What's on our radar this week
Each week, Juvenile Law Center gathers the latest studies, reports, and headlines from around the country. Here's what we've been reading:
- As a result of a "building boom," many young homeless adults in Nashville are paying the price as affordable housing decreases.
- On Monday the Ohio Supreme Court announced a new rule prohibiting the use of shackling of juveniles in courts statewide.
- In Central Florida, “SNAP” (Stop Now and Plan) is looking to break the cycle of incarceration for youth. The program targets children under the age of 12 and uses techniques such as role playing to teach children how to make good decisions when under pressure.
- Ohio is looking to reform the state’s youth prison system. With the mindset that, “children have to be treated like children” the state is trying to adjust the traditional prison structure to one that focuses on rehabilitation.
- Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed into law a bill that requires quick access to behavioral-health services for kids in foster care.
- Las Vegas leaders, judges, and court professionals discussed juvenile justice reform during the National Conference on Juvenile Justice.
- A group of Florida civil rights advocates are calling for an investigation into the use of solitary confinement in Florida's prisons. In a letter, they cite the use of solitary confinement on one-third of juveniles held in adult prisons.
- Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy has proposed a reform that would raise the age courts consider juveniles from 17 to 21-years-old.
- Earl Rich Jr. is one of 480 juvenile lifers in Pennsylvania that are being considered for parole after the Supreme Court's ruling in Montgomery v. Louisiana.
- In Delaware this past week a hearing of the Kids Cacus, an ad-hoc group of lawmakers, met to discuss the future of juvenile justice reform. The group focused on utilizing rehabilitation to prevent recidivism. Advocates in Delaware are also pushing to ease the process of record erasing for young offenders in the state.