NEWS & VIEWS
Reports
A Review of Juvenile Drug Courts
Juvenile Drug Courts: A Process, Outcome, and Impact Evaluation features findings from an evaluation of nine juvenile drug court intervention programs, their processes, and key outcomes. The programs' effectiveness in reducing recidivism and improving social functioning is assessed, as well as their use of evidence-based approaches.
A Shorter Stay in Youth Facilities
Despite research on the implications of more than 6 months at a juvenile facility, only one state has developed legislation to prevent extended stays. Ten Strategies to Reduce Juvenile Length of Stay recommends policies and practices for states to reduce the amount of time youth spend in juvenile facilities and expand community-based placement, including services for youth living at home.
Learning From Defending Childhood
Protect, Heal, Thrive: Lessons Learned From the Defending Childhood Demonstration Program reports on process evaluation findings from six Defending Childhood Demonstration Program sites. Researchers evaluate the sites' strategies for reducing youth exposure to violence and make recommendations for jurisdictions and tribal groups planning similar efforts.
News
Bullying Rates Drop
New data indicate bullying is at a record low. In the latest School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey, bullying among students 12 to 18 dropped from 28 percent to 22 percent after a number of years with no change.
OJJDP Evaluates One Summer Plus and Becoming a Man Programs
In 2015, two members of OJJDP's Innovation and Research Division visited the University of Chicago Crime Lab to learn more about the One Summer Jobs Plus (OSP) and Becoming a Man (BAM)/Match Math Tutoring evaluations. OSP offers students 8 weeks of mentoring and part-time summer employment, with some students receiving cognitive–behavioral therapy. According to OSP's co-principal investigator, the program significantly decreased violent arrests by 43 percent over 16 months, with 3.95 fewer violent crime arrests per 100 youths.
The BAM curriculum is an in-school, dropout- and violence-prevention program for at-risk male students. Students are guided by a group facilitator to learn and practice impulse control, emotional self-regulation, raising aspirations, and developing a sense of personal responsibility and integrity. Match Math pairs a tutor with two students for daily sessions. Each tutor assesses students' math skills development and learning objectives, and communicates weekly with parents and teachers.
The evaluation team reported positive outcomes for boys who participated in Match Math, as well as those in both programs (BAM and Match Math), including markedly improved math achievement scores, a 50 percent reduction in math course failure, and fewer failures overall in other courses. The evaluation is ongoing.
Smart on Juvenile Justice Initiative: Implementation Update
As part of the Smart on Juvenile Justice Initiative, OJJDP has partnered with the Pew Charitable Trusts' Public Safety Performance Project consultation to support statewide reforms in Georgia, Hawaii, and Kentucky. These states are now offering diversion alternatives and community-based options, and making other changes to reduce recidivism, decrease correctional spending, and improve public safety.
University's Crime Lab Funds Antiviolence Initiative
The University of Chicago Crime Lab has awarded the David Lynch Foundation $300,000 to help One Summer Jobs Plus reduce youth violence in Chicago's most underserved communities. With this support, the foundation will implement its Quiet Time program—a meditation tool to decrease stress and the effects of trauma—in the city's high-crime areas. Roughly 250 students are expected to participate in the first year.
B'More for Youth
The unemployment rate for young African American men in Baltimore was 37 percent in 2013—a stark difference from the joblessness rate for white men (10 percent). But the city is renewing its commitment to building a cradle-to-career pipeline. "B'More for Youth! Building Baltimore's Cradle to Career Pipeline" is a citywide improvement blueprint. The plan, which was presented at the 2015 National Forum for Youth Violence Prevention Summit, sketches out an effort to address high incarceration rates and sparse educational and economic opportunities.
Global Rates of Sexual Violence Against Children
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Violence Against Children Surveys (VACS), which looked at data from seven countries over a 6-year period, suggest at least 25 percent of females and 10 percent of males have experienced childhood sexual violence. The proportion of victims who received services, including health and child protective services, was less than 10 percent.
Program Targets Young, High-Risk Teens
Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh is reaching out to 11- to 14-year-olds in a new initiative that will provide intensive yearlong development support. The effort comes just after the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Jonathan Dos Santos by two teens.
California Invests in Oakland's Safety
Last year, California put $2 million toward breaking the crime cycle in Oakland. Oakland Unite's report on the funds said the city saw a 29 percent reduction in homicides and a 16 percent reduction in shootings in 2013—a record drop. But Oakland is still the fifth most violent city in the nation and the most violent city in California. The money went to existing programs and was dispersed among a wide group of service providers and programs, including employment training for formerly incarcerated youth, crisis counseling for domestic violence victims, and street outreach and Ceasefire case management.
Other Resources
Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children
This guide is an online resource for policymakers who address commercial sexual exploitation of children at state, local, and tribal levels.
Youth Risk Behavior Survey: Combined Datasets
The 2013 National, State, and District Combined Datasets on the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) Web site include more than 1.3 million records from 820 YRBS high school surveys. Standard variables have been aligned across years to facilitate trend analyses, and additional data from optional questions provide information on sexual identity, HIV testing, bullying, and other topics.
Preparing for a Trauma Consultation
The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges has released a guide on trauma consultation and how it can help juvenile and family courts become more trauma informed across settings, practice, and policy. The guide outlines a conceptual and basic operational framework for trauma-informed courts, including positioning them as stakeholders in the community.
Online Videos Address Child Maltreatment
Connections, a series of brief videos, was released in April in observance of National Child Abuse Prevention Month. The videos highlight strategies and programs to prevent child maltreatment.
Status Offenses by State
A new section of the Juvenile Justice GPS—Geography, Policy, Practice and Statistics Web site examines how states address noncriminal youth behaviors. Charting these approaches along with data on prevalence of status offenders can promote best practices for responding to youth who have committed such offenses.
Responding to Children of Arrested Parents
"First, Do No Harm: Model Practices for Law Enforcement Agencies When Arresting Parents in the Presence of Children" recommends best practices for law enforcement in reducing the trauma children experience during parental arrests.
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