(President Stinnett’s Opening Remarks During the 32nd Fall Institute, November 5, 2008.)
Good morning. What an historic time in our country for us to come together. It is my privilege to welcome you to the 32nd Fall Juvenile Justice Institute, “Changing the Script and Unlocking the Future”. For those of you who do not know me, my name is Beth Stinnett, and I am the president of the conference host, the Virginia Juvenile Justice Association (VJJA).
Most of you have been members of the professional association for many years, but for those of you who have joined recently as part of your participation in the conference we welcome you to our network and look forward to getting to know you over the course of the next two days.
VJJA is a diverse organization of more than 1000 professionals from nearly every agency and organization in the Commonwealth that touches the lives of court-involved children and that diversity is represented here today. More than 200 participants, exhibitors and speakers are registered for the event. Some participants have traveled from as far away as Southwest Virginia and Tidewater, while many are from right here in the Charlottesville area. The group assembled here today represents court services, the judiciary, secure detention, corrections, social services, mental health, education, and more. And with a roster that diverse, we know that the opportunities for cross-agency learning and peer to peer learning are endless.
Many months of preparation and planning unfold before you today and I want to personally thank my entire Board of Directors and other members of the conference planning committee for lending their time and talents over the last year. I especially want to thank Samantha Higgins, our Conference Registrar (who you will hear from a little later this morning), Amanda Moseley, Katherine Farmer, Susan Farmer, and Diane Shelton, for their considerable contributions.
Through the years, VJJA has been on the forefront of bringing best practice information and innovations to Virginia and providing opportunities for professionals to come together to learn from one another and the 32nd Fall Institute continues in that tradition.
From a slate of exceptional plenary session speakers, to afternoon workshops featuring both nationally-recognized speakers and “home grown” talent, to opportunities for networking with colleagues, I believe the conference committee has assembled a diverse and dynamic program for you.
In recent months we have all seen two presidential campaigns unfold before us, both built around the theme of change for our country. So it is befitting that we convene here today on a theme of change as well.
In recognition that the goals of juvenile justice have shifted away from control and compliance to emphasizing long-term behavior change, our conference theme is “Changing the Script and Unlocking the Future”. For too many children in the juvenile justice system, the current “script” is both formulaic and bleak. Far too many young people in our country are graduating to the adult system and serving periods of incarceration. In fact, according to the US Department of Justice, at the end of 2006 about one in every 31 adults in the United States was in prison, in jail or on supervised release. Even more disturbing, we know that the data reflect deep racial disparities, with a record 905,000 African-American inmates in prisons and jails.
If we are to improve outcomes and “unlock the future” for young people, we must change the juvenile justice “script” by adopting a new approach, reducing an over-reliance on secure confinement and focusing more closely on behavior change. Among the steps that we must take is re-evaluating our own roles. As we will learn from the information and strategies we will be exposed to over the course of the next two days, each of us can be the impetus for positive change. We must recognize that our interactions with young people have a pivotal role in determining subsequent behavior, we must reject the notion of youth workers as solely enforcers of conditions through rigid monitoring and punishment and we must embrace our role as agents of change. Can we do it? In the words of President Barack Obama, “Yes we can”!
(In addition to serving as VJJA President, Beth Stinnett works in central administration at the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice. Among her responsibilities is serving as the Statewide JDAI Coordinator.)
