Reclaiming Futures: A Model for Judicial Leadership in Community Responses to Juvenile Substance Abuse

Juvenile courts across the country have become the leading service delivery system for youths with substance abuse problems, not by choice, but by necessity. At 10 communities around the nation, judges and project staff are in their fifth year of pioneering changes to the way the juvenile justice system helps teens in trouble with drugs, alcohol, and crime. These judges are part of Reclaiming Futures, an initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and they are working with local leaders to re‐invent the way law enforcement, courts, probation, detention facilities, treatment providers, families, schools, and the community work together to help troubled youths succeed. Together, they have written a guide for judges, court administrators, government entities, community leaders, and interested citizens to share the knowledge and experience they have gained from the nationwide Reclaiming Futures initiative. Their goal is to encourage and motivate others to launch similar projects in their communities, and to provide a blueprint for judges and others striving to undertake this level of collaboration.     

Post-Release Substance Abuse Treatment for Criminal Offenders: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

This study conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis of Delaware's CREST Outreach Center, a work release therapeutic community (TC) and aftercare program for criminal offenders. Treatment effectiveness was assessed using the number of days reincarcerated during an 18-month, post-release follow-up period. The 6-month CREST program cost $1937 for the average participant, and led to 30 fewer days incarcerated (29% less) than the average participant in a standard work release program. This implies that the CREST program reduced incarceration for criminal offenders at an average cost of $65 per day. The additional investment of $935 per client to provide aftercare services led to 49 fewer days incarcerated (43% less) than CREST work release-only participants. This suggests that by adding an aftercare component to the CREST work release program, a day of incarceration is avoided at an average cost of $19 per day. These findings have implications for future investments in post-release substance abuse treatment for criminal offenders. However, the results must be interpreted with caution given potential selection bias in the groups that participated in the CREST work release and aftercare programs. Selection bias and the policy implications of this research are noted and discussed.     

Preventing Homelessness for System‐Involved Youth

Too many youth and young adults find themselves on the streets, couch‐surfing with friends, in emergency shelters or worse, after exiting the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. In some circumstances, youth have had court hearings until their exit from the legal system, but those hearings have not focused on long‐range plans of youth and emergencies youth may encounter. In other circumstances, there has been little or no planning prior to discharge, especially for young people who leave the juvenile justice system. Courts can and should prevent, alleviate or end youth homelessness for youth who appear before them through strategies that are enumerated in the recently‐passed NCJFCJ resolution. This article expounds on three of these strategies – coordinating transition and re‐entry plans, insisting on effective legal representation of youth, and utilizing sound judicial leadership. It also describes the concurrent efforts of the Coalition for Juvenile Justice and the American Bar Association's Homeless Youth Legal Network to remove legal barriers and improve outcomes for youth and young adults experiencing homelessness.     

Saved By the Bell: Reclaiming Home Court Advantage for At‐Risk Youth Funneled into the School‐to‐Prison Pipeline

Far too often, minority students are faced with punitive disciplinary actions and are consequently directed to the “school‐to‐prison” pipeline. From education to discipline, implementation of policies that criminalize minor delinquent behavior pushes these students out of school and into the juvenile justice system. Traditional disciplinary actions that would land students in the principal's office have gradually transformed to students being handcuffed and thrown in jail. This Note proposes a model statute requiring states with a high criminal delinquency rate to implement school‐based youth courts in public high schools.     

DETECHIP®: A Sensor for Drugs of Abuse*

Abstract: The design and preliminary characterization of a novel sensor for drugs of abuse, DETECHIP^®, is described in this proof‐of‐concept note. Combining both colorimetric and fluorimetric assays, DETECHIP^® is suitable for lab and field use. More than a conventional spot test which provides a single “yes or no” answer, DETECHIP^® provides twenty responses for a more complete characterization of suspect material. This is accomplished by visually noting colorimetric and fluorescent changes of carefully selected dyes upon the addition of test analytes, including drugs of abuse, with respect to controls. Color and fluorescence changes are recorded numerically so that a 20 digit identification code can be constructed for comparison of test analytes and known compounds. DETECHIP^® is applicable to a variety of drugs, both plant‐derived and synthetic, addressing the need to use several different spot tests simultaneously for a single sample.     

The Injustice of a Felony Conviction for Offenders Under Age Twenty‐One: A New Option for the Courts to Save Our Youths’ Futures

When the Criminal Justice System adjudicates an individual felony offender, it complicates many aspects of that individual's life; from applying for colleges, and jobs to attempting to become contributing member of society. In New York, to prevent seven‐ to sixteen‐year‐old youth who commit felony offenses from becoming felony offenders, the courts prosecute them as juvenile delinquents or juvenile offenders. In the United States, individuals under the age of twenty‐one cannot purchase alcohol or tobacco and cannot get married without parental consent, but they can be charged with a felony. Before and even after reaching the age of twenty‐one, individuals are still in need of guidance, support, education, employment, and stability as brain development is still ongoing. To help protect those who have not reached the age of twenty‐one, states should implement Senior Youthful Offender Hearings as proposed in this Note. This hearing is a two‐part hearing: (1) determine if an individual should be considered eligible for the protections under the current Youthful Offender Laws and (2) determine sentencing and alternatives to incarceration, focused on steering Senior Youthful Offenders on the right path.     

Cognitive‐Behavioral Methods in High‐Conflict Divorce: Systematic Desensitization Adapted to Parent–Child Reunification Interventions

Children who are triangulated into their parents' conflicts can become polarized, aligning with one parent and rejecting the other. In response, courts often order families to engage mental health professionals to provide reunification interventions. This article adapts empirically established systematic desensitization and flooding procedures most commonly used to treat phobic children as possible components of a larger family systems invention designed to help the polarized child develop a healthy relationship with both parents. Strengths and weaknesses of these procedures are discussed and illustrated with case material.

Key Points for the Family Court Community
• Family law and psychology agree that children should have the opportunity to enjoy a healthy relationship with both parents
• Adult conflict can polarize a child's relationships, including rejection of one parent
• Existing clinical and forensic “reunification” strategies often prove inadequate
• Reliable and valid cognitive behavioral methods can be adopted to facilitate this process
• A cognitive‐behavioral “exposure‐based” reunification protocol is discussed

     

Naturally Occurring Social Support in Interventions for Former Prisoners with Substance Use Disorders: Conceptual Framework and Program Model

Purpose

Naturally-occurring social support is underutilized in interventions with former prisoners with substance use disorders. This paper proposes a conceptual framework followed by a program model to inform the development of naturally-occurring social support interventions with former prisoners with substance use disorders.

Methods

We reviewed all published social support interventions designed for former prisoners and people with substance use disorders over a ten year period. Building on the implications of this review, empirical literature, professional experience, and theory, we propose a conceptual framework for naturally-occurring social support programs.

Results

Few published programs exist that actively incorporate social support providers into the program model. Of these, even fewer use naturally-occurring support. Expanding on gaps in theory and program approaches, the conceptual model posits that it is the appropriate match of support needs and provision that reinforces emotions, cognitions, and behaviors, that in turn, promote adaptive outcomes.

Conclusions

With mounting pressure to identify interventions that will reduce high re-incarceration rates, this paper draws attention to a neglected, potentially effective, and low cost resource - naturally-occurring social support. The described program, Support Matters, illustrates how social support interventions can be used with former prisoners to promote reduced relapse to substance misuse and crime.     

Court‐Based Interventions in Spain for Families in Divorce Transition: Challenges in the Implementation of (Co)‐Parenting Coordination

Families facing separation or divorce in Spain encounter a number of obstacles, including a primarily adversarial and slow justice system, nonspecialized courts and judges, and a lack of resources to help them through the process. Recent legislation at the regional level (autonomous communities) is moving toward emphasizing shared parental responsibility and introducing parenting plans, while at the national level, legislation advances slowly. One of the main challenges professionals are facing in high‐conflict couple separation is protecting children from the effects of being in the middle of their parents’ conflict. Traditional psychological, legal, and social services are insufficient to support parents and protect their children from interparental hostile conflict—which can be exacerbated by litigation, professional intervention, domestic violence, or addiction. This article illustrates, through a case study, the implementation of parenting coordination in Spain. Different jurisdictions in Spain are slowly implementing (co‐)parenting coordination, an in‐depth intervention designed to support these families. The objective is to help families focus on children's needs and follow the court‐approved parenting plans or court orders, reduce relitigation, and improve parental communication and conflict resolution skills. This article analyzes different aspects and challenges relating to the implementation of parenting coordination in Spain. Recommendations are then made to address them.     

“Legality with a Vengeance”: Reclaiming Distribution for Sociolegal Studies

The law and society community has argued for decades for an expansive understanding of what counts as “law.” But a content analysis of articles published in the Law & Society Review from its 1966 founding to the present finds that since the 1970s, the law and society community has focused its attention on laws in which the state regulates behavior, and largely ignored laws in which the state distributes resources, goods, and services. Why did socio‐legal scholars avoid studying how laws determine access to such things as health, wealth, housing, education, and food? We find that socio‐legal scholarship has always used “law on the books” as a starting point for analyses (often to identify departures in “law in action”) without ever offering a programmatic vision for how law might ameliorate economic inequality. As a result, when social welfare laws on the books began disappearing, socio‐legal scholarship drifted away from studying law's role in creating, sustaining, and reinforcing economic inequality. We argue that socio‐legal scholarship offers a wide range of analytical tools that could make important contributions to our understanding of social welfare provision.     

Increasing Family Reunification for Substance‐Abusing Mothers and Their Children: Comparing Two Drug Court Interventions in Miami

This study provides a quasi‐experimental test of 80 consecutive enrollments in the Miami‐Dade (Florida) Dependency Drug Court in order to examine the impact of a family‐based and gender specific intervention, Engaging Moms Program (EMP), on drug court graduation and family reunification. We compared EMP with case management services (CMS). Results indicated that 72% of mothers in the EMP graduated from drug court, and 70% were reunified with their children. In contrast, 38% of mothers receiving CMS graduated from drug court, and 40% were reunited with their children. EMP, then, appears to be a promising family drug court intervention.     

Low‐Risk Youths Referred to Pima County Juvenile Court Center Detention Intake: Needs,Detention, and Recidivism

Delinquent youths who were low risk to re‐offend were the subject of this study. It was hypothesized that these youths would have high levels of need (e.g., mental illness) and that detention would lead to increased recidivism. Demographic and social factors, delinquency history, and recidivism data were analyzed, producing four major findings: low‐risk youths have high needs, low‐risk youths recidivate at high rates, unaddressed needs increase the likelihood of detention and recidivism, and behavioral health needs were among the strongest predictors of recidivism. The factors that lead to recidivism are discussed, and suggestions for improving outcomes are also presented.     

The Juvenile Justice Reform Act of 2018: Updating the Federal Approach to Youth Involved,and At‐Risk of Becoming Involved,in the Juvenile Justice System

On December 21, 2018, the Juvenile Justice Reform Act was signed into law, marking the first update in 16 years to the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, as amended. The reforms reflect much of the knowledge that has been gained through research and science over the past decade and strengthen the Act’s core protections for youth in the juvenile justice system. The changes also expand the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s role in research, and technical assistance, and provide for additional oversight for related programs.     

Navajo Women and Abuse: The Context for Their Troubled Relationships

In this article, on the basis of interviews with seven Navajo women, the author discusses the Navajo womans perspective on domestic violence. These discussions reveal several factors that distinguish the Navajo womans experience of abuse from that of the Anglo³ woman. These factors are examined in light of historical and contemporary understandings of the Navajo world. Three cultural elements can help us understand the Navajo womans experience of abuse: the cultural concept of hózhó, the searing tale (in the Creation Story) of the quarrel between First Man and First Woman, a quarrel that brought great tragedy to the people; and the Kinaáldá, the female puberty rite. It is the authors argument that these facets of the Navajo culture, in addition to Western explanations for womens staying with abusive partners, are powerful contributors to the Navajo womans understanding of abuse in her life and if we are to develop successful techniques for intervention, we must consider these elements as well as those of the dominant culture.     

The Legal System and Child Sex Abuse—Ross Cheit's The Witch‐Hunt Narrative: Politics,Psychology, and the Sexual Abuse of Children

Cheit, Ross E. 2014 . The Witch‐Hunt Narrative: Politics, Psychology, and the Sexual Abuse of Children . New York: Oxford University Press. Pp. xvii + 508. $49.95 cloth. The prosecution of child sex abuse in cases involving very young children presents difficult problems for the justice system. Ross Cheit's book The Witch‐Hunt Narrative: Politics, Psychology, and the Sexual Abuse of Children (2014) addresses these problems in the context of the 1980s cases involving daycare centers. While the conventional conclusion drawn from these cases is that young children are not credible witnesses, Cheit's examination of the trial records in these cases reveals credible evidence of abuse in many, as well as evidence of injustice attributable to untrained and/or overenthusiastic interviewers. Cheit's examination of this litigation provides an opportunity to evaluate the legal system's treatment of child witnesses in sex abuse cases, as well as to discuss the appropriate use of social scientific evidence in litigation, the impact of mass media accounts on public policy, and the respective merits of criminal versus civil lawsuits in child sex abuse cases.