Connect for Kids / Child Advocacy 360 / Youth Policy Action Center - juvenile justice

Re-Connecting our Youth Conference Calls Scheduled

Fri, 08 Sep 2006 08:34:04 -0500

Join YTFG�s Safe Passage Conference Calls
The Youth Transition Funders Group is hosting two conference calls this fall to share how funders and communities are working together to help all of America s youth connect by age 25. Panelists will discuss pathways to college and careers, reform and alternatives to incarceration, and programs that help youth become financially independent after foster care .

June 21 Conference Call on Involving Youth Voices in Juvenile Justice

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 15:02:25 -0500

Update: If you want to get follow-up materials and a notice when Chiu's paper is released, email jan@connectforkids.org. A summary of this conference call is posted as a field report on Connect for Kids.

Duelling autopsies in Florida boot camp death

Tue, 09 May 2006 14:32:53 -0500

Last month, I wrote about Florida's welcome decision to shut down its four remaining "boot camps" for juvenile offenders, in favor of somewhat gentler approaches to young kids in trouble with the law. The closure was the latest fallout from the death of 14-year-old Martin Anderson while in the custody of one of the camps.

Bye-bye Boot Camps

Thu, 27 Apr 2006 10:39:57 -0500

The Florida legislature has agreed to do away with the state's four remaining boot camps for juvenile offenders, and replace them with a "softer" program. The decision, which includes some increased funding, is a fitting memorial for 14-year-old Martin Anderson, who died one day after entering the Bay County boot camp in January. Though the doctor who performed the first autopsy on Anderson ruled his death was due to sickle-cell trait, a usually non-fatal blood disorder, the release of a video from the boot camp showing guards beating Anderson raised questions about that result. A second autopsy was carried out with the consent of Anderson's parents, but the results haven't been made public.

Arrests for Assault are Up among Girls, But Researchers Say It's Not the Crime that's Rising

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 19:11:47 -0500

Arrest rates for assault are rising for girls but before we start an avalanche of talk shows about what's the matter with girls today, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania say we better look at the data first. They say girls' arrests for homicide, robbery, and rape/sexual assault have not been rising. And the evidence is that assaults by girls haven't been increasing either.

Florida Boot Camps Closed

Mon, 27 Mar 2006 12:42:25 -0600

Re the boot camps in Florida--Mitch Needelman writes:
"Done! As of 9am today, March 24, 2006, Military Style Juvenile Boot Camps have been abolished in the Florida House of Representatives. $10.5 million has ben transferred to other programs such as educational services, counseling, family therapy and rehabilitation services for children."

President's Budget Misses the Mark for Keeping America Competitive

Thu, 09 Mar 2006 15:17:34 -0600

Congressional reporters say many of President Bush's FY2007 budget proposals drew a �decidedly cool reception� from House committees that submitted their annual "views and estimates" to the Budget Committee to help it in drafting the congressional budget resolution for FY2007.

War on Drugs Taking the Wrong Prisoners

Fri, 17 Feb 2006 12:47:44 -0600

The war on drugs has taken a lot of prisoners, especially mothers serving mandatory sentences for nonviolent drug offenses. Their children bear the burden -- and the loss -- often in isolation or with few supports from the authorities who keep their mothers locked up and unable to care for them.

"Prisons are to crime what greenhouses are to plants.�

Fri, 17 Feb 2006 09:27:54 -0600

Who said this? Some bleeding-heart liberal opposed to getting tough on crime? No -- it's what Harry M. Whittington said when he served on the Texas Department of Corrections in the 1980s, after observing conditions in many state prisons.

One simple step towards fairness for kids in foster care

Thu, 09 Feb 2006 15:26:51 -0600

When you were in college, how many times did you call home for comfort, advice, a recipe -- and maybe some help paying that long-distance bill you ran up while breaking up with your boy/girlfriend? Or, say you went to work after high school. Did your folks lend you a hand with that first month's security deposit on a new apartment? Bring you a meal and a care package of pots, pans, and laundry detergent?

Schiraldi: Effective Reformer or Another Short-Termer for DC's Juveniles?

Tue, 24 Jan 2006 15:53:23 -0600

Vincent Schiraldi seems like a great guy, and that's one reason he makes me so nervous. I really want the new director of Youth Rehabilitation Services in DC to succeed at the supremely difficult job of turning around the city's juvenile justice system -- a system described by Schiraldi himself as "typically miserable".