Each year, CJJ hosts a national conference uniquely focused on improving juvenile justice and delinquency prevention systems, services, practices, and policies. Last year, more than 470 juvenile justice practitioners and advocates from across the U.S. and its territories attended.
This year's conference will specifically focus on the following questions:
- How can states and communities serve as leaders in shaping a better juvenile justice system for our most vulnerable youth?
- How can we improve collaborations with young people with lived experiences in the systems we work with?
- What can be done to build on successes and continue to improve systems so that they best serve young people, including those touching multiple systems?
- What role do advocacy and public health play as communities seek to improve services and provide for trauma-informed care that addresses and heals multi-generational trauma?
To register, click
here. To book a room at the Grand Hyatt Washington, click
here.
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Early Bird Registration
Dec 11 - Feb 9
$345/Member
$445/Non Member (Includes one year CJJ membership)
$175/Full Time Student
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Regular Registration
Feb 10 - Apr 30
$395/Member
$495/Non Member (Includes one year CJJ membership)
$185/Full Time Student
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Late Registration
May 1- May 21
$455/Member
$565/Non Member (Includes one year CJJ membership)
$195/Full Time Student
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Preference will be given to proposals that:
- Highlight State Advisory Group (SAG) programs, policy work, or engagement strategies.
- Involve efforts to meaningfully partner and engage with young people.
- Are interactive and do not require the use of PowerPoint.
Workshop proposals are due Friday, January 31, 2020. To submit a workshop proposal, click here. To view the call for proposals, click here.
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Thank You for Joining Us in Scottsdale, AZ
Below is a photo recap of our Racial and Ethnic Disparities Conference, "A Time for Action: Combating Racial and Ethnic Disparities through Inclusion, Equity, and Respect." Thank you to all who attended.
Pastor Edward J. Palmer, CJJ's National Chair, welcomed attendees to the conference. 270 people from 44 states and territories were in attendance.
Milagros Phillips, speaker and author, gave this year's Keynote. She spoke about how to become more aware of our biases and have a greater understanding of how to reduce racial and ethnic disparities.
The first annual Andrew Smith Racial and Ethnic Disparities Coordinator Award was awarded to the late Andrew Smith, accepted by his brother, Bruce Smith. Andrew served as CJJ's Ethnic and Cultural Diversity Chair until his passing in 2018.
Jameel Beasley, Angie Lopez, Jennifer Ortiz, Nick Costales, and Lance Meeks
(L to R) discussed alternatives to incarceration that involve community-based solutions.
Attendees also had the chance to participate in a range of workshops, including
"Getting The Word Out: Community-Based Efforts to Enhance Awareness of Racial and Ethnic Disparities" led by William Jernigan, "
Legal Empowerment as a Pathway to Dismantling Juvenile Justice" led by Rachel Marshall and Christina Sorenson, and "The Administration of Justice: A New Vision" led by Michael Finley and Samantha Mellerson from the W. Haywood Burns Institute.
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Family First Prevention Services Act and Juvenile Justice
January 23, 2020 at 3 p.m. Eastern
Youth involved in child welfare systems are more likely to experience justice system involvement, particularly youth placed in group care, who face a 2.5 times greater risk of delinquency.
The
Family First Prevention Services Act as passed as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (H.R. 1892). Family First makes changes to how funding under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act (the most significant federal funding stream for child welfare) may be used with the goals of encouraging greater use of preventative services and discouraging the inappropriate use of group care.
This webinar will discuss the implications of the Family First Prevention Services Act on juvenile justice as well as how juvenile justice advocates and State Advisory Groups can support efforts to achieve better outcomes for youth while guarding against potential unintended consequences.
Presenters:
Lisa Pilnik, Senior Consultant, Coalition for Juvenile Justice
Lisette Burton, Vice President, National Advocacy and Public Policy,
Boys Town, and DC SAG member
This webinar is free to CJJ members. To become a member, click
here.
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CJJ is looking for bloggers for
CJJ Today to author stories and posts about juvenile justice. We're particularly interested in stories from
State Advisory Group members or staff, CJJ
individual or
youth members, and CJJ
organizational members, about issues at the state or local level, interesting programs or approaches, and perspectives about the course of juvenile justice reform at the local or state level. We also welcome blog posts from other juvenile justice system stakeholders. Blog posts can be between 400-750 words in length. Click
here to see our other guidelines for blogs.
Suggested topics could include:
- School to Prison Pipeline
- Girls in the Juvenile Justice System
- Remedying Racial and Ethnic Disparities
- Adolescent Brain Development
- Evidence-Based Practices
- Status Offenses
- Family and Youth Involvement
- Promising Practices or Program Spotlights
If interested please email info@juvjustice.org for more details.
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Federal Policy Update
2019 saw a large number of juvenile justice related bills introduced in Congress. Below is a non exhaustive list of bills related to juvenile justice that are pending in Congress:
H.R.5053, the Justice for Juveniles Act, was introduced by Rep. Scanlan (D-PA) in November and was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. This bill would exempt young people from the Prison Litigation Act.
H.R. 2300, the Eliminating Debtor's Prison for Kids Act of 2019 was introduced by Rep. Cardenas (D-CA) in April and was referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security. The legislation creates mental health grants for at-risk youth in states that voluntarily chose not to use fines and fees in their juvenile court system.
H.R. 1949, H.R. 1950, and H.R. 1951 were introduced by Rep. Westerman (R-AR) in April and sent to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security. H.R. 1949 enables judges to depart from mandatory minimums for youth and to impose sentences of up to 35% less than the statutory minimum in cases involving minors. H.R. 1950, also known as Sara's Law allows for judges to set sentences that are below the statutory minimum in cases involving young people who are victims of sex trafficking and have committed an offense against their trafficker. there is no limit on departures in these cases. H.R. 1951, meanwhile, would allow the courts to reconsider and reduce the prison term of a young person who was charged and detained as an adult for a crime they committed before turning 18.
H.R. 494,
the Tiffany Joslyn Juvenile Accountability Block Grant Reauthorization and Bullying Prevention and Intervention Act of 2019, would update and reauthorize the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant program. It was introduced in the House in January and passed the House in February. It has not yet been taken up by the Senate for consideration.
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Restorative justice programs aim to help youth stay out of D.C.'s justice system and continue their education.
The District's Juvenile Justice System and partners are committed to investing in Restorative Justice Programs and Practices. The following are some examples of Restorative Justice Investments that are either funded by SAG grant awards or that SAG members participate in:
Access Youth's Restorative Justice in Schools (RJ) program is designed to provide trauma-informed, evidence-based interventions for at-risk high school students in order to reduce suspension rates and school-based arrests and ultimately reduce juvenile delinquency and justice system involvement. This program focuses on helping students learn and utilize peaceful conflict resolution skills in order to avoid suspension and arrests in school. Access Youth implements restorative justice and conflict resolution through mediation, skill-building curriculum, and mindfulness practices. Youth participants are empowered to develop the socio-emotional skills they need to avoid conflict (including potential arrests and/or suspensions in school). Moreover, Access Youth strives to support students holistically and reduce barriers that conflict or behavior issues can create around classroom achievement and educational engagement. They do this by providing a safe, nurturing environment in which at-risk students can confront the underlying reasons for negative behaviors or conflict.
Open City Advocates provides holistic legal representation, case management, and mentoring to youth returning from incarceration. Open City's direct services target DC's highest-risk teens, beginning when they are incarcerated at DC's long-term juvenile facility (New Beginnings Youth Development Center) and continuing throughout their return to the community. While at New Beginnings, Open City mentor-advocates and staff attorneys visit youth weekly to develop goals for reentry, prepare safety plans if needed, represent youth at institutional disciplinary hearings, and support youth at restorative justice circles as appropriate. Engagement in restorative justice practices typically involves supporting youth at a circle for a behavioral infraction, such as a fight between youth, which occur inside its facilities. If and when an Open City client voluntarily participates in restorative justice practices, staff attorneys may participate as a member of the youth's community of support or will track and monitor the outcomes of these circles to ensure that youth are not also subjected to more traditional sanctions (i.e. longer term of incarceration).
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Events and Trainings
- The Center for Children & Youth Justice will host their annual Norm Maleng Advocate For Youth Award Breakfast on April 22, 2020 at the Sheraton Hotel in Seattle, WA.
- Registration is now open for Race Forward's 2020 Facing Race National Conference. The conference will be held November 12-14, 2020 in Raleigh, NC at the Raleigh Convention Center. Facing Race is for advocates, activists, policy makers, journalists, artists, and organizers - anyone who is committed to building racial equity in their community and is passionate about advancing racial justice through committed and accountable partnerships with communities of color.
- The National Center for Youth Opportunity and Justice is offering a Crisis Intervention Teams for Youth (CIT-Y) training March 4-6, 2020 in New Orleans, LA. CIT-Y is a law enforcement-based, crisis-response and diversion strategy in which specially-trained law enforcement officers respond to calls involving adolescents experiencing behavioral health crises.
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The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) will host their annual National Conference on Juvenile Justice on March 22-25, 2020 in Pittsburgh, PA at the Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh Downtown. This conference will explore gaps in services, discover new and improved practices, share cutting edge research, and motivate participants to explore positive case outcomes for youth involved in the delinquency system.
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The National Network for Youth (NN4Y) will host their seventh annual National Summit on Youth Homelessness on March 2-3 in Washington, DC at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill. This summit brings together policymakers, young leaders, service experts, and other providers to learn how to respond to and prevent youth homelessness.
New Publications and Resources
- The Vera Institute has released fifty state fact sheets that highlight both prison and jail trends in each state. Users can view how their state's incarceration rates have changed in comparison to neighboring states.
- The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty released the Homeless Youth Handbook as a resource for states to work to prevent homelessness. This resource contains information about homeless youth rights in major states such as California, New York, Florida, DC, and more.
- No Kids in Prison released "Racial Justice at the Core." This profile highlights the New Jersey and Virginia campaigns that have worked to abolish youth prisons through a racial justice lens.
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The Juvenile Justice Monitor is brought to you by staff and volunteer leaders of the Coalition for Juvenile Justice, and supported by membership fees paid by CJJ's State Advisory Group Members, Members at Large, Organizational Members, and allies. We are grateful to all for their ongoing support.
Coalition for Juvenile Justice
1319 F Street NW, Suite 402
Washington, DC 20004
202-467-0864
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