New Research on Treating Young Offenders in the Adult System

The Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas-Austin recently released a policy report, From Time Out to Hard Time, which examines the processing and consequences of youth in the adult criminal justice system. The report discusses current polices regarding treatment of youth offenders; the benefits of the juvenile justice system; and the consequences of treating youth in the adult system.

The authors highlight juvenile programs across the country that work well. The Mendota Juvenile Treatment Center is one of the programs highlighted. The report describes the Center as one that can provide the “resources of a private psychiatric facility, with the security and confinement of a juvenile prison.” A study of the Center’s effectiveness found that violent offenders treated there are “half as likely to commit new violent offenses” as violent offenders held in traditional juvenile facilities in the state. According to the report, this suggests that even violent youth are capable of rehabilitation.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation has released its 2009 Kids Count Data Book, which gives a state-by-state overview of child well-being. This year's edition focuses on the importance of collecting and using good data to drive advocacy efforts. As usual, Wisconsin looks pretty good compared to other states, ranking 10th overall. However, there are several areas of concern. Child poverty increased between 2000 and 2007, and that does not even reflect a probable worsening since the brunt of the recession hit. This and other data underscores the need to continue investing in the kinds of things we know are effective in combating poverty, such as high-quality early care and education, access to health care services, and access to job skills training for low-income parents.

The 2009 Kids Count Data Book is available online at http://datacenter.kidscount.org/databook/2009/Default.aspx. Here's a cool widget you can use to look up key indicators for WI and other states:

Minimum Wage Goes Up to $7.25 Today

The federal minimum wage increases today to $7.25 per hour. The increase is expected to boost the wages of about 4.5 million workers nationally, providing an additional $1.6 billion annually in increased wages. In Wisconsin, the increase will boost the wages of an estimated 196,000 workers. Nationally, about one-fourth of the people whose wages will increase are parents (24.7%), and slightly over three-fourths are age 20 or older.

As the Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS) noted in a short paper issued yesterday, increasing the minimum wage helps stimulate the economy: “Low-wage workers spend most of what they earn. As a result, increasing the minimum wage boosts the aggregated demand for goods and services in the economy.”

The July 24 increase is the final step of a three-step increase passed by Congress in 2007 when the minimum wage was only $5.15. Despite the $2.10 increase in the minimum wage over that period, the inflation-adjusted value of new federal minimum is still less than the minimum wage during most of the period from 1961 to 1981.

The COWS paper also notes that a proposal in the state legislature would increase the state minimum to $7.60 and index it annually to inflation. That would raise wages for about 316,000 workers and would boost their spending by about $108 million. Indexing the minimum wage, as 10 other states have done, would ensure that it keeps pace with prices for low-wage workers and would also reduce employers’ uncertainty regarding future labor costs.

Early Learning Challenge Fund passes House Education and Labor Committee

We’re pleased to report that the House Education and Labor Committee yesterday approved H.R. 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act. The bill, which is mostly about reforming the student loan process, also includes creation of an Early Learning Challenge Fund. The vote was of 30 – 17, with only two Republicans voting to approve the bill. One of them was Congressman Tom Petri (R – Fond du Lac), who has long been a leader on student aid issues.

As WCCF reported on Monday, the Early Learning Challenge Fund would make $10 billion available to states in competitive grants over 10 years to support their efforts to improve the quality of early education in all types of settings and increase the number of disadvantaged kids enrolled in high quality programs.

The next step is a vote before the full House of Representatives. WCCF encourages you to contact your congressional representative and tell him or her to support H.R. 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act/Early Learning Challenge Fund. We’ll let you know when the vote gets scheduled, but it’s never too early to show your support for this legislation.

JJDPA Reauthorization Bill Introduced in U.S. Senate

In March, the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Reauthorization Act (S. 678) was introduced in the U.S. Senate, with Sen. Kohl as one of its cosponsors. The Act reauthorizes the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA), which was first passed in 1974 and most recently reauthorized in 2002. WCCF has produced a detailed informational brief outlining the highlights of the bill, but here are the highlights of the highlights:

This bill includes a number of provisions that would benefit youth who come in contact with the juvenile justice system. It requires that states:

• eliminate the use of Valid Court Orders to confine status offenders;

• produce plans for juveniles with mental health or substance abuse needs that ensure appropriate assessment, placement, and access to alternatives to detention; and

• eliminate confinement of youth under 18, regardless of whether they are treated as adults, in adult facilities while awaiting court procedures.

S. 678 also emphasizes the use of evidence-based or promising prevention programs, and aims to identify and address equality and disproportional contact and confinement of minority youth. It requires the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to provide training, technical assistance, and funding to support states’ efforts toward compliance. Incentive and improvement grants are also available to aid states’ compliance efforts or to support program or staff development. The bill also calls for additional research regarding equality, mental health and substance abuse needs, best practices, and the discharge process and living arrangements of juveniles that exit the system.

The JJDPA reauthorization bill works to improve the conditions of confinement, treatment and frequency of both youth with mental health or substance abuse needs and minority youth in the juvenile justice system, and emphasizes collaboration and research throughout. It represents a significant step toward ensuring appropriate services for youthful offenders, providing incentives and direction for important research on best practices, and providing meaningful and long-term safety for the community.

A Review of the Adam Walsh Act and the Potential Impact on Youth in Wisconsin

WCCF has published a new brief about the potential impact of the the Adam Walsh Act in Wisconsin. "The Adam Walsh Act and Wisconsin: One-Size-Fits-All Registration Does Not Fit Everyone" provides a brief update of the Adam Walsh Act and the SORNA guidelines that have been adopted to date, as well as some information about how those guidelines could impact youth in Wisconsin who have been adjudicated delinquent for a sexual offense. The research is clear that juveniles who offend sexually are very different from adult perpetrators and should be treated differently. WCCF encourages advocates and juvenile justice professionals to review this summary and stay informed about implementation plans for this Act.

The New Push for Quality Child Care

The cover story of this week's issue of Parade magazine focused on the need for quality child care in its Sunday issue on July 19, 2009. The article, “The New Push for Quality Child Care,” by Leslie Bennetts, explored the crunch facing families trying to afford child care and the far-reaching social and educational benefits for children.

The article points to new solutions in our neighboring state of Minnesota, where business and community leaders have raised money for high-quality child care and innovations like a quality rating system to help parents find programs with stimulating learning environments. According Art Rolnick, senior vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, early childhood education is “the best public investment you could possibly make.”

The article is particularly timely in light of current action on early learning taking place in Washington. Last week, Education and Labor Committee chair George Miller, introduced legislation to create an Early Learning Challenge Fund. The bill would make available to the states $10 billion in competitive grants over 10 years to support their efforts to improve the quality of early education in all types of settings and increase the number of disadvantaged kids enrolled in high quality programs. The Education and Labor Committee is scheduled to mark up the bill tomorrow (Tues. 7/21).

WCCF Releases Juvenile Justice Data for First Quarter of 2009

With assistance from the Office of Justice Assistance, WCCF has completed a Quarterly Detention Report, providing a brief overview of the underlying offenses, racial classifications, length of stay, age, gender, and numbers of admissions statewide to juvenile detention facilities for the first quarter of 2009. You can compare this information with data for 2008. Watch for more updates as the information becomes available each quarter. Previous detention reports are available on the WCCF website.

U.S. Department of Education Report: Achievement Gap Persists

The U.S. Department of Education has just released its report on racial school achievement gaps based on data from the 2007 National Assessment of Education Progress. The report shows that Wisconsin's serious achievement gap between White and African-American students persists (Hispanic student performance will be addressed in a later report). The Wisconsin State Journal story about the report leads with the discouraging factoid that "Wisconsin is the only state in the nation where the achievement gap between black and white students in reading and math in both fourth and eighth grades exceeds the national average." As the WSJ story notes, this study presents a "30,000-foot view," and is not as meaningful as a comprehensive state-level assessment. But it does demonstrate that the gap is an obstinate problem, and that we must continue to build on existing strategies to combat it, such as investment in quality early education, smaller class sizes, afterschool programming, and other solutions that research has shown to be effective in closing the gap. Our 2006 WisKids policy brief "Mind the Gap" examined these issues and described the comprehensive approach Wisconsin should take to address the achievement gap.

Federal Stimulus Funds Make Their Way to Wisconsin to Work with At-Risk Youth and Youthful Offenders

The Office of Justice Assistance is now accepting applications for $3.85 million of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding aimed at addressing drug and alcohol abuse, truancy and other problems in youthful offender populations. Applicants may apply for one-time grants of up to $150,000 a year for three years (maximum of $450,000 total grant). There is no match requirement. For more information you can check out the funding announcement on the OJA website.

New WCCF Report: Economic Benefits of Investing in Early Ed.

WCCF has just released a new policy brief, authored by Dave Edie, on the economic benefits of early investments. The brief, "Great Investment: The Economic Benefits of Investing in Early Learning," explores the importance of early brain development, the extraordinary research on the positive effects of high-quality early childhood programs, the strong return on investment from early childhood interventions, and implications for public policy in Wisconsin. Feel free to forward the link to other interested parties, or to copy and use this policy brief.

A True Story of Crime and Redemption: A Work in Progress

Some of you will recall that WCCF was privileged to host R. Dwayne Betts at a conference last year to talk about his experiences as a youth who was sentenced to prison at age 16 for being involved with a friend in an armed carjacking. He had never held a gun before, but within a matter of minutes he had committed six felonies. A bright young kid, he served his eight-year sentence as part of the adult population in some of the worst prisons in Virginia.

A Question of Freedom is his soon-to-be-published gripping and true coming-of-age story with the unique twist that it takes place in prison. Utterly alone, and with the growing realization that he really is not going home any time soon, Dwayne confronts profound questions about violence, freedom, crime, race, and the justice system. Above all, A Question of Freedom is about a quest for identity--one that guarantees Dwayne's survival in a hostile environment that incorporates an understanding of how his own past led to the moment of his crime and the inherent dangers of incarcerating young people in an adult facility. In Dwayne’s stories are lessons for advocates, policy-makers, and professionals who work with young people involved in the juvenile and criminal justice systems.