SAGs Offered Complementary Copies of National Academy of Sciences Reports

Florida's State Advisory Group and Electronic Medical Records

Standardized Program Evaluation Protocol (SPEP) in Pennsylvania

Youth Advisory Council

Thank you to everyone who submitted applications to become a member of the Youth Advisory Council! If a candidate is selected for an interview, he or she will be contacted directly. All candidates will be notified of final decisions in early-March. The Juvenile Justice Information Exchange recently covered Casey's work in juvenile justice and the planned Youth Advisory Council.  

The Status Offense Reform Center: New Resources and Upcoming Webinar

The Status Offense Reform Center (SORC) recently published A Toolkit for Status Offense System Reform. Each of the four modules that make up this toolkit provides guidance and tools for a discrete phase of the system change process: structuring change, assessing local needs, planning and implementing change, and finally, monitoring and sustaining the change to ensure improved outcomes. 

Additionally, the SORC released an informative infographic on status offenses. This new resource presents data on status offenses, discusses why court based approaches are inappropriate, and highlights some states that are finding innovative approaches to keeping kids in the community and out of court.

Finally, the Status Offense Reform Center and the National Conference of State Legislatures will jointly host a webinar on "The Role of State Legislatures in Status Offense Reform" on March 20 at 2 pm ET. Presenters will speak about state legislative status offense priorities and reforms and the impact such policies have on juvenile populations and practitioners. Click here to register. 

Webinar on "Essential Elements of a Trauma-Informed Juvenile Justice System"

Each year, millions of children in the United States are exposed to violence in their homes, schools, and communities. Left unaddressed, the traumatic effects of this violence can lead to mental and substance use disorders, school failure, increased risk taking, and delinquency. The majority of youth in contact with the juvenile justice system have experienced traumatic events and serious adversity. To achieve better outcomes for these youth, juvenile justice professionals should understand the role exposure to violence plays in the lives of these youth, develop policies that reflect this knowledge, and employ interventions that address the traumatic stress.

The Mental Health and Juvenile Justice Collaborative for Change will host a webinar on "Essential Elements of a Trauma-Informed Juvenile Justice System" on February 26. The webinar will provide an overview of:

• Evidence-based strategies for identifying and responding to youth in need of trauma-informed services; 
• Integrating a trauma-informed approach into juvenile justice policies and practices; and
• Fostering a more trauma-informed juvenile justice staff.

Register here!

NCSL Juvenile Justice Quarterly

The National Conference of State Legislatures released the latest issue of the Juvenile Justice Quarterly, a newsletter for state legislators, legislative staff, and others interested in state juvenile justice policy. This newsletter provides quarterly updates on state juvenile justice legislation and budgets; highlights innovative policies and programs; and connects you with reports and news of upcoming NCSL events. This issue highlights 2014 Year-End State Policy and Legislative Reviews.

New Information Sharing Toolkit

The Juvenile Law Center and the Robert F. Kennedy National Resource Center for Juvenile Justice released an updated Information Sharing Tool Kit. Originally developed in 2008, the updated Tool Kit has spurred an interactive website designed to assist jurisdictions in creating and implementing information and data sharing initiatives in order to achieve better outcomes for youth involved in the juvenile justice system. 

NACO Publishes Resources on Juvenile Justice

The National Association of Counties released a set of juvenile justice resources including:

• Why Juvenile Justice Matters to Counties
• Why Juvenile Justice Matters to Human Services Agencies
• County Concerns: The Role of County Officials in Juvenile Justice Reform
• County Leadership in Juvenile Justice Reform: Highlights and Examples from Jurisdictions Guiding Innovation
• County Concerns: Behavioral Health and Juvenile Justice
• County Concerns: Status Offenses
• County Concerns: Dual Status Youth

Learn more about NACO's work as part of the Models for Change Initiative on their website.  

Executive Director Openings

The Juvenile Law Center and the National Juvenile Defender Center are searching for Executive Directors. Click here to learn more about the JLC position description; applications should be submitted to Robert J. Reinstein. Click here to learn more about the NJDC position description; applications should be sent to Elizabeth Humphrey or Susy Howard.

Meet the Next Generation of Juvenile Justice Reform Leaders

Don't miss these great interviews with Ekundayo Igeleke and Maheen Kaleem, two fellows in NJJN's Youth Justice Leadership Institute. Here are two small samples of what they had to say:

Ekundayo Igeleke: "The majority of people within the justice system are people of color, but the majority working on this issue are not ... It's not to say white people aren't doing good work, but it's the voices of the people affected most who aren't heard, and that's an issue." Read more.

Maheen Kaleem: "[W]hat's low-risk in a delinquency context could be high-risk in a victimization context. When we look at the school-to-prison-pipeline, for example, people will say, 'Well, girls aren't as affected as young men.' That's not necessarily true; it's just that girls aren't necessarily getting into fights at school. Of course some do, but a lot of the time they'll become truant. They'll disengage. So they go missing and people aren't looking for them. There's a tendency when it comes to girls and LGBT youth that is, 'Well, there aren't as many, so let's focus on the majority.' But really we need to be serving all our kids appropriately." Read more. 

NJJN's Reform Network Grows: New Members in Three States

NJJN recently welcomed new organizational members from three states: Kansas, Missouri, and New Jersey. 

• "Kansas ranks eighth to worst [in the country] for out-of-home placement," says the Executive Director of Kansas Appleseed. "We still send kids to our state secure facilities for misdemeanors." As a result, his organization will focus primarily on issues of deincarceration and exclusionary school disciplinary practices in the coming months. Learn more. 
   
• Tracy McClard founded Families and Friends Organizing for Reform of Juvenile Justice (FORJ) after she lost her son to suicide while he was held in solitary confinement in an adult correctional facility. Her advocacy eventually resulted in the 2013 passage of Jonathan's Law, which provided new guidelines for Missouri that meant more young people could remain in youth facilities despite being charged as adults. This year, FORJ-MO is promoting legislation to raise the age of juvenile court jurisdiction, and remove youth from adult jails pre-trial. Learn more.
   
• "Detention reform has been enormously successful in New Jersey," says Craig Levine of the New Jersey Juvenile Justice Reform Coalition, "so the coalition came together to address both what comes before and what comes after detention." Presently, NJJJRC is involved in a campaign to eliminate the use of punitive isolation in youth facilities, and is working with legislators on a bill that would address issues relating to waiver, isolation, transfer, and continuing jurisdiction. Learn more.

Don't Miss NJJN's February Roundup

Check out NJJN's roundup for juvenile justice reformers! Find selected juvenile justice-related news, reports, research, and events here. 

The Council of State Governments released "Closer to Home: An Analysis of the State and Local Impact of the Texas Juvenile Justice Reforms," which shows that youth incarcerated in state-run facilities are 21 percent more likely to be rearrested than those who remain under supervision closer to home.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has released a Request for Applications for its System of Care Expansion and Sustainability Cooperative Agreements.

The Children's Defense Fund released "Ending Child Poverty Now." This report examines how to end child poverty in America and improve the economic circumstances of poor children by investing more in existing programs and policies that increase parental employment, make work pay, and ensure children's basic needs are met.

"A Path Appears" on PBS uncovers the harshest forms of gender-based oppression and human rights violations, and solutions being implemented to combat them. Episode 1, "Sex Trafficking in the USA," focused on survivors trafficked into a life of prostitution in the US, as well as effective programs that combat commercial sexual exploitation and restore lives. 

The Christian Science Monitor published a cover story on "How Communities are Keeping Kids out of Crime."

The Juvenile Justice Information Exchange published an article, "Trafficked Boys Overlooked."

Members of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law published "What Caused the Crime Decline?" which examines the dramatic decline in crime nationwide over the past two decades and analyzes various theories for why it occurred, by reviewing more than 40 years of data from all 50 states and the 50 largest cities.

The Criminal Justice Policy Review published a paper on "Diverting Juvenile Justice-Involved Youth with Behavioral Health Issues from Detention: Preliminary Findings from Ohio's Behavioral Health Juvenile Justice Initiative."