Juvenile Justice Centre Research Articles

Predictors of rapid reincarceration in mentally ill young offenders.

Describe characteristics of mentally ill young offenders released from custody and predictors of those who rapidly returned to custody. Ambidirectional cohort study of 51 young males with mental disorders released from the largest New South Wales Juvenile Justice Centre (2005-2007), a health file audit at time of release and prospective determination of reincarceration. Overall 47% were Aboriginal, 43% originated from regional communities, substance disorders were highly prevalent and only 12% accessed prior community mental health care. Over half (57%) satisfied diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia spectrum disorder. In custody, 39% were suicidal and 18% were homicidal. A majority (90%) returned to custody over a median of 28 months; half within five months of release. Schizophrenia/schizophreniform disorder (p<.001), bipolar disorder (p=.001) and schizoaffective disorder (p=.005) predicted rapid reincarceration, with shorter community survival than those without those diagnoses (p=.009). Antipsychotic treatment (p=.006) and treatment duration in custody (p=.006) predicted longer community survival. Aboriginality, younger age, prior incarceration and substance disorders were not predictive of rapid reincarceration. Serious mental illness was a significant predictor of rapid reincarceration in young offenders. Treatment improved community survival. The findings highlight the need for optimal psychiatric treatment and post-release care for young offenders with mental illness.

32. Cost and Health Care Utilization for Adolescent and Young Adult Patients With Special Health Care Needs One Year Before and One Year After Enrollment into a Randomized Health Care Transition Care Coordination Trial

guided partnership among community clinics, and formalization of a transition plan upon release from detention. Methods: We conducted surveys among detained youth and their guardians in a large urban juvenile detention center in the Southwestern United States from January 2014 to July 2014. The surveys assessed health needs, mental health needs, care prior to detention and perceived barriers to care. Based on our results we held focus groups with guardians, youth, probation officers, and social services. Concurrently, we identified and surveyed area health care clinics to determine if they met AAP guidelines for medical homes. Next, we created a community asset map of the locations of these clinics and linked themwith the zip codes of the detained youths’ discharge locations. Finally, we contactedmedical homes in high need areas and formalized the transition plan for youth upon release from detention. Results: We interviewed 97 guardians and 368 youth. Average age of the youth was 15.2 years (range 10 e 17 years) with 81% male, 52% black, 30% Hispanic, and 18% white. 75% of youth reported having medical insurance and 58% reported having a medical home. Themajority of those surveyed (58%) reportedmental health needs. Guardian surveys mirrored youth responses and focus groups highlighted additional barriers including inconvenient clinic hours, lack of insurance, and youth refusing to attend clinic visits. We identified 402 area clinics; 170 clinics saw teens and 94 served the needs of youth post-detention. We generated several maps with the release location of detained youth and the 94 teen medical clinics. We assisted the juvenile justice center in creating a medical discharge summary for families and providers, and connected youth with area clinics upon release using the maps. Conclusions: Conducting a needs assessment allowed medical providers in the juvenile justice center to assess barriers to health care and plan transition of medical care upon youths’ release. While the majority of youth reported having insurance, fewer reported having a medical home. The maps enabled us to create a link between the addresses of juvenile detainees upon release and suitable medical homes, and to partner with the justice center to formalize the process of providing continuity of care for the youth. We plan to develop partnerships with the youthmedical homeswe identified in the community to facilitate coordinated transfer of care once youth are discharged from detention. Other juvenile justice centers may benefit from community asset mapping and creating a formal discharge transition plan once youth are released. Sources of Support: AAP CATCH Planning Grant.

216. Implementing Opt-out HIV Testing for Adolescents - Will They Just say “no”? Ucsf Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland HIV Focus

216. Implementing Opt-out HIV Testing for Adolescents - Will They Just say “no”? Ucsf Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland HIV Focus

'Doing Time'

The origins of the phrase ‘doing time’ are not exactly known, but for me it described quite well the nature of being in prison. In this one phrase the active, busy, continuous present tense word ‘doing’ butted straight into the vast, eternal and ominous word ‘time’. The kids I met in Reiby Juvenile Justice Centre were certainly doing time, they were caught up in a range of doing typical of teenage boys – playing video games, or sports like footy, and going to school – yet unlike most teenagers, these activities were measured against an ever conscious register of time: every boy I met could reel off how long was left for him; ‘eight months’; ‘three years’; ‘one and a half years’. These boys had been ‘doing time’ for a long time; all were on long sentences. Most had been inside before. Some also had parents in jail. For these boys, the rhythm of prison was familiar. Frustrated and intensely bored, they would call ‘time out’ whenever the class or conversation would drag. Yet against this ferocious impatience, they talked with an unbearable lethargy about how their days were spent; as one boy explained he was ‘letting the time pass’.

Assessing Azithromycin Efficacy in Treatment of Chlamydia Trachomatis

The 2010 Center for Disease Control guidelines recommend one dose of azithromycin for the treatment of uncomplicated chlamydia infections based on 97% cure rate with azithromycin. A recent study found an 8% failure rate of azithromycin treatment in adolescents. This prospective study evaluated treatment efficacy in a sample of detained youth. We conducted a prospective study beginning April, 2012 in the Harris County Juvenile Justice Center (HCJJC) medical department. Study subjects were detainees with positive urine NAAT tests for chlamydia on intake. We recruited subjects after they received their test results. After we obtained informed consent, patients completed an enrollment questionnaire and then received 1 gram of azithromycin at lunch under direct observation. If the patient vomited, the dose was repeated with an anti-emetic. Each patient returned to the medical clinic in 1 – 2 days to assess medication tolerance, provided a urine sample 3 weeks later for a chlamydia test of cure (TOC), and returned to the medical clinic in 4 weeks to discuss TOC results. During this period, the patients had no opportunity for sexual activity. Those with treatment failure (positive TOC) receive doxycycline for seven days. Exclusion criteria included co-infection with gonorrhea, signs and symptoms requiring treatment for pelvic inflammatory disease or epididymitis/orchitis prior to the TOC. Potential predictors of treatment failure with azithromycin include symptomatic infections. The study's primary outcome was the incidence of azithromycin treatment failure defined by a positive TOC. Secondary outcome was the incidence of adverse effects of azithromycin administration: vomiting, abdominal pain and/or nausea. We performed statistical analysis using STATA software. The Institutional Review Boards from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and the HCJJC approved this study. Of the sixty-two patients enrolled, most were male (71%) with a mean age of 15.7 years (range 14 – 17 years). Three subjects (5%, CI 1% – 13%) tested positive for Chlamydia at 3 weeks. Two of those patients complained of persistent (dysuria) or worsening symptoms (testicular pain) at the 3 week follow-up visit. Four patients (6.5%) experienced vomiting within 3 hours or less after azithromycin ingestion, requiring a repeat dose and 20 patients (32%) reported abdominal pain and/or nausea after azithromycin ingestion. Upon preliminary analysis, we found that azithromycin was 95% effective in treatment of uncomplicated Chlamydia trachomatis in our sample of detained youth. The advantage of this controlled setting includes observed medication delivery and exclusion of re-infection. These findings suggest azithromycin's efficacy may be decreasing and a test of cure should be considered after oral azithromycin, especially in symptomatic patients. Adverse effects of azithromycin were common and counseling on the side effects should be a component of care in the treatment of chlamydia. Further research studying the etiology of azithromycin treatment failure and its risk factors in a larger adolescent population is needed to confirm our findings.

The wraparound process for youth with severe emotional behavioural disorders

The number of youth with serious emotional disorders has increased tremendously; unfortunately, meeting the needs of such children has been a challenge. In an effort to deal with the challenging behaviour exhibited by children and youths, expensive out‐of‐home placements such as juvenile justice centres and clinical and psychiatric hospitalisation, have been used. Unfortunately, these approaches have not been effective in reducing the rate of challenging and violent behaviours. Therefore, researchers continue seeking evidence‐based and cost‐effective strategies to use when dealing with children and youths with severe emotional disorders. One of the approaches that have emerged out of this search is the systems of care model, which places emphasis on shifting placement of individuals with severe emotional disturbance from restrictive institutional settings to less restrictive settings. Central to the systems of care model is the wraparound process. The approach involves providing a set of coordinated individualised services and natural supports to the child and family in their natural environment. The purpose of this paper is to provide a literature synthesis on the wraparound process.

Teachers’ professional development in special needs settings: creating ‘kid-cool’ schools in challenging times

This paper explores the nature of teachers’ professional development (PD) practices in special needs/special education settings in Australia under current neoliberal and managerial conditions. The research is based on individual interviews with teachers from a juvenile justice centre and a dedicated special needs school in a regional city in the state of New South Wales. Bourdieu’s conception of social practice as contested is applied to make sense of teachers’ understanding of the conflicted nature of PD practices in these schooling settings. The findings reveal teacher PD in these special needs settings is influenced by the increased commodification of education, broader accountability pressures which seek to individualise teachers’ PD experiences, and increased attention to a narrower range of educational outcomes, particularly students’ test scores. However, at the same time, these settings also enable more localised, collaborative inquiry focused upon specific students’ needs, and PD relevant to a multi-faceted conception of students’ learning. In this way, teacher PD contributes to a focus upon student learning in all its complexity, even as it is simultaneously confined by neoliberal and managerial pressures.

Validity of the Modified Child Psychopathy Scale for Juvenile Justice Center Residents.

Adult psychopathy has proven to be an important clinical and forensic construct, but much less is known about juvenile psychopathy. In the present study, we examined the construct validity of the self report modified Child Psychopathy Scale mCPS; Lynam (Psychological Bulletin 120:(2), 209–234, 1997) in a sample of 57 adolescents residing in a Dutch juvenile justice center, aged between 13 and 22 years. The mCPS total score was reliably related to high externalizing problems, low empathy, high anger and aggression, high impulsivity, high (violent) delinquency, and high alcohol/drug use. Unique relations were found for the antisocial-impulsive (mCPS Factor 2), but not the callous-unemotional facet of psychopathy (mCPS Factor 1). Our findings support the validity of the mCPS in that it encompasses the antisocial-impulsive facet of psychopathy, but it is less clear whether the mCPS sufficiently captures the affective-interpersonal facet of psychopathy.

Parental bonds in adolescent perpetrators of sexual violence

A deep understanding of the characteristics of sex offenders may serve to improve clinical prevention and treatment programs. Mostly, however, this knowledge can aid in the creation of better re-education and rehabilitation programs as well as criminological treatment. In prison systems outside of Italy, the use of treatment programs specifically designed for sex offenders is commonplace, whereas in Italy, there is only sporadic experimentation in this field which is aimed at evaluating adults. If this is true for adults, it is even more so for the minors who commit this type of crime that gives rise to worry and a great sense of alarm. The aim of this work is to show the preliminary results of an empirical study that explores the mental representations of the parents of minors who commit acts of sexual violence towards other. This study is an ongoing in collaboration with the Juvenile Justice Center (Centro Giustizia Minorile) of the Region of Apulia, whose first data on 10 juvenile perpetrators of such specific crimes are presented here.

Developmental Assets: Profile of Youth in a Juvenile Justice Facility

Possessing high numbers of developmental assets greatly reduces the likelihood of a young person engaging in health-risk behaviors. Since youth in the juvenile justice system seem to exhibit many high-risk behaviors, the purpose of this study was to assess the presence of external, internal, and social context areas of developmental assets in at-risk youth attending a northeast Missouri juvenile justice center. Male and female middle and high school students moved to a residential juvenile justice center voluntarily completed the Developmental Assets Profile (DAP) instrument during a regularly scheduled "intake" session. Most respondents reported lacking risk-protective factors in the internal and social context areas. Respondents noted their lack of community involvement in the social context area and their overinvolvement with negative influences in the internal context area. Specifically in the internal and external context areas, most respondents reported having trouble with substance abuse and not having positive peer or parental support. In the social context area, many noted that they wanted to do well in activities and were encouraged to do well; however, they scored service to others and involvement in religious groups or activities as low. Students who lack protective qualities, especially those who do not feel committed to their community, are more likely to be involved in substance abuse and risky behaviors. School-community partnerships may provide the targeted health protective factors that encourage more community involvement and more positive health behaviors in these youth.

Transformative Life Skills: Pilot Study of a Yoga Model for Reduced Stress and Improving Self-Control in Vulnerable Youth

Two pilot studies demonstrate that a comprehensive multimodality intervention of Transformative Life Skills (TLS) consisting of Yoga poses (asana), breathing techniques (pranayama), and meditation (dhyana) can reduce perceived stress and increase self-control and self-awareness in at-risk and incarcerated youth. As part of a countywide violence prevention effort, Niroga Institute conducted daily 60-minute TLS programs at Alameda County Juvenile Justice Center (ACJJC). Additionally, a condensed 15-minute TLS protocol was implemented at El Cerrito High School, a large urban public high school. The effectiveness of TLS was evaluated using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) and Tangney's Self-Control Scale (TSCS-13). Statistical analyses indicate a significant improvement in stress resilience, self-control, and self-awareness among the youth exposed to Niroga's TLS protocols. These results have substantial relevance to education and community-wide violence prevention.

Barred from Change: The Incarceration of Children and Young People in Northern Ireland

Based on primary research conducted for the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (Convery & Moore 2006)1 this article explores the care of children in the Juvenile Justice Centre for Northern Ireland [JJC or the Centre] in the context of their rights. The research followed from a previous Commission investigation (Kilkelly et al 2002) which identified serious breaches of rights. Still in Our Care was based primarily on qualitative research with children, staff and managers in the JJC where children aged 10 to 17 were remanded or sentenced to custody. This article concludes that despite legislative change and various reviews of the youth justice system, the state in Northern Ireland persists in consigning some of the most vulnerable and challenging children to incarceration within a ‘total institution’ (Goffman 1961) from the industrial and reformatory schools of the 19th century, through to the juvenile justice centre of the 21st century. Finally, the article considers the need for a transformation in the state's response to children in conflict with the law and the potential of the Bill of Rights process for achieving this.

Predicting time to recovery among depressed adolescents treated in two psychosocial group interventions.

Aims were to identify the demographic, psychopathology, and psychosocial factors predicting time to major depressive disorder (MDD) recovery and moderators of treatment among 114 depressed adolescents recruited from a juvenile justice center and randomized to a cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) condition or a life skills-tutoring control condition. Nine variables predicted time to recovery over 1-year follow-up (e.g., earlier MDD onset, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, functional impairment, hopelessness, negative thoughts, low family cohesion, coping skills); suicidal ideation and parental report of problem behaviors were the best predictors. CBT resulted in faster recovery time relative to control treatment, specifically among adolescents of White ethnicity, with recurrent MDD, and with good coping skills. Results suggest that psychopathology plays a more prominent role in maintaining adolescent depression than demographic or psychosocial factors.

The physical and mental health needs of adolescent offenders in Australia

To conduct the first comprehensive survey of the physical and mental health of young Australians in custody and to use the results to a) study the links between health status and social background on crime-related behaviour and b) develop healthcare policy and service delivery in juvenile justice centres in accordance with areas of greatest need.

Dissociation in Incarcerated Juvenile Male Offenders — A Pilot Study in Australia

The objective was to compare levels of dissociative experiences in two samples of 16- to 18- year-old males using a brief structured interview. Twenty-nine juvenile offenders admitted to a juvenile justice centre were administered the Adolescent Dissociative Experiences Scale (A-DES) by the psychologist performing the admission. The A-DES was also administered to an age- and sex-matched non-offender group of 29 adolescent males.The results were that with the chosen cut-off score, 1 out of 29 of the non-offender sample and 8 out of 29 of the offender sample exhibited a high level of dissociative experience. This pilot study provides support for the author's clinical impression that a significant proportion of juvenile offenders in custody have a high level of dissociative experience. That such a group exists in custody has implications for clinical intervention.

Transformative Justice: Psychological Services in the Criminal, Family, and Juvenile Justice Centres of the Subordinate Courts of Singapore

Les tribunaux de première instance de Singapour assurent la prévention et une justice rapide, loyale et efficace; ils font en outre preuve d’innovation. Les tribunaux sont perçus comme étant un creuset de conflits, de traumarismes et de dysfonctions relationnelles, ce qui exige d’eux une grande compétence dans le traitement des problèmes humains complexes. Les services de la psychologie vont au‐delà de la fourniture classique d’un profil criminel pour devenir une aide au système judiciaire, ce qui peut constituer une force majeure de transformation individuelle, familiale et sociale. On présente trois interventions des services de la psychologie: les conférences familiales, les critères du comportement délinquant juvènile, et le projet HEART. Chaque intervention entraîne des transformations dans un cadre de légalité judiciaire.In addition to being a centre for the expeditious, fair, and effective administration of justice and the disposition of deterrence, the Subordinate Courts of Singapore have developed as a centre of innovation. Courts are also conceptualised as a crucible of human conflicts, traumas, and relational dysfunctions, thus requiring expertise in dealing with complex human problems. Psychological Services go beyond the conventional notion of providing expert criminal profiling to becoming an adjunct to a judiciary which can become a driving force behind individual, familial, and societal transformation. Three functions of the Psychological Services are presented—Family Conferences; the Juvenile Offender Behaviour (JOB) Criteria; Project HEART. Each function reflects transformation within a forensic‐legal framework.

A client-centered model: discharge planning in Juvenile Justice Centres in New South Wales, Australia.

Health care delivered in Juvenile Justice Centres in New South Wales, Australia, leads to improvement in the health status of detainees while in custody but this declines on discharge and is contributed to by a breakdown in continuity of care. In an effort to halt this decline in health status, a model of interdisciplinary discharge planning is proposed to address the interface between Juvenile Justice Centres and adult correctional facilities and the community. Key features of the process are: collaboration through the development of links by establishment of a community liaison co-ordinator position; open and continuous communication between service providers; continuous involvement of detainees and their significant others; and ongoing support to detainees once discharged. Evaluation of the discharge-planning process ensures that the process is appropriate to meet the needs of this specific and diverse population of young people and supplies feedback to all service providers. The trusting relationship that is developed between detainees and registered nurses within centres leaves nurses ideally placed to co-ordinate the discharge-planning process.

A Validation Study of the Adolescent Risk-taking Questionnaire

AbstractThe Adolescent Risk-taking Questionnaire (ARQ) was developed to comprehensively assess adolescent risk-taking beliefs and behaviours. Research has shown that it is a reliable instrument with strong construct validity. The current study investigated the convergent and discriminant validity of the ARQ by comparing responses of a sample of 52 male adolescents from a juvenile justice centre and 211 school-attending male adolescents. Consistent with past research, the juvenile justice centre youth reported significantly higher levels of depression and less optimal levels of parent attachment compared to school-attending youth. Convergent validity of the ARQ was demonstrated through significant relationships between attachment and risk-taking. Specifically, those adolescents with less optimal parent attachment were more likely to engage in risk-taking behaviour and were less likely to perceive the behaviours included in the ARQ as risky compared to those with more optimal levels of parent attachment. Discriminant validity of the ARQ was demonstrated through significant differences between the two groups on risk beliefs and behaviours. Responses on the ARQ indicated that youth from the juvenile justice centre were significantly more likely to engage in risky behaviours, if given the opportunity, than school-based youth. They also perceived the behaviours to be less risky. It was concluded that the ARQ has good convergent and discriminant validity.

The Value of Voice: Promoting Peace through Teaching and Writing

incident in the form of copycat threats, students were riding an emotional roller-coaster. At the high school, an unknown author wrote messages on the bathroom walls that gave a date and a threat that jocks would be the targets of some sort of violence. The day of doom passed peacefully (with an absence list a mile long), while the person responsible for the writings was never discovered. Meanwhile, one of the junior high schools in our district was receiving phone calls in which an individual was making equally sinister threats. After several evacuations and weeks of investigations, the teenage culprit who made those calls, and singlehandedly caused the chaos and fear that led to thousands of dollars in security costs, was taken into custody at the juvenile justice center. Though tragic shooting sprees and their aftermath have gained national attention fairly recently, I first began thinking deeply about shocking outbursts of violence seven years ago, after a student in my classroom smashed the fingers of a student next to him with the chunky heel of his cowboy boot. While working at a nearby restaurant on evening, this angry young man, furious for being disciplined for what he had done, proceeded to tell an audience of students of his intentions to

Locked up: researching in an unfamiliar environment.

This paper describes the personal experiences of three nurse researchers who entered a new field, one they would not normally encounter. The experiences occurred during a research project involving detainees in Juvenile Justice Centres in New South Wales, Australia. The Healthy Lifestyle Check computerized health screening program was used to seek responses regarding the detainees' health behaviours, knowledge of health services and health education needs. Physical assessment was conducted and counselling and referral was provided. The researchers' best endeavours to prepare for the field were not enough for the reality of the controlled environment, fears for personal safety and the stamina required to complete the project. The researchers' completion of the project enriched their professional lives with a sense of achievement and a new confidence in their ability to work in uncharted fields. Implications for future nursing research that incorporates fieldwork in this environment include: (i) ensuring adequate knowledge of security protocols; (ii) securing access to participants; and (iii) ensuring adequate physical assistance for fieldworkers to enter.