Are girls getting more violent?

January 30, 2007 12:04:34 PM

While the American media portrays girls and young American women as an increasingly violent population, the numbers just don't see to add up. Do the math here.

Posted by Amy Jacob
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Listening to Youth in the Juvenile Justice System - Each One Teach One

January 25, 2007 2:33:09 PM

The Gotham Gazette online has an interesting article about empowering youth who have been in the New York City Juvenile Justice system to use their experiences to positively influence other youth, and to advocate for better services. Each One Teach One is the name of the program that mentors young people and encourages them to share their stories with peers and government officials in order to create powerful changes in the system. This article was co-authored by a 19 year old young woman.

Posted by Amy Jacob
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Racism in the US Juvenile Justice System - a New Report

January 23, 2007 10:10:29 AM

A new report issed by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency shows how disparities lead to chronic overrepresentation of youth of color in the juvenile justice system:

"'And Justice for Some: Differential Treatment of Youth of Color in the Justice System,' describes in painstaking detail why, in far greater proportion than whites, youths of color enter the criminal justice system. NCCD researchers found differential treatment at every step of the criminal justice process. For instance, youths of color are more likely to be picked up and detained by police.

Among the finding from the NCCD report:

• African-American youths are 4.5 times more likely, and Latinos 2.3 times more likely, than white youths to be detained for identical offenses.

• About half of white teenagers arrested on a drug charge go home without being formally charged and drawn into the system. Only a quarter of black teens arrested on drug charges catch a similar break.

• When charges are filed, white youths are more likely to be placed on probation while black youth are more likely to get locked up.

Unequal treatment didn't stop upon entry into the juvenile justice system. NCCD researchers found that African-American youths are more likely than whites to be charged, tried, and incarcerated as adults. African Americans comprise 58 percent of youths charged and convicted as adults and sent to adult prisons."

Read the rest of this important article here.

Posted by Amy Jacob
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Is criminality a form of psychopathology?

January 23, 2007 10:01:28 AM

In this intriguing article, Drs. Steiner and Karnick make the case that juvenile delinquency can be classififed as a form of psychopathology and that therefore,

"Juvenile justice settings can be seen as the sociotherapeutic framework in which modern psychiatric treatment can be delivered to a very difficult-to-reach population that often has high failure rates in community settings. The need for appropriate juvenile justice services for these persons has been established beyond any doubt."

An interesting read!

Posted by Amy Jacob
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Preventing Vicarious Trauma in Organizations

January 17, 2007 4:10:31 PM

As research points to fact that the majority of youth held in detention and secure settings have experienced trauma in their lives, it becomes increasingly important to acknowledge the risk posed to line staff and officers in terms of burn out and vicarious traumatization. In working with officers and staff around the state, it has become clear that officers and staff understand intimately the trauma the youth under their supervision have experienced, through listening to their stories and experiencing some of the behaviors these young people exhibit in response to traumatic exposure.

Given these facts, it seems imperative that we turn our attention to vicarious traumatization and look towards protecting direct care staff and officers from the effects of working so closely with traumatized youth. The article linked here, "Organizational Prevention of Vicarious Trauma" was originally written as part of social work research and examines how exposure to client material on trauma can affect social workers. However much of its information seems directly applicable to workers in juvenile justice.

It would be interesting to hear how detention and secure settings see the issue of vicarious traumatization among their workers and to begin to explore ways to make work environments protective of employees in this regard. Please feel free to register for this blog and comment on this topic.

Posted by Amy Jacob
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Supervisors Alert

January 11, 2007 11:46:10 AM

An interesting article recommended by Supervisor trainer, Roy Leitstein:

Most returning to work for a bad boss
Two in five managers don’t keep their word, a survey shows

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - For most people, it’s back to work Tuesday after a holiday weekend with family and friends. And for many, a new study shows, it will be under a bad boss.

Nearly two of five bosses don’t keep their word and more than a fourth bad mouth those they supervise to co-workers, the Florida State University study shows.

And those all-too-common poor managers create plenty of problems for companies as well, leading to poor morale, less production and higher turnover.

“They say that employees don’t leave their job or company, they leave their boss,” said Wayne Hochwarter, an associate professor of management in the College of Business at Florida State University, who joined with two doctoral students at the school to survey more than 700 people working in a variety of jobs about how their bosses treat them.

Continue reading this story here.

Posted by Amy Jacob
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More Holiday Best Practice Tips

January 11, 2007 11:34:22 AM

Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, New Year's Day aren't the only holidays that detention and secure facilities must manage. Below, Camden county shares some of their practices for helping the youth cope on difficult days:

Camden County Youth Center strives to make all holidays as stress free as possible for the residents. We are careful to plan ahead in order that arrangements run as smoothly as possible. Below you will find a list of some of the activities we plan for our youth:

On Easter, we host an Easter egg hunt, special religious services, and extra treats donated by local churches.

On Halloween, we host a mask competition and a Movie party in the classrooms.

On Thanksgiving, the Girl Scouts come in to host a holiday meal with our females. The males also get a special holiday meal.

On Christmas, the residents are very busy. The education department hosts a party on the last day of school, the county sponsors a pizza party on the units, a local Church organizes a pre-holiday dinner in the gym (complete with gifts), another local Church performs a holiday concert, the staff decorate the classrooms and living units. In addition, we do holiday trivia throughout the month of December. Finally, on Christmas morning staff volunteer their time to deliver gifts to the youth (socks, t-shirts, sweatshirts, long underwear, hygiene items, playing cards, books, board games, etc..) These gifts are donated by local Churches. The youth are provided with special meals during the holidays and a special visiting schedule is developed. Every effort is made to keep the youth occupied and in positive spirits.

The staff also have holiday events such as brunches, luncheons, pollyanna’s, and a holiday party outside of the building.

Posted by Amy Jacob
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