Mass. courts’ juvenile cases plummet

The Boston Globe (12/6/10) featured two front page articles on the real stories behind juvenile crime.  In stark contrast to expert predictions and the nearly constant warnings of rising youth crime, Massachusetts is seeing a significant drop in its juvenile caseload.  Another article highlights the complex issues facing many of these young people.

Drop unexpected in hard times

A 15-year-old left Middlesex Juvenile Court in Lowell with her mother after a recent hearing. (Joanne Rathe/ Globe Staff)

By Peter Schworm Globe Staff / December 6, 2010

LOWELL — Criminal and child welfare caseloads in the state’s juvenile courts have fallen sharply over the past three years despite economic turmoil that has placed enormous strain on many families, a dramatic decline that confounds social workers, lawyers, and child and family advocates.

NY Governor Seeks Juvenile Justice Reform

Following reports about major problems in New York’s juvenile justice system, Governor Paterson is proposing changes, including reducing the number of youth in state custody and establishing greater oversight for the juvenile facilities.  The New York Times provided coverage yesterday in its “City Room” blog:

Paterson Proposes Juvenile Justice Overhaul

By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE

Gov. David A. Paterson introduced legislation on Wednesday to begin overhauling New York’s troubled juvenile prison system, in what aides described at a first step toward broader changes long sought by critics of the system.

The legislation would prohibit judges from placing youths in state juvenile prisons unless they had been found guilty of a violent felony or a sex crime or a judge had determined that a youth posed a significant risk to themselves or others. Such a move would set the stage to significantly shrink the number of youths in state custody.

Boston by Night Tour

The Boston Globe recently reported on bus tours conducted by The Boston Foundation that bring participants into “some of the city’s roughest neighborhoods.”

“Dubbed the Boston By Night tour, the four-hour bus trip ferries 15 to 20 participants into parts of the city they might otherwise never see, especially after dark. Run by the Boston Foundation as a fund-raising tool for its StreetSafe Boston initiative, the outreach program works with young people in high-crime neighborhoods. The tour is an amalgam of sociological field study, criminal justice seminar, and donor sales pitch, its itinerary typically made up of community centers, housing developments, and law enforcement outposts along a 2-mile stretch of Blue Hill Avenue.” Full text

The article was accompanied by a video with footage from one of the tours:

A letter to the editor was published several days later, criticizing both the tour and the Globe’s coverage.

“This type of article further enforces every stereotype people have about certain communities and why they should avoid them. It’s sad that the only way for people to feel safe visiting a two-mile stretch of Blue Hill Avenue was on a tour bus whose stops were “carefully chosen for maximum emotional impact.’’ A “sociological field study’’? Please.” Full text

What are your thoughts?  Post in the comments.

Zero tolerance in schools

Zero tolerance policies in schools are in the news again with a February 18 CNN report about a 12-year-old girl removed in shackles from a New York City public school for drawing on her desk.

The report includes other examples that demonstrate that, in the words of one person quoted in the article,  “There is zero intelligence when you start applying zero tolerance across the board…”

Girl’s arrest for doodling raises concerns about
zero tolerance

By Stephanie Chen, CNN

February 18, 2010 10:22 a.m. EST

(CNN) — There was no profanity, no hate. Just the words, “I love my friends Abby and Faith. Lex was here 2/1/10 :)” scrawled on the classroom desk with a green marker.

Alexa Gonzalez, an outgoing 12-year-old who likes to dance and draw, expected a lecture or maybe detention for her doodles earlier this month. Instead, the principal of the Junior High School in Forest Hills, New York, called police, and the seventh-grader was taken across the street to the police precinct. . . .

Read the full article.

Globe continues focus on Probation

The Boston Globe continued its focus on the Probation Department with an editorial on February 5 calling for the legislature to eliminate the unlimited term of the Commissioner of Probation:

Probation office needs fixing, not commissioner for life

EDITORIAL February 5, 2010

STATE PROBATION Commissioner John J. O’Brien is untouchable. Insulated by an unlimited term and allergic to scrutiny, he is the new symbol of unaccountability in Massachusetts.