New Report Supports Reducing Juvenile Incarceration
The Annie E. Casey Foundation's new report, No Place for Kids: The Case for Reducing Juvenile Incarceration assembles a vast array of evidence to demonstrate that incarcerating kids doesn't work: Youth prisons do not reduce future offending, they waste taxpayer dollars, and they frequently expose youth to dangerous and abusive conditions. The report also shows that many states have substantially reduced their juvenile correctional facility populations in recent years, and it finds that these states have seen no resulting increase in juvenile crime or violence. Finally, the report highlights successful reform efforts from several states and provides recommendations for how states can reduce juvenile incarceration rates and redesign their juvenile correction systems to better serve young people and the public.

New Brief Examines Relationship Between Childhood Trauma and Juvenille Justice Involvement
The brief examines the relationship between childhood trauma and involvement in the juvenile justice system. According to the brief, while research shows that up to 34 percent of children in the United States have experienced at least one traumatic event, between 75 and 93 percent of youth entering the juvenile justice system annually are estimated to have experienced some degree of trauma.

TV Show Focuses on Juvenile Detention Alternatives in Rhode Island
November 2010 - The latest episode of the Rhode Island Kids Count Cable Television Show focuses on Rhode Island's Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI). On the show are Acting Superintendent of the Rhode Island Training School for Youth Kevin Aucoin and Annie E. Casey Foundation JDAI Team Leader Jim Payne.

Addressing the Unmet Educational Needs of Children and Youth in the Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare Systems
Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute Center for Juvenile Justice Reform has released a new paper reviewing educational barriers encountered by youth involved in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems and describes recent legal and policy reforms. Promising practices and evidence-based interventions to improve educational barriers encountered by youth involved in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems and describes recent legal and policy reforms. Click here to access the PDF.

Fact Sheet on Girls' Delinquency
March 15, 2010: A new fact sheet from the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) reviews trends in girls' delinquency and describes research conducted by OJJDP's Girls Study Group. It also reports on OJJDP programs and publications that address girls' delinquency. The fact sheet also assesses whether girls were becoming more violent or if other factors contributed to their higher arrest rates. View the fact sheet, and visit OJJDP's Girls' Delinquency page for more information.

Successful Community Reentry for Juvenile Justice-Involved Youth
December 21, 2009: The report Back on Track: Supporting Youth Reentry From Out-of-Home Placement to the Community finds that reentrey services and aftercare programs which target youth who are exiting custody and connect them with professional case managers, mentors, or employment opportunities can reduce recidivism. By fostering improved family relationships and functioning, reintegration into school, and mastery of independent life skills, youth build resiliency and positive development to divert them from delinquent or other problematic behaviors.

Report Provides Informaton on Crimes in Schools
December 17, 2009: The Office of Justice Programs' Bureau of Justice Statistics, in collaboration with the National Center for Education Statistics, has published Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2009. The report highlights crime and safety at school from the perspectives of students, teachers and principles. It also provides detailed statistical information on the nature of crime in schools and school enviornments and responses to violence and crime at school. Click here to access the report.

New Report from Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
November 5, 2009
A new report titled From America's Front Line Against Crime: A School and Youth Violence Prevention Plan offers four strategies to dramatically reduce school and youth violence. The strategies include engaging at-risk youth in evidence-based programs and providing after-school youth development programs. The plan urges federal, state and local governments to invest in programming now in order to prevent future violence and costs.

New Documents Available on Juvenile Justice In RI
February 10, 2009 - According to a newly released fact sheet on juvenile justice in RI, 73% of admissions to detention at the RI Training resulted in stays of seven days or less. Also available is recent testimony present to the state legislators regarding the RI Training School and alternatives to juvenile incarceration.

New Report on Delinquency Prevention for Girls
January 8, 2009 - The Justice Department's Office of Justice Programs' Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention released a research bulletin, "Charting the Way to Delinquency Prevention for Girls," which reports that despite the rise in female juvenile crime, violence among female youth has not increased. The report can be found at: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/223434.pdf

Report Examines Juvenile Justice Policy & Practice
November 6, 2008: The Future of Children has released its latest publication, Juvenile Justice (Vol. 18, No. 2). The volume examines juvenile justice policies and practices with the goal of promoting reforms to the justice system that are based on solid evidence, acknowledging that adults differ from adolescents in ways that policy ought to take into account, and that antisocial acts that bring young people into contact with the justice system are often accompanied by other problems, which the justice system alone is often ill-equipped to address. Accompanying the release are an Executive Summary and Policy Brief.

Summary of the 2008 KIDS COUNT Essay on Juvenile Justice Reform Now Available
August 18, 2008 – A summary version of the 2008 KIDS COUNT essay, A Road Map for Juvenile Justice, presents the six pervasive challenges raised in the essay that face our nation’s juvenile justice systems today. It highlights key facts and data, and offers promising solutions for approaches that have been proven to improve outcomes for youth, families, taxpayers and communities.

Report on Juveniles Detained in RI Available
August 6, 2008 - There was a 10% decrease in juvenile detentions in 2007 according to the Rhode Island Justice Commission's report, Juvenile Detention Data 2007. The report details the nature of detentions and characteristics of juveniles detained in Rhode Island. The report focuses on juveniles securely and non-securely detained, not juveniles that may have been released at the scene, transported home, brought directly to the RI Training School or to Court. Also note that there report captures only the most serious offense for which the youth was detained.

RI Supreme Court Rules on Family Court's jurisdiction over 'gap kids'
July 21, 2008 - The Rhode Island Supreme Court ruled on July 10, 2008 that the state Family Court has initial jurisdiction over the case of a 17-year-old Barrington youth facing a murder charge and another youth who was charged as an adult during a brief change in the state law. The high court upheld a Superior Court judge's decision and rejected the argument of the Attorney General in ruling that the indictments of these youth should be held in abeyance until the Family Court holds a hearing and decides whether it will waive its jurisdiction over them.

In the summer and fall of 2007, Rhode Island KIDS COUNT staff worked extensively to get the law reversed that resulted in 17-year-olds being housed at the Rhode Island Adult Correction Institutions. On Tuesday, October 30, 2007, the Rhode Island General Assembly voted to repeal the law that was enacted that treated 17 year-olds as adults. The July 10, 2008 ruling means that the approximately 70 remaining youth who were charged as adults during the 4 month "gap period" last year will have their cases returned to the Family Court from the adult court system.