Juvenile and Family Court Journal最新文献

Although parental compliance with court orders in child welfare cases is key to achieving physical parent-child reunification and successful case closure, little research has examined how parent-child relationship-focused rehabilitative services uniquely influence case outcomes. This project fills this gap by investigating links between court ordering of and parental participation in Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) with court outcomes. Data were obtained from court records of 448 court-involved parents. Hierarchical regressions revealed that greater participation in CPP led to reunification and successful case closure but not faster case closure. Courtroom professionals should consider parent-child relationship-based therapies as tools for achieving child welfare goals.

For 83 years the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) has provided judicial officers, courts, and court-related agencies nationwide with the education, technical assistance, and research they need to improve the lives of those who seek fair, equal, effective and timely justice.

As the COVID-19 pandemic is changing the world, so is it changing the courts. Judicial officers, court staff, parties, subpoenaed witnesses, attorneys, and jurors must be healthy and safe in order for the courts to function. As trial court judges during this time of COVID-19, we have a responsibility to protect the health of those who enter our courthouses relying on our system of justice; to ensure they are safe and that our system remains fair.

We cannot ensure access to justice if we, people who work in the courts and people who appear in front of us, are ill or afraid coming to court will expose them to COVID-19. This is about community safety and access to justice, not politics. It is about ensuring a healthy and fair judicial system.

The NCJFCJ continues to support judges and court professionals through this pandemic. We also seek to prepare the judicial system for what comes next, so courts can ensure the needs of children, families, and victims are met, and that access to fair, equal, effective, and timely justice remains our priority.

Hon. Ramona A. Gonzalez President

Estimates suggest that upwards of 50% of participants in adult treatment courts (ATC) are parents. Previous studies point to negative impacts of unmet parenting needs on substance use treatment and criminal justice outcomes, and that family-centered practices such as parenting classes substantially reduce recidivism among ATC participants. Judges and team members interested in adopting family-centered practices in their ATC program may be unsure where to begin. One recent source of information regarding evidence-based, family-centered practices in treatment court settings is the Family Treatment Court (FTC) Best Practice Standards. The FTC Standards suggest adopting a family-centered mission, expanding partnerships with child- and family-serving agencies, discussing parenting and family roles during hearings, implementing family-centered case management, and considering the effect of therapeutic responses on children and families. Building on the ATC Standards, the flexibility inherent in voluntary court programs, and existing community partnerships creates a pathway toward family-centered practice in criminal settings.

This study examines the empirical research on legal representation in delinquency proceedings and situates it in the broader investigation of how states provide legal assistance to juvenile defendants. Our review of empirical studies found that attorney presence was an aggravating factor in dispositional decisions. After closely examining state statutory provisions on legal representation in juvenile delinquency proceedings, we suggest that the penalty effect of attorney presence is an artifact of the variation in state laws governing access and oversight of juvenile counsel. We conclude with suggestions for future research, policy, and practice.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had, and continues to have, a broad, deep, and pervasive impact on our lives, our work, and how our justice system functions. While it is easy to contemplate the “system” as a massive behemoth that is impervious, impersonal, and impenetrable, the truth is that the “system” is made up of people. The men and women whose work is the building blocks of the justice system are individuals, each with their own narrative, experience, perspective, and role in the administration of justice. To understand the system and the impact of COVID-19, it is essential to understand the stories of those who work in the system. This article presents the individual and human stories of four professionals whose professional lives are a part of the justice system. Each of these professionals tells their personal story of COVID-19 and reflects on how the pandemic affected them and their approach to the work that they do.

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits (e.g., lack of guilt and empathy) are a risk factor associated with antisocial behavior. Youth with CU traits can be differentiated by varying levels of co-occurring anxiety. In this study, we examined CU variants in incarcerated adolescent females (n = 109) and their associations with emotional and behavioral problems and history of maltreatment. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with a subsample of the participants (n = 13). Participants with CU traits and anxiety had similar levels of conduct problems compared to individuals with high CU traits without anxiety, but they reported more childhood maltreatment (especially sexual abuse).

In nearly every jurisdiction, juvenile or family courts will be using the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) tool to assess whether children can safely be treated in family-like settings to meet federal Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) requirements. Yet, a number of peer-reviewed publications have raised serious concerns regarding the lack of CANS validation research. Rather than reject CANS, this article provides a roadmap for validating the tool with data that jurisdictions have already collected. Courts should require these three simple analyses before relying on the assessment.

Motivational interviewing (MI) is a communication style focused on enhancing clients’ own motivation towards change. In the justice system MI has evidence to support that it enhances communication and change behaviors in youth. As most MI training is designed for healthcare settings training and implementation of MI must be adapted to fit the juvenile justice model. This includes both rehabilitation and restorative justice. Here we describe the details that allowed one county small county in Pennsylvania to roll out MI training and initial skills review in less than 6 months. The case reviews the details of planning, trainings, and timing of activities. We then discuss what elements of those details fit into a greater implementation plan that may be applied elsewhere. Four key elements were instrumental to implementation: 1) appreciation of JPO time constraints, 2) cost containment 3) using blending to enhance JPO flexibility with MI use, and 4) policies that normalize use of MI. This outline may assist other courts in their own implementation efforts.

School shooting tragedies and the juvenile justice system’s movement toward a retributive and punitive framework gravely impacted how primary and secondary school students, disproportionately urban districts, used security measures to lock down campuses and build “fortress-like” schools. This iteration of control on school campuses emerged in tandem with the most recent generation’s zero tolerance approach to student violence and problems; a policy widely regarded as ineffective in urban, suburban, and rural districts. As school shootings continue to impact state legislative action and public reactions to school management, this paper takes a critical approach to school security policies and reviews the evidence on the risk for school violence and how to move away from student control approaches that do not improve school safety. Instead, the incorporation of prosocial education and school engagement efforts finds that school and student safety is improved. These, and related approaches to student body management, decreases campus violence and may also minimize the risk of some school shootings - as rare as these tragic incidents are across the nation’s schools. The interplay of schools, students, and the juvenile and family courts is ongoing. Knowing how school districts can best approach their campus environments, safety, and learning is important for school social workers and court personnel because of how often these systems work, or do not work, together.

Public-sector mental health systems have set forth specialized practice competencies for forensic mental health clinicians conducting court-ordered examinations. This study examined a sample of feedback letters to clinicians who submitted mid-training and final reports for review as part of the requirements for certification as a juvenile court clinician. The most common feedback points were insufficient/irrelevant historical data, problems with clarity/organization of the report, problems with interview/mental status examination, and problems with competency to stand trial data/opinions. Clinicians had fewer deficiencies in their final report compared to their mid-training report, supporting the perspective that forensic training and supervision is associated with better quality reports.