Happy New Year Colleagues! The start of the New Year is a time for reflecting on the year that just ended, but more importantly looking forward to the year ahead. It is a time to contemplate the changes we want to make and to resolve to follow through on those changes. Among the most popular resolutions are: to spend more time with family; to exercise more; to eat healthier; to save money; and to organize one’s home. I have started each of the last several years with owe or more of those goals.
This year, I started the New Year by searching for and then dusting off my Cooking Light cookbook. It had not been out of the cupboard since last January. Like most who resolve to eat healthier, I start each year with good intentions and an actual daily meal plan, but it usually derails by the end of January, the first bag of Muncho’s make their appearance and I fall back into my old habits.
There are a number of reasons why resolutions fail. Chief among them is that changes in our daily habits are difficult. It is much easier to continue with our normal routine. It takes little to no effort, which is essentially the hidden bonus in failing.
Similarly, as juvenile justice professionals, we attend seminars and gather the latest information in the juvenile justice field. We listen attentively while attending training, take copious notes, and perhaps make mental notes about how we could incorporate our newly acquired knowledge into our practice. But once we return to our work places, often we file those notes away and fail to follow through.
To break that cycle, while we are still in the month of January, give some thought to the conferences and training sessions you attended in 2007. Pull out your notes and use those notes as the beginning of an action plan for 2008. How will you use the knowledge that you possess to achieve better outcomes for the young people in your charge in 2008? What goals will you set? What resolutions will you make?
Attendees at VJJA’s 31st Fall Juvenile Justice Institute, “When All the Stars Align – Partnering for Better Outcomes for Court Involved Children”, need not look farther for inspiration than their notes from the event. Truly a star-studded line up, featuring both nationally recognized speakers and in-state talent, the salient points from each of the sessions could serve as the basis for your work plan for 2008 and for years to come.
(1) The Strength Based Approach To Juvenile Justice
After the inspiring words of Roanoke City Manager Darlene Burcham, the Fall Institute opened with a plenary address by Dr. Wally Kisthardt, of Parkville, MO, entitled, “Adopting A Strength Based Approach to Juvenile Justice”. Dr. Kisthardt explained to the audience that the focus with the strength-based approach to juvenile justice is on the techniques and strategies (the "how to's”) that juvenile justice workers can use to raise motivation levels and facilitate positive behavioral change. The focus is not necessarily on the youth’s behavior, bur rather on how the worker responds and how the worker’s response influences what happens next. One strategy he suggested was querying young people about what they enjoy and affirming and building a plan around their likes and desires. He reminded us that the nature of our interactions with young offenders play a pivotal role in determining whether they go on to commit subsequent delinquent offenses. Dr. Kisthardt also shared with us the goals that he believes should be present during every contact with a young person, central among them: affirmation and validation and creating a hopeful and engaging atmosphere. He reminded us that human beings by nature gravitate to folks with whom they feel a sense of affirmation. Finally, Dr. Kisthardt challenged us to not only think “outside of the box”, but to also take a risk (something we routinely ask young people to do) and move to the next level by changing the way we practice. Suggested Resource: www.buildmotivation.com
Resolution: Select interventions that are designed to achieve positive outcomes by encouraging autonomy, self-determination, and positive reinforcement and focusing on what techniques and strategies you can employ to raise motivation levels and facilitate positive behavioral change.
(2) Better Outcomes Through Collaboration
With the theme of, “When All the Stars Align – Partnering for Better Outcomes for Court Involved Children,” several of the conference sessions focused on forging effective partnerships between child-serving agencies and effective collaboration. The Honorable Judge Philip Trompeter, 23rd J & DR Court, Nancy Hans, Roanoke County Prevention Council, and Caroline Overfelt, Roanoke County Public Schools, delivered “Data-driven Partnerships Powered By Collaboration”. John Tuell, Child Welfare League of America also led a workshop. He focused on the connection between child maltreatment and delinquency and the importance of strong collaboration in dual jurisdiction cases. Finally, the group twice heard from the Honorable Steve Teske, from Clayton County, Georgia. Judge Teske delivered a workshop entitled, “Setting and Achieving Management Outcomes in Juvenile Justice”. He also opened day two of the conference with a plenary address entitled, “Enhancing Collaboration to Achieve Better Outcomes”. Judge Teske talked about the difficulty of reducing recidivism when crime-producing factors are individually connected to different child-serving agencies that are unconnected within the juvenile justice system. Also, consistent throughout his talk, as well as other workshops on collaboration, was the important role of leadership – particularly judicial leadership and results-oriented leadership – in forging and sustaining partnerships. Lastly, Judge Teske and others championed the use of data and emphasized embracing and sharing data as a necessary and important part of the collaborative process. Suggested Resource: www.childwelfarepolicycenters.com (select “Collaborative”)
Resolution: Take the lead in building bridges between system stakeholders and developing protocols between agencies to effect change and achieve better outcomes.
(3) Minority Overrepresentation
Members Larry Robinson, Newport News Juvenile Services, Dr. Rosanne Walters, Newport News Office on Youth Development and Shauna Epps, the Center for Children's Law and Policy, presented a workshop entitled, “Disproportionate Minority Contact/Confinement: It’s Not a Black Thang”. The workshop provided an overview of DMC both nationally and in state, focusing on steps that localities across the country have taken to reduce the overrepresentation of youth of color in the juvenile justice system. The panel discussed their involvement and successes with the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI). They also discussed their partnership with the W. Haywood Burns Institute and the technical assistance they have received from that group. Two of the key recommendations they gave the audience were: (1) to begin with a data-driven process and to ensure that data is disaggregated by race and gender; and (2) to implement and ensure strict adherence to race neutral assessment tools. Suggested Resources: www.jdaihelpdesk.org and www.burnsinstitute.org
Resolution: Take a critical look at policies and practices in your locality through a racial lens.
(4) Adolescent Development, Using What We Know
The next plenary address was delivered by Dr. Randy Otto from the University of South Florida. He spoke on “Using What We Know About Adolescent Development In Juvenile Justice”. He described adolescence as a time of trying new things, making mistakes and learning from those mistakes. He said that our job as experts in the area of adolescent behavior is to know which behaviors are normative and to determine which behaviors are acceptable and which behaviors should cause alarm. Dr. Otto also said that we must use what we know about adolescent behavior in developing developmentally appropriate responses (e.g. anticipating and planning for non-compliance, setting realistic expectations). Finally, Dr. Otto challenged participants to consider that some level of delinquency is normal and that most adolescents normally desist or age out of behaviors. During Dr. Otto’s presentation I thought about my own adolescence. By the definitions he used it was apparently quite typical and included many trials, tribulations and life lessons. It was riddled with behaviors that were not my shining moments and behaviors for which I would not want to be judged into adulthood. There was the usual underage possession of alcohol and a water balloon “incident” that today might well have been treated as “throwing a missile into an occupied dwelling”. While I will not go into detail here (for fear that the statute of limitations might not have expired), suffice it to say that while the behavior could have resulted in delinquent charges, Dr. Otto’s presentation was validated that the prankish behavior more closely resembled typical adolescent behavior than delinquency. Suggested Resource: www.adjj.org
Resolution: Consider what you know about adolescent development and use that knowledge daily in your decision-making and interventions. Set realistic expectations, utilize developmentally appropriate responses, and plan for
non-compliance as an inevitable part of working with adolescents.
(5) Youth Court and Peer Led Resolutions
The final plenary session was led by retired Judge Diane Strickland, Austin West, Westward Consulting, and a talented group of high school students from the youth courts at William Fleming and Patrick Henry High Schools. The group provided an entertaining and informative presentation on the Youth Court model, a model by which youth resolve conflicts and sentence their peers for minor delinquent and status offenses and other problem behaviors. The presentation included a mock trial and student led forum. The panel discussed how youth courts can divert school-based offenses from the attention of the juvenile court. They also discussed how the program can foster leadership and responsibility and explained that most youth court programs require offenders to train and participate as a future juror. Youth courts (also called teen, peer, and student courts) can be administered by and operated within a variety of agencies within a community including law enforcement agencies, juvenile probation departments, juvenile courts, private nonprofit agencies, and schools. Suggested Resource: www.youthcourt.net
Resolution: Increase diversion and involve youth in problem solving and conflict resolution.
(Beth Stinnett works in central
administration at the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice.
Among her responsibilities is serving as the Statewide JDAI
Coordinator.)
