Found 49 matches.
-
End Kindergarten Courts - Raising the Minimum Age Infographic PDF
Tags: Brain and Adolescent Development | General System Reform | International and Human Rights | NJJN Publications
In 28 states 4, 5, and 6 year olds can be arrested and sent to court because states don't have age limits on when a child can be arrested or prosecuted in court for misbehavior. In 2019, 36,691 10 to 12 year- olds were arrested and 2,550 youth under 10 were arrested. Research shows this is a failed approach. NJJN urges states to pass laws to ensure no child under 14 can be sent to court.
-
End Kindergarten Courts - Raising the Minimum Age Infographic PNG
Tags: Brain and Adolescent Development | General System Reform | International and Human Rights | NJJN Publications
In 28 states 4, 5, and 6 year olds can be arrested and sent to court because states don't have age limits on when a child can be arrested or prosecuted in court for misbehavior. In 2019, 36,691 10 to 12 year- olds were arrested and 2,550 youth under 10 were arrested. Research shows this is a failed approach. NJJN urges states to pass laws to ensure no child under 14 can be sent to court.
-
DeVosSignOnLetter120617FINAL
Tags: Federal | Brain and Adolescent Development | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Family and Youth Involvement | Physical Health | Advocacy | Administrative/Regulatory Policies | Member Publications | Partner Publications
Letter to Sec. DeVos expressing strong support for robust enforcement of the regulation implementing the IDEA’s disproportionality requirements and opposition to any effort to delay its implementation. The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
-
Charging Youth As Adults Is Ineffective, Bias-Fraught & Harmful
Tags: California | Brain and Adolescent Development | Collateral Consequences | Crime Data and Statistics | Detention | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Positive Youth Development and Strengths-Based Programming | Risk Assessment and Screening | Youth in the Adult System | Victims | Evidence-Based Practices | Legislation | Reports | Research
Prop. 57 passed this past November, one section took away from prosecutors the power to cause a young person to be tried as an adult out, and gave the power back to judges. The report includes disproportionality of race and geography in adult sentencing.
-
Juvenile InJustice: Charging Youth as Adults is Ineffective, Biased, and Harmful
Tags: California | Brain and Adolescent Development | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Positive Youth Development and Strengths-Based Programming | Youth in the Adult System | Restorative Justice | Evidence-Based Practices | Reports | Research | Member Publications
A collaboration of formerly incarcerated youth and their families. Shows the harmful effects and provides recommendations for restorative justice-oriented solutions to improve health outcomes.
-
HOW SHOULD JUSTICE POLICY TREAT YOUNG OFFENDERS?
Tags: National | Brain and Adolescent Development | General System Reform | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Physical Health | Evidence-Based Practices | Administrative/Regulatory Policies | Research | Partner Publications
Research findings show that adolescents differ from adults in brain development and function, as well as behaviors. Current research identify differences in the brains of young adults, aged 18 to 21, indicating that they too may be immature in ways that are relevant to justice policy.
-
A stolen cellphone, then an odyssey through Maryland's juvenile justice system
Tags: Maryland | Aftercare/Reentry | Brain and Adolescent Development | Collateral Consequences | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Detention | Family and Youth Involvement | Institutional Conditions | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Prevention | Victims | Restorative Justice | Correctional Education | Media | Reports
A thirteen year old boy was with a group of boys who had stolen a cell phone. The counsellors and attorney argued that restorative action be administered as a best outcome. The Judge disagreed and ordered a 90 day term in a juvenile detention.
-
Bring Our Children Home: Ain't I A Child? (full report)
Tags: New Jersey | Brain and Adolescent Development | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Youth in the Adult System | Member Publications
Extreme racial inequalities persist within New Jersey's juvenile justice system, according to a report from the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. Includes policy solutions.
-
Bring Our Children Home: Ain't I A Child? (policy brief)
Tags: New Jersey | Brain and Adolescent Development | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Youth in the Adult System | Member Publications
Extreme racial inequalities persist within New Jersey's juvenile justice system, according to a report from the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. Includes policy solutions.
-
Righting Wrongs: The Five-Year Groundswell of State Bans on Life Without Parole for Children
Tags: Nevada | West Virginia | National | Brain and Adolescent Development | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Life Without Parole and Parole Issues | Youth in the Adult System | Reports | Partner Publications
Report from Campaign for Fair Sentencing of Youth highlights recent legislative reforms, some of the key stakeholders involved, and some of the lives impacted by these reforms.
-
Infographic: It Takes a Village - Diversion Resources for Police and Families
Tags: Connecticut | Illinois | Michigan | Nebraska | Nevada | Oregon | Brain and Adolescent Development | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Status Offenses | Reports | Partner Publications
Summary of brief from Vera Institute of Justice explores the community-focused work being done in Nevada, Connecticut, Nebraska, Michigan, Illinois, and Oregon to find productive responses to youth "acting out."
-
It Takes a Village: Diversion Resources for Police and Families
Tags: Connecticut | Illinois | Michigan | Nebraska | Nevada | Oregon | Brain and Adolescent Development | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Status Offenses | Reports | Partner Publications
This brief from Vera Institute of Justice explores the community-focused work being done in Nevada, Connecticut, Nebraska, Michigan, Illinois, and Oregon to find productive responses to youth "acting out."
-
Vermont - Act 153 (H. 95) - Re: jurisdiction over delinquency proceedings
Tags: Vermont | Brain and Adolescent Development | General System Reform | Institutional Conditions | Youth in the Adult System | Legislation
Act 153 of 2016 relates to jurisdiction over delinquency proceedings by the Family Division of the Superior Court. Among other things, it requires DOC to house offenders under 25 in a separate facility, sets a timetable for raising the age eventually to 18 for all initial filings including felonies (except the "Big 12") into family court, and expands "youthful offender" status available to youth 12-21.
-
Vermont - Act 153 (H. 95) - Summary
Tags: Vermont | Brain and Adolescent Development | General System Reform | Institutional Conditions | Youth in the Adult System | Legislation
Act 153 requires DOC to house offenders under 25 in a separate facility, sets a timetable for raising the age eventually to 18 for initial filings including most felonies and moving them into family court; expands "youthful offender" status available to youth 12-21.
-
FINAL REPORT OF THE GOVERNOR'S COMMISSION ON YOUTH, PUBLIC SAFETY AND JUSTICE: Recommendations for Juvenile Justice Reform in New York State
Tags: New York | Brain and Adolescent Development | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Why “raise the age” now? Numerous developments have converged in recent years to forge a growing consensus for this and related reforms to New York State’s juvenile justice system. In brief, at least seven key developments have brought us to this point where reform is both necessary and possible. Each of these developments is explored in greater detail in this report.
-
Juvenile Justice in a Developmental Framework
Tags: National | Brain and Adolescent Development | General System Reform | Reports
Every state has implemented developmentally-appropriate juvenile justice reform over the last 15 years, according to a report supported by the MacArthur Foundation’s Models for Change initiative. The report provides a snapshot of nationwide progress as states have evolved many tough on crime policies that treat young offenders as adults to foster a system that considers youth’s developmental needs and capacity for change.
-
Engaging Law Enforcement on Youth Justice Reform: a Policy Update
Tags: National | Brain and Adolescent Development | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | NJJN Publications
-
Studying Deterrence Among High-Risk Adolescents - OJJDP Bulletin
Tags: National | Brain and Adolescent Development | Research
In this bulletin, the authors present some key findings on the link between perceptions of the threat of sanctions and deterrence from crime among serious adolescent offenders.
-
Psychosocial Maturity and Desistance From Crime in a Sample of Serious Juvenile Offenders
Tags: International | National | Brain and Adolescent Development | Research
This study of 1,300 serious juvenile offenders concludes that the majority of youthful offenders mature out of criminal behavior as their brains develop toward impulse control and future-orientation.
-
Because Kids are Different: Five Opportunities for Reforming the Juvenile Justice System
Tags: National | Brain and Adolescent Development | Confidentiality | Institutional Conditions | Sex Offender Registries | Youth in the Adult System | Shackling | NJJN Publications
This Models for Change document concisely frames five reform policy areas in light of adolescent development: adult transfer, solitary confinement; confidentiality of juvenile records; sex offenses registries; and courtroom shackling.
-
Recommendations to Improve Correctional and Reentry Education for Young People
Tags: National | Aftercare/Reentry | Brain and Adolescent Development | Institutional Conditions | Correctional Education | Reports | Partner Publications
The Juvenile Law Center offers these policy recommendations to improve education for youth in confinement and recently exiting confinement.
-
Highlights from Pathways to Desistance: A Longitudinal Study of Serious Adolescent Offenders
Tags: National | Aftercare/Reentry | Brain and Adolescent Development | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Evidence-Based Practices | Reports | Research
The Pathways to Desistance Study is a large collaborative multidisciplinary project that is following 1,354 serious juvenile offenders age 14-18 for 7 years after their conviction. The primary findings of the study to date deal with the decrease in self-reported offending over time by most serious adolescent offenders, the relative inefficacy of longer juvenile incarcerations in decreasing recidivism, the effectiveness of community-based supervision, and the effectiveness of substance abuse treatment in reducing both substance use and offending.
-
Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach (Full Text)
Tags: International | National | Brain and Adolescent Development | Reports
Full text of the National Academy of Sciences' highly influential report, "Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach." The report discusses adolescence as a distinct, yet transient, period of development between childhood and adulthood characterized by increased experimentation and risk-taking, a tendency to discount long-term consequences, and heightened sensitivity to peers and other social influences. Research indicates that for most youth, the period of risky experimentation does not extend beyond adolescence, ceasing as identity becomes settled with maturity. Much adolescent involvement in criminal activity is part of the normal developmental process of identity formation and most adolescents will mature out of these tendencies.
-
Unchain the Children: Policy Opportunities to End the Shackling of Youth in Court
Tags: National | Brain and Adolescent Development | General System Reform | Shackling | NJJN Publications
Children in far too many states are forced to appear in court shackled -- often wearing handcuffs, leg irons, and belly chains connecting ankle and hand restraints. This policy update reviews strategies to end indiscriminate shackling of youth in court developed with the support of Models for Change. (Photo by Victor Keegan: http://bit.ly/1uGjF6P.) HTML version here: http://bit.ly/1taMkBi
-
Justice for Girls: Are We Making Progress?
Tags: National | Brain and Adolescent Development | Girls | Research
The Juvenile Justice System's goal is rehabilitation for all youths. However, unintentional discrimination towards girls may occur due to societal standards and norms. Francine T. Sherman suggests ways of how people within the Juvenile Justice System can be aware of unconscious gender bias, and not let it hinder providing both girls and boys the individual specific treatment that they need. History of girls in the justice system, information on child development, and data on the impact on girls who are involved in the system, provide insight as to how gender bias can be eliminated.
-
The Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility
Tags: International | Brain and Adolescent Development | General System Reform | International and Human Rights | Reports
This report from Penal Reform discusses international standards for determining the minimum age of criminal responsibility.
-
Arrested Development: Confinement Can Negatively Affect Youth Maturation
Tags: International | National | Brain and Adolescent Development | Deinstitutionalization | Reports | NJJN Publications
According to recent research funded by the John D. and Catherine T. Macarthur Foundation's Models for Change Initiative, incarceration can stymie young people's psychosocial maturation--meaning that youth who experience incarceration may be more impulsive and susceptible to negative peer influence upon release, increasing the risk of re-arrest.
-
Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach
Tags: Federal | National | Brain and Adolescent Development | Deinstitutionalization | Family and Youth Involvement | General System Reform | Status Offenses | Youth in the Adult System | Reports | Research
The National Research Council's report brief combines a summary of new research in adolescent developmental psychology with an evaluation of reigning policies in juvenile justice. Based on these materials, the NRC makes recommendations for juvenile justice policy reform.
-
To Punish A Few: Too Many Youth Caught in the Net of Adult Prosecution
Tags: National | Brain and Adolescent Development | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Youth in the Adult System | Reports | Research | Partner Publications
This 2007 report from the Campaign for Youth Justice highlights some of the consequences of prosecuting and detaining youth through the adult criminal justice system. The report explores the consequences of transfer for public safety, the costs of prosecuting youth as adults, the lengthy prison sentences faces by juveniles convicted as adults in states with strike laws, the developmental differences between children, teenagers and adults, the disproportionate representation of youth of color in both the adult and juvenile justice systems, and the incarceration of youth in adult detention facilities.
-
South Dakota Adds Competency Protections for Youth with Mental Illness or Developmental Disability
Tags: South Dakota | Brain and Adolescent Development | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Legislation
South Dakota now allows a youth, the state, or the court to raise the issue of a youth’s competency to proceed at any point in a juvenile case if there is reasonable cause to believe the youth is suffering from a mental illness or developmental disability that renders the youth incompetent to proceed. If the court finds that a competency determination is necessary, it must order an evaluation of the youth by a licensed psychiatrist or psychologist within 30 days. All proceedings must be suspended pending the outcome of the competency determination. Examiners must evaluate the youth’s capacity to understand the allegations in the petition, ability to understand the nature of the adversarial process, understand the range of possible dispositions, effectively assist his or her attorney, and testify in court. H.B. 1073/Act No. 121, signed into law March 4, 2013; effective July 1, 2013.
-
Defending Childhood: Report of the Attorney General's National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence
Tags: Federal | Brain and Adolescent Development | General System Reform | Girls | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | LGBTQ Youth | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Physical Health | Prevention | Risk Assessment and Screening | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Victims | Reports
The U.S. Attorney General's National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence report makes recommendations to prevent children from exposure to crime, abuse, and violence; and assist those who have been. Includes recommendations to improve the juvenile justice system.
-
Defending Childhood: [Executive Summary] Report of the Attorney General's National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence
Tags: Federal | Brain and Adolescent Development | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | General System Reform | Girls | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | LGBTQ Youth | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Prevention | Risk Assessment and Screening | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Victims | Reports
This document summarizes key recommendations from the Attorney General to prevent children from exposure to crime, abuse, and violence; and assist those who have been exposed. Includes recommendations to improve the juvenile justice system. [Executive Summary]
-
Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach
Tags: Brain and Adolescent Development | General System Reform | Reports
A new report from the National Resource Council calls for a juvenile justice reform that takes into account the growing science of adolescent development.
-
Using Adolescent Brain Research to Inform Policy: A Guide for Juvenile Justice Advocates, NJJN Policy Paper Update
Tags: Brain and Adolescent Development | General System Reform | NJJN Publications
This National Juvenile Justice Network Policy Paper highlights the primary areas of overlap between adolescent brain research and the field of juvenile justice, and suggests how advocates can better equip themselves to use the research sensibly and effectively.
-
Mississippi Removes Youth from Walnut Grove Correctional Facility and Creates Youthful Offender Unit for Youth Convicted as Adults, H.B. 523
Tags: Mississippi | Brain and Adolescent Development | Detention | Institutional Conditions | Youth in the Adult System | Court Decisions and Related Documents | Legislation
After Mississippi advocates filed a class-action lawsuit against the Walnut Grove Correctional Facility over conditions of confinement, provisions of a subsequent settlement agreement were incorporated into state legislation. In addition to the lawsuit, the facility was simultaneously subject to a U.S. Department of Justice investigation, which found that the conditions at Walnut Grove violated the constitutional rights of youth. The investigation revealed that staff engaged in sexual misconduct with youth, used excessive force, and were deliberately indifferent to the risk of harm youth posed to one another, youth’s mental health needs, and youth’s serious medical needs. The legislation required youth under 22 years old to be removed from Walnut Grove and directed the Department of Corrections (DOC) to establish a youthful offender unit to house youth 17-years-old and younger who have been convicted as adults; youth ages 18 or 19 may also be housed in the Youthful Offender Unit at the discretion of the DOC Commissioner. The Youthful Offender Unit opened in December of 2012; youth housed there must have interactive, structured rehabilitative and/or educational programming and recreational and leisure activities outside of their cells. All programming must be tailored to the developmental needs of adolescents. H.B. 523/Act No. 489, signed into law and effective April 26, 2012.
-
Kentucky - Concurrent Resolution to study Juvenile Code, HCR 129
Tags: Kentucky | Brain and Adolescent Development | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | General System Reform | Risk Assessment and Screening | Status Offenses | Legislation
Establish a task force to study the Unified Juvenile Code; establish membership of task force; provide that the task force is to study issues related to status offenders, the use of community resources, alternatives to detention, reinvestment of savings to create community based treatment programs, feasibility of establishing an age of criminal responsibility, issues related to domestic violence and its impact on children exposed to domestic violence, issues related to special needs children, and use of validated risk and needs assessments; require the task force to submit a report to the Legislative Research Commission by November 1, 2012.
-
Unchain the Children: Five Years Later in Florida
Tags: Florida | Brain and Adolescent Development | General System Reform | Shackling | Reports
Summary of successful advocacy efforts to end the indiscriminate shackling of children in juvenile court in Florida; a look back five years later.
-
Beautiful Brains, David Dobbs, National Geographic Magazine
Tags: Brain and Adolescent Development | Media
Article discussing a more nuanced, strength-based interpretation of the brain research. Researchers believe that the very aspects of adolescence that adults tend to view as deficits are actually highly important adaptive traits designed to help adolescents prepare themselves for the adult world – and to ensure the survival of the species.
-
A Reexamination of Youth Involvment in the Adult Criminal Justice System in Washington: Implications of New Findings About Juvenile Recidivism and Adolescent Brain Development, Washington Coalition for the Just Treatment of Youth
Tags: Washington | Brain and Adolescent Development | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Report pointing specifically to brain development research that bears on juveniles' culpability and indicating that youth are more amenable to rehabilitation. The report also cites recent studies that show that subjecting adolescents to the adult criminal justice system may actually increase future criminal behavior due to reduced access to treatment and rehabilitative services and increased exposure to adult criminal culture. Section IV of the report focuses on an examination of the cases of the 28 youth in Washington who are serving life in prison without the possibility of parole.
-
He's a Man, as Charged, Laura Sessions Stepp, Washington Post
Tags: Brain and Adolescent Development | Youth in the Adult System | Media
Newspaper article discussing the implications of trying adolescents as adults and brain development research.
-
Don't Wait Up: Issues in Juvenile Justice, Charisa A. Smith, New Jersey Family Lawyer
Tags: New Jersey | Brain and Adolescent Development | Reports
Article detailing how scientific studies have proven that teenagers are more likely to thrill-seek and engage in risky and impulsive behavior because of the developmental stage of their brains. Article includes a discussion of New Jersey's shift to more punitive treatment of youth offenders and how this punitive treatment policy fails to account for brain development issues in youth.
-
Adolescent Brains Show Lower Activity in Areas that Control Risky Choices, National Institute of Mental Health
Tags: Brain and Adolescent Development | Research
Article describing a National Institute of Mental Health Study explaining that adolescents are prone to riskier behavior because the region of the brain that controls decision-making is less active in youth.
-
What Are the Implications of Adolescent Brain Development for Juvenile Justice?, Part II - Applying Research to Practice, Coalition for Juvenile Justice
Tags: Brain and Adolescent Development | Reports
Discussion of the key differences in brain development between youth and adults and how the criminal justice system largely ignores these differences. Recommends a new juvenile justice framework that takes into account these differences.
-
Rethinking the Juvenile in Juvenile Justice, Wisconsin Council on Children and Families
Tags: Wisconsin | Brain and Adolescent Development | Reports
Report analyzing the most recent findings on adolescent brain development, along with the practical implications for the justice system. The report includes policy recommendations to address community safety while also taking into account the developmentally appropriate treatment of adolescents in legal trouble.
-
What Are the Implications of Adolescent Brain Development for Juvenile Justice?, Part I - Emerging Concepts, Coalition for Juvenile Justice
Tags: Brain and Adolescent Development | Reports
Brief outlining adolescent brain development resources and discussing how the distinction between youth and adults is not simply one of age, but one of motivation, impulse control, judgment, culpability and physiological maturation.
-
The Relevance of Brain Research to Juvenile Defense, Robert E. Shepherd, Jr., American Bar Association, Criminal Justice
Tags: Brain and Adolescent Development | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Reports
Summary of adolescent brain research and the implications of this research, emphasizing the importance of lawyers understanding youth brain development.
-
Adolescents, Maturity, and the Law, Jeffrey Fagan, American Prospect Online
Tags: Brain and Adolescent Development | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Article discussing the adverse effects of treating adolescents as adults in the criminal justice system and advocating a move towards a more forgiving youth justice system.
-
Brain Maturation in Juveniles: Some Implications of Behavior and Control, A Literature Review, Ruben C. Gur
Tags: Brain and Adolescent Development | Reports
Literature review summarizing current understanding of the process of maturation in human brains during the juvenile period and up to young adulthood. Review also describes the methods used in such investigations and outlines the main findings regarding the course of brain development.
-
Research on School Security: The Impact of Security Measures on Students
Tags: Brain and Adolescent Development | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Research
The National Association of School Psychologists published this brief on school security measures' impact on students. The brief cautions against over reliance on extreme security measures, and emphasizes an approach that addresses the full continuum of students' needs.
