Juvenile and Family Court Journal最新文献

This article presents findings from a quasi-experimental study of the St. Louis County (Duluth, Minnesota) ICWA Court examining its effectiveness at achieving improved ICWA implementation and a better case process and outcomes for Indian families. Using a case file review method, cases prior to implementing the ICWA Court were compared to post-ICWA Court cases on demographics, case characteristics, application of ICWA requirements, presence of parties at hearings, achievement of child permanency outcomes, and permanency timeliness. Compared to pre-ICWA Court, this study found several statistically significant improvements in the ICWA Court's handling of cases, including taking less time to confirm the case as an ICWA case, greater appearance of tribal representatives by the Dispositional review hearing stage, more active efforts findings, more placements with relatives at earlier stages of the case, more placement with relative outcomes when reunifications were not possible, and timelier permanency.

This paper presents an evaluation framework for juvenile defense. The evaluation framework establishes a theory of change, logic model categories, and potential measurements for understanding the systemic variation in juvenile defense across the US. Grounded in the US Supreme Court case affirming the due process right to defense counsel, In re Gault, the evaluation framework offers a method of studying juvenile defense to assist youth in delinquency court, defenders, policymakers, and researchers. The methodological shift to an evaluation framework asserts a refocus on the legal objectives for provision of defense counsel in delinquency court.

Juveniles are entering the justice system at exceptional rates. Nearly 700,000 minors were arrested in 2019 in the United States, calling for a social justice movement. This paper explores the zero-tolerance policies being implemented in school systems, grades K-12, across the U.S. Schools began implementing zero-tolerance policies in an attempt to control drug-war crimes, regulate firearm activity, and control gang-related activity in the 1980s. However, they are still in place today and are being used for minor infractions. Zero-tolerance policies make up the school-to-prison pipeline because they force youth out of the school systems via expulsion or suspension and into the criminal justice system. Zero-tolerance policies focus on punitive actions, including incarceration, rather than social and restorative justice, disproportionately targeting racial minority groups. The article offers clinical implications for working in the juvenile justice system through a restorative justice and incarcerated informed lens.

Youth in the juvenile criminal justice system experiencing mental health conditions are often neglected and offered few resources to seek treatment for behavioral health and substance use disorders. This leads to greater recidivism rates, pointing to the need for diversion programs that work directly with youth, family members, schools, and police. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the Safety Net Program upon three implementation outcomes: acceptability, adoption, and appropriateness through qualitative interviews. Additionally, the study aims to amplify the stories of those with lived experiences, adding to the existing body of quantitative research in support of diversion models. Ten in-depth semi-structured qualitative interviews with police officers, school partners, and one parent were conducted to understand perspectives from the key stakeholders participating in the Safety Net model. The study found that integrating police officers in schools allows for the development of close relationships with students, families, and police which further facilitates better outcomes for youth.

Trained observers with vast experience observed and measured over 780 child welfare hearings in five sites to assess what was occurring in hearings. A tool was used to measure the hearing against an ideal standard. The sum and conclusions of those observations are contained herein with recommendations on how to improve the quality of court hearings.

This paper provides a comprehensive historical analysis of policies, theories and approaches to juvenile delinquency. It also examines the deficits and advantages of the application of adult based criminological theory as a means of explaining, and irradiating juvenile crime. Additionally, the author explores the dynamics of the definition of childhood, the pervasiveness of the mistreatment of children, and how these ever-evolving conditions have impacted juvenile justice policy. Moreover, the paper dissects classical, positivist, and neo-classical criminological theories efforts to explain society's response to juvenile crime. In the conclusion, the author draws implications to contemporary approaches to the treatment of juvenile delinquency based in the positivist school of thought. Finally, the author discuss the significance of understanding the historical implications for policymakers and practitioners.

The status of Mississippi's juvenile corrections landscape was the focus of a 2018 federally-funded study exploring the viability of a comprehensive database of statewide juvenile arrest data. Study findings indicated that the state's juvenile corrections infrastructure was primitive and incapable of sustaining such a database. However, promising elements were found to exist that may drive organizational changes at both the local and state level, and further innovations including adaptation of new technologies are also explored. Qualitative data from the pilot study reveals these indicators of potential change, which are then contrasted with theories on how organizational change can be conceived, implemented, and sustained. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Research on juvenile drug court (JDC) effectiveness has been largely underwhelming, generally showing mixed results. These findings, however, could be blamed on a deeper court problem: the inaccurate matching of services to needs. Data from a large juvenile court (N = 1,198) show that juveniles with substance abuse needs recidivate less when receiving JDC services than conventional ones. Likewise, juveniles without drug/alcohol needs receiving conventional services recidivate less than similar youth receiving JDC services. The present study contends that JDCs are an effective complement to conventional juvenile court intervention and demonstrates the importance of matching in delivering effective court services.

Having police officers in schools (school resource officers - SROs) is controversial with a growing debate as their presence has proliferated nationally over the past twenty years. A majority of high schools and middle schools today have police on campus providing a variety of services, though primarily law enforcement. While the intent is to provide improved school safety and protection to students, unexpectedly this has not been the outcome for many school campuses when reviewing most criminal activity or, tragically, school shootings. While the presence of SROs is complicated, the unintended impact has harmed more students than ever anticipated by criminalizing misbehaviors and disorderly conduct, making the learning environment less conducive by negatively changing school climates, and disproportionately impacting many already at-risk young people – those of color, those with disabilities, and those who identify as LGBTQ. While recent Black Lives Matter movement advocacy has removed SROs from a small number of school districts across the country, additional change looks to be quite difficult even though ongoing research continues to find disparate and unexpected negative student, school, and justice system pathway outcomes, while not making schools safer. This paper reviews this empirical, practice, and policy conundrum, and the impact on the juvenile courts.

As juvenile justice systems across the country explore ways to best serve youth who have been commercially sexually exploited, challenges may arise between youths' clinically indicated needs and the probation-driven requirements of CSEC specialty court involvement. This article explores some of the clinical-probation dualities CSEC specialty courts may encounter, conceptualized as tensions related to issues of confidentiality, responses to behaviors that jeopardize youths' safety, and the timing of healing. Future directions for consideration to better meet the needs of youth involved in the justice system who have experienced sexual exploitation are also discussed.