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BLOG: Let’s focus on the kids at both ends of the juvenile justice system

Posted on May 23, 2019

Mary Coogan, Esq.
ACNJ vice president

Advocates for Children of New Jersey has strongly supported the closing of The New Jersey Training School (“Jamesburg”) and the Female Secure Care and Intake Facility (“Hayes”). But the closing of the facility is just a first step in a reimagining of New Jersey’s juvenile justice system that provides effective support and treatment for our youth and protects public safety.

New Jersey has made enormous progress in improving its juvenile justice system. Since 2004 New Jersey has seen more steady positive progress on behalf of youth coming into contact with the juvenile justice system than during any other time, due to the collaborative efforts and partnerships of various committed entities and stakeholders, both private and public, who desire to see positive outcomes for our youth. In fact, last September, the Annie E. Casey Foundation recognized New Jersey’s accomplishments through our state’s Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI), including a decrease in the average daily detention center population statewide by nearly 70 percent between 2003 (pre-JDAI) and 2017 without impacting public safety, and the closure of eight county-operated detention facilities since JDAI reforms began, resulting in an annual savings of $21 million. The reduction of youth involved in the juvenile justice system at the front end (county and local) has reduced the numbers of youth involved more deeply in the juvenile justice system. According to statistics on the state’s website, the number of youth committed to the Juvenile Justice Commission (JJC) has been reduced by 50 percent since 2011.

However, many challenges remain before we have a therapeutic, supportive and equitable juvenile justice system.

Reducing high rates of racial disproportionality. There continues to be overrepresentation of youth of color in county detention centers and state-run Juvenile Justice Commission facilities, and as the overall population has been reduced, the disparity has become more dramatic. Although stakeholders throughout the state are examining the data to determine the causes of this increasing disproportionality, more needs to be done to ensure that New Jersey’s juvenile justice system reflects racial equity.

Keeping juveniles in the juvenile, rather than adult system. In light of the research that demonstrates that a young person does not fully mature until age 25 and that the vast majority of youth grow out of their tendency to engage in delinquent behavior, New Jersey has a juvenile justice system that attempts to keep youth and young adults in the juvenile system where they can receive appropriate services. Although some youth who commit serious or violent offenses can be transferred or “waived” to adult criminal court for prosecution, having secure facilities for youth who commit serious offenses helps limit the use of the waiver process to adult court, enabling youth to receive needed therapeutic services they would not receive in the adult system. Some other states treat teenagers as adults as soon as the initial charges are filed for serious or violent offenses. Amendments to New Jersey law in 2015 allow these “waived” youth to be returned to the juvenile system to serve their sentences and receive services. Approximately 45 previously waived young adults have already been returned to the authority of the juvenile system.

Determining what kind of facilities will support youth who need more intensive services or have committed serious offenses. It is critical that any facilities built to replace Jamesburg and Hayes reflect current research in that they are small, therapeutic and accessible to the families of the youth housed in the facilities. Questions remain: what is the appropriate size and treatment model, and what supportive transitional services need to be in place as these young people are released to ensure successful outcomes?

Reimagining the juvenile justice system requires thinking beyond the youth who are locked up, both before youth enter the system and after they leave it. Let’s welcome the dialogue and expand the conversation to talk about constructing a juvenile justice system that is truly therapeutic rather than punitive. While youth should be held accountable for their actions, the goal of the juvenile justice system is to keep youth in their communities whenever possible and equip them with the skills they need to stay out of trouble and mature into productive adults. We need to be preventing youth from being tempted to commit crimes by offering better alternatives, diverting those who have committed minor offenses into more constructive enterprises, and rehabilitating youth who have committed serious or violent crimes. For those youth for whom incarceration is justified or needed, we need facilities that provide a developmentally appropriate and therapeutic setting in which their delinquent behavior can be treated effectively. And we need to ensure that once released from the secure setting, they have the supportive supervision to help them become productive adults.

New Jersey has a rare opportunity for a productive conversation on how to build a juvenile justice system that gives youth the support they need. There is always opportunity for improvement, and we should continue to work in a thoughtful and collaborative manner. Governor Murphy’s Executive Order 42 offers that possibility. This order, signed last October, acknowledged the accomplishments to date and tasked the appointed task force members with making recommendations “on strategies and actions to continue the reform of New Jersey’s Youth Justice System.” Part of their process is to hold public hearings to allow members of the community to share their ideas and recommendations. We hope members of the community attend the public hearings and contribute to the conversation.

ACNJ looks forward to a thoughtful and collaborative dialogue as we move forward. This is what our young people need and deserve.

For questions or additional information, contact Mary Coogan at mcoogan@acnj.org

NJ summer meals on the rise, report finds

Posted on May 23, 2019

Food for Thought: The State of Summer Meals in New Jersey

A growing number of children are receiving summer meals, bringing millions more federal dollars to New Jersey communities to feed hungry children, according to a new report by Hunger Free New Jersey.

New Jersey communities served summer meals to more than 103,000 children on an average day in July 2018 -- – a 38 percent increase since 2015, according to the report, Food for Thought: The State of Summer Meals in New Jersey. Federal meal reimbursements rose to $12.7 million – a 71 percent increase since 2015.

This report release kicks off a statewide campaign to raise awareness of the availability of summer meals so parents and other caregivers know how to find them. We invite to join our efforts to spread the word! 

View and share the report. 
Download the summer meals flyer to circulate to your networks.

Medicaid Expansion Leads to Healthier Mothers and Babies

Posted on May 23, 2019

Expansion State: New Jersey
New Report Finds Medicaid Expansion Leads to Healthier Mothers and Babies

New Jersey saw a sharp decline in the uninsured rate for women ages 18 to 44 following the state’s decision to expand Medicaid, according to a new report by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. Between 2013 and 2017, the uninsured rate for this group dropped from 19.7 percent to 11.6 percent.

Medicaid expansion has played a key role in reducing rates of maternal death and infant mortality and improving the potential for optimal birth outcomes that can increase the promise for a healthy childhood, according to the report. States that expanded Medicaid saw a 50 percent greater reduction in infant mortality, compared to non-expansion states. Read more.

Read report.

 

 

Turning Chronic Absenteeism in to Chronic Attendance by Creating a Welcoming Climate and Culture in Schools

Posted on May 20, 2019

Maurice J. Elias, Ph.D. ACNJ board member

by Maurice J. Elias, Ph.D.

In many states, chronic absenteeism—defined as students missing 10 percent or more of enrolled school days—is one of their high-priority areas for improving student behavior and achievement.  It makes sense.  Students who miss school a lot are more likely to lack reading skills, have lower test scores, and increase the likelihood of exclusionary school discipline, and drop out.

To give you a sense of the scope of the problem, in New Jersey, 700 out of 2400 schools had 10 percent of their student missing at least a day of school every two weeks.    Because of the link between student attendance and educational success, Advocates for Children of New Jersey (ACNJ) led the charge to improve chronic absenteeism by advocating for legislation that would require action plans that included parent input to be developed by any public school with 10 percent or more of their students identified as being chronically absent. The bill also required that districts would become responsible for including their chronic absenteeism data in their school report cards. The bill was signed into law in May 2018. NJSA 18A:7E-3 Efforts are being made to understand who these children are, and understand if there are cohesive subgroups of children most affected (e.g., recent immigrants, particular ethnic minorities in a community, households with single parent and/or parents with economic or health challenges).  This is valuable and important, but is only the first step.

It is not enough for students to attend school. They must feel welcomed at school. This point was clearly articulated in focus groups that ACNJ held with high school students attending Newark public schools. Discussions with students, parents and staff revealed a wide disconnect between some school policies and the day-to-day reality of teachers, students and families.

Filling the seats has economic ramifications, but only filling the heart, mind, and spirit has social-emotional and educational ramifications.  Finding ways to get students back into buildings that truly have missed them, and are ready to embrace them, is the second-order change we need. ACNJ’s focus group participants noted the importance of strong relationships between schools and students. A single adult in school could make a positive or negative impact on their attendance. Students appreciated when teachers took the extra step to connect with them.  

What Is The Solution?

What is the solution?  It’s not to create special welcomes as much as it is to ensure that the culture and climate of the school is welcoming of all students and families.  When the school doors open each morning, they cannot open more widely for some youth than others.  When youth enter, the smiles that greet them cannot be wider and more sincere for some groups than others.  As the school day unfolds, some students cannot be treated with more understanding and fairness than others, and when students find their way into difficulties, corrective measures cannot be delivered differently for some than for others. Kids have exquisite “fairness detectors” and know when they are getting a bad deal.  This plants the seeds of discouragement and begins to lay a pathway out of the education system.

The National School Climate Center has championed the importance, for academic success, social-emotional and character development, and the prevention of harassment, intimidation, and bullying and other problem behaviors, of creating a positive climate.  When we think of chronic absenteeism, an essential part of the long-term solution goes beyond getting kids to not be absent.  It involves getting ALL students to feel engaged in school and therefore to want to be present.  This truly is a public education and public health issue and must not be overshadowed by our attempts to identify and bring back individual students with frequent absences. Of course, there are and will be cases where the absenteeism is largely due to issues in the home.  Nevertheless, in those situations, it is even more important for those affected students to feel as if the school is their oasis, not their holding cell.

Create a Positive, Welcoming School Culture and Climate

SEL4NJ, the Social-Emotional Learning Alliance for New Jersey, has identified the most important elements of a positive school climate (www.SEL4NJ.org):

  • Inspiring—schools should connect to students’ aspirations and actively encourage them to reach for the stars 
  • Challenging—schools are places of learning, therefore not “easy” places; student appreciate appropriate challenges, especially when they know that occasional failure puts them on a path to lasting learning
  • Supportive—challenge must be accompanied by support; schools benefit from collective efficacy, where students are encouraged to help one-another and not compete for grades rationed on a curve
  • Safe and Healthy—ultimately, we are our others’ keepers, and so students must be upstanders for all classmates, and respect themselves by attending to their own good physical and social-emotional health, as well as others’
  • Engaged—students are engaged when learning is active, problem-focused, helps them create meaningful products, and encourages diverse collaboration
  • Respectful—a basic posture of respect for others is a minimal expectation in school building and its modeling is essential- student-student, student-adult, and adult-adult, including parents; schools must be especially attuned to how intimidating and unfamiliar school can be to many immigrant and/or resource-poor parents
  • Communities of Learners—classrooms should set and pursue goals for learning together, and so should adults in the building- groups of teachers, student support staff, security personnel/school resource officers, office staff, grounds and maintenance personnel, school administrators, supervisors and board members- everyone should have ongoing goals for improving themselves and their contributions to their schools

Public education is about opening the doors to learning and citizenship for all.  Meeting this sacred responsibility is possible when our schools work to have a positive school culture and climate.  If we build this, kids will come.  And when they can’t, once we help them with family hurdles and they do come, they will stay.

Maurice Elias has been a member of the ACNJ Board of Trustees since 1981.

For more information and resources on chronic absenteeism in New Jersey, check out ACNJ’s school attendance page.