Government Watch

Washington, DC - 1st Congressional Hearing Held on Girls

Juvenile Justice at a Pivotal Moment: A leading Capitol Hill newspaper, Roll Call, has just published an essay by juvenile justice advocates David R. Schmidt and Ward Loyd.

NCCD Center for Girls and Young Women Advocates for the expansion of the National Criminal Justice Commission Act to address the needs of women and girls.
Senator Jim Webb (D) from Virginia is calling for a national commission to reassess criminal justice policy. He has crafted legislation to overhaul the entire criminal justice system. The legislation calls for the establishment of a commission with a broad mandate to examine issues like drug treatment, effective parole policy, racial injustice, education for inmates, reentry programs as well as a host of other issues that warrant serious reform.
The goal of the proposed act is to examine and reshape America’s entire criminal justice system. Existing policies lock up many who do not belong in jail, yet fail to protect us from those who perpetrate violence and intimidation as a way of life.

The Scope of the Problem:

The U.S. has 5% of the world’s population, but 25% of the world’s prison population
7.3 million American are incarcerated, on probation or on parole
2.38 million Americans are in prison – five times the world’s national average incarceration rates
4 times as many mentally ill people are in prisons than in mental health hospitals, roughly 350K compared to 80K
African Americans are far more likely to be incarcerated for drug offenses than any other group
Prison administration is haphazard with no career progression, inadequate training, potentially violent working conditions, high administrator turnover, low accountability.

Hosted by Senator Webb, a meeting regarding his newly introduced National Criminal Justice Commission Act was facilitated on April 9, 2009 on Capitol Hill. A diverse group of stakeholders from across the country were in attendance. The focus of the meeting was to:

Review the National Criminal Justice Commission Act
Discuss strategies for creating a broad coalition of support
Identify strategies to expand Senate legislative support including outreach to additional sponsors
Identify strategies for secure House sponsors and to create a coalition of bipartisan co-sponsors

The NCCD Center for Girls and Young Women, represented by Dr. Lawanda Ravoira, Director, advocated for the legislation to be broadened to address girls and young women’s involvement in the juvenile justice system. The urgency of understanding the distinct pathways of young women’s involvement in the criminal justice system specific as a result of circumstances that are distinctly different than males was stressed. Special emphasis was given to the intersection of victimization and future offending as a critical factor that derails a girl’s future and when unaddressed can lead to long term involvement in the criminal justice system. The Center will continue to work with Senator Webb’s Office to ensure that the needs of girls and women are included in the legislation.

For additional information or to get involved contact Senator Jim Webb at 144 Russell Senate Building, Washington, DC 20510 or call 202.224.4024.

A Call for Gender Equity for Girls in the Juvenile Justice System

Presentation to the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs
Laurie O. Robinson, Acting Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of the Attorney General convened listening sessions to hear from constituent groups. The purpose of the customer outreach meetings was to hear about what the Office of Justice Programs and its bureaus and offices can be doing better to service constituents and to hear about suggested priorities and directions for the new Administration.
Dr. Lawanda Ravoira presented the NCCD and the Center for Girls and Young Women’s priorities and recommendations at the April 21, 2009 listening session held at the Office of Justice, Washington, DC.
A summary of the recommendations presented are summarized below:

Call for Gender Equity: Girls involvement in the juvenile justice system is a result of circumstances that are distinctly different than males. It is imperative that we respond to girls both from understanding their offenses and holding them accountable for their behaviors – and understanding their status as victims. It is the intersection of victimization and future offending that derails a girl’s future. NCCD completed the largest research study on girls and young women and released the report, A Rallying Cry for Change, which paints a haunting portrait. Girls are getting arrested at younger ages; eight out of ten have serious emotional and mental health issues; six out of ten have been victims of prior abuse; one of every two girls uses self mutilation as an outlet for dealing with pain; three in ten have been pregnant; one out of four is recovering (or has) a major illness. The juvenile justice system has historically failed to effectively address the gender specific needs of girls and the complexity of their problems underscore the urgency to act.
Finding Consensus Between the Evidenced-Based and Gender Responsive Framework:There is a professional debate that continues to impede the improvement of girls’ services and confuses practitioners in the field. The debate stems from what appears to be disagreements between the gender responsive and the evidenced-based scholars and researchers. The gender responsive literature rooted in a feminist perspective emphasizes the unique experiences of being a girl in the United States and the different pathways to delinquency among boys and girls. The evidenced-based scholars promulgate principles of effective intervention that are associated with a reduction in recidivism and assert that the strongest criminogenic needs are similar among boys and girls. Likewise, they assert that the evidence-based principles are applicable to males and females. This debate continues to escalate and the result is that practitioners charged with the day to day interventions with girls are confused as to what works. To address this issue, the NCCD Center for Girls and Young Women is calling for a think tank that brings together the gender responsive pioneers and the evidenced-based scholars to identify the areas that we have in common and to find ways to work together and integrate the best of both approaches in order to improve services to girls and young women.
Race and Justice: The over representation of youth of color in the justice system is a well established fact, yet, we continue to fail to effectively address this issues. The need to address the disproportionate number of youth of color at every point of the system from arrest to incarceration warrants priority attention of the new administration. Further, the challenges for the U.S. in the 21st century will certainly be greatly complicated by the explosive growth in immigration from Latin America and Asia. There is a need to facilitate quality research to understand what makes young immigrants, especially those of second generation, vulnerable to victimization and violence. Of equal importance is the necessity to look at what works in prevention and intervention, with a particular focus on culturally-specific approaches, within the community to reduce violence and victimization.
Mental Health and Juvenile Justice Initiatives: There is an urgent need to increase access to health and mental health services for youth in the justice system, specifically those in detention, correctional programs or in reentry status.
Breaking the Cycle of Abuse in Juvenile Justice: Youth in the justice system often have history of abuse and victimization prior to entering the system and far too often youth are further victimized and abused while in the custody. There is an urgent need to understand the scope of abuse and to develop strategies for immediate reform.

The Youth PROMISE ACT
H.R. 3846, the Youth Prison Reduction through Opportunities,
Mentoring, Intervention, Support, and Education (“Youth PROMISE”) Act
Introduced by Robert C. “Bobby” Scott on October 16, 2007
Section-by-Section
Overview: The Youth Prison Reduction through Opportunities, Mentoring, Intervention, Support, and Education Act (Youth PROMISE Act) implements the advice we heard over the last year from over 50 crime policy makers, researchers, practitioners analysts, and law enforcement officials from across the political spectrum concerning evidence- and research-based strategies to reduce gang violence and crime. Under the Youth PROMISE Act, communities facing the greatest youth gang and crime challenges will form a local council. This council will include representatives from law enforcement, court services, schools, social service, health and mental health providers, and community-based organizations, including faith-based organizations. The council will develop a comprehensive plan for implementing evidence-based prevention and intervention strategies. These strategies will be targeted at young people who are at-risk of becoming involved, or involved in, gangs or the criminal justice system to redirect them toward productive and law-abiding alternatives. Major program components in the bill include:
Title I: Sec. 101 creates a PROMISE Advisory Panel. This Panel will help the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention select PROMISE community grantees. The Panel will also develop standards for the evaluation of juvenile delinquency and criminal street gang activity prevention and intervention approaches carried out under the PROMISE Act. Sec. 102 provides for specific data collection in each designated geographic area to assess the needs and existing resources for juvenile delinquency and criminal street gang activity prevention and intervention. This data will then facilitate the strategic geographic allocation of resources provided under the Act to areas of greatest need for assistance.
Title II: Sec. 201 establishes grants to enable local and tribal communities, via PROMISE Coordinating Councils (PCCs) (Sec. 202), to conduct an objective assessment (Sec. 203) regarding juvenile delinquency and criminal street gang activity and resource needs and strengths in the community. Based upon the assessment, the PCCs then will develop plans (Sec. 204) that include a broad array of evidence-based prevention and intervention programs. These programs will be responsive to the needs and strengths of the community, account for the community’s cultural and linguistic needs, and utilize approaches that have been shown to be effective in reducing involvement in or continuing involvement in delinquent conduct or criminal street gang activity. The PCCs can then apply for federal funds, on the basis of greatest need, to implement their PROMISE plans (Sec. 211, 212, 213). Title II also provides for national evaluation of PROMISE programs and activities (Sec. 222), based on performance standards developed by the PROMISE Advisory Panel.
Title III: Sec. 301 establishes a National Center for Proven Practices Research. This Center will collect and disseminate information to PCCs and the public on current research and other information about evidence-based and promising practices related to juvenile delinquency and
criminal street gang activity prevention and intervention. Sec. 302 provides for regional research partners to assist PCCs in developing their assessments and plans.
Title IV: Sec. 402 provides for the hiring and training of Youth Oriented Policing (YOPS) officers to juvenile delinquency and criminal street gang activity. Sec. 403 also establishes a Center for Youth Oriented Policing, which will be responsible for identification, development and dissemination of information related to strategic policing practices and technologies to law enforcement agencies related to youth.
Title V: Sec. 501 provides additional improvements to current laws affecting juvenile delinquency and criminal street gang activity, including support for youth victim and witness protection programs. Sec. 502 provides extended and increased authorizations for the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant program to support juvenile justice systems.
Authorization: The bill makes a substantial and sustained investment in evidence-based prevention and intervention practices, authorizing just over $2.9 billion per year. Research shows that such investments in youth will yield tremendous savings through reductions in violence, delinquency and crime, welfare, prison and other criminal justice costs.