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Education is the foundation for successful life experiences. Gagnon and his colleagues carefully document the dearth of quality research that would enable educators, policy makers, and program administrators to develop high-quality education services for youth. The publication of "Guiding Principles for Providing High-Quality Education in Juvenile Justice Secure Care Setting" in 2014 by the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Justice was a seminal event for those concerned about education opportunities for all young people. [Extracted from the article]

Background: The population in juvenile justice institutions is heterogeneous, as juveniles display a large variety of individual, psychological and social problems. This variety of risk factors and personal characteristics complicates treatment planning. Insight into subgroups and specific profiles of problems in serious juvenile offenders is helpful in identifying important treatment indicators for each subgroup of serious juvenile offenders. Methods: To identify subgroups with combined offender characteristics, cluster-analyses were performed on data of 2010 adolescents from all juvenile justice institutions in the Netherlands. The study included a wide spectrum of static and dynamic offender characteristics and was a replication of a previous study, in order to replicate and validate the identified subgroups. To identify the subgroups that are most useful in clinical practice, different numbers of subgroup-solutions were presented to clinicians. Results: Combining both good statistical fit and clinical relevance resulted in seven subgroups. Most subgroups resemble the subgroups found in the previous study and one extra subgroups was identified. Subgroups were named after their own identifying characteristics: (1) sexual problems, (2) antisocial identity and mental health problems, (3) lack of empathy and conscience, (4) fat profile, (5) family problems, (6) substance use problems, and (7) sexual, cognitive and social problems. Conclusions: Subgroups of offenders as identified seem rather stable. Therefore risk factor scores can help to identify characteristics of serious juvenile offenders, which can be used in clinical practice to adjust treatment to the specific risk and needs of each subgroup. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The development of delinquent behaviour is largely determined by the presence of (multiple) risk factors. It is essential to focus on the patterns of co-occurring risk factors in different subgroups in order to better understand disruptive behaviour. Aims and hypothesis: The aim of this study was to examine whether subgroups could be identified to obtain more insight into the patterns of co-occurring risk factors in a population of adolescents in residential care. Based on the results of prior studies, at least one subgroup with many risk factors in multiple domains and one subgroup with primarily risk factors in a single domain were expected. Methods: The structured assessment of violence risk in youth and the juvenile forensic profile were used to operationalize eleven risk factors in four domains: individual, family, peer and school. Data from 270 male adolescents admitted to a hospital for youth forensic psychiatry and orthopsychiatry in the Netherlands were available. Latent class analysis was used to identify subgroups and significant differences between the subgroups were examined in more detail. Results: Based on the fit statistics and the clinical interpretability, the four-class model was chosen. The four classes had different patterns of co-occurring risk factors, and differed in the included external variables such as psychopathology and criminal behaviour. Conclusions: Two groups were found with many risk factors in multiple domains and two groups with fewer (but still several) risk factors in single domains. This study shed light on the complexity of disruptive behaviour, providing a better insight into the patterns of co-occurring risk factors in a heterogeneous population of adolescents with major psychiatric problems admitted to residential care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To provide successful treatment to detained adolescents, staff in juvenile justice institutions need to work in family-centered ways. As juvenile justice institutions struggled to involve parents in their child's treatment, we developed a program for family-centered care. Methods: The program was developed in close collaboration with staff from the two juvenile justice institutions participating in the Dutch Academic Workplace Forensic Care for Youth. To achieve an attainable program, we chose a bottom-up approach in which ideas for family-centered care were detailed and discussed by workgroups consisting of group leaders, family therapists, psychologists, other staff, researchers, and a parent. Results: The family-centered care program distinguishes four categories of parental participation: (a) informing parents, (b) parents meeting their child, (c) parents meeting staff, and (d) parents taking part in the treatment program. Additionally, the family-centered care program includes the option to start family therapy during detention of the youths, to be continued after discharge from the juvenile justice institutions. Training and coaching of staff are core components of the family-centered care program. Conclusions: The combination of training and the identification of attainable ways for staff to promote parental involvement makes the family-centered care program valuable for practice. Because the program builds on suggestions from previous research and on the theoretical background of evidence-based family therapies, it has potential to improve care for detained adolescents and their parents. Further research is required to confirm if this assumption is correct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides a provides a general background of the age of juvenile criminal responsibility in New York discussing the 1962 tentative decision to keep sixteen as the cut-off age for criminal responsibility. It reports how the how the law disproportionately affected juveniles of color, how it did not make our cities safer, and how it was economically wasteful.

The article considers legislative decriminalization of juvenile misconduct, an underutilized method for juvenile justice reform. Topics discussed include ways in which decriminalization can prevent youth from entering the juvenile justice system; contemporary juvenile justice system and its damaging impact on youth; and over-criminalization and the school-to-prison pipeline.

The article considers legislative decriminalization of juvenile misconduct, an underutilized method for juvenile justice reform. Topics discussed include ways in which decriminalization can prevent youth from entering the juvenile justice system; contemporary juvenile justice system and its damaging impact on youth; and over-criminalization and the school-to-prison pipeline.

I conduct a series of tests of peer influence in juvenile incarceration facilities motivated by three mechanisms: criminal skill transfer, the formation of new criminal networks, and the social contagion of crime-oriented noncognitive factors. Identifying peer influence off natural variation in small cohorts within the same facility, I find evidence consistent with social contagion: exposure to peers who come from unstable homes and have high levels of aggression leads to an increase in crime after release, as well as an increase in crime-oriented attitudes and behaviors. This effect persists despite controlling for the criminal experience and gang affiliation of the cohort, and is found in settings where youths are unlikely to interact after release. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large number of children worldwide are detained. Social workers are rendering services to these children with the aim of rehabilitating them and reducing recidivism. This study aimed to identify the challenges experienced by social welfare officers in the rehabilitation of child offenders in Zambia. It seemed most of the challenges were experienced because of a lack of resources relating to people power, capacity building, trained social workers and facilities. For Zambia to curb the challenges experienced, the custodians of the child justice programmes should strengthen their resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To maintain safety and order, some correctional settings permit the use of controls on youth in response to behavioral problems; however, use of controls may exacerbate trauma symptoms that many youth bring to the carceral experience. Data from the Survey of Youth in Residential Placement are used in this study (N = 7,073). Structural equation modeling was used to test three hypotheses: (a) youth with a history of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse report greater use of staff controls; (b) externalizing behaviors partially mediate this relationship; and (c) externalizing behavior and staff controls are mutually reinforcing. Findings suggest that youth with physical and sexual abuse histories experience greater staff controls. Externalizing behavior was a partial mediator and a reciprocal product of staff controls. Such findings warrant caution for institutional policies and staff practices that promote the use of control, and instead call for the use of trauma-informed responses to misbehavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined whether the disposition of juvenile justice encounters among youth with severe emotional disturbance was associated with the likelihood of recidivism. Court dispositions, such as probation and diversion, as well as Medicaid-funded out-of-home mental health treatment, were compared. Data sources included the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice and Medicaid claims data. Youth receiving probation had the highest recidivism rates. Among youth in out-of-home treatment, those receiving treatment in foster care services had the lowest recidivism rates. Youth placed into a diversion program were less likely to be re-arrested for a felony, whereas youth receiving inpatient psychiatric services were less likely to be re-arrested for a misdemeanor. Mental health treatment may reduce the likelihood of youth continuing on increasing criminal trajectories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a case study of a documentary film to demonstrate the need to look beyond conventions for insight into youth incarceration. Yau Ching’s (2010) We Are Alive documents a series of media production workshops conducted in juvenile correctional centres and training centres in Hong Kong, Macao and Sapporo, Japan. We Are Alive is a significant media text for analysis for two reasons. First, it is a youth-led documentary that offers a glimpse into settings that are often inaccessible to researchers, and second, it adopts a comparative perspective on three East Asian societies. The film offers rich data for sociological analysis as a point of access to understanding the lives of young people detained in correctional institutions in Asia. In analysing it, this article engages the contesting issues of social conformity, criminal justice, youth resistance and teenage masculinities and femininities through a close reading informed by a theoretical matrix comprising queer theory and cultural studies in an inter-Asian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Behavioral change of incarcerated boys is influenced by the alliance with the group workers who support them. This alliance is partly determined by the extent to which both the needs of group workers and boys are being fulfilled. The objective of this research was to explore the views of incarcerated boys regarding their relationship with group workers. Q methodology was used, a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. Respondents ranked statements on behavior and treatment of group workers. Analysis of these individual Q sortings resulted in four preferences: (A) anxious and willing, (B) rebellious and defensive, (C) autonomous and indifferent, (D) dependent and approachable. Results show that needs regarding interaction with group workers are diverse and ask for different approaches. The understanding and awareness of these preferences offers tools for establishing a working alliance and stimulate the boys’ readiness to change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Research has shown that youthful offenders in the juvenile justice system report an array of substance use and emotional and other mental health needs. The current study closely examined these issues in a large national sample (n= 539) of Native American youth drawn from the Survey of Youth in Residential Placement. Results demonstrated that frequent substance use was associated with the likelihood of being detained for a drug offense, while emotional and mental health needs were associated with detention for the most serious offenses. These results highlight the need for comprehensive substance use and other mental health assessments for Native American youth in the juvenile justice system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article informs that with the development of neuroscience and technological advancements U.S. Congress should develop effective and just criminal justice system for engaging juveniles in Federal Youth Corrections Act. Topics discussed include constitutionality of sentencing juveniles to capital punishment and life in prison; determining appropriate sentencing for juveniles in the criminal justice system; and court cases Graham v. Florida, and Miller v. Alabama on the same.

The article discusses cyberbullying and impacts on mind of victims and bullies and limitations of law addressing such instances. Topics include cyberbullying abusers and victims existing in wide spectrum of ages such as from school-aged children to adults; increase in number of cyberbullying due to factors such as increasing exposure to Internet, smart phones and social media, Facebook, Twitter; and authorities placing juveniles accused of cyberabuse under parental or school supervision.

This retrospective archival study examines whether pre-treatment responsivity characteristics influence access to, engagement in, and completion of a violent offender treatment programme. The participants are 115 violent offenders referred for a group-based multi-module treatment programme in medium- and high-security correctional facilities in Victoria, Australia. The case files for each participant were reviewed and information regarding responsivity factors and responses to treatment were gathered. Responsivity characteristics include psychopathy (Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version; PCL:SV), denial and minimisation (Denial and Minimisation Checklist – Third Edition; DMCL-III), and measures of motivation to engage in treatment and guilt and shame associated with violent offending. Engagement was scored using the Response to Treatment Scale. Offenders with higher PCL:SV Factor 2 scores were less likely to be offered a place in the programme and offenders with greater external pressure or motivation to participate in treatment were more likely to commence treatment. Psychopathy and pre-treatment denial and minimisation of offending are related to poorer engagement in treatment; feelings of guilt and shame, along with motivation to participate in treatment, are positively associated with engagement. Predictors of treatment completion include external motivators promoting participation in treatment, within-treatment behaviours (e.g. inappropriate or disruptive behaviour), and psychopathy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Professionals who are exposed to trauma through work may indirectly experience distress and traumatisation of their own, often referred to as vicarious traumatisation (VT). Little research has been directed toward the experience of VT among lawyers, especially in terms of how it compares with the VT experienced by mental health professionals (MHPs). This study compares the extent to which exposure to traumatic information affects professionals of different disciplinary backgrounds. Additionally, personality traits that might theoretically influence an individual's vulnerability or resilience to VT are evaluated. Self-report measures were used to investigate symptoms of VT and personality traits in 36 lawyers and 30 MHPs. The results indicate that lawyers and individuals low on the Emotional Stability domain are significantly more susceptible to experiencing symptoms of VT. Exposure to trauma may be better managed by professionals in the mental health field, who have the advantage of having received trauma-specific training and access to informed peer support. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Fitness to stand trial is a necessary requisite for a fair trial in judicial proceedings. Research within Australia is limited regarding juvenile fitness for trial, though recent evidence indicates that juvenile offenders are half as likely to be found unfit to stand trial compared to adult offenders. The study surveys lawyers (n= 20) and youth justice workers (n= 20) about their experiences with juveniles in the Queensland youth justice system. Over the preceding 12 months, 133 juveniles were identified as potentially unfit. Intellectual impairment (37%), immaturity (28%), and mental illness (26%) were the most prevalent conditions. Indigenous Australians were rarely referred for mental health evaluation. In comparison, juveniles (mostly non-indigenous) with mental illness and intellectual impairment were significantly more likely to be referred for evaluation. Pragmatic and tactical reasons were most frequently given for non-referral to the Queensland Mental Health Court, which at the time decided fitness. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This research explores the challenges of implementing culturally specific models within juvenile corrections in the United States. In-depth interviews with 16 staff at a private correctional facility working with incarcerated youth revealed the barriers to recognizing cultural differences among juveniles, promoting an environment that prioritizes and encourages diversity, and creating a system of corrections that reflects the specific cultural needs of the incarcerated youth served. Such research highlights how the traditional framework of the U.S. criminal justice system is structured to favor white juveniles while failing to provide culturally specific models that address the needs of youth of color. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this study, the Capability Approach is applied as a comprehensive investigative framework for the purpose of understanding juvenile delinquency in Durban, South Africa. The Capability Approach measures justice by focusing on a person's capabilities and agency freedom. The use of a justice theory model revealed innovative insights in comparison to the largely applied crime theories. This study adopted a qualitative research methodology. Eleven in-depth interviews were undertaken with six ex-juvenile offenders on an integration programme, organised by a Durban based NGO 'YMCA'. Furthermore, five YMCA employees were interviewed. We found that juveniles' deprived capabilities - lack of educational opportunities, lack of job opportunities and the absence of positive social networks - directly influence their agency freedom to reach a life they have reason to value. This study contends that the reason they engage in crime is motivated by their failure to secure legal conduits to cope with deprived capabilities or legal ways to activate their agency freedom in order to achieve an elementary life they reason to value. Consequently, the findings endorse preventive interventions that diminish inequalities and interventions that assist ex-juvenile offenders to legally enhance their agency in order to reach a life they reason to value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores children in conflict with the law's (CICL) experiences of mortification in the Philippines with regard to whether Cavite-based St. John's Shelter is a total institution. Topics include Republic Act 9344 of the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act that champions youth offenders' cause while considering defects in the juvenile justice system, the establishment of St. John's Shelter to house youth offenders, and how community-based facilities can reform them.

The article discusses miscellaneous topics related to juvenile corrections in the U.S. It highlights statistics on persons supervised by adult correctional systems; and information on federal law enforcement agency with principle functions of prevention, detection and investigation of crime and apprehension of alleged offenders. It offers information on the Model Programs Guide (MPG) that provides policymakers and practitioners with information in evidence-based juvenile justice.

This study extended prior research on staff turnover in adult corrections to juvenile corrections by analyzing direct and indirect interrelationships among personal, work environment, job attitude, and turnover variables. Data came from a mail survey of youth worker staff as well as from agency archives. Race, age, tenure, input into decisions, and job stress had significant direct effects on job satisfaction, while organizational commitment was directly affected by gender, stress, and satisfaction. Tenure, satisfaction, and commitment directly affected intent, while only race and age directly affected actual turnover. Satisfaction and commitment performed significant mediating functions. Results suggest that staff turnover intent can be reduced by promoting job satisfaction and organizational commitment and, further, that these attitudes can be improved by providing staff greater input into decisions and reducing job stress. Future research must specify conditions under which intent predicts behavior, as the two were not significantly related in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]