A Challenging Review of Juvenile Justice Approaches

For those interested in "not so light" reading but in thinking about how various conceptual approaches to juvenile delinquency have developed over time - borrowing from classic crime control approaches to deterrence theories to more recent outcome-based approaches and even more recently youth development ideas - there is an interesting article by Morghan Velez Young titled A Review of Conceptiual Contributions to Juvenile Justice and Youth Development Arenas recently published in the Justice Policy Journal. The article categorizes approaches into four different "conceptual contributions" and highlights some of the shortcomings and potential of each of them, including: (1) efforts to incorporate more rehabilitative models into a more punishment v. treatment system have often been overwhelmed or absorbed, becoming nothing more than programs attached to existing organizational cultures, (2)punishment proponents often cite the lack of consistent evidence of rehabiliative approaches yet cannot produce any evidence of the effectiveness of a punishment model - and in some instances it makes it worse, (3) more recent efforts to develop outcome-based programs based on effectiveness research are well-meaning but have yet to become adopted and often take a too-narrow view of the overall process and do not effectively account for or engage other system partners, and (4) a youth development model, which shows promise, remains marginalized.

What might this mean for juvenile justice professionals? I'd suggest several "lessons" that this article should make you think about, including:
(1) One key to success lies in a complete break from a punishment v. treatment conceptual model - as both rely on faulty premises and perpetuate a dialectic approach to juvenile justice that bears no resemblance to the complexities inherent in how youth develop and/or delinquency occurs;
(2) Research does matter - but more importantly, it is taking the "research to practice" in a way that doesn't simply perpetuate existing organizational structures that is important; and
(3) A successful system will require a value-based approach to working with youth that assumes differences between delinquent and other youth are far less than their similarities, that opportunities for youth development and engagement that we know work for most youth can work for at-risk youth, and that approaches need to be developed that are consistent with an ever-increasing understanding of adolescent development.

WMC Comparison Perpetuates False Ideas on Public Sector Employment

You’re motoring along in your Chevy when you notice that your passenger side tires have lost a lot of air, causing the car to list dangerously to the right. So you stop at the nearest service station to let some air out of the tires on the driver’s side to level it out.

A press release issued Monday by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) seems to be suggesting such an approach to jobs in Wisconsin. WMC, in making the case that Wisconsin must get serious about promoting manufacturing jobs, notes that more people in the state now work for the government than work in manufacturing. WMC is absolutely right to be concerned that Wisconsin has lost a large number of manufacturing jobs in recent years. And they are absolutely right to connect the number of manufacturing jobs with the overall health of the economy. But the notion that this has anything to do with the number of public sector jobs in Wisconsin is baseless.

It is inaccurate to suggest that the problem is too many government workers. In fact, Wisconsin actually has a very lean public workforce compared to most other states. According to data released in November by the U.S. Census Bureau, Wisconsin ranked 41st among the states in number of full-time equivalent state and local government positions (FTEs) relative to the population in 2008. Only nine other states had a leaner public sector. Per capita spending for all state and local employees in Wisconsin was 10.6 percent below the national average, and ranked 33rd in the country. (Our Nov. 3 press release examines these numbers in greater detail.)

WCCF supports policymakers’ efforts to create and retain solid, family-supporting jobs in the manufacturing sector. Kids thrive when they grow up in economically stable homes with parents who have good jobs, whether those jobs are in manufacturing, high-tech industries, or even working for the government.

Understanding Pathways to Desistance for Juveniles - A Work in Progress

Perhaps the fundamental challenge in juvenile justice research is understanding what steps or actions the system can take that will redirect youthful offenders from a pathway of offending to a pathway of "desistance" - stopping committing offenses. There are multiple complications in researching delinquency, not the least of which is the challenge of following youth over long periods of time. The Research on Pathways to Desistance effort, sponsored by, among others, the MacArthur Foundation's Models for Change project, attempts to assess youth across a number of variables and then follow them in terms of what the system responses have been, what has been effective, and what seems to make a difference in promoting desistance. The results so far are, not unexpectedly, confounding - that is, the vast majority of youthful offenders do appear to desist, but it's not totally clear to what extent the system response contributed to that. And, as we are learning in the "what works" type of research, matching the right youth to the right service at the right time is likely to improve, but not guarantee, outcomes. This research is worth following.

New Report: Immigrants an Important Part of WI Economy

A new report by the Immigration Policy Center finds that immigrants, Latinos, and Asians are an important and growing part of Wisconsin's economy, labor force, and tax base. “New American’s in the Badger State” highlights include:

Wisconsin was home to 252,150 immigrants in 2007.
41.2% of immigrants in 2007 (or 103,291 people) in Wisconsin were naturalized U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote.
Latinos accounted for 4.8% (or 268,879) and Asians 1.9% (or 106,431) of Wisconsinites in 2007.
The 2008 purchasing power of Latinos totaled $5.3 billion and Asian buying power totaled $3.0 billion in Wisconsin in 2007.
If all unauthorized immigrants were removed from Wisconsin, the state would lose $2.6 billion in expenditures, $1.2 billion in economic output, and approximately 14,579 jobs.

News: Juvenile Arrest Rates Continue to Decline

OJJDP has recently published a good summary of juvenile arrest rates, based on 2008 data - simply titled "Juvenile Arrests 2008", the data shows that although juvenile crime continues to be of concern, 2008 marks the second year of a decline in rates of arrest in some categories and continues a 15+ year decline overall. Remember that "rates" adjust for changes in the overall population, so we continue to see a long walk away from the peak juvenile arrest rates in 1994. The data also provides information about how arrest rates in Wisconsin compare to other states.

JJDPA Reauthorization Takes a Big Step

Today the Senate Judiciary Committee passed Senate Bill 678, the Reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA). After being on the committee's schedule for a number of weeks but always not quite rising to the top due to other issues, efforts by Sen. Leahy, Sen. Kohl, and others has paid off. All Senate Democrates except Sen. Feinstein voted for the bill, while all Republicans except Sen. Grassley, voted against - meaning that it passed the committee on a strong, 13-6 vote. It will now await consideration by the full senate, hopefully early in 2010.

The Estate Tax Roller Coaster

The federal estate tax, which has gradually been scaled back over the last 8 years, is scheduled to expire in just two weeks, and then to come back at a higher level in 2011!

The reason for that strange scenario is that the estate tax changes pushed through by President Bush in 2001 slowly phased out the tax; however, to keep the total cost of those amendments within a Congressional cap, the 2001 legislation allowed the estate tax to come back in 2011 – at the pre-2001 level. Thus, if Congress can’t pass an estate tax bill, the federal estate tax will soon be completely gone, but an increased estate tax could return a year later (with a much smaller amount of each estate exempted from taxation).

The federal estate tax only applies now to the very wealthiest Americans – one of every 500 estates. Nevertheless, it still generates a great deal of revenue. Allowing it to be repealed is expected to cost a little over $500 billion from 2010 through 2019, though that half-trillion figure actually understates the total cost, since the lag in collecting the tax delays the impact by almost two years. Taking that lag time into account, as well as the interest cost from adding to the federal deficit, the projected 10-year price tag for 2012-2021 is $814 billion.

A bill recently approved by the House would extend the reduced 2009 estate tax indefinitely, but finding 60 votes for that legislation in the Senate will be difficult, since a small number of Democrats and nearly all the Republicans would prefer a reduced estate tax or complete elimination. The CQ Midday Update reported Tuesday that Senate and House leaders have been unable to reach a compromise to prevent the tax from expiring in two weeks.

A brief statement Wednesday from Chuck Marr of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) notes the irony in the arguments made by some of the Senators opposing an extension of the estate tax. First, extension of the estate tax is being opposed by some of the same Senators who recently resisted increasing the federal debt limit on the grounds of “fiscal responsibility.” Yet their estate tax vote will add billions of dollars to the federal deficit, and all of that will go to the richest people.

The other irony is that the people wanting to repeal or further reduce the estate tax claim they want to protect family farms and small businesses, but allowing the estate tax to expire would result in many more tax increases than tax cuts for people who inherit farm and business estates. The reason for that is that the legislation repealing the estate tax would apply the capital gains tax to an estate’s increase in value after the assets were initially acquired by the person who dies. That change would increase taxes for many people who inherit farms or small businesses because they now pay no estate tax and their capital gains taxes on the appreciated value are now forgiven at death.

Marr argues that Congress “should extend the estate tax under its 2009 parameters rather than allow it to expire altogether next year” Alternatively, he suggests that, “if Congress cannot work out a permanent solution on this matter now, it should, at a minimum, extend the current estate tax rules temporarily while it addresses the issue for the long term.”

New Report Shows Federal Recovery Act Keeping Thousands of Wisconsinites Out of Poverty

Today the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released a study showing that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed in February is protecting millions of Americans, including about 86,000 Wisconsin residents, from falling into poverty. The study, “State-Level Data Show Recovery Act Protecting Millions from Poverty,” examined the Recovery Act’s increased food stamp benefits, expansions of the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit, the new Making Work Pay tax credit for workers, additional weeks of jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed, an additional $25 per week of jobless benefits, and a one-time payment to many elderly people, veterans and people with disabilities.

CBPP has been able to estimate the amount of funding that has entered Wisconsin via five of the Recovery Act’s provisions through November 20, 2009. Those five provisions alone--the Making Work Pay Tax Credit, extended unemployment compensation, an additional $25 per week for unemployed workers, economic recovery payment for the elderly and people with disabilities, and increased Food Stamp benefits--have injected over $1.6 billion into the state’s economy, creating jobs and helping lift families out of poverty.

For more information, see our press release about the CBPP study.

CCF "Postcard" Highlights Wisconsin's Coverage of Kids and Pregnant Women Who Are Legal Immigrants

The Georgetown University Health Policy Institute’s Center for Children and Families (CCF) regularly publishes on its website Postcards from CCF, which highlight best practices in states across the country. A recent Postcard features an interview with WCCF’s Jon Peacock about Wisconsin’s recent expansion of BadgerCare Plus to cover immigrant children and pregnant women living in the country legally, without a five-year waiting period. Wisconsin was able to accomplish this by taking advantage of new opportunities offered by the law that reauthorized the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIPRA), which provides much of the funding for BadgerCare Plus. CCF also highlighted Wisconsin’s efforts in its excellent Say Ahhh! children’s health policy blog.

A more comprehensive review of opportunities for Wisconsin presented by CHIPRA is available on our website, as is a couple of other publications related to extending coverage to legal immigrant kids and pregnant women.

New WCCF Paper on Planning an Early Care and Education System

WCCF has just released a comprehensive new publication, "Wisconsin’s Early Care and Education Landscape: Planning for a Coherent System." Drawing from statewide data, the 52-page paper provides an overview of Wisconsin’s progress in expanding and improving services for young children, strengths and weaknesses in our early care and education services, and options for an effective ECE system.

The paper explores:

* Overall data and trends in early care and education in Wisconsin
* Access to ECE services for children and families
* The quality of ECE programs
* Early care and education systems in other states and in the military
* Options for consideration for developing an effective ECE system in Wisconsin.

The paper pulls together trends and data on 4-year-old Kindergarten, child care, Head Start and Early Head Start, services for children with disabilities, and home visiting.

OJJDP Bulletin About Juveniles Who Commit Sex Offenses

OJJDP has published its latest bulletin in its Crimes Against Children bulletin series, titled “Juveniles Who Commit Sex Offenses Against Minors”. The bulletin presents information about the characteristics of juvenile offenders who commit sex offenses against minors and analyzes data from the FBI's National Incident-Based Reporting System to describe the characteristics of the juvenile sex offender population who have come to the attention of law enforcement. Key findings include that juveniles account for more than one-third (36 percent) of those known to police to have committed sex offenses against minors, and juveniles who commit sex offenses against other children are more likely than adult sex offenders to offend in groups, at schools, and to have more male and younger victims.

April - June Quarterly Detention Report Now Available

WCCF, with the assistance of the Office of Justice Assistance, has issued the Second Quarter Detention Report for 2009. This report outlines juvenile detention statistics for April through June of 2009, including racial classifications, length of stay, age, gender, underlying offenses and numbers of admissions statewide to juvenile detention facilities. The WCCF has also issued detention reports for 2008 and the first quarter of 2009. Check for more updates as information becomes available each quarter. Pervious detention reports are available on the WCCF website.

Exposure to Lead & Delinquency - An Overlooked Link

WCCF just posted a policy brief summarizing some of the research about how children's exposure to lead can impact their brain development and ultimately contribute to a host of at-risk behaviors, including increased aggressiveness and delinquency. The point of Lead Poisoning and Juvenile Delinquency is to alert professionals that we need to be aware of some of the organic issues that impact kids involved in the system - the more we understand some of these issues, the better able we are to deal with them successfully - and, perhaps in some cases, work with others to support efforts to reduce/eliminate lead exposure for all children.

"The Keeper and the Kept" - a Second Major Report on Current DMC Issues

The Haywood Burns Institute has just released its second major report on the systemic problems that lead to DMC,"The Keeper and the Kept" . One of the great challenges facing our systems is that as resources are shrinking, prevention and early intervention efforts being substantially reduced if not eliminated completely, and our systems "re-trenching", it is often those kids already most at risk that may bear the brunt of these reductions - in particular minority youth who will become subject to gerater, not less, involvement in the juvenile justice system. Now, more than ever, individuals in the system need to commit to ensuring that reductions don't make an existing problem even worse.

Missouri QRIS Study Shows Impact on Child Outcomes

A recent Missouri study of its Quality Rating and Improvement System for child care showed that higher QRIS ratings were linked to gains in social/emotional and early literacy. The study showed that lower quality (1 or 2 stars) actually had negative effects on development. This is the first study of a QRIS that tracks impacts on children, and the finding is significant.