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.     

BEHAVIORAL APPROACHES TO TREATMENT IN THE CRIME AND DELINQUENCY FIELD

Empirical, practical, and ethical issues pertaining to the use of behavior modification approaches in the crime and delinquency area are discussed. In reviewing specific procedures and programs, we emphasize a number of critical components for behavior modification programs, including: (a) procedures for programming generalization of treatment effects to the natural environment, (b) self-government due process systems, (c) safeguards for human and constitutional rights, (d) systematic procedures for teaching more socially adaptive skills, and (e) systematic consumer evaluations of the program's effectiveness and pleasantness     

REMOBILIZING THE AMERICAN ELECTORATE

Registration barriers have been under sustained assault since the Ken- nedy Administration, yet participation in elections continues to decline. By the 1980s turnout in presidential and congressional elections was below what it was in 1960. The demographic correlates of participation–age, education and roots within the community–have also grown stronger, predicting to an increased turnout. Registration procedures are important and substantial changes in such practices are recommended. Without the reforms of the last generation, it is probable that turnout would have decreased even more substantially. However, the principal barriers to full participation are the quality and content of contemporary American politics. Non-participation is a threat to democratic government, yet the disintegration of the center in politics, the failure to exercise leadership or to offer relevant candidacies and policy alternatives, the weakening of the political parties, the unresponsiveness of political institutions, the trivialization of politics through the media have all contributed to public cynicism and disinterest. The need is to find new and more responsive alternatives for public involvement in governance.     

An Enduring Partnership In Uncertain Times

The United States and India reaffirm their mutual commitment during Indian prime minister's recent U.S. trip u.S. President Barack Obama welcomed Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on November 24 with an em- phasis on the continuing value of a partnership carefully developed over the     

Measuring the Financial Position of Municipalities: Numbers Do Not Speak for Themselves

There are several challenges facing someone who wants to know if a city's revenue structure is fair and reasonable. There are few generally accepted standards to use as benchmarks of financial condition, and there is no generally accepted methodology to assess relative financial position. This article reviews literature on financial position and condition, and then develops a methodological approach that creates a cohort of similar cities for benchmarking financial position, and then forming a basis for assessing financial condition. Based on a study of the financial position of a medium-sized city, the article offers lessons for practitioners and scholars.