Daniel Frost: a 16-year old juvenile delinquent

Teased at school and abused at home, Daniel is recovering from drug addiction and hopes to become a fire fighter.

00:55 ”7th Grade was when I started getting more trouble.”
02:00 ”The worst physical abuse I received from my father … ”
04:30 “After the incident I found myself staying awake at night …”
05:30 Descent into drug abuse
06:20 The OD and aftermath. Mom was there
08:30 I leave September 2, the day after my birthday …

Outreach House: a community-based diversion program

Program in Queens, NYC helps heal family while offering kids role models and peer support.

01:20 Over $200,000 per year to hold a juvenile?
01:55 Meet Ray Ortiz, a successful graduate
03:00 Short term goal is to get them off substances
03:43 The key role of family
05:40 Structured peer community helps kids help others
06:55 ”From drugs and gang-banging to a complete U-turn”

Reclaiming futures: drugs and teen crime

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation digs into the nexus of drugs and teen crime.

00:55 ”You know what, you’re in drug court …”
01:22 My drug court works
02:00 “They will bring him in through this blue line … ”
03:18 ”This is a team effort.”
04:00 A split family leads to a kid’s tailspin
06:55 Empowering them to take control of their own lives

• Brooklyn Park rec programs help to slash youth crime | StarTribune.com (12/28/2012) - The city launched a war on teenage boredom and, after years of cuts, the City Council opened its pocketbook for youth programs. They hired more staff, created more youth programming and threw open the doors to the Zanewood Recreation Center. It worked. A new study shows 42 percent of Brooklyn Park teens are now participating... Read More
• Locking up fewer kids, less crime (MN) (4/23/2012) -         EXCERPT: Added Police Chief Smith: “There are departments throughout the country, especially police departments, that had big concerns about this initiative, and we were among them.” But the philosophy of catching juveniles early and not putting first-time suspects in detention along with felons who have an established criminal history appeals to... Read More
• New mapping system targets juvenile crime (OH) (1/20/2012) - It took awhile to transform an idea into a reality that now aids local law enforcement and juvenile authorities in answering three basic questions needed to fight juvenile delinquency in Cleveland and Bradley County. The three primary questions Youth Services Officer Nancy Stanfield wanted to answer were: Where are juvenile offenders? What are they doing?... Read More
• After Jail, Youth With Disabilities Need Support to Stay Out (12/30/2011) - When young people with disabilities end up in the juvenile justice system, they’re less likely to return to youth prisons after their sentence is up if they have jobs or go to school quickly after being released, a new paper says. However, comprehensive programs that help these youth go from prison to the outside world... Read More
• Former juvenile sex offender gets a shot at a new life (12/28/2011) - After years of anxiety, Tim has finally gained the security of an anonymous future. The young man from Antioch committed a sex crime at age 14 and was put on a registry open only to police, but he worried that a federal law might cause his identity to be made public. That threat has passed.... Read More
• IL Broken Parole System Traps Young Offenders (12/28/2011) - The Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission released a report Tuesday recommending changes to the juvenile justice system that will emphasize rehabilitation and support alternatives to incarceration — a focus shift the commission predicts will produce massive savings for the state’s Department of Juvenile Justice. The commission highlighted holes in the parole system that stack the odds... Read More
• Keep teenagers out of adult criminal court (IL) (12/24/2011) - The law’s willingness to expose kids to adult criminal penalties is downright disturbing, considering how likely kids are to be wrongfully convicted — and in particular, how likely they are to falsely confess. The U.S. Supreme Court has found that the risk of false confession is “all the more troubling — and empirical studies show,... Read More
• Jury Out on Young Men’s Initiative (NY) (12/24/2011) - … Fidler was referring to the Young Men’s Initiative (YMI), a potentially groundbreaking three-year $127 million initiative launched by Mayor Michael Bloomberg with great fanfare last August—and  hailed at the time by many commentators as a new, innovative approach to ending the cycle of poverty and educational disadvantage that has condemned thousands of young men... Read More
• U.S. study shows growing arrest rate in youth (AR) (12/24/2011) - A study analyzing data collected as part of the federal government’s National Longitudinal Survey of Youth says that by age 23, almost a third of Americans have been arrested for a crime other than minor traffic violations. Little Rock Police Department agrees, saying the age of suspects for most theft and burglary crimes ranges between 19... Read More
• Illinois’ juvenile justice system is failing, state reports (12/14/2011) - Illinois’ juvenile justice system is failing to rehabilitate offenders and help them return to life in their communities, according to a state commission’s study to be released Tuesday. More than half of the people released from state Department of Juvenile Justice facilities are later incarcerated again in the juvenile system, according to the study by... Read More
• Minor offenders, major issues: youth in adult system (WI) (12/12/2011) - Two days after Christmas 2005, Kirk Gunderson hanged himself with a sheet looped around a smoke detector in his solitary confinement cell in the La Crosse County Jail. He was 17. He formed letters out of moistened, rolled up toilet paper to spell the message: “I’m sorry 143 family.” The number is slang for “I... Read More
• Feds condemn conditions at Florida youth prisons (FL) (12/7/2011) - Florida’s youth-corrections system is so poorly administered that children are assaulted by officers, denied necessary medical care and punished harshly for minor infractions, a federal report released Friday concludes. Conditions are so severe, the U.S. Department of Justice said, that they violate the Constitution. The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division released a scathing 28-page report... Read More
• New program created to protect Chicago’s youth (12/3/2011) - In his ongoing effort to improve safety at public high schools Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel recently announced the start of a new school-based CompStat program for high schools. The Chicago Police Department along with Chicago Public Schools have partnered to implement this program to help increase safety and reduce crime at high schools. For Mayor... Read More
• Scared Straight Tactics Don’t Work on Youth Crime (12/2/2011) - Recently, I wrote about how locking up youth in juvenile hall only increased the chances that they would reoffend. This was based on the new study, “No Place for Kids.” Another report that came out earlier this year, “Evidence-Based Interventions for Juvenile Offenders and Juvenile Justice Policies that Support Them,” takes a look at what... Read More
• Seattle Initiative Credited With Reducing Youth Crime (11/30/2011) - A “progress report” published recently by the city says the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative (SYVPI) has reduced the rate of juvenile arrests, violent offenses, and school disciplinary actions in troubled neighborhoods such as the Central District and Rainier Beach. The SYVPI was established in 2009 by former Mayor Greg Nickels after a spate of... Read More
• Youth to be tried as adults now won’t be jailed with adults (11/28/2011) - In 29 states a loophole in a federal law allows juveniles facing prosecution as adults to be kept in county jails instead of juvenile detention facilities, possibly placing them in cells with hardened criminals. But in Texas, a new law passed by the Legislature allows district judges to order juveniles certified to be tried as... Read More
• Juvenile offenders may get ankle monitors (11/26/2011) - Minnehaha County (SD) may start using ankle bracelets on juvenile offenders, if a $100,000 state grant from the Council of Juvenile Services is approved next month. The electronic monitoring-GPS devices are just one way the county hopes to save money and reduce the number of repeat juvenile offenses. The plan calls for up to eight... Read More
• Book Review of Don’t Shoot: Who Protects Citizens? (11/21/2011) - [Slate Book Review]  Last year, residents in Chicago’s Washington Park neighborhood asked for my advice about a local gang problem. Their leader and block club president, Marla McCoy—a teacher’s aide, homeowner, and mother of three—noticed that drug dealing in the local park was starting up after a yearlong hiatus. Her opponent, an18-year-old upstart named Filly,... Read More
• A peek into Ravenswood Manor, a Chicago home for youth (11/9/2011) - EXCERPT: Crime, violence and teens are a common trifecta in Chicago news with a rare focus on the “What’s next?” But the mission of a center in Ravenswood Manor is to focus on the “next.” The repair and the future for these Chicago youths. Lawrence Hall Youth Services building located at 4833 N Francisco Ave... Read More
• Casey Foundation Hopes to Cut Juvenile Detention (10/4/2011) - PRESS RELEASE | Baltimore, MD – Locking up juvenile offenders in correctional facilities, which costs states a yearly average of $88,000 per youth, is not paying off from a public safety, rehabilitation or cost perspective, according to a new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The report documents four decades of scandals and lawsuits... Read More

• Youth courts efficacy study (12/29/2012) - Study of Youth Courts conducted by Hamilton Fish Institute at George Washington University. .
• Illinois’ juvenile justice system is failing, state reports (12/14/2011) - Illinois’ juvenile justice system is failing to rehabilitate offenders and help them return to life in their communities, according to a state commission’s study to be released Tuesday. More than half of the people released from state Department of Juvenile Justice facilities are later incarcerated again in the juvenile system, according to the study by... Read More
• This is where I am going to be when I die (Report) (12/7/2011) - .Authorities in the USA must ban the imposition of life without parole sentences against children and review the cases of more than 2,500 prisoners currently serving such sentences to bring them into line with international law, Amnesty International said today in a new report. “In the USA, people under 18 years old cannot vote, buy... Read More