Decriminalization of Marijuana

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/28/california-marijuana-decriminalization-_n_2205997.html

The above article reviews the details of a study conducted on the effects of the decriminalzation of marijuana on juvenile justice offenders in California. Here is a link to the actual study. http://www.cjcj.org/news/5996?utm_source=%2ffiles%2fCA_Youth_Crime_2011.pdf&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=redirect

Per this study, the violent crime rates have dropped due to a lesser penalty for small amounts of marijuana. Controversy has arrised for the state not putting an age limit on this crime. In other states such as Colorado where marijuana has been legalized there has been an age limit of 21, similar to alcohol laws. This article discusses the controversy over age in more detail and zero tolerant schools. http://www.cjcj.org/news/6995

The statistical results speak for themselves. But what effect will the decriminalization of marijuana, or in cases such as Colorado, the legalization of the drug actually have on youth in the school system, and the juvenile justice system?

According to the study the effects on juvenile justice are showing positive outcomes, at least as far as juvenile arrest go, but is this sending mixed messages to the youth of this country? The war on drugs has proved to be extremely costly and with some programs such as DARE ineffective. But what does this mean for the message behind the war. Personally I think it is confusing. And I also feel if we want to have a positive role in youth development consistency is vital.

Posted by Angela Weixel

Sex-Offender Registries for Juvenile Offenders

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/01/sex-offender-registries/2125699/

The above article posted from May of 2013 discusses the implications of requiring juvenile sexual offenders to register on a public sex-offender website, and if the practice is keeping the public safe or unfairly punishing these youth. Many victims rights advocacy groups as well as law enforcement officials agree that the registry system is flawed for youth as well as adults. In particular youth could be required to register on such a public registry for crimes ranging from rape and sexual assault to "sexting" pictures between youth and consensual sexual activity between youth.

The juvenile justice system is built to hold youth accountable for criminal behavior, but when is enough enough? Advocacy groups often cite a situation where a youth charged with a sex crime at age 12 committed suicide at age 17 due to the despair of having to register as a sex-offender. Even after being removed from the list the damage had been done seeing as the entire neighborhood knew this youth had committed such a crime at age 12. Registering as a sex-offender can cause youth to struggle to finish their education, continue on to higher education, obtain a job, keep a job, and obtain a home of their own.

Some advocacy groups are calling for the a complete elimination of the practice of youth registering, while others mainly in law enforcement are not opposed to amending the current practice. Law enforcement argues that charges on a youth at age 17 that may include multiple sexual assaults should be available to the public due to the safety issue, while they support a 14 year old engaging in consensual sexual activity with a 12 year old not having to register. Rehabilitation programs are more often available to juvenile sexual offenders today that are centered around counseling and family counseling and NOT labeling the youth as a "sexual offender." Such labels can be detrimental to rehabilitation and can lead to the youth internalizing and defining themselves by such labels.

Often juveniles offend sexually because of issues related to impulse control and other mental health concerns rather than sexual gratification. Rehabilitation programs for juvenile sexual offenders have shown that youth do not often reoffend sexually, rather they tend to reoffend in other criminal manners. Requiring youth to register as sexual offenders on a public registry can have lasting implications for these youth and leave no opportunity for second chances.

Four Kids, Four Crimes

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/juvenile/four/

He brutally attacked his own father, stabbing him repeatedly with a knife, and pled guilty to charges of attempted murder in juvenile court in order to avoid being tried as an adult. Some observers questioned whether Shawn's sentence from the juvenile court judge was too lenient, and whether it showed that the system treats white offenders differently than those of other races.				He was a "frequent flyer" in the juvenile system, with seven theft-related offenses on his record. Prosecutors believed the juvenile system could do nothing more for him, and wanted him tried as an adult for his latest offenses, auto theft and residential burglary. But his attorney believed the system had let him down and fought hard to get him one more shot.
He took part in a violent fight, allegedly gang-related, in which one person was killed and another injured. Although tried as an adult, he served his sentence in Juvenile Hall, and by all accounts has turned his life around. To those who worked with him, Jose represents how kids, even those charged with violent offenses, can change when given a chance.				Manny took part in an assault on a neighborhood family. One of the victims was pregnant. Because of the brutality of the attack, Manny was tried as an adult and pled guilty to seven counts of assault with a deadly weapon. On January 22, 2001, Manny was sentenced to nine years at state prison.

Juvenile justice policies

While juvenile crime and incarceration rates are still alarmingly high, this article, published by the national juvenile justice network, states that the number of youth serving sentences in correctional facilities has declined in the past decade. This is especially true in what the article calls the nine "comeback states" which includes Ohio. While the overall average for youth in locked facilities may be declining, there are four states whose rates are an astound 87% higher than the national average.

One question to consider is what are we doing in Ohio that is so much different than those other four states? The article proposes five main differences between states that are advancing their juvenile justice systems and those that remain behind the curve. A few of the goals of the more advanced states' policies include increasing evidence-based alternatives to confinement, reducing schools' overreliance on the justice system to address disciplinary issues, and closing or downsizing youth confinement facilities.

As social workers, we know that there is always room for improvement. So if the number of youth incarcerated is slowly declining, what more can we do to ensure alternatives for prison?

See the full article here

Gaps in Services in the Juvenile Court

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/juvenile/four/marquese.html

            I stumbled upon this article today, and after our debate last week regarding the juvenile justice system, and whether or not youth should be tried as adults, I thought this article was fitting.  In this particular article, a seventeen-year-old boy who had seven juvenile felony convictions that were all related to theft, was given another chance in the juvenile court.  At the time of his latest offense, the boy was just two months away from his eighteenth birthday, and serious consideration was given as to whether to try him as an adult.

The boy had a very traumatic background, and has not had very many positive adult role models in his life.  He has done well with schoolwork and staying out of trouble when he has been in an institutional setting, but has essentially “fallen through the cracks” once he is released, and has shown a pattern of re-offending shortly after. 

The boy’s pattern of re-offending shortly after he is released really highlights the fact that there is likely a gap in services between when he is institutionalized, and when he is released.  It is concerning that youth such as this young man may not be receiving adequate services, and it seems very unfair to try these youth as adults if we are not providing the tools to help them get on the right track. It is unclear what services there are for young juveniles after they are released, but it is clear there is a need for more intensive services.

Juvenile Justice Sometimes Is Best

http://articles.latimes.com/2000/aug/05/local/me-65122

I found this article in the LA times.  The article is from 2000 so it's little older, but I felt that it really hit home on the current issue of trying teens as adults.  This article was written by a probation officer.  It starts out discussing a previous teenager he worked with who commit murder, but was not tried as an adult.  He served 3 years in a residential treatment center and when released finished high school and graduated from college.  He was able to turn his life around and make something of himself proving the benefits of keeping kids in the juvenile system rather than the adult system. Of course, not all cases have this happy ending.  The article continues with a case in Florida where a student was sent home from school for throwing water balloons in the classroom only to return with a hand gun and shoot his teacher.  This student was an honor roll student with perfect attendance and no violent behavior in the past.  There is debate as to what leads to these violent behavior, for example gang activity, socially unaccepted, poor home life, etc. but this teenager had none of these characteristics.  How is the court system to decide if he will murder again or if this is a one time occurrence? Would this one act ruin his life and result in a lifetime in prison? Maybe it isn't a one time event so if they try him as a minor, who is to say he won't commit more crimes in the future? 

Some would believe that his actions should result in being tried as an adult, but as the article discusses, when do you determine if someone is past rehabilitation, if ever? How do states determine when to try a child as an adult?  In the article, they discuss that "In California, a juvenile must be at least 14 to be prosecuted as an adult. The individual also must be considered criminally sophisticated and have committed at least one of a prescribed list of felony offenses, e.g., murder, rape, carjacking, etc."  As social workers we strive to rehabilitate all of our clients and help them make positive changes in their lives. Trying a child as an adult is essentially ruining a child's life with little chance for rehabilitation which is against what social workers stand for. I feel that the author of this article said it well " Let's not, for the sake of politics and political correctness, commit a greater sin by purposely destroying another life." 

16 yo DUI kills 4 & gets 10 yrs probation

 http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/12/12/250490841/probation-for-teen-who-killed-4-heres-the-judges-thinking

Mark Memmott from NPR reported about a 16 yo boy from Texas whose DUI led to a crash killing 4 people. The judge ordered the youth to a long-term inpatient facility for treatment. The judge stated that the youth was responsible for his actions, not his parents. The judge did not sentence the youth to a state run facility due to the ineffective outcomes from those facilities. The judge allowed for his parents to pay $450k/yr for a private facility since the family has the finances to foot that bill. The standard sentence would have been 20 yrs but the teen could have been out with in 2 yrs. The feedback from this ruling have been both positive and negative. On the one hand the youth will be under supervision for 10 yrs compared to the 2 yrs in juvenile detention & have the opportunity to go through intensive therapy to address the substance problem but on the other hand others perceive his sentence to not be enough for the crime, especially in light of the financial security the youth's family has.

This article brings up heated topics for discussion i.e. the idea of "Affluenza", juvenile vs. adult sentences, rehabilitation vs. incarceration, and effectiveness of state run facilities. Everyone does not have an equal opportunity to be treated in a private facility due to financial/insurance constraints. Thus, does this youth's financial stability create an unfair advantage? If the judge acknowledges the difference in outcomes from state run vs. private facilities why is Texas still ordering the less fortunate to these facilities (if they even have that opportunity to seek rehabilitation instead of incarceration?) The outcome of this case brings up the debate whether all juvenile offenses, regardless of nature,  should seek rehabilitation first before incarceration. My opinion is that this youth's access to financial resources does create an unfair advantage by opening up more effective resources to avoid incarceration. If Texas' state run facilities are not effective then the funding for these program should be funding evaluations on ways to improve this resource and make it a more level playing field. Also, the state could also research and compile a list of private facilities that take medicaid or cases on a sliding fee scale in order to help with opening up access to different facilities. I like that the youth will be under supervision for the next 10 years and any violations will lead to incarceration however, I would prefer for this to be treated like a bench mark case. The outcome of this case should be used as the standard for similar cases regardless of the demographics of the juvenile offender.

Entrance into Juvenile Systems: Trauma/Violence

http://jjie.org/op-ed-countering-the-effects-of-violence-on-native-children/106096/

Please join me in considering the impact that exposure to violence could have on a child's entrance into the juvenile justice system as I reflect on an article that I found on the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange written by Robert Listenbee, Jr., the Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, a component of the Office of Justice Programs within the United States Department of Justice. The article is entitled: "OP-ED: Countering the Effects of Violence on Native Children."

How would you respond to Robert Listenbee's observation: "Every path to delinquency takes a different course but the experience of childhood trauma is as close a common marker as you will find."
Does exposure to violence as children contribute to "a host of other problems" in their lives?
Mr. Listenbee reports that "two out of every three American children are touched by violence and trauma in some way". Do you agree with him that this constitutes a national crisis?
Is there an intersection between child maltreatment and domestic abuse?
Are Native children more at risk than others?
What can we as Social Workers do to counter the effects of violence on Native children?
What can we as Social Workers do to counter the effects of violence on children/youth?

Juvenile Justice Reform in Illinois

I recently found this article, which describes a reform to the juvenile justice system in the state of Illinois.  As of January 1, 2014, youth under the age of 18 who are arrested in Illinois are turned over to the juvenile courts (instead of the adult courts, which had been the case up until three weeks ago).  This is a positive move for several reasons.  Offenders who are minors and who are involved with the juvenile courts can, oftentimes, remain in the community until their court date.  This is a change from the adult system, in which they would remain in holding, often for several weeks and missing as much school.  This also provides the justice system the opportunity to address nonviolent crimes and smaller felonies as such, by assigning appropriate discipline and linking youth to needed services and supports.  Offenders under the age of 18 who commit serious and heinous crimes (such as rape and murder) can still be tried as adults, but the article explains that this affects approximately 1% of all juvenile offenders.  This move also will provide more opportunities to address mental health concerns, something that does not seem to be occurring as much in the adult system.  The article mentions a 17-year old who hung himself while waiting in adult jail.  I would be curious to know if anyone had conducted a mental health evaluation on this young man, if he had any previous history of mental illness, and if his death could have been prevented (I like to think it could have).  This is a positive step in the right direction for the juvenile justice system.  My concern is that if the community supports and juvenile justice facilities are insufficient and/or do not provide proper support, that recidivism rates for juvenile offenders might increase.

New Juvenile Law in Georgia

The state of Georgia is implementing a new law to reduce the number of minors incarcerated in effort to effectively treat delinquent youth who commit lesser crimes and to save the state money.

Juveniles who commit minor crimes will be placed in a community-based program. Those juveniles who create a more serious crime will be detained. The state of Georgia provides citizens with protection of youth who commits serious crime which is the reason while they will remain detained.

The new law will save the state approximately $87,000 per year. It cost $90,000 to detain youth in the dentition as opposed to $3,000 for community based-programs. 

The Georgia Commissioner believes that those juveniles who commit lesser crime will obtain the services and treatment that they need through the community based program stating “its a win for troubled teens who need community outreach, not detention.”

The new law requires three assessments. First, decide if the minor should be detained based on court procedures. Second, determine the risk level in sentencing. Finally, create an individual plan to reduce the rate of recidivism for the youth. 

http://www.walb.com/story/24340716/2014-brings-change-to-the-georgia-juvenile-justice-system

New Trial for boy executed at 14

New trial sought for George Stinney, executed at 14

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/21/us/george-stinney-hearing/index.html?hpt=hp_bn1

70 years ago a child in South Carolina was executed at the age of 14, the youngest in American history since the 1800s for being accused of the murder for two little white girls. The trial lasted all but 10 minutes and then 14 year old George Stinney was sentenced to the electric chair. There were no witnesses or evidence, only the word of the police stating he was the one who killed the girls. He was so small during the time of the execution he had to sit on books and his face ended up being exposed to all the witnessing watching.
Although, 70 years later, his family and attorneys are demanding a new case for the main purpose of clearing George's name and proving his innocence. Family members claimed he was used as a scapegoat and that he had an alibi when the girls were killed. The victims family and the state of South Carolina are still saying he was a murdered and that there should be no reasoning to be exonerated, despite no evidence or witnesses for the boy.
I feel even though it has been 70 years, the boy lives on through his family and if they feel as though justice was not served that they have the right to a re-trial to try and clear George's name as well as help to make awareness of the wrong doing's of the court and the state of South Caroline. Do you think a re-trial is possible and is worth going through for the family of this boy? As well as, do you feel that racism is still a big issue in the world, especially in the South?

Two Juvenile Suspects - Chemical Device Ruptured

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/14/us/colorado-chemical-device/index.html?iref=allsearch

Two juvenile suspects were in custody Tuesday after a chemical device ruptured at SkyView Academy in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.

As a precaution, five people -- four students and one teacher -- were transported to an area hospital, the Douglas County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. All have been medically cleared and released.

Any decision on potential charges is pending. The names of the juveniles were not released. News that they had been taken into custody first spread on Twitter.

"The initial investigation was to determine if this was a malicious or accidental event. The investigation is continuing; however through our ongoing investigation we have been able to determine this was not accidental and (are) treating this as a criminal investigation," the statement read.

The sheriff's office declined to discuss specifics of the device other than to say that the chemical reaction within the container caused the device to rupture. The incident took place in a classroom, not a chemistry lab.

"Students were first evacuated and then emergency responders determined that the gym was safe -- so they were brought back where it was warm and safe," said Sgt. Ron Hanavan, a spokesman with the sheriff's office.

Classes at SkyView Academy -- a charter school with students from pre-school age through the 11th grade, according to its website -- are expected to resume Wednesday.

 

My Thoughts:

I'm curious as to the age of these suspects.  The article does not specify the age or grade of the suspects but has determined it was not accidental although they do not mention what the chemical device was composed of.  On CNN's website many people were making comments in reference to it being dry ice and a soda bottle.  It would be very interestiing to know exactly what this chemical device was and how they will handle determining if it was a malicious intent or just a matter of kids goofing around and how they will handle this situation.

Juvenile Justice Debate Continues As Teen Serves 70 Year Sentence

http://news.wjct.org/post/juvenile-justice-debate-continues-teen-serves-70-year-sentence

The link above is to a news article from January 22, 2014 in Florida.

Found this article and thought it was relevant to our discussion/debate we had in class last week! Just wanted to share. 

Juvenile Justice Debate Continues As Teen Serves 70 Year Sentence

The article starts out by asking the question, “is a 70 year sentence without parole for a 14-year-old effectively the same as life in prison?” The juvenile, Gridine was 14 in 2009, when he and another boy attempted to rob a man. He fired a shotgun, hitting the man’s head and shoulder. The victim was not seriously wounded. Gridine was sentenced to 70 years, without parole, after being tried as an adult and pleading guilty to attempted murder and robbery.

After reading the article and hearing victims and/or their families don’t necessarily care what age the offender is…that bothers me.  In one part of the article it says, “As one First Coast Connect listener put it on Twitter, “If you commit an adult crime, you deserve an adult punishment.”

There are laws that very state to state around the age of consent or the age of being tried as an adult. I am curious what your opinion on this “child” being sentenced to 70 years.

Florida has been in the spot light more since the Zimmerman trial.

Do you think the state needs to reevaluate sentencing for this case or other cases or do you feel that other states need to be more strict?

Juvenile Justice Systems Reforms

Juvenile Justice Systems Reforms

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/1/6/juvenile-detentioncentershold70000youth.html

Aljazeera America posted an article on their website called Activists push for juvenile justice system reforms by Molly Knefel. Her article highlights the story of Marvin Bing Jr., at the age of 12 he was living in a foster home in Pennsylvania. Bing decided to take a kitchen knife to school and share it with his friends. When a teacher spotted students gathering around Bing’s desk he was sent to the principal’s office. The principal then had Bing arrested and he was taken to a juvenile holding facility to wait for a court date. When Bing went to his first juvenile justice placement he did little educational work. When he was released he had a hard time fitting back in with the community. Bing ended up in a bad environment and eventually re-entered the juvenile justice system.

Molly Knefel article talks about how younger and younger children are being placed in the juvenile justice system, which is making the number of children in the juvenile justice system grow even larger. It was stated in the article that in the United States about 70,000 children are held in juvenile justice centers. These centers are not helping the youth to stay on target for school they are honestly only preparing the youth to come back into the juvenile justice system. The article talks about how children are being tried for adult crimes ending them in prisons with adults. When these youths are put into prisons with adults they are learning new ways to commit crimes and they are being abused by the other prisoners. Neither one of these things help the youth when they are released back into the community.

Bing was able to turn his life around after he was released from his second juvenile justice placement. He now is doing social justice work and he along with others are now trying to change the juvenile justice system. Bing and others believe if the juvenile justice system changes the way they deal with children they would be able to bring down the number of children in the juvenile justice system. They believe some of the crimes that children commit they are safer and more likely not to commit more crimes if they can be punished outside of a juvenile justice center. They also talked about if the child commits a crime where juvenile justice center is appropriate measures then the child should still be treated as should and be given the proper education.

Neo-Nazi father killed by juvenile son

The article that I found is an update on a story that originated in 2012.  When the boy was 10 years old, he shot his father in the head killing him.  The father was the leader of a local National Socialist Movement chapter in California.  A not guilty by reason of insanity plea was originally entered.  However, his sister's testimony shared that he had planned to kill his father.  The plea was then withdrawn and the boy was convicted of second degree murder.  He is being sentenced on February 15, 2014 and could face up to 11 years in juvenile detention.  The motive for the murder was that the father was abusive and the boy was worried that the father would leave the boy's stepmother for another woman.

I have mixed feelings when it comes to this story.  11 years does not seem like a very severe punishment for murder.  However, the boy was only 10 years old and there was reportedly abuse occurring in the home.  It just makes me glad that I'm not the person in charge of sentencing him. 

The article I read:
http://www.newser.com/story/160950/12-year-old-convicted-for-murder-of-neo-nazi-dad.html

LGBT Perspective

I found this article about the experiences that LGBT youth have when they are in juvenile detention centers and the findings are unfortunately predictable...

"National statistics show lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered youth in juvenile detention facilities fare worse than their heterosexual peers."

“Staff and other youth regularly subject LGBT youth to shocking physical, sexual, and emotional abuse on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity.” 

“Facility staff sometimes instigate or facilitate fights or sexual abuse between youth.”
Yes, that said STAFF. I can not imagine being locked and trapped in a facility where everyone is an enemy and you are never safe to turn your back or close your eyes. I think it would be very interesting to see a study done on the emotional and mental affect that going through an experience like that takes on a youth. I assume it would not be pretty. 

Reading the testimonials of the youth in this article, almost every one of them got into an altercation while inside the facility and was then sentenced to a longer, harsher sentence as a result, and the abuse still continued. 

Another issue that comes up in this article is the struggles that transgender youth face when entering a juvenile detention facility. Are they placed with their gender of origin or are they placed with the gender they identify as? This issue has come up time and time again. What do you think class? (I think I know how most of us would answer but weigh the pros and cons) Is this as controversial a topic as the media makes it out to be? Why?


Read more: http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/arts-and-culture/insideout/134690163.html#ixzz2rL9hSU9m

Steubenville Rape Case

The story on CNN covers the current release of Ma’lik Richmond who was convicted last year of raping a 16 year old girl in Steubenville Ohio in 2012. Richmond was sentenced to a minimum of one year in a juvenile correctional facility, but he was credited for his time served before the trial. Both Richmond and Mays have been classified as tier II sex offenders and will be required to report to their local sheriff’s office every six months for the next 20 years. A statement was made that “he is a better, stronger person and looks forward to school, life and spending time with the family”. The victims attorney called it “disheartening” that the statement failed to mention the girl at the center of the case “whom Richmond and his co-defendent scarred for life.”

Vivid text messages, social media posts, cell phone pictures and videos helped raise the national profile of the case, which revolved around Richmond and Mays’ actions during a series of end of summer parties in August 2012. It attracted the attention of bloggers, who questioned everything from the behavior of the football team to the integrity of the investigation. 

A big question during this investigation and still today was if the punishment these boys received fit the crime. Some people even went as far as blaming the girl for her own assault. Others said the boys should have been tried as adults because of the extent of the crime. It is definitely a debatable topic. On the one hand science has shown that young people have poor judgement and it is not an accurate predictor if they will be a repeat offender as an adult. On the other hand these girls rights were seriously violated and is one year in juvenile detention bring justice to the crime? 

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/06/justice/ohio-steubenville-rape-case/index.html?iref=allsearch 

President: marijuana no worse than booze.

Marijuana has been a topic brought up in the news More and more as states decide to make it legal... For medical reasons or recreational. 
President Obama has recently released his thoughts. This link below is to the article related to this post.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/national_world/2014/01/20/president-marijuana-no-worse-than-booze.html

Rather than get on hone topic of whether or not it should be legal, I want to discuss the issue being talked about as a "bad habit". 

Is that the same thought as underage drinking? What about marijuana makes it more socially acceptable? 
Schools have issues revolving around alcohol. Schools could potentially have issues revolving around students coming to school high. What is going to stop parents from medicating their children with marijuana?
In addition, students have been suspended for school, placed in alternative schools,  had probation officers, and spent time in juvenile detention all due to marijuana. 
Now even the president is calling it a "bad habit" but we have potentially ruined the futures of some children because of this. 

How do you feel about the publicity around marijuana? 
Do you agree that marijuana and alcohol have the same effect on students? 
How might schools have to adjust if marijuana is made legal? 

College education for low income students

http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2014/01/16/263128207/white-house-makes-college-for-low-income-students-a-priority

The Obama administration is starting an initiative to helping low income students enter college. The plan is to provide a college outreach program and offering financial aid. Many times lower income students are "under matched",  instead of encouraging 4 year college, community college is encouraged.

Yet, according to Jim McCorkell, there are two big problems that hit these kids especially hard: tuition costs and student debt. "When you look at the average student loan debt in America, it's now approaching $30,000; so something has got to be done," says McCorkell. "The question is, what's driving tuition up at a rate so much greater than inflation?

The only governor in attendance was Delaware's Jack Markell, a Democrat. He says enrolling more low-income students in public institutions is a costly proposition given the huge cuts in state funding for higher education in recent years. But the nation's economy, says Markell, cannot afford to lose bright young people just because they're poor. 

This seems to be a great initiative. Acknowledging the the risk of not encouraging college to lower income students but also stating the barriers of financial debt. I am wondering how effective this initiate will be? What is the plan for successful outreach?

School Shootings


http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/15/justice/new-mexico-school-shooting/index.html?hpt=ju_c2 

This story from CNN is about a seventh grade boy in New Mexico who opened fire in a gym with a 20 gauge shot gun injuring two students which just occurred on Tuesday January 14, 2014. It was the brave actions of a social studies teacher that talked the boy into putting the gun down and stopping a massacre. Police have the boy in custody and are investigating the shooting. Apparently the boy had warned some students not to attend school that day but did not elaborate as to why. None of the children told an adult about the suspicious request. Police are currently trying to find a motive for the shooting. So far it seems as though the boy was not picked on or had any negative interactions at school. This leaves everyone wondering why this young boy would commit such an act. 

School shootings are becoming more common throughout the United States and is leaving the nation to wonder why and what can be done. The recent gun restrictions were an attempt to decrease the risk of school shootings but has many factors working against it. For starters many people feel it is their rights being taken away and secondly their is already many guns circulating throughout the states. Other suggestions were to have someone in the school be armed. Teachers are currently undergoing training for what to do in case of a school shooting. Many of these trainings involve shooting a gun with blanks to get people aware of the sound and make the training more effective. 

So many questions are involved in trying to find out why this is occurring. Is media exacerbating the situation? By showing these scenes are we somehow increasing the risk of it occurring more often? Are guns to accessible to these young kids? Are video games to blame? Music? Tv Shows? Communities? Culture? This seems to be a very complex problem with no clear answer or end in sight. So the answer remains a mystery on how to solve such a horrific and troubling problem facing our schools and the safety of our students. 

Let's Begin!

Here is a very interesting article from CNN. A sixteen-year-old was recently convicted of distributing child pornography in connection with 'sexting' photos. Her sentence has yet to be determined. This is an issue we are more recently facing in juvenile justice- the intersection of technology and criminal behavior. How do we justly respond to criminal behavior committed over the internet or mobile devices? As we now recognize technology as an avenue of self expression, this issue seems to pose even GREATER challenges to the variations in conviction and sentencing responses within juvenile justice. Should there be a "one-size fits all" sanction for criminal behavior like this, or should the discretion be left up to the prosecution team or judge? In this case, do you believe the charge is a just one? Post...share...engage!

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/10/world/americas/canada-sexting-teen/index.html