Tuesday, February 21, 2006

11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

 

Connecticut is one of only 3 states where the court system automatically treats all teenagers older than 15 as adults.  Raise the Age CT is asking Connecticut’s legislature to change Connecticut’s law so that children are kept in the juvenile justice system until they are 18.

 

Anyone who has been affected by Connecticut’s current system (youth, families, providers) and anyone else who believes in this cause is asked to join us on February 21^st.  Legislators need to know that Connecticut’s voters care about this issue.  We need participants who are willing to:

 

     - Be present in the lobby of the Legislative Office building wearing a T-shirt and button to show  support

     - Meet with their legislator about this issue to educate him or her in person*

     - Attend an educational public forum in the afternoon to show members of the Judiciary and Appropriations Committee that this is an important issue to their constituents.

 

Box lunches and transportation will be provided.

 

*A training will be held on January 25^th from 5-7 p.m. in New Haven (place TBD) for anyone interested in meeting with their legislator.  We will help set up those meetings, tell you what to expect, and provide information for you to share with your legislator.  Food will be provided.

 

For more information please contact:

CTJJA (203)579-2727

 

 

By TOM FAHEY

State House Bureau Chief

Thursday, Jan. 5, 2006

 

Concord — A bill to keep youngsters in the juvenile justice system for an extra year took an important step in the House yesterday.

 

Representatives passed HB 627 by a vote of 258 to 107. The bill raises from 17 to 18 the age at which a youngster leaves the juvenile justice system. Those under 18 who commit murder and other serious crimes could still be certified as an adult for trial.

 

The Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee had voted 10-5 to back the measure on juveniles.

 

Their argument was that 17-year-olds are now released from the Youth Development Center to families that are often dysfunctional, or do not want them in the home.

 

Rep. Patricia Dowling, R-Derry, said judges have told her than many 17-year-olds come to criminal court without lawyers or parents, and either represent themselves or plead guilty.

 

“How often do we talk about parental notification in this House?” Dowling asked. Young people who plead guilty up with a criminal record, barring them from military service, security jobs or police work.

 

Those who opposed the measure said there is no proof that keeping a youngster in the juvenile justice system an extra year would cut into the number of repeat offenders. They noted that the estimated cost of changing the law would be more than $7 million over two years.

 

The bill will go through the House Finance Committee before it comes back before the House for a second vote.

 

From the Union Leader

March 14-15, 2006

Madison, Wisconsin

 

The conference will cover the latest research in adolescent brain development and will discuss its implications for changing our approach to juvenile justice.

Schedule and registration attached.  Or go to: http://wccf.org/  

 

This VAWA extends prevention and intervention services to children and youth. It includes a new grant program for schools to address dating and domestic violence and sexual assault and funding streams for intervention services for young people who witness and experience violence in their lives. It also includes language to increase attention to the needs of girls in the juvenile justice system who are overwhelmingly victims of violence.

The Sentencing Project released a report on the relationship between incarceration and crime.  It found that there was no consistent relationship between the rate at which incarceration increased and the rate at which crime decreased.  In fact, between 1991-1998, those states that increased their incarceration at rates that were less than the national average experienced a larger decline in crime than those states that increases in their incarceration rates that were higher than the national average.  For the full text of the report go to the Sentencing Project:

The Youth Transition Funders Group has embarked on the production of a “Beyond the Tunnel” series of briefing papers that address the cross-cutting issues that impact vulnerable youth.  Their first briefing paper, published in July 2005, “Youth and Cross Cutting Problems”, creates a typology of these issues.  (Briefing Paper #1: Youth and Cross-Cutting Problems) Their second briefing paper, published in November 2005, looks more closely at the issues of education and juvenile justice, and suggests ways that systems can be more closely coordinated in order to help youth stay in school. (Briefing Paper #2: Redirecting Youth from the School-to-Prison Pipeline)

The JAIBG was established by Congress to help hold young offenders accountable for their actions and impose increasingly serious sanctions for subsequent delinquent acts.  In accordance with two of the five policy goals outlined in the JAIBG, in 1998, JAIBG provided $140.5 million to states to increase their use of graduated sanctions and $27.7 million to encourage the prosecution of serious juvenile offenders as adults.  The report finds that States conformed substantially to four of the five policy goals Congress identified for the JAIBG. 

The report is available online at the National Institute of Justice Web site at:

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubs-sum/210116.htm