Found 32 matches.
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Improving Outcomes for Justice-Involved Youth Through Structured Decision-Making and Diversion
Tags: Federal | Virginia | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | General System Reform | Positive Youth Development and Strengths-Based Programming | Risk Assessment and Screening | Restorative Justice | Evidence-Based Practices | Advocacy | Administrative/Regulatory Policies | Reports | Research | Partner Publications | Fact Sheets and Briefs
This issue brief by the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University reviews research on the structured decision-making process and diversion, including the use of risk and needs assessment tools and dispositional matrices. It also has a focus on how these tools can improve the effectiveness of juvenile diversion programming. Moving from research to practice, this brief further highlights some of the recent reform efforts in Fairfax County, Virginia.
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Advocates Want Juvenile Justice Overhaul, Clash Over Direction
Tags: Virginia | Deinstitutionalization | Institutional Conditions | Advocacy | Reports | Partner Publications
Virginia, a state poised to set a national standard, is still bedeviled by some of the same problems seen in other states, thanks in part to an outdated national attitude that juvenile offenders only deserve punishment.
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ISE for Youth: What Stakeholders Can Do to Transform Virginia' s Juvenile Justice System
Tags: Virginia | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | General System Reform | Partner Publications
The report makes recommendations for how the Department of Juvenile Justice, the Task Force on Juvenile Correctional Centers, and the community can re-invest in supportive environments for youth.
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Protecting Childhood: A Blueprint for Developmentally Appropriate School Policing in Virginia
Tags: Virginia | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports | Research | Member Publications
The report describes the problems with school policing in Virginia and then provides recommendations for reforms. The appendices include tools for lawmakers and policymakers, such as a model memorandum of understanding (MOU) that school divisions and law enforcement agencies can use to incorporate best practices. The goals of the report are two-fold: 1) to stress the acute need for reform and create a more nuanced understanding of specific problems related to school policing; and 2) to advance proven reforms.
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Virginia: 2015 Guidelines for Determining the Length of Stay of Juveniles Indeterminately Committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice
Tags: Virginia | Deinstitutionalization | General System Reform | Evidence-Based Practices | Administrative/Regulatory Policies
2015 guidelines for determining length of stay for youth in the juvenile justice system in Virginia.
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Virginia H.B. 1443 - Restraint and Seclusion
Tags: Virginia | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Legislation
2015 Virginia bill H.B. 1443 requiring restrictions be placed on the use of restraint and seclusion in public schools.
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Virginia S.B. 782 - Restraint and Seclusion
Tags: Virginia | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Legislation
2015 Virginia S.B. 782 requiring restrictions be made on the use of restraint and seclusion in schools.
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Virginia's Justice System: Expensive, Ineffective and Unfair
Tags: Virginia | General System Reform | Reports
This report from the Justice Policy Institute summarizes some of the large problems with Virginia's criminal justice system, concluding that overall, the system is expensive, ineffective, and inequitable. While the report focuses on adults, there is a section that focuses on Virginia's youth justice system.
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Virginia Avoids Attempt to Increase Police in Schools, H.B. 2347
Tags: Virginia | Fiscal Issues and Funding | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Legislation
Despite the governor’s recommendations to his School and Campus Safety Task Force that the state spend an additional $33 million on school policing, security, and mental health, the task force did not endorse bills to place a school resource officer (SRO) in every Virginia school (including elementary schools). The final budget included only $1.3 million in new funding for SROs and a revolving fund for safety-related infrastructure improvements. Two bills that would have greatly increased sharing of juvenile law enforcement records (H.B. 2347 and H.B. 2344) were also scaled back.
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Virginia Avoids Attempt to Increase Police in Schools, H.B. 2344
Tags: Virginia | Fiscal Issues and Funding | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Legislation
Despite the governor’s recommendations to his School and Campus Safety Task Force that the state spend an additional $33 million on school policing, security, and mental health, the task force did not endorse bills to place a school resource officer (SRO) in every Virginia school (including elementary schools). The final budget included only $1.3 million in new funding for SROs and a revolving fund for safety-related infrastructure improvements. Two bills that would have greatly increased sharing of juvenile law enforcement records (H.B. 2347 and H.B. 2344) were also scaled back.
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Virginia Law Clearly Defines Bullying in Order to Avoid Over-Criminalizing Youth, H.B. 1871
Tags: Virginia | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Legislation
The Virginia General Assembly added a clear definition of bullying to its anti-bullying statute, in order to distinguish true bullying from ordinary peer conflict. Now, bullying is “any aggressive and unwanted behavior that is intended to harm, intimidate, or humiliate the victim; involves a real or perceived power imbalance between the aggressor or aggressors and victim; and is repeated over time or causes severe emotional trauma.” The definition specifically excludes ordinary teasing, horseplay, or arguments. The definition is written in a way that youth can understand, avoiding overly legalistic language, and is intended to be specific enough so that innocent behavior isn’t included. The change is an effort to avoid the overuse of zero tolerance policies and the over-criminalization of normal youth behavior. H.B. 1871/Act No. 575, signed into law March 20, 2013; effective July 1, 2013.
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Virginia Removes Non-Gun Weapons from Automatic Expulsion Statute, H.B. 1866
Tags: Virginia | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Legislation
Prior to a new legislative change in Virginia, the state’s automatic expulsion statute defined “firearm” to mean guns as well as other weapons that are not guns, such as knives, razor blades, and slingshots. This forced schools to automatically expel any student who brought such an item to school. The law now restricts the definition of “firearm” to actual guns. H.B. 1866/Act No. 288, signed into law March 13, 2013; effective July 1, 2013.
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Virginia Allows Youth to Have their Cases Reviewed Based on New Scientific Evidence, H.B. 1308
Tags: Virginia | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Legislation
Virginia now allows youth who have been adjudicated in the juvenile justice system to submit a motion for the evaluation of new or previously untested scientific evidence. Previously, only individuals in the adult system could file such a motion. The law also gives the Virginia Supreme Court and Courts of Appeals the power to review such petitions and issue writs of innocence for youth who are exonerated based on such evidence. H.B. 1308/Act No. 170, signed into law March 12, 2013; effective July 1, 2013.
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Virginia Fails to Pass Bill Mandating Lifetime Registration for Youth Convicted of Certain Sex Offenses, H.B. 624 - Failed
Tags: Virginia | Sex Offender Registries | Legislation
Advocates in Virginia helped to defeat a bill that would have mandated lifetime registration for youth over the age of 13 convicted of certain sex offenses. The bill would have been applied retroactively. H.B. 624.
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Educate Every Child: Promoting Positive Solutions to School Discipline in Virginia
Tags: Virginia | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Victims | Reports
This report on the school-to-prison pipeline documents school suspensions/expulsions in Virginia, the negative impact of harsh school disciplinary policies on students and community safety, and offers evidence that an existing program within the schools dramatically reduces the need for expulsion an suspensions, by teaching and supporting positive behavior.
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Virginia Reduces Number of Youth Held in Adult Jails, Virginia, S.B. 259
Tags: Virginia | Youth in the Adult System | Legislation
Creates a presumption that transferred or certified youth, if confined pre-trial, stay in juvenile detention rather than adult jails, unless a judge finds them to be a safety or security risk.
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Virginia Youth Transferred to Adult System May Be Detained in Juvenile Facilities, S.B. 259
Tags: Virginia | Youth in the Adult System | Legislation
Youth in Virginia who are transferred to the adult system must now be placed in a secure juvenile detention facility pending trial, rather than an adult jail, unless the court determines that the youth is a threat to the security or safety of other detained youth or staff
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Don't Throw Away the Key: Reevaluating Adult Time for Youth Crime in Virginia, JustChildren
Tags: Virginia | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Report criticizing policy changes made by the Virginia legislature in the 1990s that have unnecessarily swept too many youth into the adult system.
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These Are Our Children, Sojourners Magazine, Liane Rozzell
Tags: Virginia | General System Reform | Media
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Virginia Schools May Not Suspend Students for Truancy, H.B. 1794
Tags: Virginia | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Status Offenses | Legislation
Virginia public schools may no longer suspend students solely based on truancy issues. Prior to the legislative change, over 15,000 students were suspended each year for being tardy or truant.
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Virginia's Juvenile Justice System, HJR 113, Virginia State Crime Commission Presentation
Tags: Virginia | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
The commission found that recidivism rates increase significantly when juveniles are tried in adult court and that youth are often required to plead guilty in order to avoid transfer to adult court. The commission recommends that judges be given sole discretion to transfer youth and that the state should limit the number of crimes eligible for transfer. The study also reports that African American youth are twice as likely as white youth to be committed to juvenile correctional facilities.
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Assessing Consistency and Fairness in Sentencing: A Comparative Study in Three States, National Center for State Courts
Tags: Michigan | Minnesota | Virginia | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
Report examining significantly different sentencing guidelines in three states: Virginia, where the guidelines are mandatory; Michigan, which offers some judicial discretion; and Minnesota, which has the most mandatory system of the three. The study concludes that regardless of the amount of judicial discretion, the guidelines result in consistent sentences that generally are not influenced by race and economic status. The study also notes the marked contrast of its findings to the inconsistent and discriminatory sentencing practices that were documented in each state before the implementation of the sentencing guidelines.
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Virginia Creates "Romeo and Juliet" Exception in Sex Offender Law, Virginia, S.B. 590/Chapter 877
Tags: Virginia | Sex Offender Registries | Legislation
Makes carnal knowledge a sexually violent offense only when the perpetrator is more than five years older than the victim and previously convicted of any two or more sexually violent offenses.
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Virginia Improves Compensation for Court-Appointed Counsel for Juveniles, Virginia, S.B. 610/Chapter 760
Tags: Virginia | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Legislation
Moves to remedy the notoriously low compensation of court-appointed attorneys for juveniles.
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Virginia Allows Juveniles Given Blended Sentences to Earn Sentence Credits, Virginia, H.B. 1207/Chapter 517
Tags: Virginia | Youth in the Adult System | Legislation
Juveniles convicted as adults and given blended sentences are eligible to earn sentence credits while at the juvenile facility.
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What Will it Cost States to Comply with the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act?, Justice Policy Institute
Tags: Federal | Ohio | Virginia | Sex Offender Registries | Reports
Report providing a chart that shows that for all states, the first-year cost of implementing SORNA outweighs the cost of losing 10 percent of the state's Byrne Grant money (the consequence of not complying with SORNA by July 2009). The sheet also gives detailed information on the cost analyses performed by Ohio and Virginia.
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Virginia Permits Blended Sentences for Juveniles Convicted of Capital Murder, Virginia, H.B. 2053/Chapter 460
Tags: Virginia | Youth in the Adult System | Legislation
Mandates that juveniles convicted of capital murder may only be sentenced by the court (rather than by juries), and the court may impose blended sentences.
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Virginia Ends "Once an Adult, Always an Adult" Law, Virginia, H.B. 3007
Tags: Virginia | Youth in the Adult System | Legislation
Requires that youth are convicted in the first offense in order to be tried as an adult in future offenses.
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Virginia Creates Restrictions on Juvenile Defense Waiver, Virginia, Ch. 427, H.B. 2670
Tags: Virginia | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Youth in the Adult System | Legislation
Requires that juveniles charged with felonies can only waive counsel if they consult with an attorney, and the court determines that the waiver is voluntary and in writing, that the child and parent consent, and that it is consistent with the interests of the child.
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Virginia Creates Transition Plan for Incarcerated Juveniles, Virginia, H2245
Tags: Virginia | Aftercare/Reentry | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Legislation
Requires the Board of Juvenile Justice to consult with the Board of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services to create regulations for the planning of mental health, substance abuse and other treatment services for youth returning from corrections or detention.
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A Summary of Best Practices in School Reentry of Incarcerated Youth Returning Home, JustChildren, Legal Aid Justice Center
Tags: Virginia | Aftercare/Reentry | Reports
Memorandum analyzing national school re-enrollment research and identifying four characteristics of best practices for school reentry: (1) clear roles and responsibilities between different agencies and the community; (2) youth and family involvement in the reentry process; (3) speedy placement into school immediately following release; and (4) appropriate placement individualized for each student.
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Virginia Improves Juvenile Defense, Virginia, H.B. 600
Tags: Virginia | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Legislation
Requires that youth receive counsel prior to initial detention hearing. It also makes it more difficult for youth to waive counsel by requiring that youth who face charges that could place them in a juvenile correctional center first consult with an attorney.