessing this is a tough lesson he's learned in life and it will hopefully keep him from the streets and gangs," said Williams' attorney, Glenn Shapiro. "He literally just got his life back, and then lost it."
New Initiative for Juvenile Offenders
WHBQ-TV (TN)
July 12, 2010
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Mayor A C Wharton said juvenile offenders need more than a trip to the detention center to turn their lives around. He announced a new Memphis police initiative that offers more than incarceration.
If it does indeed "take a village to raise a child", then how many law enforcement, religious and governmental administrators does it take to keep troublesome kids out of Shelby County Juvenile Court detention? Memphis Mayor A.C.Wharton is pushing a new intiative to find an effective answer.
"Alternatives other than transporting them by way of an arrest to Juvenile Court. Now keep in mind they will still have to deal with the offense," said Wharton.
Wharton presided over a star-studded assemblage outside the downtown facility on Monday to announce changes to Memphis Police Department policy in regards to issuing juvenile summonses, in seven areas of misdemeanor offenses, rather than carting off youthful offenders directly to the detention center.
Police Director, Larry Godwin, listed those crimes which would warrant such a "preferred response" from officers.
"Disorderly conduct. Simple assault. Criminal tresspass. Simple possession of marijuana," said Godwin. "The gambling. Theft of property or vandalism under $500."
The policy change isn't some nod toward leniency for youthful offenders as it is more a pragmatic approach to the rise in juvenile crime and having financial resources to deal administratively with the crunch drying up. Juvenile Court Judge, Curtis Person, noted 2009 statistics that would seem to bolster Wharton's call for change.
"The DAT, the detention tool or detention hearing the next day, we only detained 10 % of the 7,532 children who were transported by law enforcement," said Person.
There's also real numbers support of the plan derived from its "low-key" implementation over the last three months.Through the month of June, there have been 58.3% of summonses issued versus 41.4% of transports. What that said is the program does work.
Another aspect of the program will be the participation of faith-based leaders following up to make sure young offenders receiving the summons will show up for their court hearings, if their parents fail to take responsibility.
Sustain juvenile justice reform
The Post and Courier (SC)
July 13, 2010
It is because of the S.C. Department of Juvenile Justice's remarkable progress in recent years that it should be able to weather severe budget cuts. But eroding the agency further would be a serious mistake.
In the past seven years, under the direction of retired Family Court Judge Bill Byars, DJJ has successfully shifted its emphasis from incarceration to more effective alternate programs.
Those changes are working for juveniles, and they also are saving money. They have reduced the need for cell space and reduced juvenile recidivism. In 2003, there were 90 girls behind the razor wire in Columbia. Last week, there were 12.
Judge Byars has also heightened community supervision of serious offenders after they are released and has focused on wilderness camps and after-school centers for offenders who end up in trouble often because they fall behind in school.
DJJ's philosophy mirrors that of the state's new sentencing reform law, which recognizes that in dealing with adults, violent offenders need to be treated differently than drug users.
Like the reforms at DJJ, the new law will manage those guilty of non-violent offenses in the community rather than in prison, where they are more likely to become hardened, dangerous criminals. Recognizing that sentencing reform will increase the burden on state parole officers, the Legislature restored some of the funding that had been cut from that agency because of state budget woes.
While DJJ reforms have limited incarceration costs, its alternative programs have still sustained budget cuts. The agency has had to close a school and eliminate one of its 12 wilderness camps, which are run by Clemson University. Fourteen school jobs have been lost and employees are being required to take furloughs that range from seven to 14 days.
Should the successful DJJ programs falter because of budget cuts, people in all parts of the state would suffer the consequences.
Children on the wrong course who might be rehabilitated could miss out on the help they need. Crime could increase. More citizens could become victims, and more parents could see children end up behind bars.
One of society's obligations is to promote the welfare of children. And one of the most important roles of government is to protect its citizens.
The state cannot afford, morally or financially, to handicap the Department of Juvenile Justice and undermine the impressive progress it has made toward fulfilling those obligations.
Councilman Proposes Less Secrecy About Violent Juveniles
WRC-TV (DC)
By TOM SHERWOOD
July 13, 2010
A D.C. councilman proposed releasing the records of the city's most violent juvenile offenders.
Such offenders generally are shielded by the law from public disclosure of their records, even to government agencies trying to help them. On Tuesday, Councilman Phil Mendelson, who chairs the Public Safety Committee, proposed that the city ease the secrecy around the most violent juvenile offenders in order to protect the public and improve help for those offenders.
"The intent of the bill is to pierce the veil of confidentially, to pierce the veil of secrecy that surrounds the juvenile justice system," he said.
Specifically, Mendelson's bill would allow some disclosure of secret juvenile records for any juvenile convicted of a violent crime or who has twice been convicted of auto theft, a common problem.
The council is under pressure from public safety groups and citizens that contend violent juvenile offenders are released too easily or escape too easily and then commit other crimes.
Some council members argued that releasing too much information could permanently harm wrongly accused juveniles or reduce the chances of offenders' rehabilitation.
A vote on passage of the bill is not expected until the fall.
Federal Oversight for Troubled N.Y. Youth Prisons
The New York Times
By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE
July 15, 2010
Four of New York’s most dangerous and troubled youth prisons will be placed under federal oversight, strict new limits will be imposed on the use of physical force by guards, and dozens of psychiatrists, counselors and investigators will be hired under a sweeping agreement finalized on Wednesday between state and federal officials.
The agreement will usher in the most significant expansion of mental health services in years for youths in custody, the vast majority of whom suffer from drug or alcohol problems, developmental disabilities or mental health problems.
Currently, the state does not have a single full-time psychiatrist on staff to treat young offenders.
Guards at the youth prisons, known as youth counselors, will be barred from physically restraining youths except when a person’s physical safety is threatened or a youth is trying to escape from the institution.
Guards will be allowed to use the most controversial method — in which a youth is forced to the ground and held face-down — for at most three minutes, with evaluation by a doctor to follow within four hours.
The accord comes almost a year after the Justice Department threatened to take over New York’s juvenile justice system unless the state took significant steps to rectify problems at the four prisons, where physical abuse was rampant and mental health counseling was scant or nonexistent.
“It is New York’s fundamental responsibility to protect juveniles in its custody from harm and to uphold their constitutional rights,” Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil rights division, said in a statement. “We have worked cooperatively with New York officials to craft an agreement to ensure that the constitutional rights of juveniles at the four facilities are protected, and we commend New York and the New York State Office of Children and Families for their willingness to work aggressively to remedy these problems.”
Federal investigators found that staff members at the four institutions — the Lansing Residential Center and the Louis Gossett Jr. Residential Center, in Lansing, and two residences, one for boys and one for girls, at Tryon Residential Center in Johnstown — routinely used physical force to discipline the youths, resulting in broken bones, shattered teeth, concussions and dozens of other serious injuries in a period of less than two years.
Gov. David A. Paterson said in a statement, “With this historic settlement agreement, New York takes another step towards achieving true transformation of our juvenile justice system.”
Mr. Paterson, who has been trying to address problems plaguing the juvenile system, introduced legislation in June to let judges sentence youths to juvenile prisons only if they had been found guilty of a violent crime or a sex crime or were deemed to be a serious threat to themselves or others. Juvenile prisons house those convicted of criminal acts, from truancy to murder, who are too young to serve in adult jails and prisons.
The federal inquiry began in 2007 after a spate of episodes, including the 2006 death of a disturbed 15-year-old after two employees at the Tryon center pinned him down on the ground.
Two monitors, jointly chosen by federal and state officials, will oversee the state’s efforts to carry out the accord over the next two years, making regular progress reports to a federal judge, who must approve the agreement before it goes into effect.
Money for the new staffing — including a full-time psychiatrist at each of the four prisons, five licensed psychologists and more than a dozen social workers and nurse practitioners — was included in parts of the state budget already approved in Albany.
The state-federal accord, filed in United States District Court in Albany, echoes recommendations issued in December by a state task force, which found major shortcomings throughout the youth prison system. The task force recommended substantially expanding mental health care and replacing most residential youth prisons with smaller centers closer to communities where most young offenders and their families are from.
While the accord officially applies just to the four institutions cited, state officials said they hoped to use it as a springboard to seek broad changes through the juvenile system, which now houses 667 youths in 26 facilities around the state.
“It continues to move us in the right direction,” said Gladys Carrión, commissioner of the Office of Children and Family Services, which oversees the juvenile justice system. “It’s an affirmation of the work we have done already and of the recommendations of the governor’s task force.”
Ms. Carrión, who has moved aggressively in recent months to cut the number of youths in state custody and to limit the use of force by guards, said she would require all youth prisons in New York to abide by the restrictions on physical restraint. She said the state also planned to hire a chief psychiatrist in the near future to oversee drug regimens and mental health counseling at all of the state’s youth prisons.
But advocates for youths in state custody said they would continue to seek a far-reaching transformation in the juvenile justice system in New York, which they say merely warehouses youths who in most cases need intensive psychiatric care and counseling rather than being locked up.
“The changes will only affect those kids who have mental health needs who are already incarcerated,” said Gabrielle Prisco, director of the Juvenile Justice Project at the Correctional Association of New York. “It doesn’t get to the fact that any of those young people could be safely treated in their communities without ever seeing the inside of a prison cell.”
What Friedenauer's Resignation Means for Juvenile Justice
WBEZ Radio (IL)
Produced by Rob Wildeboer
July 15, 2010
The man charged with overseeing Illinois Juvenile Justice system is stepping down. Kurt Friedenauer resignation comes amidst continued questions about the effectiveness and future direction of the system that's responsible for rehabilitating youth offenders in Illinois. And it follows a series of in-depth reports by WBEZ investigating the conditions and policies inside Illinois' many youth centers.
Robert Wildeboer has been one of the lead reporters on our Inside and Out project. WBEZ's Steve Edwards asked him what led to Freidnauer's resignation.
Look ma, it's my digital mug shot NYPD database stores pics of worst kiddie cons
New York Daily News
BY Rocco Parascandola
July 15, 2010
THE NYPD IS creating a database of digital mug shots for pint-sized suspects as young as 11, the Daily News has learned.
The pictures of juvenile offenders would replace instant snapshots taken at precincts and stored haphazardly in police and court files, sources said.
The change started in May with just two Manhattan precincts - one in Greenwich Village and the other on the lower East Side.
But it already has civil libertarians worried that the electronic information could easily leak out or linger in the system long after it is supposed to be purged.
"The juvenile justice system is built on the idea that kids should not be haunted as adults by juvenile offenses," said Christopher Dunn, associate legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
"We're concerned that the creation of digital mug shots of kids threatens to create a huge hole in those protections, given how easily digital images can be copied, stored and moved around," Dunn said.
The shots, taken of kids age 11 to 15 charged with felonies, are accessible to cops citywide.
Police said department lawyers met with Family Court officials to make sure the pictures are purged if charges are dropped or the suspect is cleared.
If the child is convicted, the mug shot stays in the database - but only until Family Court no longer has jurisdiction, usually at age 18.
A police spokesman said the mug shots will not be used on wanted posters, shared with other law enforcement agencies or released to the media.
Still, there is a danger for the pictures to go viral - and wreck someone's chances for college or a job, experts said.
"In the age of the World Wide Web, it's altogether too easy to post photos," said Liz Ryan, director of Campaign for Youth Justice, a Washington-based advocacy group.
"When kids are in the juvenile justice system, there is supposed to be confidentiality. It's really important that there aren't any barriers to that," Ryan said.
Under the pilot program, teens who are charged as adults will also have digital mug shots taken. The pictures are stored separately from those of adults, but in the event of a conviction, the shots are kept beyond age 18.
A number of other police departments, including in Nassau and Suffolk counties, Boston and Philadelphia, take digital mug shots of juveniles.
Opinion: Juvenile offenders carry pain of abuse back into community after release
The Indianapolis Star (IN)
July 16, 2010
The pain -- the kind of pain a mother feels when her child is deeply wounded -- is still evident in Sandra's voice, years after her 13-year-old son was raped by other inmates in an Indiana juvenile prison.
"It ruined his life, and mine too,'' Sandra said. "Our lives haven't been the same since.''
Her son, previously arrested for theft, was sentenced to the Plainfield Juvenile Correctional Facility after he was caught riding in a stolen car. Now an adult, and living in another state, he has struggled with mental illness for much of his life.
Such attacks, according to federal investigators, were rampant in past years at the Plainfield prison, which is no longer operated as a juvenile facility.
Widespread sexual abuse was documented at two other Indiana prisons -- the Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility and the recently closed Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility -- in U.S. Department of Justice reports released this year.
Much of that abuse came at the hands of state employees, including guards, nurses and support staff. Most prison employees are, of course, conscientious about trying to protect young inmates.
But at Pendleton Juvenile, federal investigators found that teen inmates were four times more likely to be sexually assaulted by a state worker than by another inmate. In several cases, state employees have gone from being paid to watch over teen inmates to serving time behind bars as sexual offenders. It's a serious crime for a state prison worker to engage in sexual activity with an inmate: a Class C felony, and a Class B felony if the victim in detention is younger than 18.
Yet, prison rape normally generates little public outrage. That's in part because it's often viewed as a natural consequence of a criminal conviction, and as a deterrent to crime.
For decades prison administrators and elected officials in Indiana and across the nation didn't take sexual abuse inside prisons seriously either.
That began to change in 2003 with passage of the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act, which forces federal and state agencies to document the frequency of sexual abuse and to take steps to stop it.
Under pressure from the Justice Department, officials in Indiana and other states finally have started to transform a prison culture that has long allowed sexual predators easy access to victims.
"We're at a point where most leading corrections officials acknowledge that sexual abuse is a problem that needs to be addressed, and that's huge progress,'' said Lovisa Stannow, executive director of Just Detention International.
It's a problem that needs to be addressed first because sexual assault is neither an acceptable nor an unavoidable consequence of a prison sentence. Rape, after all, is a crime, whether it occurs in prison or not.
Other states, most notably Missouri, have successfully reduced assaults on teens by moving away from large adult-style prisons. Smaller lockups make it easier to separate violent prisoners from vulnerable teens, including those who are nonviolent or new to the system.
Better access to community-based treatment for juveniles suffering from mental illnesses also would divert to more suitable settings a large number of inmates who frequently are the victims of sexual violence.
The public also has a self-interest in ensuring that teens aren't sexually attacked while in custody. The vast majority of offenders will be released after short stints in prison. They bring the scars, and the dangerous lessons learned about sexual violence, back to their home communities.
There's also a matter of fairness. Juvenile justice in Indiana isn't evenly distributed. Depending on where a teenager goes to court, the odds of being sentenced to the state system increase substantially.
In Elkhart County, with a population of about 200,000 people, 108 offenders were sentenced to juvenile prisons last year. Contrast that to the 148 from Marion County, where the population is four times larger.
In Hendricks County, home to about 140,000 people, 40 youths were sent to state juvenile prisons last year. Yet, only nine were sentenced in 2009 from Hamilton County, with a population of about 280,000. And only 57 came from Allen County, with more than 350,000 people.
Lake County, with a population of about 500,000, sent only 72 youths to DOC's juvenile facilities last year.
Bartholomew County, which state officials credit with doing a particularly good job of finding alternatives to prison for troubled youth, sent five teens into the state system last year. It has a population of 76,000. In contrast, 28 juveniles from Clinton County were ordered to state prison from a population of about 35,000 people.
Such discrepancies in sentencing mean that some teens have been put at risk of becoming victims of sexual violence based largely on where they live.
But aren't troubled and trouble-making juveniles already a lost cause? State statistics say otherwise. According to Edwin Buss, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Correction, more than 75 percent of juvenile inmates never return to the DOC system, either as teens or adults.
The behavior that landed juveniles in prison may stop, but the deep wounds inflicted there can fester for decades, a constant reminder of the pain and suffering they endured while under the state's care.
Dept. of Juvenille Justice merging with DCFS
Chicago Sun-Times (IL)
BY ABDON M. PALLASCH
July 16, 2010
Gov. Quinn announced a major change of direction in dealing with juvenile delinquents in Illinois Friday.
He is merging the agency that handles the problem with the Department of Children and Family Services and putting a longtime DCFS official in charge.
“We are planning to move the Department of Juvenile Justice into the Department of Children and Family Services — this will be a sea change,” Quinn said Friday as he introduced the new director of the Juvenile Justice Department, Arthur Bishop, now deputy director of field operations for DCFS.
“We want a child-based system, helping juveniles do the right thing all the time and have a positive life,” Quinn said. “We want to have a treatment model, to make sure we take kids who get in trouble and who have different challenges in their life, we're not going to just throw them away. We want them to have a second chance. Often times they've been abused.”
The move brings full-circle the change that started four years ago when the Department of Juvenile Justice was moved out of the Department of Corrections. The man who oversaw that transition, Kurt Friedenauer, resigned earlier this week.
Quinn offered no criticism of Friedenauer, saying only he wanted someone new to shepherd the department into its new home and he wished Friedenauer well.
Notions that juvenile offenders should be warehoused like adults need to be changed, Quinn said.
Some critics have raised concerns that the newly moved department could get lost in the big bureaucracy of DCFS.
The fear is that the Juvenile Justice Department's 3,000 troubled youths in custody at state juvenile facilities or in after-care programs might lose the fight for dwindling state dollars to the 15,000 abused and neglected children DCFS is responsible for.
Quinn said the children in the juvenile justice system are often victims of abuse themselves, and he said all the experts in child welfare he talked to encouraged this move.
Quinn credited his chief of staff Jerry Stermer, former head of Voices for Illinois Children, with spearheading this effort to change the system.
Editorial: Injustice for Children
The New York Times
July 17, 2010
If New York abides by the settlement it reached this week with the Justice Department, mentally ill children in four of the state’s infamous youth prisons will finally get decent psychiatric care and will no longer be subject to brutal disciplinary practices. As important as it is, however, the settlement cannot be a substitute for the overhaul of the state juvenile justice system proposed by Gov. David Paterson’s juvenile justice task force.
The Justice Department focused on New York because of people like Darryl Thompson, an emotionally disturbed 15-year-old who died after being pinned face down on the floor at the infamous Tryon Residential Center. A federal investigation found that children in the system were often brutally punished for minor offenses like laughing too loud or sneaking an extra cookie.
The investigation also suggested that charges of abuse by guards were being swept under the rug and that psychiatric services for mentally disabled children were shockingly inadequate. As Nicholas Confessore reported in The Times the other day, the state’s juvenile justice system does not employ even one full-time psychiatrist to treat young offenders.
Under the settlement, the state must now provide a credible program of psychiatric care. The settlement also wisely limits the use of dangerous physical restraints. The Department of Children and Family Services will create a new division to investigate allegations of abuse and excessive force, and the state is required to inform the federal government within one business day when children are injured or killed or when there are allegations of sexual misconduct by staff.
The settlement applies to only four of the state’s 26 facilities. But Gladys Carrión, the commissioner of the Office of Children and Family Services, is committed to phasing in the new policies throughout the system. The new regime will require a great deal of retraining of prison personnel and a sea change in culture and is likely to face stiff resistance from the unions that represent juvenile facility workers and their backers in the Legislature. The Justice Department will need to keep a close eye.
The state also must follow the call of the governor’s task force and work to send as many low-risk children as possible to community-based programs. Albany needs to listen to what the task force and the Justice Department are saying: the juvenile justice system in New York has failed the state and its children
Life terms imposed on juveniles appealed
Associated Press (AP) – Philadelphia Bureau
July 18, 2010
Posted on:
PHILADELPHIA - Attorneys in Philadelphia, citing a recent Supreme Court ruling, have filed petitions on behalf of five people who were juveniles when they were sentenced to life in prison in Pennsylvania.
The high court ruled May 17 that juveniles cannot be sentenced to life without parole for any crime short of homicide.
Attorney Bradley Bridge said Friday was the deadline for Pennsylvania juveniles serving life terms who have already exhausted appeals to seek a second chance at life under the ruling. The commonwealth leads the nation with the number of such inmates with more than 450.
Most juveniles serving life - more than 90 percent nationally and all of those in Pennsylvania - were convicted of murder, which is excepted in the Supreme Court ruling. But advocates cite language in the ruling saying juveniles have limited moral culpability because adolescent brains are less fully developed.
Children "are different from adults whether they're charged with a murder or whether they're charged with a robbery," Bridge said.
"We are not suggesting here that any of these people should automatically be released," he said.
"All we are contending is that they should be entitled to be considered for parole. They should have the opportunity to prove that they have learned and grown and changed."
But Jennifer Bishop-Jenkins of Chicago, co-founder of the National Organization of Victims of Juvenile Lifers, called it "a slippery slope."
"I personally supported this ruling, because I don't think life-without-parole for juveniles for a nonmurder is appropriate," Bishop-Jenkins said. But with a crime as heinous as homicide, the courts should weigh rights of victims more heavily than those of offenders, she said.
"Victims have a right not to be revictimized, not to be tortured for the rest of their lives, and it does literally torture victims to have to go to parole hearings every two years or deal with a reopened case," said Bishop-Jenkins, whose pregnant sister and brother-in-law were shot to death by a 16-year-old in 1990.
Report Blasts Wyoming's Juvenile Justice System
Associated Press (AP) – Casper Bureau (WY)
July 18, 2010
Posted on:
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) ― A new report suggests Wyoming faces questions over whether its system of dealing with juvenile offenders violates constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.
An estimated 85 to 90 percent of children in trouble with the law in Wyoming are sent through adult courts, according to the report released this month by the National Center for Youth Law and the Wyoming chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. Youths can ask to have their crimes expunged if they avoid run-ins with the law for one year.
Nevertheless, the report says problems like smoking at school or stealing a pack of gum could be better handled at home, school or community support systems.
"Whether the practice of prosecuting children as adults for status offenses violates the United States Constitution's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment is a significant and novel issue facing the state," the report said.
The report notes one juvenile who pleaded guilty to firing a paintball gun at a neighbor's home and another who pleaded guilty to shoplifting at a Wal-Mart and was placed on six months of probation.
"There is no other state in the country that handles juveniles this way," said Patricia Arthur, a senior attorney with the National Center for Youth Law who worked on the report.
"It's just wrong to strap a young person with a criminal conviction for adolescent behavior," Arthur said. "But it's become such a norm in Wyoming, it's hard to stop."
The report said it found instances of "constitutionally suspect practices" in Wyoming, including "inflicting criminal punishment on children for conduct that would not even be criminal if committed by an adult," the routine shackling of children, and failing to properly advise children of their right to counsel.
Gary Hartman, a retired judge serving as Gov. Dave Freudenthal's special adviser on juvenile justice, agreed that low-risk juveniles should not, for the most part, be incarcerated in detention facilities. He noted that studies indicate "the more exposure to detention a low-risk offender has, the deeper the child penetrates the criminal system."
Hartman said minors should be approached differently than adults, particularly because their brains are still developing.
"The decision-making part of the brain is the last to develop," he said. "All of us made some mistakes when we were kids because many of us were stupid."
In recent years, Wyoming legislators have made changes to the state's Juvenile Justice Act, including authority to create community juvenile service boards. Sixteen counties and the Wind River Indian Reservation are forming them with the goal of providing local solutions to community juvenile justice problems.
The Legislature also gave prosecuting attorneys the authority to be the gatekeeper in deciding whether to file a case in juvenile or adult court. The report said that could create "arbitrariness," but Hartman said prosecutors around the state tend to share methods that work well and are also the best people to understand a specific case.
When the punishment doesn't fit the crime
The Casper Star-Tribune (WY)
By WILLIAM BROWNING
July 18, 2010
One stood before a judge for the first time and pleaded guilty to firing a paintball gun at a neighbor's home. He was ordered to complete 40 hours of community service and pay a $20 court fine.
Another pleaded guilty to having alcohol in his bedroom after his parent -- who was on probation and not allowed alcohol in the home -- found it and told authorities. He was given a 45-day suspended jail sentence, a $200 fine and six months worth of probation.
Another found himself in court after being accused of shoplifting at a local Wal-Mart. He pleaded guilty to the charge and was placed on six months of probation.
These three cases have one similarity: they each deal with Wyoming kids who landed in adult court and left with convictions on their records.
They were also included in a 28-page report released this month by The National Center for Youth Law (NYCL) and the Wyoming chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Juvenile justice reform advocates hope the report, entitled "A Call to Stop Child Prosecutions in Wyoming Adult Courts," inspires change in the way Wyoming handles minors who run afoul of the law.
Patricia Arthur, a senior attorney with the NYCL, traveled to six counties across the state in late 2009 and early 2010, observing along the way how municipal and circuit courts handled juveniles. She said what she found was "shocking."
"There is no other state in the country that handles juveniles this way," said Arthur, who wrote the report. "It's a totally upside down system, especially when you compare it to other states across the country."
An estimated 85 to 90 percent of children in trouble with the law in Wyoming are currently sent through adult courts, according to the report.
Many of these cases, Arthur writes, involve children in trouble for "smoking at school, drinking at a weekend party, stealing a pack of gum or skateboarding in the wrong place." In other words, she said last week, typical teenage behavior.
Problems like these, she said, could be better handled -- if not at home or school -- through community support systems, not by the criminal justice system.
"It's just wrong to strap a young person with a criminal conviction for adolescent behavior," she said. "But it's become such a norm in Wyoming, it's hard to stop."
She acknowledges in the report that youths can ask to have their crimes expunged if they avoid run-ins with the law for one year. However, she writes, "the fact that a criminal conviction may later be expunged is not an adequate justification for the costly criminal prosecution in the first place."
Some reform advocates claim Wyoming's current approach locks up too many juvenile offenders who might be better served by programs offering more opportunities at rehabilitation.
"We need to give mentors to these kids and try to develop a system that has a little more leeway in terms of how we deal with them," said Marc Homer, Kids Count director for the Wyoming Children's Actions Alliance. "The worst thing to do is put them in a punitive system that takes them away from their families, away from a support system. That's just a regression."
Retired district Judge Gary Hartman agreed.
"Low-risk juveniles should not, for the most part, be incarcerated in detention facilities," said Hartman, who serves as Gov. Dave Freudenthal's special advisor on juvenile justice. He noted that studies indicate "the more exposure to detention a low-risk offender has, the deeper the child penetrates the criminal system."
Hartman said minors should be approached differently than adults, if for no other reason than their brains are still developing.
"The decision-making part of the brain is the last to develop," he said, adding, "All of us made some mistakes when we were kids because many of us were stupid."
When you're standing in an adult court, a conviction's outcome is, for the most part, either probation or jail.
"That's problematic," said Arthur. "Not only to the juveniles in terms of detention or criminal record, but also for society. We need to create more healthy responses for these kids."
The report also delves into what Arthur calls "several constitutionally suspect practices" she observed. These include "inflicting criminal punishment on children for conduct that would not even be criminal if committed by an adult;" the routine shackling of children; and failing to properly advise children of their right to counsel.
Hartman said the report, for him, suggests the possibility of future litigation if action is not taken.
"It's a shot across the bow," Hartman said. "There's been nothing to indicate a lawsuit, but I think the threat's implied in there."
In recent years, Wyoming legislators have made changes to the state's Juvenile Justice Act that Hartman said are positive. He pointed to the authority to create community juvenile service boards, which are now being formed in 16 counties and the Wind River Indian Reservation. The goal of the boards, he explained, is to provide local solutions to community juvenile justice problems, with funding assistance from the state.
The Legislature also gave prosecuting attorneys the authority to be the "single point of entry," or gatekeeper, of the decision whether to file a case in juvenile or adult court. The report criticized the move and said mandating that each county develop its own set of filing criteria "actually demanded system-wide arbitrariness."
But Hartman defended the Legislature's action, noting that prosecuting attorneys around the state tend to share methods that work well. They are also, he said, the best people to understand a specific situation's history. Hartman said that the filing criteria ultimately developed likely won't be as disparate as the report's authors contend.
Republican Rep. Keith Gingery has supported initiatives in the past that stress less reliance on detention facilities for young offenders in favor of intervention programs. He thinks the state has done a good job in moving forward with detention issues, and hopes Arthur's report leads to more action.
"I am hopeful that this report will assist in encouraging those in the juvenile justice system that have been resistant to change to realize that change is coming and it will be for the benefit of our children," he said.
Contact reporter William Browning at (307) 266-0534 or william.browning@
My View: We pledge to keep juveniles safe in our care
The Indianapolis Star (IN)
By Edwin G. Buss, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Correction.
July 18, 2010
As commissioner of the Indiana Department of Correction, it is my responsibility to ensure, to the greatest extent possible, the safety and well-being of juveniles committed to our care by the state's juvenile justice system. All of the dedicated correctional professionals of the DOC's Division of Youth Services take this charge very seriously. Shortly after I became commissioner in August 2008, I undertook a comprehensive review of the manner in which we provided services to our incarcerated youths. I subsequently directed all of our juvenile facilities to move away from what could be considered a "prison model" to one more accurately characterized as a "therapeutic community environment" that focuses on restorative justice.
I created the Division of Youth Services, headed by Executive Director Michael Dempsey, and charged him with collaborating with the U.S. Department of Justice, the Indiana Juvenile Justice Task Force, the Youth Law Team and various other agencies and organizations in an effort to implement the finest evidence-based juvenile programs and educational services. I also asked that they focus on the best outcomes for juveniles upon re-entry to their homes and communities.
Juveniles committed to our care are being successfully educated, treated for addiction and mental health problems, and rehabilitated. Research demonstrates that more than 75 percent of the youth committed to our care do not become adult offenders; this is the real success story.
Recent media coverage has reported investigations by the DOJ concerning conditions at our Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility and former Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility. Indeed, the DOJ sent a letter to the governor, dated Jan. 28, 2010, which criticized the Indianapolis facility for failing to provide juveniles with "adequate: (1) protection from harm; (2) mental health care; and (3) special education services." It is important to note that the conclusions reached in this report were based on visits to the facility nearly two years earlier. The facility was closed in November 2009.
Long before the Pendleton and Indianapolis visits occurred, the DOC made many substantial improvements to its juvenile correctional model, based in part on suggestions made during prior DOJ investigations at the South Bend and Logansport juvenile facilities. All of these improvements have been or are in the process of being implemented at Madison Juvenile Correctional Facility, the successor to the Indianapolis facility, especially in the areas of education and special education, suicide prevention, protection from harm, and mental health services. The DOJ has cleared both the Logansport and South Bend facilities, stating that each facility had reached substantial compliance. We are committed to fully implementing those positive changes systemwide.
Among the more disturbing findings in the DOJ report were those concerning protecting juveniles from harm, particularly sexual victimization. We will not tolerate sexual abuse or victimization by employees, or by other juvenile offenders. We have focused our efforts on providing a safe and effective rehabilitative environment for the youth in our custody. We aggressively investigate allegations of misconduct and individuals found to have violated their public trust have been disciplined and in substantiated cases of misconduct, referred for prosecution and imprisoned.
The DOC is committed to providing services and staff who work closely with our youth and provide them with positive influences and direction, and function as role models. Our selection criteria and processes are being reviewed in an effort to better identify the personnel who are most qualified to work with this vulnerable group of youth.
My pledge to the citizens of Indiana is to continue our efforts to make the Division of Youth Services the national model for success. We will continue to serve youth in the least-restrictive environment based upon their individual needs and provide them with all possible tools for future success.
Quinn signs 'sexting' bill, other public safety legislation
The State Journal-Register (IL)
July 19, 2010
CHICAGO -- Gov. Pat Quinn has signed a package of public safety legislation that includes new provisions about "sexting" and child sexual abuse.
Under one bill, minors who send indecent photos of other minors electronically, for instance by text message, can be taken into custody.
Those minors are then subject to adjudication or supervision.
The new law creates a standalone category for minors so that they aren't considered child pornographers and don't have to register as sex offenders.
Another bill makes it a crime to sexually exploit a child using a computer or Internet-based software.
The law is aimed at catching sex offenders who use online chat rooms to interact with people they believe to be children.
The laws go into effect Jan. 1.
Community Conversation: Juvenile facilities do have value
Sheboygan Press (WI)
By James Van Akkeren
July 20, 2010
A July 14 "Community Conversation" by Attorney Matthew House in The Sheboygan Press reminded me of a quote from the late newscaster Walter Cronkite: "Objective journalism and opinion column are about as similar as the Bible and Playboy magazine."
Mr. House's criticism of the Wisconsin juvenile correctional facilities is lacking in fact and objectivity. As a juvenile court prosecutor for Sheboygan County for over 22 years and previously having served as a juvenile court intake worker in Sheboygan County for over four years, I am privy to the facts concerning our juvenile correctional facilities.
Mr. House is an attorney in Beaverton, Ore., who advertises himself on the Internet as a divorce mediator. To my knowledge, he has no personal knowledge of the Wisconsin juvenile justice system. His opinion reflects little insight to our needs in Wisconsin.
Mr. House espouses to close "both lockups." He makes his comments in response to a recent report by the Governor's Juvenile Corrections Review Committee, which was studying the closing of one of Wisconsin's two male juvenile corrections facilities due to declining populations (there is also a female correctional facility).
Yet Mr. House does believe some juveniles, those "who clearly threaten public safety," need placement in corrections. If we close "both lockups" there would be no facility to place juvenile males who threaten public safety. Moreover, under Wisconsin law a judge must find that a juvenile is a danger to the public before they are placed in a correctional facility.
Having visited two of our three juvenile correctional facilities (a boys facility at Lincoln Hills School and the girls facility at Southern Oaks) and having worked directly with social workers and other staff at these facilities, I can tell you these are not facilities that cage juveniles, as Mr. House states, and they do not "warehouse children as if they were cheese locked away in cold storage."
These facilities provide education and rehabilitation programs within their locked setting. Many of the juveniles placed there are woefully behind in credits. The educational staff makes a concentrated effort to advance them educationally throughout their stay so they can receive their high school diploma or its equivalent.
Each juvenile is individually assessed during their first few months in the facility to determine what type of rehabilitation programming they should be involved in. They can be placed in a variety of programs including alcohol and other drug treatment, sex offender treatment, a boot camp, independent living skills, and cognitive intervention programming (also known as errors in thinking). Upon successful completion of their individualized treatment plans they can be placed in other non-correctional treatment or mental health facilities in the state.
Mr. House argues that judges and prosecutors should be forced to "incarcerate only the offenders who threaten public safety..." This is what happens in Sheboygan County. We have a strong commitment to public safety. Over the last five years, juveniles were sent to corrections for engaging in the acts of repeated sexual assault of a child, burglary while armed, sexual assault of a child, multiple operating automobiles without the owner's consent, substantial battery and battery.
In the vast majority of juvenile cases that I have been involved in community based treatment was first attempted before corrections was utilized. The exception is the sex offenders, but even they were professionally assessed to determine if community or non-secure treatment facilities were appropriate.
The reality is fewer and fewer juveniles from Sheboygan County are being placed in correctional facilities. This is primarily due to the creation and emphasis by the Sheboygan County Division of Social Services on wraparound services; intensive community based treatment such as counseling, family training, community based sex offender treatment, monitoring bracelets, community based mental health services, mentoring and short term stays in the county juvenile detention (juvenile jail).
Research has found these interventions to be more effective but they are also far cheaper to the county than a correctional placement. In my personal opinion the county's current emphasis on cutting the social services budget jeopardizes these services and the safety of our citizens, as do uniformed opinions.
About the author: James Van Akkeren is deputy district attorney in the Sheboygan County District Attorney's office.
Study: Most arrested juveniles have drugs in system
San Diego Union-Tribune (CA)
By Kristina Davis
07/22/2010
SAN DIEGO — A study released Wednesday shows a strong relationship between drug use and juvenile delinquency and calls for continued prevention and intervention efforts on behalf of the region’s at-risk youth.
More than half, or 53 percent, of the teens arrested in San Diego County last year tested positive for at least one drug, and 94 percent reported having used drugs or alcohol at some point during their lifetime, according to the San Diego Association of Governments research.
Marijuana was the most common drug found, with 51 percent testing positive at the time of arrest. That was up from 44 percent in 2008.
At the same time, the detection of methamphetamine dropped to 6 percent – down from a ten-year high of 21 percent in 2005.
The findings are somewhat consistent with drug use among adult arrestees, with 57 percent testing positive for an illegal drug in 2008, according to SANDAG.
As part of the study, researchers interviewed 159 youth last year at Juvenile Hall about their experiences with drugs and alcohol, and 154 of those provided urine samples for drug testing.
Cynthia Burke, SANDAG’s director of criminal research, said the findings show that youth booked into jail continue to face a number of risk factors that need to be further addressed by the criminal justice system and the community.
“Program and policy leaders need support as they target prevention and intervention efforts, particularly those that focus on family-based treatment, parental education, truancy, and pro-social activities,” Burke states in the report.
Also troubling was the high amount of youth — 47 percent — reporting alcohol or drug abuse by their parents. Additionally, half reported a parent had been previously arrested and jailed.
“It is clear that in many households, a cycle of substance abuse exists that needs to be addressed before additional generations are also affected,” the study concludes.
Other findings include:
• 32 percent reported having abused prescription or over-the-counter medication, such as Vicodin, OxyContin or codeine.
• One in three youth said they had received some type of previous treatment for drug use, with the majority being court-ordered programs rather than voluntary.
• 88 percent said they’d used alcohol or marijuana by the age of 13.
• A quarter of girls interviewed reported being approached about prostitution. Three boys and three girls said they’d engaged in prostitution before.
Editorial: A rushed judgment of D.C.'s new juvenile justice chief
The Washington Post (DC)
July 23, 2010
ADVOCATES FOR the District's troubled youth are concerned about Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's decision to appoint a new leader of the city's juvenile justice system. But their charges that Mr. Fenty is abandoning reform efforts are reckless and could undermine the reforms they support. Instead of rushing to judgment, they should try to work with the new leadership. For starters, they might want to sit down and actually talk to the new director.
In announcing his decision to replace Marc A. Schindler, interim director of the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, Mr. Fenty made clear he was committed to the reforms, pioneered by Vincent N. Schiraldi, that helped transform the troubled department. Robert Hildum, a D.C. assistant attorney general tapped to replace Mr. Schindler, told us that no one wants a return to the bad old days of juvenile justice when youth were unnecessarily incarcerated, mistreated and given no chance to build new lives. "My mandate from the mayor is that 'we can't go backwards . . . we have to maintain the reform.' "
That, though, didn't stop advocates such as Liz Ryan of the Campaign for Youth Justice to raise the fear of reforms going into "free fall." Others accused Attorney General Peter Nickles, one of the mayor's advisers, of wanting "a more Oak Hill-like facility," a reference to the notorious lockup that was closed in no small measure because of Mr. Nickles's efforts as lead counsel in the Jerry M. litigation. The advocates are demanding an investigation of Mr. Nickles, suggesting he has a conflict of interest in advising the mayor on juvenile justice issues.
This reaction is in keeping with a bunker mentality that too often has brushed aside any criticism of the department as illegitimate. The department can point to significant progress, and Mr. Schindler shares credit for that. But there have been problems, too. In the first five months of 2010, at least nine youths committed to the department were arrested for murder and two others were victims of homicide in the District. There are legitimate concerns about how youth released into the community are supervised and about how the department measures recidivism. The department and its allies in the vigorous advocacy community would serve their cause better by taking such issues seriously than by assuming a defensive crouch.
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