Juvenile and Family Court Journal最新文献

This systematic review identified and analyzed literature focused on understanding child welfare judges' efforts to encourage parental engagement in taking steps that would strengthen their family and promote reunification. PRISMA guidelines were followed to identify, screen, and review the literature on judicial practices that promote parental engagement and reduce resistance in child welfare courts. A total of 347 studies were initially screened, with 17 meeting inclusion criteria. Widely agreed upon theoretical propositions on what judges can do to promote parental engagement are missing from the literature, as is research on what works. Furthermore, specific practice guidelines or actionable steps are scant. These gaps could set up a scenario where judicial quality varies because no consensus exists on best practices for engaging families. After reviewing the state of the literature, we offer some suggestions for moving forward, namely, working to establish a model of best practices that borrows from allied professions.

Adolescents involved in the juvenile justice system often experience poor outcomes. Such outcomes include high rates of recidivism and academic difficulties. The current study focused on the effectiveness of mentors and advocates in juvenile justice. Specifically, a diverse group of adolescents on probation was randomly assigned to a control (services as usual) or experimental group (services as usual plus the services of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA)). The outcomes of primary interest were recidivism within 18 months and changes in self-efficacy. The findings indicate that assignment to the CASA program significantly decreased the probability of recidivism and significantly increased perceptions of academic self-efficacy. No differences were observed in emotional or social self-efficacy.

This study examines the gap between Tunisia's legal commitment to using detention as a last resort for children in conflict with the law and the reality of its implementation. Despite progressive legislation aligning with international standards, alternative measures remain the exception. Through a qualitative approach involving document analysis, interviews with key stakeholders, and focus group discussions with children, the research explored challenges in implementing non-custodial measures and the impact of detention on child well-being. Findings reveal institutional and financial constraints, judicial attitudes favoring detention, and limited awareness of legal processes among children and parents as barriers to effective implementation. Additionally, detention is found to have detrimental effects on children's physical and mental health, education, and prospects. The study concludes that while Tunisia has a robust legal framework for child rights protection, a reassessment of the juvenile justice system is necessary to address the underutilization of diversion and ensure a rights-respecting approach prioritizing the child's best interests.

This study aimed to explore parenting plan evaluators' experiences (child custody evaluators) as they adopted virtual (remote) methods for conducting evaluations during the global pandemic. This study used a retrospective cross-sectional design, surveying evaluators at two different points in time to assess their experiences with conducting virtual evaluations. Evaluators were recruited from the roster list of the Office of the Children's Lawyer in Ontario and were asked to complete an online survey at the start of the pandemic (April 2020) and then again 7 months later (November 2020). One hundred sixty-one (n = 161) participants completed the online survey at time 1, and sixty-one (n = 61) at time 2. Most of the participants had received fewer than 5 hours of professional training related to the use of technology before the global pandemic. Findings indicate that while some evaluators adapted to virtual methods, concerns about confidentiality, third-party influence, and rapport building persisted.Several factors impacted the increased confidence in using the technology, including training, supervision, the support provided to the evaluators, and the culture of the family court system that embraced the use of technology during the pandemic. Implications include when evaluators should consider virtual methods, employ a hybrid approach, and when virtual methods may be inappropriate.

This article examines the judicial career of military veteran and attorney, Ivorey Cobb, with a particular focus on his work in juvenile justice. Cobb was the first black person to receive an appointment to the New Hampshire state judiciary, serving on two different trial courts from the mid 1960s until the early 1980s. Using archival records, including Cobb's own papers, interviews, as well as newspaper reports from the time, the authors discuss his background, ascension to the bench as well as his juvenile justice initiatives in a mainly rural, racially homogeneous community and state. Grappling with rising caseloads, strained resources, and the new requirements of post-Gault due process, Cobb was nevertheless enthusiastic in devoting his energies to initiatives aimed at improving outcomes for juvenile offenders.

Juvenile court contact offers an intervening point for preventing housing instability, but courts often lack resources for additional risk screeners. Leveraging data from assessment tools in practice like the Positive Achievement Change Tool (PACT) offers a pragmatic solution. This study explored the utility of PACT items for housing instability risk identification in N = 4291 court-involved youth. Regression and classification and regression tree analyses identified substance use, lack of parental control/supervision, poor school attendance, and physical abuse/neglect as predictors with high sensitivity, albeit low specificity. Practical implications of balancing false positives with the pragmatic value of a resource-efficient screening approach are discussed.

The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between anger, hostility, physical aggression, verbal aggression, and emotional forgiveness (positive emotional forgiveness and reduction of negative emotions) in a longitudinal study design. Data were analyzed from 366 juveniles aged 10–18 (M = 15.18, SD = 1.63) who completed questionnaires during two waves. The procedure for both measurements consisted of completing questionnaires measuring emotional forgiveness and aggression. In order to achieve the aim of the study, we decided to evaluate a partial cross-lagged model. Our analyses showed that the reduction in negative emotions toward the offender at T1 was a significant predictor of anger and hostility at T2. Sex was a significant covariate for verbal aggression, anger, and hostility. This study adds to the current literature by supporting previously theorized relationships. It suggests the possibility of training forgiveness skills in juveniles, reducing aggressive and potentially delinquent behavior, especially in response to injustice and events that trigger anger and hostility.

This study examines philosophies and practices of juvenile justice in Austria and the United States specifically using cases of juvenile homicide to provide context to examine divergent outcomes in the two countries. Grounding the paper in the culture of control theory, findings indicate that Austria has not been as heavily influenced by punitive policies as has the United States and maintains a focus as a welfare state. Although the United States has made progress in parts of the juvenile justice system, for more serious offenses, it remains largely focused on crime control and punitiveness. Penalties for juvenile crimes, even the most serious cases, in Austria are geared toward resocialization, education, and treatment instead of punishment. Possible explanations for these differences are explored through local cultural and sociological examination.

Adolescence is a time of rapid change—physical appearance, behaviors, intellectual interests, and social choices. Often, however, it is branded as a time of bad choices and regrets. Neuroscience explains that these changes and behaviors (both positive and seemingly negative) are due to rapid and asynchronous changes in the brain, that drive all choices made by adolescents. Two areas of adolescent decision-making are addressed in this paper—the choice to seek gender affirming care (GAC) and trial decision-making when an adolescent is tried as an adult. For the choice to seek gender affirming care, the paper proposes a system for assessing the adolescent's decision-making ability, instead of a total ban on access to GAC, and for trial decisions, the paper proposes a system of mandatory trial competence assessment of all adolescents who are being tried as adults. For both sections, the paper uses the current Indiana statutes.

This study investigated juvenile recidivism among the statewide population of juvenile drug court graduates from 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 in West Virginia. One notable strategy to combat juvenile crime is the therapeutic jurisprudence approach that focuses on intervention by the judiciary to head the rehabilitation of offenders. This study analyzed recidivism data for 3 years following a juvenile drug court participant's completion of the program to determine the effectiveness of the therapeutic jurisprudence approach in West Virginia. Recidivism data were analyzed through chi-square tests of independence, multiple linear regression, and an ANOVA to ascertain the impact of the therapeutic jurisprudence approach. This writer tracked recidivism rates of graduates 3 years following completion of the juvenile drug court program to determine the overall effectiveness of the community-based, judicial treatment approach. The study examined recidivism rates for participants who received evidence-based treatment based on age to highlight if an offender's age at the time of graduation influenced future recidivism. Finally, the study investigated if there was a noteworthy difference in recidivism depending on where the participant participated in juvenile drug court across 19 separate juvenile drug court programs throughout the state.