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.     

THE NEW ORLEANS INMATE SURVEY: A TEST OF GREENWOOD'S PREDICTIVE SCALE*

Analysis of face-to-face interviews with 200 male inmates incarcerated in New Orleans, using a modified version of the Rand instrument used in California, Michigan, and Texas, showed the same highly skewed offense-rate distribution but generally lower median offense frequencies. These lower rates are attributed to an improved instrument and method of administration and to Louisiana's much higher incarceration rate. A search for a prediction model for the New Orleans inmate offense rates yielded the same seven-variable model developed by the Rand researchers and the same predictive efficiency as well. The results suggest the generalizability of the seven-item scale, at least to the prediction of inmates' self-reported offense rates.     

CIRCUMSTANCES IN SUPPLEMENTARY HOMICIDE REPORTS: VARIETY AND VALIDITY*

This paper presents a critical examination of homicide circumstances as reported in supplementary homicide reports (SHR). Different types of homicides can be distinguished by the circumstance codes and victim/offender relationship recorded on the SHR. Delineating murder by type invites analysis of this offense from a victimization perspective–homicides have much in common with nonlethal offenses. Different types of homicide present different policy problems to police. The paper also discusses various sources of error in SHR data, which must be recognized by researchers interested in theoretical or policy questions.     

Vicarious Trauma in Judges: The Personal Challenge of Dispensing Justice

Symptoms of vicarious trauma, coping strategies, and prevention suggestions were investigated with 105 judges. Participants completed a self‐report measure developed for this study. The majority of judges (63%) reported one or more symptoms that they identified as work‐related vicarious trauma experiences. Female judges reported more symptoms, as did judges with seven or more years of experience. In addition, female judges were more likely to report internalizing difficulties, while judges with more experience reported higher levels of externalizing/hostility symptoms. Coping and prevention strategies were multi‐domain (i.e., personal, professional, and societal) and underscored the need for greater awareness and support for judges.