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 A NEWSLETTER OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN JUVENILE LAW AND RESEARCH PROVIDED BY THE NATIONAL JUVENILE JUSTICE PROSECUTION CENTER
Volume II, Issue 12, December 2004
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RECENT CASES
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| SCHOOL SEARCHES |
In re Doe, 91 P.3d 485 (Hawaii 2004)—The Hawaii Supreme Court held that a Crime Stoppers tip that respondent possessed and was selling marijuana on campus did not provide sufficient reasonable suspicion to justify an assistant principal’s search of the student.
http://www.state.hi.us/jud/25876.pdf
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NEWS AND INFORMATION
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Justices Overturn Two Youth Curfews, Miami Herald
A closely divided Florida Supreme Court struck down two juvenile-curfew laws in Southwest Florida on Thursday, jeopardizing similar ones throughout the state, including one in Miami-Dade County that served as a model for others statewide.
In the 4-3 opinion, the majority of justices said the laws in Tampa and neighboring Pinellas Park were too broad because they targeted minors who committed no other crime than being night owls, and because they criminally punished parents and even shop owners who condoned or couldn't control kids' curfew-breaking.
The 91-page opinion and its dissents concern a number of municipalities in Florida that passed juvenile curfew laws after Miami-Dade's ordinance survived a challenge at the appellate court level in the mid-1990s.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/10218987.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
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Diversion aimed at curbing youth crime, Bedford (Mass.) Minuteman
“Local Officials Human Services Council or LOHSC, the human services arm of the Massachusetts Municipal Association hosted a regional conversation Oct. 8 in Burlington with Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley and Assistant DA Cara Krysil, supervisor of the Juvenile Justice Division. Titled ‘Youth Court: Best Practices in Prevention and Diversion,’ the event focused on not only the broad goals of DA Coakley's office with respect to youth but also the specifics of the Juvenile Justice Division's diversion programs in the newly established juvenile court in Framingham. Krysil began the presentation discussing the pilot ‘diversion’ program in Framingham, which began in March of 2004. Designed to reduce the number of youth under state control by decreasing the number of youth officially processed in the system, diversion ‘removes a youth from the official court processing and traditional juvenile justice dispositions.’ … DA Coakley emphasized the limited resources with which her office is working.…’We are penny wise and pound foolish not to pay for prevention programs because they are hard to evaluate,’ she stated. Coakley highlighted the importance of after school programs like the one her office is piloting with Cambridge Rindge and Latin, as well as her Citizenship in Action program which features six units on democracy and becoming a responsible member of the community.”
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Panel Finds That Scare Tactics for Violence Prevention are Harmful
An independent panel, convened by the National Institutes of Health, found that boot camps and other "get tough" programs not only do not make juvenile offenders less violent, but they may make the problem worse. One reason is that sophisticated offenders, in these settings, instruct the more naive. Transferring young offenders to the adult judicial system can also result in more violence among incarcerated youth. The panel identified successful strategies, which teach juveniles "social competency skills" and involve their families in the process.
http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/oct2004/od-15.htm
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State Youth Prisons On Road To Rehab, LA Times
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday unveiled plans for an overhaul of California's prisons for the young, turning his focus to a system that has been widely maligned for its violence, substandard healthcare and failure to steer wayward youths toward a law-abiding future.
The governor's announcement, along with the appointment of a special master, marked the settlement of a lawsuit challenging conditions in the California Youth Authority, where some of the state's most troubled and violent juvenile convicts are confined. The agreement must still be approved by a federal judge.
The agreement will "put the focus back on rehabilitation" and give the CYA's 3,700 young inmates "a better chance to succeed in life," he said. The settlement is good for California, he added, because it will reduce crime and save the state millions of dollars that would have been spent fighting the lawsuit.
The settlement requires the state to develop — by January — detailed plans to improve virtually every aspect of the CYA's operations, including its management of gangs, treatment of the mentally ill and use of force by staff.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-cya17nov17,1,2474665,print.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage
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Youth Accountability Boards: How Prosecutors are Engaging Communities to Respond to Low-Level Juvenile Offending offers a practical guide for prosecutors interested in developing youth accountability boards, which give community volunteers a role in the sanctioning and monitoring of young offenders.
http://www.courtinnovation.org/pdf/youth_accountability_boards.pdf
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U.S. Justice Department Cuffs Juvenile Corrections, Youth Today
In April, a scathing DOJ report on Cheltenham and a juvenile facility in Baltimore documented abuse of residents by staff and other youth, inadequate medical and mental health care, and “insufficient assessment of suicidal youth.” The DOJ laid out a 27-point plan of minimum “remedial measures,” including better inmate classification and improved staff training. The department is negotiating a plan of correction with the state.
What’s happening in Maryland typifies cases that DOJ civil rights attorneys have brought from coast to coast over the past decade – efforts that have shined public attention on the many shortcomings of juvenile justice facilities. Yet some youth advocates question whether these efforts produce results.
http://www.youthtoday.org/youthtoday/story2_11_04.html
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More Girls Behind Bars, Miami Herald
One in four juveniles offenders in Florida is a girl, a sharp increase in the number of females in the juvenile justice system in the past decade, state officials said.
Between 1993 and 2003 in Florida, the number of girls placed in the state's juvenile justice system for committing violent crimes rose 24 percent, said Kelley Gandy, a consultant with the Department of Juvenile Justice.
Florida has 1,914 girls younger than 16 being held for violent crimes, state records show.
The number of boys committed for violent crimes increased by only 2 percent during that 10-year span.
Most girls in detention facilities had been sexually or physically violated.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/10241876.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
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RESEARCH
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Study Probes Serial Killings by Youths, The Washington Times
Mental health professionals have spent years studying some of the most notorious serial killers in history, but a small segment of people who fall into this category -- children -- often go overlooked, says an associate professor of forensic psychiatry.
"Until now, the disturbing details of a half-dozen children's serial killing sprees have remained well-hidden, concealed in 150 years of medical literature, true-crime tales, newspaper clippings and history books," said Dr. Wade C. Myers of the University of Florida's Health Science Center.
Dr. Myers researched what he describes as the "previously unknown psychopathic phenomenon" of "sexual serial homicides" by children and adolescents. His findings are published in a 19-page report in the summer the journal Behavioral Sciences and the Law.
The purpose of the research was to discover factors that may have contributed to such worst-case criminal behavior by minors.
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Overcoming Barriers to School Reentry, OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION—This fact sheet discusses the necessity of cooperative relationships among school systems, the juvenile justice system and other agencies with regard to court-involved youth continuing their education. Data on two model schools are discussed.
http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/ojjdp/fs200403.pdf
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Criminal Neglect - Substance Abuse, Juvenile Justice And The Children Left Behind, NATIONAL CENTER ON ADDICTION AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE —This report details the findings of a lengthy research project examining substance abuse by juvenile offenders. According to the research sponsor, “the 177-page report of the five year study, Criminal Neglect: Substance Abuse, Juvenile Justice and The Children Left Behind, is the most comprehensive analysis ever undertaken of substance abuse and state juvenile justice systems. The report found that 1.9 million of 2.4 million juvenile arrests had substance abuse and addiction involvement and that only 68,600 juveniles receive substance abuse treatment.”
http://www.casacolumbia.org/pdshopprov/files/JJreport.pdf
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Juvenile Arrests 2002, OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION —This Bulletin summarizes and analyzes national and state juvenile arrest data presented in the FBI’s report “Crime in the United States 2002.” In 2002, the juvenile arrest rate for violent crime was 47 percent below its peak in 1994, reaching its lowest level since 1980. The juvenile arrest rate for each of the offenses tracked in the FBI’s Violent Crime Index (murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) has been declining steadily since the mid-1990s; for murder, the rate fell 72% from its 1993 peak through 2002.
http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/ojjdp/204608.pdf
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Lead Poisoning May Be Linked to Juvenile Delinquency, WISH - Indianapolis, IN
There's new evidence about crime and why some kids commit it. I-Team 8 shows you a new side of juvenile delinquency linked to lead poisoning.
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2535262&nav=0Ra7SrzF
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Funding preschool programs pays off for society, study finds, Salt Lake Tribune - Salt Lake City, UT, November 19, 2004
"If you start early enough, you can alleviate some of the most costly interventions," Wright said. "It is a very, very wise early investment that pays off tenfold not only in the school system but the family support system, our juvenile delinquency system, our prisons."
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Disproportionate Minority Confinement: 2002 Update, OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION—This OJJDP Summary describes developments in addressing DMC at the national, state, and local levels. It includes the most recent data on the issue, and discusses efforts by OJJDP, states, and others during the past 5 years to address the challenge of DMC. It also includes highlights from state DMC assessment research and intervention initiatives.
http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/ojjdp/201240.pdf
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FUNDING INFORMATION
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OJJDP Formula Grants Program, OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION—OJJDP’s Formula Grants Program, which supports state and local delinquency prevention efforts and juvenile justice system improvements. Congress appropriates formula grant funds and OJJDP awards them to the states, territories, and the District of Columbia. At least two-thirds of the funds awarded to each state must be used for programs that local public and private agencies operate and eligible American Indian tribal programs. This Fact Sheet describes the program’s eligibility requirements, program areas, award process, and regulations.
http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/ojjdp/fs200402.pdf
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 This information is offered for educational purposes only and is not legal advice. This project was supported by Award No. 2002-MU-MU-0003 from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view or opinions expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the United States Department of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the National District Attorneys Association, or the American Prosecutors Research Institute. |
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