The Council of State Governments Justice Center (CSG Justice Center) recently convened the second round of multidisciplinary advisory groups for its School Discipline Consensus Project. Nearly 100 experts from such fields as school safety, behavioral health, education, juvenile justice, law enforcement, and child welfare have come together with youth, parents, and community partners to begin developing consensus-based recommendations to minimize the use of suspension and expulsion, improve students’ academic outcomes, reduce their involvement in the juvenile justice system, and promote safe and productive learning environments. Among the many issues being addressed is facilitating the reentry of youth from juvenile facilities back into public school classrooms and providing them with supports to prevent their recidivism.
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School Discipline Consensus Project
Millions of public school students are suspended or expelled each year, particularly youth of color and those with special needs. When students are suspended or expelled, they are more likely to have poor academic outcomes and to become involved in the juvenile justice system. -
Breaking Schools’ Rules
Research Overview The CSG Justice Center, in partnership with the Public Policy Research Institute at Texas A&M University, has released an unprecedented statewide study of nearly 1 million Texas public secondary school students, followed for at least six years.
School Discipline Consensus Project
Millions of public school students are suspended or expelled each year, particularly youth of color and those with special needs. When students are suspended or expelled, they are more likely to have poor academic outcomes and to become involved in the juvenile justice system.
Announcements
Legislative Affairs
Council of State Governments Justice Center Executive Director Submits Testimony to Senate Subcommittee
On December 12, 2012,The CSG Justice Center Executive Director, Michael Thompson, submitted testimony to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights for its hearing on the school-to-prison pipeline.
Webinars
Webinar: Best Practices in Behavioral Health Treatment for Juveniles Returning from Out-of-Home Placement, National Reentry Resource Center
This webinar, held on May 7, 2012, focussed on both identifying behavioral needs and delivering treatment based on best practices while the youth is in placement. Speaker discussed the use of risk and needs assessments and the need to properly [...]
Webinar Archive: Implementing Juvenile Diversion Programs: Guideline and Innovative Approaches
This webinar explored successful practices for directing youth with mental health disorders, including those with co-occurring substance dependence, to treatment.
Webinar Archive: Child Trauma and Juvenile Justice: Prevalence, Impact and Treatment
This webinar reviewed the prevalence, impact, and treatment of trauma for youth involved in the juvenile justice system.
Education and the World of Work Anchors to a Strong Juvenile Reentry Plan
On June 15, 2011, the National Reentry Resource Center hosted this webinar, which described the elements of strong educational programs in residential facilities, strategies for ensuring continuity to community-based academic and vocational programs, and the roles different juvenile justice system [...]
Webinar Archive: Maximizing the Impact of Juvenile Justice Interventions – The Importance of Risk/Needs Assessment
This webinar reviewed key concepts of risk assessment and its implementation in juvenile justice agencies. Topics covered included how to select a tool, how risk assessment differs from mental health screening, how the approach should differ depending on the juvenile justice setting, and some key points for effective implementation.
publications
Out of School & Off Track: The Overuse of Suspensions in American Middle and High Schools
This report, published by the Civil Rights Project’s Center for Civil Rights Remedies, examines data from more than 26,000 U.S. secondary schools and concludes that more than two million students were suspended during the 2009-2010 academic year, with the overwhelming [...]
Juvenile Justice Reform in Connecticut: How Collaboration and Commitment Have Improved Public Safety and Outcomes for Youth
This Justice Policy Institute report highlights the past two decades of Connecticut’s successful efforts to improve responses to youth who engage in delinquent behavior and to reduce the number of youth placed in detention centers, correctional training schools, and other [...]
Common Ground: Lessons Learned from Five States that Reduced Juvenile Confinement by More than Half
This Justice Policy Institute report explores the drivers of youth prison population reductions in Connecticut, Louisiana, Tennessee, Arizona, and Minnesota. State-specific strategies are discussed, as are common reform activities that have proven to be successful. To download this report, click [...]
Reducing Youth Incarceration in the United States
In this KIDS COUNT data snapshot, the Annie E. Casey Foundation finds that the incarceration rate of young people dropped more than 40 percent over a 15-year period, with no decrease in public safety. The publication also recommends ways to [...]
Report of the Attorney General’s National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence
This report is the final report and policy recommendations generated by Attorney General Eric Holder’s Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence. The task force report includes 56 recommendations and highlights the importance of identifying children who are victims or [...]
Recent headlines
Common Sense Approach to Safe Schools
I have the privilege of serving as the current president of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ). Our organization is the nation’s oldest judicial membership organization with approximately 2,000 members nationwide, mostly judicial officers.
Students lead march to end school-to-prison pipeline
By Alyssia Akers Detroit Free Press “More education, not incarceration! More education, not incarceration!” Hundreds chanted as they marched from Cass Park to the site of the new Wayne County Jail on March 23 to raise awareness about the school-to-prison-pipeline. [...]
Alternatives to suspension gaining traction
For more than two months, the school day for 12-year-old Rebekah Aylor means remaining confined in a cubicle that isolates her from fellow students.
“I sit in the chair for eight hours straight, almost,” said Rebekah, who is serving what’s called “in-school suspension” — or ISS — at North Austin’s Canyon Vista Middle School in th Round Rock school district.
L.A. Unified bans suspension for ‘willful defiance’
In ground-breaking action, the Los Angeles Unified school board voted Tuesday to ban suspensions of defiant students, directing officials to use alternative disciplinary practices instead.
10 years after landmark study, progress and challenges remain for youth mental health treatment
Unfortunately, few national data on the breadth or quality of mental health treatment in juvenile facilities have become available since 2003. Yet there is no doubt that awareness of mental health needs among delinquent youth has grown substantially, and there are many signs that services have improved.