Models for Change

How do we protect the successes of juvenile justice reform?

A new brief looking at the challenges facing reform work calls out the need for sustaining a network of collaborators, vigilance regarding changes in society that may require adaptations, and how successful reforms can themselves create unexpected vulnerabilities.

http://modelsforchange.net/publications/856

Policy Brief: Assuring the Future of Developmental Reform in Juvenile Justice — Models for Change: Systems Reform in Juvenile Justice The mid-1990s saw the beginning of resistance to the punitive reform in juvenile justice that had gripped the nation for about ten years. A new perspective on juvenile justice arose, acknowledging that adolescents needed a different response to their offending than for adults. The reform proposed th...

Fines, fees and restitution mandates are levied on juvenile offenders to varying degrees in every state, a new national survey of these practices has found. The effects are greatest on the poor and racial minorities, creating a two-tiered system of justice, according to the report, published by the Juvenile Law Center a legal aid and advocacy group in Philadelphia.

In juvenile systems intended to help wayward youths go straight, the study found, these costs are often counterproductive, drawing young people, especially poor minorities, ever deeper into the maze of criminal courts and straining already-fragile families.

Court Costs Entrap Nonwhite, Poor Juvenile Offenders Fees and fines are levied on young offenders in every state but have an outsize effect on racial minorities and the poor, creating a two-tiered system of justice.

Youth in the juvenile justice system often have been exposed not only to multiple types of interpersonal victimization — polyvictimization — but also to other childhood adversities (such as separation from or impaired relationships with biological parents and family). In total, this more than doubles the number of traumatized youth in juvenile justice programs (i.e., 67 to 75 percent) who need effective services in order to recover from not only PTSD but also for a wide range of related emotional, developmental, academic and behavioral problems (such as substance use, attention deficit, oppositional-defiant, affective, anxiety, dissociative, sexual, sleep and eating disorders, suicidality self-harm and exploitation [e.g., sexual trafficking]).

These stark facts have led to a national (and international) call to action in the past decade for juvenile justice systems to become “trauma-informed.” The 2012 report of the U.S. Attorney General’s Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence identified nine practical steps based on the experience of experts in law enforcement, the judiciary, juvenile justice services, child protective services, racial and ethnic disparities, and traumatic stress.

What Is a “Trauma-Informed” Juvenile Justice System? A TARGETed Approach It is essential that trauma-informed reforms go beyond simply acknowledging that many justice-involved youth have been traumatized, and provide practical skills that adults and youths together can use.

During our coverage of the Every Student Succeeds Act, we've focused on English-language learners, students of color, and students from disadvantaged economic backgrounds, among others. But the law also makes some noteworthy changes for a group of students that often gets ignored—those being educated in the juvenile-justice system.

Some of the key changes included in Title I Part D of the law are designed to help students who are transitioning out of juvenile justice back into traditional public schools, or trying to, at least. The transfer of credits and academic records is addressed. And there's a renewed emphasis in ESSA for those students to get on the same academic track as their peers in traditional public schools. Other outstanding issues, however, are not addressed in ESSA.

The Changes ESSA Makes for Educating Children in the Juvenile-Justice System Key changes under the Every Student Succeeds Act aim to help students who are transitioning out of juvenile justice back to traditional public schools, or trying to at least.