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Youth 411: Youth in the NewsVolume 2, Number 2, February 1-15, 2007 Contents STATE WATCH
RESEARCH
GOVERNMENT
ARTICLES NEBRASKA Life And Death On The Rez Just ask anyone who lives there, or those who know someone who has died there -- by taking their own life. "It's a hard thing to talk about," said "Joe," a Santee Sioux tribal member who did not want his real name disclosed. "Things like this didn't use to happen to our people; we didn't use to have a lot of the problems that we face today -- child abuse, domestic violence -- because everybody had a place and there were social repercussions for those things." But statistics show, suicide rates among Native Americans far exceed national averages. According to the American Association of Suicidology, there are currently more than 30,000 suicides annually in the U.S. That equates to approximately 83 per day; 1 suicide every 17 minutes, with 12 out of every 100,000 people killing themselves. As the eighth leading cause of death in the United States, suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people ages 15-24. Though causcasian suicide rates are twice as high as non-whites, Native Americans are the ethnic group with the highest overall suicide rate. A study conducted by the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control among Native Americans revealed the suicide rate for Native Americans is 1.5 time greater than the rate for all Americans. For male Native Americans ages 15-24, suicide is the second leading cause of death. Also the Aberdeen study area -- which included all of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa -- was among the nation's highest suicide rate regions for Native Americans, with 25-30 suicides per 100,000 -- more than twice the national average. But to most Native Americans living amid the impoverishment of reservation life, statistics don't mean much. They don't offer any answers. And these numbers, according to more than one tribal member, aren't completely accurate. "Everybody acts like this doesn't happen," Joe said, "but there have been so many accidents that probably weren't really accidents." He explained that he believed it was highly likely that several car wrecks had actually been suicides. "When someone is under the influence of drugs and alcohol, that fear of death is gone," Joe said. Richard Milda, domestic violence and sexual assault prevention task force coordinator for the Santee Sioux Nation, said he attributes the high rate of suicides in young people to their lack of life skills. "We don't have the living tools: the life skills that contribute to spiritual, emotional and physical well-being," he said. Studies also show that areas with high rates of substance abuse incur more cases of deaths by violence and suicides. "Substance abuse is a major contributing factor to suicides," Milda stated. But that fact itself is a symptom of a different social issue. In a recent medical paper published by BMJ on the "Ecological Study of Social Fragmentation, Poverty and Suicide," studies revealed that suicide rates are more strongly associated with measures of social fragmentation than with poverty. "We've lost so much of our identity as a culture," said "Kim," another Santee tribal member who wished to remain anonymous. Kim said the youth are the ones suffering the most from the social fragmentation that is prevalent today among most Native American tribes. "At one time in our culture, everyone raised the children. It wasn't just a single mom, or a dad, but the whole tribe raised that child. There was always someone there," Joe said. "Now, people think if they feed their kids, then they're OK. But at one time, everybody fed that child with everything -- with love and affection and by talking to them. But somewhere down the road, we lost that." Joe added that he believed those same conditions exist in white culture, as well, though it is experienced differently because social and spiritual roots for most whites are more intact. "There is no spiritual base for our people anymore, but they are hungry for it; I see that," he said, adding that listening and talking to the youth is an important step in healing the problems that lead to suicidal urges. "We need to do things for the living," Joe said. "Now days, we've got drugs and alcohol, and they're prescribing all these other drugs to our kids. I don't' think that's the answer." Kim added that spiritual practice was always the basis of traditional Native American culture. "(Spiritual practice) wasn't a religion. It was a way of life," Joe said, adding that today's youth are not learning the traditional Native ways or the Christian ways. Traditional ceremony and spiritual practice are measures Milda said the Santee community Is trying to expand upon in an effort to mend the tribe's social fabric. "We're not always reactionary, though when (a suicide) happens, it always feels like we're reactionary," he said. He added that part of living is knowing how to handle depression, whether that's with the aid of prescribed medications, or by seeking help in other ways, such as talking to someone. "If we know how to grieve, we know how to live," Milda said. But the issues of secrecy and shame go hand in hand with suicide. "Many times when someone, especially a young person, is going through something bad, they can't deal with it, and they're ashamed to talk about it," Joe said. Studies conducted by the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control showed that educational programs within reservation communities can encourage changes in behavior that may help reduce violence, substance abuse and domestic problems. Mentoring programs, parenting training, providing services for youth recreation, home visitations for high-risk young mothers, shelters for victims of domestic violence, campaigns to raise awareness about the adverse effects of alcohol and drug abuse are some of the programs that have been utilized in the past in various Indian Health Services areas. But to be successful, it was noted that the programs must be designed with the individual culture of each tribe taken into account. "We need more people to talk about these ways; have sweats, prayer and make our community a family again," Joe said, adding that he believed that was one of the best ways to help prevent suicides among young tribal members. "Life is a sacred gift," Milda said. "And when it doesn't feel that way, people need to get help." "We've got to get back to our old (spiritual) ways," Joe said. "So much has been lost and some of it we can never get back. But it's always important to keep trying," he said. "That's all we can do." 
DATING VIOLENCE More teens are being abused by romantic partners and keeping quiet -- a silent epidemic. And it's becoming more common, especially for high school boys. Nearly 1 in 20 high school boys and 1 in 10 high school girls report abuse by dates, boyfriends or girlfriends, including date forced sex, according to statistics from the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Coalition. Additionally, teen dating violence affects one in three U.S. teens, boys and girls alike, according to statistics from the National Crime Prevention Council. However, these statistics may be higher. Teens tend not to report abuse because of fear of retaliation, feelings of self-blame, and fear of insensitive responses from adults or peers, reports show. Boca clinical psychologist Susan Levin, PhD. said many cases go unreported. "It's part of the whole peer pressure syndrome," said Levin, who has a private practice in Boca Raton and specializes in adolescent and adult therapy. "First it's embarrassing and second they're getting pressure from the abuser. Someone with low self-esteem has trouble admitting they're being abused." In some cases, Levin said teenage boys are receiving the abuse in the form of slapping or hitting. "Boys can even be abused. It's a little less common but it's also under reported because of embarrassment," said Levin. More commonly, though, Levin said teen girls endure abuse because some are desperate for a boyfriend. "I see it in my practice, especially with young girls with low self-esteem and without a good sense of who they are. They're willing to do anything to please their boyfriends," she said. "It's the pressure to have a boyfriend that they'll put up with anything." Physical abuse can take many forms including hitting, slapping, punching, shoving, kicking, biting, and hair pulling. It also includes the use of a weapon, such as a club, knife, or gun, against a boyfriend or girlfriend. The National Youth Violence Prevention Center (NYVPC) shows that both teenage boys and teenage girls report being victims of physical violence in relationships. Typically, however, teenage boys and teenage girls use physical force for different reasons and with different results. While both tend to report acting violently because they were angry, teenage boys are much more likely to use force in order to control girlfriends, while girls more often act violently in self-defense. Teenage girls, on the other hand, suffer more from relationship violence, emotionally and physically, NYVPC reports. They are much more likely than teenage boys to have serious injuries and to report being terrified. In contrast, male victims seldom seem to fear violence by their dates or girlfriends, often saying that the attacks did not hurt and that they found the violence amusing. Teen dating violence includes physical, emotional, and sexual assault. As teens start romantic relationships, they apply social and parental norms to these new, unfamiliar relationships. Teens learn how to behave by watching how parents and friends conduct themselves in relationships, according to the report. Parent Education The answer to prevention lies in parental education, Levin believes. "Parents need to be aware and talk to teens about dating violence," she said. "Parents should tell teens that just because they have a girlfriend or boyfriend doesn't mean they can be sexually aggressive." Levin added, "Because teens have so little experience and they experience things so intensely, explosive behavior can occur if they're not educated." The National Crime Prevention Council offers tips for parents to educate teens:
TEEN VIOLENCE Communication technology can facilitate teen dating abuse, enabling obsessive and controlling behavior. For teens, cellphones are an essential tool for everything from social networking to video games. For parents, knowing their child has a cellphone provides a sense of security. But for a substantial number of teens who are dating, communications on cellphones and computers are taking a turn toward obsession and abuse. It's a side of kids' social lives that many parents aren't aware of, according to a study released last week by Liz Claiborne Inc. In partnership with the National Domestic Violence Hotline, the company has also just launched loveisrespect.org, the first national website and 24-hour help line that specifically addresses teen dating abuse. In the survey, conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited, 20 to 30 percent of teens who had been in relationships said their partner had constantly checked in on them, had harassed or insulted them, or had made unwanted requests for sexual activity, all via cellphones or text messages. One out of 4 reported hourly contact with a dating partner between midnight and 5 a.m. -- in some cases, 30 times per hour. And 1 out of 10 had received physical threats electronically. A much smaller percentage of parents reported that their teens had had such experiences. "Dating violence has always had this core feature ... of trying to control the thoughts, feelings, and actions of another person," says Julie Kahn, program director of the Transition House Dating Violence Intervention Program in Cambridge, Mass. "When you add the technological piece, there are more ways to track someone, to keep someone on an 'electronic leash,' if you will." Ms. Kahn has frequently heard teens say that their boyfriend or girlfriend gave them a cellphone with prepaid minutes; one couple recently told her that to show their love, they've swapped Web-page passwords. Her group encourages young people to reflect more on what's appropriate at various stages of a relationship, how to establish boundaries, and to honor their own sense of independence. Loveisrespect.org offers teens information about how to form good relationships -- and recognize warning signs of abuse. "A lot of young people ... they're just going with what their friends might say or what they might see on the media," says Nathaniel Cole, a sophomore at the University of Maryland and a member of the youth task force that helped launch the initiative. "The website explains what a healthy relationship is, so it's helping to combat these negative images," says Mr. Cole, who is also a member of Men Can Stop Rape, a nonprofit in Washington. The website features live, secure chats with trained peers and professionals, who can offer advice and referrals to local resources. It also offers guidance for parents and friends of teens who appear to be in an abusive dating situation. Had such a site been available for Kendrick Sledge, she might have made a quicker exit from her first relationship, a four-month ordeal when she was 14. "We started officially dating through Instant Messenger," she recalls on a break between classes at Boston University. Her boyfriend was a senior at a different high school, but she had met him at summer camp and was new to the area, so her world revolved around him. Her parents objected and tried to cut off their communication. "They shut down my e-mail with a password [but didn't know] I opened a free e-mail account," she says. "At one point he offered to buy me my own cellphone. Luckily I never took him up on that." Only in hindsight could Ms. Sledge see how manipulative he was -- telling her no one would love her the way he did, threatening to kill himself if she left him. Occasionally there was also physical abuse, she says. Finally, she ended it. But she hadn't told her parents anything, and she lived in fear for the next month or two, until she heard he had been arrested. She never learned what the charges were, but she was relieved to learn he was being sent to reform school. After the breakup, Sledge typed the words "controlling boyfriend" into an Internet search engine. "I really didn't know what had happened to me. I had no clue teen dating violence even existed," she says. By her senior year she was ready to write a thesis about it and start educating her high school peers. That's when her parents found out the details. Now Sledge is sharing her story through the Liz Claiborne task force. In order for kids to stand up against inappropriate behavior, they "have to have the mental, the spiritual strength to say, 'This is wrong,' " she says. How can adults be most helpful? "Don't immediately attack the abuser," she advises. It's a natural instinct to tell someone, "That person's wrong for you," she says, but that will cause victims to defend their dating partners. "If you approach the situation as, 'I'm concerned about you,' that opens more doors." As communication technology has become pervasive, "teen dating abuse has skyrocketed," says Jill Murray, an author of several books on the subject and a psychotherapist in Laguna Niguel, Calif. She's seen a case of a teen logging more than 9,000 cellphone calls and text messages monthly. The attention seems flattering at first, she says, but later a girl or boy "feels smothered and doesn't know how to get out." Dr. Murray says parents have an obligation "to limit cellphone and computer use to something reasonable." She advises blocking the computer and taking away cellphones overnight. In the survey, 28 percent of parents said they limit electronic communications when their teens are dating, but only 18 percent of teens said their parents set such limits. Loveisrespect.org might be able to break down some of teens' secrecy. But if they opt not to talk with parents, "we want to reach the teens wherever they are," says Jane Randel, spokeswoman for Liz Claiborne, which has been working to end domestic violence since 1991. Source: Teenage Research Unlimited, Liz Claiborne Inc.
ILLINOIS Instead of hand-wringing and talking about how to reduce gang violence, some members of Aurora's Hispanic community plan to take to the streets, and might "call out" parents of gang members. In the coming weeks and months, local Latino activists say they plan to canvass the area, knocking on doors to alert residents to the telltale signs of gang activity -- and encourage them to report anything suspicious to police. But they might go one step farther. "We need to get the parents of known gang members into a room and call them out," said Gil Chavez, who runs the marketing company Mindwave in Aurora. "This is a campaign against gangs and gang violence. Who are we going to talk to? The parents. You have to make the community conscious that we are pretty much fed up." Activists with the Latino Engagement Community Council's Coalition of Latino Leaders, are forming two committees -- a youth committee and a public awareness committee. The latter will canvass neighborhoods, talking to residents about gang activity and of the importance of reporting suspicious activity to police. Members of the youth committee plan to promote education, sports, extracurricular activities, and help provide cash so children can enroll in activities and receive scholarships for school. They began mobilizing shortly after a December spate of shootings, some of which police said were gang related. "We actually look for community solutions to these matters," Aurora Deputy Police Chief Greg Anderson said. "We wouldn't object to an officer going with them." Anderson balked at the proposal for group members to target the homes of known gang members, however, saying it might be unsafe. "Calling them out -- I would say is not a good idea," he said. "We should let our gang guys do it. They know what to look for, how to do it." Aurora's Special Operations Group, the second-largest gang unit in Illinois, conducts "knock and talks," with officers visiting the homes of suspected gang members and talking with parents. The Special Operations Group can be contacted at (630) 801-6671. Jose Garcia, a student at West Aurora High School who led an April 2006 immigration youth march in Aurora, said the Hispanic leaders have to target families, not just children and teens. In some families, children don't learn the importance of obtaining an education, he said. "They don't grow up with good role models to be productive citizens," Garcia said.
MASSACHUSETTS Somerville resident Lucy Lima, 16, didn’t make it through high school, but she is determined to get her GED certificate and become a nurse. Thanks to the Mystic Learning Center’s new Launch program, she now can. In the program for a week, Lima loved it and is determined to make the most of it. “I like it better here. It’s a smaller class. It’s easier to learn,” she said. “They helped me decide what I want to be and I want to go to college for nursing.” Designed to help youth who are out of school without a diploma pass the General Education Development exam and counsel them for careers, the Launch program is serving youths from Somerville, Medford, Revere, Everett, Chelsea, Malden and Brighton. With two classrooms in the Mystic Learning Center, the program began in fall 2005 and accepts 20 students at a time on a rolling basis. A few seats are still available. “We’re the only one of its kind in Somerville,” said teacher Maureen Devlin. “These kids are really motivated to get their GEDs. They work really hard, and they want to graduate in the summer with everyone else. According to Devlin, 50 percent of the students have a strong desire to go to college, 25 percent want a better job and 25 percent want to pursue a specific trade. Somerville resident Francisco Melendez, 19, has been in the program for a year and is getting ready to take the tests. “I wanted to get back into school, and this sounded like a good program,” he said. I’ve been learning a lot. My reading has improved since I started.” Melendez would like to learn and work in musical production and, if he can afford it, go to college. Students gearing up to go to a field trip to a bank in Malden on Tuesday morning said they like the smaller classes and individual attention they get here. Devlin, who has her hands full as the only teacher, said they are a motivated lot who realize the difference education can make in their lives. Since most of them work and even support families, this is something they have voluntarily participating in. “They are so young and so tough,” she said. “I am extremely glad we are here to give them this opportunity because they deserve it.” Fluffy Bergmann, executive director of the learning center, helped start the program last fall to fill a huge gap among youths in the area. “We had the resources, we had the space and we were up for the challenge,” she said. “Besides, other city agencies weren’t stepping up to fill this gap. I felt like there was a real need. These kids were going to be lost, and they wouldn’t have much of a future or life without this resource. We are very proud we made the effort.” They estimate about 75,000 dropouts in the Metro Boston area every year. Even within the Mystic housing complex the program is located in, Devlin said there are more students than they can serve. For those who may be intimidated, Lima, who works at a Brooks Pharmacy 20 hours a week, said, “Don’t be scared. You need to get your education so you can go to college and be someone. Dropping out will not help you get a new job. And programs like this are just like school.” In coordination with the Career Place and the Somerville Housing Authority, participants will receive extensive information about various careers and job development assistance. Classes run Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at the Mystic Activity Center, 530 Mystic Ave., Somerville. The program is free and open to youths in the Metro North area. But students must qualify economically and academically for the program that provides all materials needed for classes and covers the cost of one battery of GED testing. Before being accepted into the program, students must be tested to determine academic qualification for the program. Once a student has provided the required documentation for proof of age, income, citizenship and selective service, a test is scheduled. The students are tested in mathematics and reading; these tests are administered by the Career Place and given at the Mystic Activity Center in Somerville. Tests must be scheduled in advance, and will not be scheduled until the preregistration documentation has been provided. The program follows each student for one year after they have received their GED, checking in monthly to assure that students have access to all support resources available as they transition to higher education and/or careers. “Our limit of 20 students a year turns out not to be enough. We are expecting all seats to be filled by the end of the month,” Devlin said.
COLORADO Nearly 1,000 homeless youth between ages 14 and 24 walked greater Denver's streets last year. That's almost five times as many as eight years ago. Urban Peak Denver, near Broadway and 21st Street, provided shelter, case management, education, employment and health services to 800 of those homeless and runaway youth last year. Andrew McClure was a 19- year-old heroin addict who had been homeless for five years when the agency first made contact with him five years ago. Three months ago, having turned his life around, the young man with tattoos covering both arms and piercings covering his face told Urban Peak he wanted to give something back by volunteering. They gave him a job instead. McClure, 24, is now a youth enrichment outreach worker at the agency, which has applied for a Season to Share grant. His answers have been edited for space and clarity. What circumstances brought you to the agency? I developed a substance abuse problem when I was 11 or 12, using methamphetamine and LSD, drinking and doing other stuff. At some point I realized my parents were getting in the way of my drug use and I left Denver for California, where I developed a serious heroin addiction and wound up in and out of various jails. I came back to Denver about the time a lot of my friends passed away. That's when I got in touch with a volunteer street outreach worker, who immediately got me an apartment in Urban Peak's Starting Transition And Recovery program. Was it hard getting sober? I struggled in that program a lot. I didn't have any life skills. While other kids were learning how to become young adults, I was doing drugs and running away. All I knew was hate, developed out of self-centered fear. How did Urban Peak help you? They paid for my drug treatment. They helped me reconnect with my family and get a job at Guitar Center. Within eight months I was the top salesman in a three-state district. I got a lot of confidence out of that. Did your treatment stick? The unfortunate thing is I didn't stay sober. I relapsed and was hospitalized right before I left that program. But they visited me, and I'd found some tools for living that I was able to use, and I haven't picked up a drink or a drug since that last relapse and it's been 18 months. How do like working for Urban Peak? There's this incredible level of respect I have for people in this field and their ability to reach out to people who have very different backgrounds than them. Urban Peak
MASSACHUSETTS Peer pressure isn't always a bad thing, the organizers of a new program at Taunton High School say. "The kids are a powerful influence," said Lisa DaPont, director of the Taunton Youth Court. "There are a lot of benefits of positive peer pressure." The program hopes to offer an alternative to suspension for misbehaving students - a punishment decided by a jury of fellow students. The intent is that student jurors will be a positive influence on their peers. Senior Brandon Wicker, 18, explained why he decided to volunteer for the court. "When another person gets in trouble, I want to try to help," he said. "We'll hold them accountable and let them know what they can do to better things." Organizers believe students will be more receptive to punishments decided by their peers than they would be to traditional authority figures. Peer pressure from positive student role models has been shown to discourage youth court defendants from re-offending, DaPont explained. The court, which is scheduled to be up and running by the spring, will be one of 11,000 youth court programs in the country, but just the fourth in Massachusetts. "It's a way of keeping students in school, but also giving them consequences," DaPont said. "When you suspend a student, you remove him from the school community. Our goal is to reconnect the students." While the program will be structured like a court, its proceedings won't be carried out like traditional trials. The program will only accept cases in which the accused student has already admitted guilt. An adult judge will preside over the hearings, and student prosecutors and defense attorneys will argue why the defendant should get a severe or lenient sentence. Witnesses, including teachers, administrators, parents or other students, could be called to testify. "For certain offenses, [Principal Matthew] Mattos or other administrators may agree to send the student to youth court instead of giving him a suspension," DaPont said. "This is not for cases involving violence or gangs." She expects the program to handle less serious transgressions, such as minor thefts and first-time vandalism offenses. Using a youth court helps keep some minor offenders out of the juvenile justice system, she said. Sentences could include community service, formal apologies and special projects or essays. An adult adviser will monitor the jury deliberations. If a sentence is not performed within 120 days, the case will be handed back to school administrators, who could suspend the offending student and send the case to the juvenile justice system. Some 15 adults, many with legal backgrounds, have expressed interest in serving as volunteer judges, clerks and jury monitors for the youth court. Students who volunteer to be jurors, attorneys and bailiffs will undergo training later this month. "I wanted to do this because I like anything having to do with law," explained student volunteer Amanda Berrios, a 16-year-old junior. "I want to study law when I graduate and hopefully one day be a DA." Sophomore Jay Lauriston, 15, said she is also pondering a career in law. "I also wanted to be more involved in school," she said. Mike Perry, 18, a senior, said he just wants to help people. During the Jan. 30 State of the City address, Mayor Robert G. Nunes praised the youth court. "The court is guided by the principles of restorative justice and youth development using social development strategy," Nunes said. "It will divert students from the juvenile justice system and provide alternatives to out-of-school suspensions for vandalism, theft and excessive classroom disruptions and office referrals." DaPont said there are tentative plans to open youth court Feb. 27 with a mock trial to show school and city officials how the program works. The program is modeled after New Bedford's youth court, which started in 2002. It was the first youth court in Massachusetts and was followed by Malden and Merrimac. "Our mission is to provide quality diversion from a path of juvenile delinquency, while holding young people accountable ... and connecting them in a more positive way to the community," explained New Bedford Youth Court director Lisa Tavares. The program is growing in New Bedford, Tavares said. School administrators, pleased by the results, have started referring more cases to youth court instead of going through traditional avenues such as suspensions or juvenile justice system referrals. In 2002, the youth court handled 75 cases. By last year, the number swelled to more than 140. The program has done well and is continually getting better, Tavares said, noting that just 26 percent of students who went through the program three years ago have since reoffended. Last year, just 15 percent of students who went through New Bedford Youth Court got in trouble again. Students going through New Bedford Youth Court have performed a cumulative total of 10,000 hours of community service, she said. "Youth courts have proven to effect positive youth outcome and to develop caring relationships between youths and adults," Nunes said during the State of the City address. "Thus, the entire city of Taunton will benefit from the youth court." Taunton Youth Court is provided through a partnership between the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Taunton Public Schools, the Taunton Safe Neighborhoods Initiative and Community Care Services - the agency for which DaPont works. Bob Camarata, the administrator of the Safe Neighborhoods Initiative, said youth court came to his attention two years ago at a conference on diversionary programs for youth. "It's a great stopgap for a child who gets into trouble for the first time," he said. "It introduces them to this type of setting and gets them back on the right track." DaPont agreed. "We want to intervene so kids don't end up on a path of juvenile delinquency," she said.
CHILD OBESITY As the popularity of stomach surgery has skyrocketed among obese adults, a growing number of doctors are asking, "Why not children, too?" For decades, the number of kids trying weight-loss surgery has been tiny. The operations themselves were risky, with a death rate of about 1 in 50. Children rarely got that fat, and when they did, pediatricians hesitated to put the developing bodies under the knife. Only 350 U.S. children had such an operation in 2004, according to federal statistics. But improvements in surgical technique and huge increases in the number of dangerously obese children have begun fueling a change of heart. A group of four hospitals, led by Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, are starting a large-scale study this spring examining how children respond to various types of weight-loss surgery, including the gastric bypass, in which a pouch is stapled off from the rest of the stomach and connected to the small intestine. Three more hospitals have approval from the Food and Drug Administration to test how teens fare with a procedure called laparoscopic gastric banding, where an elastic collar installed around the stomach limits how much someone can eat. The FDA has hesitated to approve the gastric band for children, but surgeons at New York University Medical Center reported in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery this month that the device holds promise. The 53 boys and girls, ages 13 to 17, who participated in NYU's study shed nearly half their excess weight over 18 months, suffering relatively minor complications. Crystal Kasprowicz of St. James, N.Y., said she lost 100 pounds from her 250-pound frame after having the band installed at age 17. "I'm a totally different person," she said. Before the procedure, Kasprowicz said, she took medication for a rapid heartbeat and was showing signs of developing diabetes. Every effort she made to stop getting bigger failed. Dieting didn't work, she said. Her heart problems made it hard to exercise. Even walking up stairs was a challenge. Now, she's off the heart drugs. Her blood-sugar levels are in check. She also feels better about herself. Similar studies are under way at the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago and at the Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of New York-Presbyterian, which recently opened a weight-loss surgery center for teens. Doctors there expect to perform about 50 operations this year. Children are considered candidates for surgery only after they have spent six months trying to lose weight through conventional methods under hospital supervision. But so far, not a single one has slimmed down enough to take surgery off the table, said Dr. Jeffrey Zitsman, associate attending surgeon at Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital. "That battle can only be won in a few instances," he said. The studies have followed a huge surge in the popularity of obesity surgeries among adults. The American Society for Bariatric Surgery estimates that more than 177,000 Americans had weight-loss surgery last year, up from 47,000 in 2001. Not everyone is pleased that kids might be next. "I don't think altering the human digestive tract is a solution to the problem of excess weight," said Joanne Ikeda, a nutritionist emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. "It's one of these quick-fixes that isn't a fix at all." Doctors, she said, still know relatively little about the long-term effects of such operations on the very young. The federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality released a study in July that said four in 10 weight-loss surgery patients develop complications within six months. Among adults, mortality rates among gastric bypass patients remain at between 1 in 100 and 1 in 200 patients. Laparoscopic gastric banding has been shown to have a much smaller death rate -- about 1 in 1,000 patients -- but complications do occur. Of the patients who participated in the NYU study, two needed a second operation to adjust a slipping band; two developed hernias; five developed an infection; five suffered mild hair loss; and four had iron deficiencies related to their new diet. After the study was complete, one patient asked to have her band removed because of discomfort, said Evan Nadler, a pediatric surgeon and co-author of the study. Nadler said those complications were minor compared to the chronic diabetes and cardiovascular disease teens would face if they remained that heavy into adulthood.
BOSTON COLLEGE Boston College researchers find teens with non-resident fathers are less likely to try high-risk behaviors or take part in delinquent activities if dad stays involved in their lives. Newswise — Fathers who do not live with their children can still have a positive effect on them if they stay involved in their lives, according to researchers at Boston College. A study in the January/February issue of the journal Child Development found that when nonresident fathers are involved with their adolescent children, the youths are less likely to take part in delinquent behavior such as drug and alcohol use, violence, property crime and school problems like truancy and cheating. "Nonresident fathers in low-income, minority families appear to be an important protective factor for adolescents," said Rebekah Levine Coley, professor of applied development and educational psychology at Boston College and the study's lead author. "Greater involvement from fathers may help adolescents develop self-control and self-competence, and may decrease the opportunities adolescents have to engage in problem behaviors." The BC researchers looked at a representative sample of 647 youths and their families over a 16-month period, gathering information from the adolescents and their mothers. The families were primarily African-American and Hispanic, and most lived in poverty. The youths were between the ages of 10 and 14 at the start of the study. Taking into consideration adolescents' demographic and family characteristics, the researchers found that when nonresident fathers were involved with their children, adolescents reported lower levels of delinquency, particularly among youth who showed an early tendency toward such behavior. They also found that adolescent delinquency did not lead fathers to change their involvement over the long-term. But in the short-term, as teens engaged in more problem behaviors, fathers increased their involvement, suggesting that nonresident fathers may be getting more involved in an effort to stem their children's delinquency. This finding was most prevalent in African-American families and contrasts with the pattern in two-parent, middle-class, white families, where parents often pull away and become less involved in the face of adolescent delinquency. The research was funded, in part, by the W.T. Grant Foundation, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Planning and Evaluation, Administration on Developmental Disabilities, Administration for Children and Families, Social Security Administration, and the National Institute of Mental Health.
OJJDP The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has published "Juvenile Arrests 2004." Written by Howard N. Snyder, Director of Systems Research, National Center for Juvenile Justice, the 12-page bulletin summarizes juvenile arrest data from the FBI's "Crime in the United States 2004" and analyzes trends. The analysis shows that the juvenile arrest rate for violent crimes in 2004 was at its lowest level since at least 1980, down 49 percent from its 1994 peak. Resources: "Juvenile Arrests 2004" (NCJ 214563) is available at http://ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/publications/PubAbstract.asp?pubi=236114. Print copies may be ordered at http://www.ncjrs.gov/app/publications/alphaList.aspx. For quick access, search by document number.
PENNSYLVANIA Mayor John F. Street on Friday signed a bill toughening a city curfew as a way of trying to reduce youth violence. The ordinance requires children under 13 to be off the streets by 9 p.m. on weeknights during the school year and by 9:30 p.m. on weeknights in the summer. On weekends, children must be in by 10 p.m. The curfew had been 10:30 p.m. on weeknights and midnight on weekends for children under 18, and those hours will remain in effect for children 13 to 17. “Young people do not belong on the street at 11 and 12 o’clock at night,” Mayor Street said in a statement released after a bill signing ceremony. “No good things can happen to young people at that hour.” The measure also increases fines for violations by minors, parents and any establishment that allows minors on the premises in violation of the ordinance. A curfew center is operating in South Philadelphia and 11 more are scheduled to open this year. Shootings have dropped sharply since the center opened, officials said.
UTAH Young people from around the state gathered at the Capitol today to let lawmakers know about a bill that's very important to them. Brittney Shields, Governing Youth Council Member: "We want to stop the violence and stop the hate." Jordan Street, Governing Youth Council State President: "We want the Senators to know we are in support of this bill as teenagers." The Governing Youth Council is supporting a dating violence amendment to House Bill 28. Right now the bill allows anyone who is in an abusive relationship to file a restraining order if they are are married to, living with or share a child with someone who is abusive. If the amendment passes, it will make any physical harm or threat of violence against a dating partner a criminal offense. The Governing Youth Council is a group of youth from around Utah who promote crime-free and drug-free lifestyles.
CALIFORNIA Los Angeles is the undisputed “gang capital” of the United States, and has been for several decades. But on January 17, a team of strategists presented to city officials a $100 million comprehensive plan, which they believe will stabilize the region’s war-zones and ultimately put an end to the crisis. Approximately 500 people filled the Council Chambers for the more than three hour meeting, which detailed the final report in the Advancement Project’s (AP) three-phase Gang Activity Reduction Strategy Project. Attorney Connie Rice, AP co-director, submitted “A Call to Action: A Case for a Comprehensive Solution to L.A.’s Gang Violence Epidemic,” in response to the City Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on Gang Violence and Youth Development’s call for a far-reaching, citywide gang reduction strategy. The mission fell in line with the AP’s exploration of revitalized approaches to problems of inclusion and equity since its inception in 1998. “This report has been a long time coming and as chair of this committee, I’m excited and eager to dissect this report … as you’re going to see in the people who are assembled here today, the interest and commitment beyond this city is tremendous,” stated Councilman Tony Cardenas. A federation of public health and safety, education, gang intervention and prevention, law enforcement, economic and community development, experts surveyed research and analyzed the successes and failures of current systems and programs targeting gang violence. After its probe of funding sources, social programs, and the roles of schools, youth authority camps, the state and county, and civic groups, it concluded that Los Angeles needs a Marshall Plan to end gang violence. “Suppression alone is not enough. Law enforcement should be the last resort, not the first and only resort,” Atty. Rice stated. This was the first time, she and observers recalled, that across the board, city departments, in part or wholly, supported the same plan targeting gang violence. The report cited a lack of jobs for youth, poverty compounded by social isolation, domestic violence, hanging out with the wrong crowds, a lack of parental supervision, non-delinquent problem behavior, early academic failure and lack of school attachment as risk factors associated with gang membership and violence. Recommendations included wraparound services comprised of school, church, community, law enforcement, city and state departments and other resources, working together with employment, after-school reading, homework and recreational programs to protect youth. Minister Tony Muhammad, Western Regional Representative of the Nation of Islam (NOI), said that he was skeptical at first, but grew more impressed after reading the plan and speaking with Atty. Rice. “This is what we need as a city—to be blatantly honest because we have a spiritual problem. We have a social problem and we have an economic problem,” Min. Muhammad stated during his brief panel address with Christian and Jewish spiritual leaders. “I’m here to represent the mothers who cry everyday; I’m here to represent those children who are being forced into a gang situation. I think if we would just close the gap spiritually, economically, socially, politically, and you would listen to these young men and women who have proven programs, I guarantee you within one year that Los Angeles could become the place that everybody looks at to solve these issues,” Min. Muhammad added. Atty. Rice told the Final Call that Min. Tony Muhammad’s participation is essential to the plan. “Who better? He’s worked on these issues for so long. He’s a leader in this area,” she said. The plan must pass a subcommittee and the full City Council, and then a vote for the implementation process. And if that happens, Atty. Rice stated, she will be counting on the NOI’s guidance and aid with public campaigns against youth access to guns, violence and killing, beyond Saturday marches and candlelight vigils. “Min. Tony and the NOI here have been in the vanguard position of getting people to move to healthier lifestyles forever, in their sleep. This would be a variation of what they’ve been doing,” she said. Atty. Rice’s constructive criticism surrounding youth, gangs and violence fell on the civil rights sector as well. “We’re sitting there as consultants to severely criticize the City and I always make the point that I’m living in a glass house. I’m a Thurgood Marshall, Johnny Cochran-trained lawyer. Our sector helped in the apartheid revolution with our people, but our cases have not helped to stop this violence and we have not designed our cases to help stop this violence and so we, too, have failed,” she said. Sheriff Lee Baca said that the study is unprecedented and addresses what has become more than a public safety issue involving 86,000 gang members. “This is also fundamentally a civil rights and community quality issue, that people who have to cower in bathtubs and not walk the streets with their children at night or even key peak hours in the daytime, for fear of a random bullet, or people who are being denied fundamental right to protection, thus, the responsibility is very, very large on your shoulders and mine,” he insisted. City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo agreed with the AP that more resources and school centered approaches are needed; however, he disagreed with its call for an end to gang injunctions, which prohibit members of a specific gang from congregating in groups, being out at specific times, and possessing cell phones or pagers, among other activities. “I see some help for our people, our city. I see a major decrease in our problem. They won’t be able to pass this bill without going into some huddles, but they can fund some of the organizations that are doing the work and we can help bring this to a head. We don’t have 15 more years of this. We will be extinct, no doubt,” stated Big Pete, a specialist with Unity Two, a L.A. based gang intervention and prevention group.
The action comes after the latest teen deaths, following a teen drinking party in Oswego over the weekend. The driver involved in the crash that killed four teenagers was charged Monday with four counts of reckless homicide as prosecutors expanded their investigation into the accident. A 23-year-old woman was driving a four-door sedan crammed with eight teenagers when the car struck a utility pole in the far western Kendall County town around 2:20 a.m. Sunday, police said. Four of the teens, ranging in age from 14 to 17, were pronounced dead at the scene. The other four teens, ages 15 to 16, and the driver were injured and taken to hospitals. Mundelein officials noted Lake County municipalities and high schools are experiencing more deaths of teenagers in traffic crashes -- including Mundelein High School, Carmel Catholic High School and Deerfield High School -- that were attributable to the underage consumption of alcohol. They note that adults who provide alcohol to those below the legal drinking age of 21 are placing youth at risk. Currently, state law reads that anyone found guilty of providing alcohol to a youth can face up to 365 days in jail and/or a fine up to $2,500 and/or up to two years probation, in addition to any civil action that may be brought as a result of damages or injuries. Senate Bill 0158 has been introduced in the Illinois Senate to amend the state Liquor Control Act increasing the penalty for holding a drinking party to a Class 4 felony.
NEW MEXICO The New Mexico Abstinence Education Coalition has opposed my proposed legislation, Senate Bill 124. The coalition's correspondence gives half-truths and ignores widely available, evidence-based research. It does a disservice to our young adults and ignores the reality of teen behavior in New Mexico. This is to clarify SB124 and explain why it is an important legislative initiative that will give our state resources to address the problem of teenage pregnancy. As most of you know, New Mexico has the third highest rate of teen pregnancy in the nation, first in the nation for 15-17 year olds. Knowledge of contraceptives and how to use them is one crucial component of effective pregnancy prevention programs for teens as confirmed by peer-reviewed research in the United States. SB124 supports teaching youth about reproduction and healthy relationships, encouraging youth to delay having sex, and for teens who are already sexually active, providing the information and services to protect them from pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. In this context, SB124 supports providing information on contraception including condoms and services to give New Mexico's youth access to these important preventive services. It also includes male involvement programs for prevention efforts that specifically target boys and young men, as well as comprehensive sex education, which teaches about abstinence as the best method for avoiding STDs and unintended pregnancy, but also teaches about condoms and contraception. In contrast, abstinence education, which the Coalition advocates to the exclusion of all other approaches, teaches children to abstain from sex until marriage. Despite several years of federal funding for abstinence education, there is still no peer-reviewed research showing that abstinence-only programs are effective. For these reasons, the N.M. Department of Health was justified in proposing to Federal officials of abstinence education funding that such funds could be used appropriately for younger students (grades six and lower) in our state. To date, the Federal officials of the abstinence education program have refused to support NMDOH's alternative to the funding criteria for abstinence education. The State of New Mexico should not enable one advocacy group, the N.M. Abstinence Education Coalition, in its campaign to impose its values on all our families. Incomplete sex education, which focuses on abstinence at the expense of accurate information on reproduction and contraception, deprives young adults who will one day have sex. Such ideologically-driven programs risk jeopardizing opportunities for young adults to learn about and understand the risks and costs of sexual activity, teen pregnancy and STDs. All N.M. school districts, and community providers which are willing to present scientifically accurate, comprehensive and age-appropriate information on health, reproduction, risks of pregnancy and STDs, and prevention, will be eligible for funds through this bill. Abstinence education has a place in the broad spectrum of approaches to the sexual health of youth (for example, among elementary school students). Staffs of both NMDOH and N.M. Teen Pregnancy Coalition recognize this. Abstinence education is a component of, not a substitute for, the comprehensive sex education funded by the state. Teen births in New Mexico have declined in part due to NMDOH's Family Planning Program efforts that include both education and health services. Adolescents learn about sex from many sources including media, peers and families. The messages that our children receive about sex are often contradictory and confusing. Our teachers and health providers help to develop the knowledge and skills that our children need to function as adults in an increasingly complex world. There are few things more complex or important than our children's development into responsible adults and ultimately parents. Comprehensive sex education is one tool that can help children to make the difficult transition to adulthood and to prevent risky and life-changing behaviors. The New Mexico Teen Pregnancy Coalition has been the proactive statewide organization that has continuously focused attention on the critical issues of adolescent pregnancy. The Board of Directors many years ago adopted a position on this issue, which includes abstinence as part of the continuum with regard to comprehensive sexuality education. Linda M. Lopez, a Democrat, is the Dist. 11 state senator from Albuquerque.
RHODE ISLAND If the General Assembly approves the budget as proposed, 857 young adults will be on their own come July 1. Those young adults have grown up in state care, in most cases because the state Department of Children, Youth and Families determined that their parents were unfit to care for them. They are over 18, but have been able to continue receiving state services — and living in foster care, group homes or apartments with the state’s help paying the rent — as long as they are enrolled in college, in some cases through age 23. But that could change come July 1, if lawmakers approve ending services to this group at age 18, across the board, as a budget-balancing measure. The state should be looking at ways it can take in more revenue, including raising taxes, before cutting services to “our most vulnerable citizens, our foster youth,” said Lisa Guillette, executive director of the Rhode Island Foster Parents Association. Many of the youths who would be affected came to the State House yesterday, packing the marble stairs in the rotunda and blaming Governor Carcieri, who wrote the cut into his budget proposal to save an estimated $12 million in general revenues. They held signs reading, “Not cool, Carcieri” and “Carcieri: conscience-free since 2002.” They sang an adapted version of the song from the musical Annie: “It’s a hard knock life for us… If no one helps out youth in care, we’ll all end up on welfare.” They chanted: “Don’t worry, governor, we won’t cry. We’ll be warm at the ACI.” Cut off from state-paid housing, college tuition and health care, the young adults will have trouble finding jobs and making ends meet, and will end up either on welfare or incarcerated at the Adult Correctional Institutions, they claimed. “Many youths will probably become homeless,” Guillette said. Karen Jorgenson, executive director of the National Foster Parents Association, did not attend the rally, but was quoted in informational materials distributed yesterday. She posed the following question to Rhode Island lawmakers: “How many of you ceased to provide any support to your own child the day he or she turned 18?” The state provides housing assistance and state-paid RIte Care health insurance for youths in DCYF care through age 21, and pays for up to eight semesters of college tuition for full-time students, beyond age 21 in some cases. But Guillette emphasized that in order to qualify for these benefits past age 18, young adults “have to be showing active involvement in the transition to adulthood. We don’t keep cases open for kids who are sitting around playing Nintendo.” The change would place Rhode Island in the minority of states: Eight states, none in New England, end child welfare services at age 18, according to statistics provided by DCYF. It will be summer before the General Assembly approves a budget and it’s uncertain whether the proposal will come to pass. But DCYF Director Patricia Martinez said her department has already begun working with the youths who would be affected to craft “transition plans” for their exit from state care. She said her department is working to find other state programs that can help pick up the slack. For instance, she said, the state Department of Labor and Training has federally financed job-training and placement services for “at-risk youths,” and the Office of Health and Human Services has a teen pregnancy prevention program. Martinez said the state has “a moral responsibility” to help those young adults envision and achieve success on their own, and to direct them to other entities that provide services similar to what the young adults now get through DCYF — be it life-skills classes; financial assistance with rent, utilities and health care; student loans; or job-placement services. But Martinez objected to the demonstrators’ claim that being cut off of DCYF services at age 18 is significantly more harmful than being cut off at age 21. If the change means that someone who turns 18 goes from DCYF custody straight to receiving welfare payments, Martinez said, “they would still be going on welfare at age 21.”
UTAH The responsibility to fund the education of students beyond their high school years falls squarely on the shoulders of state leaders, and Utah’s aren’t doing a very good job. At least that’s Lyle Hillyard’s take. But the Logan GOP senator thinks he has a solution that could help turn the tide and draw recent high school graduates back onto the campuses of the state’s nine public higher-education institutions. “I’m deeply concerned as I see enrollments bottom out and reduce at our schools. There’s just not a desire (for students) to go to college,” Hillyard told The Herald Journal. “I think people really need to remove all the barriers for higher education that we have.” Hillyard wants lawmakers to funnel $20 million to the Utah System of Higher Education as seed money for the creation of a need-based scholarship fund that would help students afford the costs of tuition. “We as a state need to make sure we have the agenda for higher education,” he told the Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee last week. “The state needs to assume control, not simply let higher education go without giving our input.” If approved, the proposal would generate $1.5 million a year in ongoing money through interest. Dave Buhler, USOE’s associate commissioner of public affairs, said the average grant for students through the agency is $700. Utah State University Provost Raymond Coward said more than a money-saving mechanism, the fund could have profound economic benefits for the state and keep talented students on a track toward success. “It’s clear that for some families, the cost of higher education is a real impediment and therefore students of high academic quality sometimes don’t pursue their education to the degree that they should,” he said. “This is an opportunity that would open doors for very capable students.” Higher education funding is facing a crisis nationwide as the federal government continues to cut back assistance programs like Pell grants, creating funding larger and larger funding gaps that states are left to reconcile, experts say. “There’s plenty of blame to go around,” said Julie Bell, education program director for the National Conference of State Legislatures. “The American public, legislators and others have really been complacent in the last couple of decades about higher education, assuming it’s doing great and people are satisfied.” But the findings of a 12-member bipartisan panel sponsored by the NCSL shows otherwise. Since the spring of 2005, the commission — which included Hillyard — has met three times and in 2006 issued a set of briefs for legislators that focused on issues facing higher education. “The American higher education system no longer is the best in the world,” they wrote in their 16-page report. “Other countries outrank and outperform us. Although the United States has some of the best institutions in the world, we do a poor job overall in our mass education production.” Hillyard said a measure he’s co-sponsoring that would allow Utah’s public colleges and universities to set their own residency requirements will help bring students back onto campuses, but that’s not good enough. “To just simply require students to sit four years in a class because that’s what we’ve always done is a thing of the past,” he said. “Schools who don’t catch that vision are going to find other schools taking their place, because students today are not willing to pay the costs and go through that rigor if it’s just in their minds a waste of time.” Nationally, Bell said just 30 percent of students entering ninth grade will finish with a college degree, even though states spend an average of 12 percent of their budgets on higher education. “There are lots of places along the way where students fall out,” Bell said. “And the federal investment is not going to get any stronger.” With the state facing a $1.6 billion surplus, it makes sense for lawmakers to lay the groundwork for Hillyard’s plan now, said Rep. Scott Wyatt, R-Providence. “This is the perfect kind of thing to do on a bump year. It takes money on the good year and puts it forward to spend on the bad years. It’s a great idea,” he said. But Rep. John Dougall, R-American Fork, said awarding money on a need-based system could penalize those students working to put themselves through school. “I want to make sure that whatever we do, we’re not rewarding irresponsibility,” he said. Coward said other states have launched programs similar to Hillyard’s aim, to the benefit of their public higher-learning institutions. “We don’t need to reinvent the wheel,” he said. “Other states have taken this action and shown the consequences of it. I’m hopeful we can learn from those experiences and hopefully duplicate them.” Bell said policymakers in Utah are facing the same challenges of student recruitment and retention as their colleagues in other states, but it’s up to them to dictate a path for the future. “States can continue to let them be a drain on the economy or they can step up their support and help them be productive, taxpaying citizens,” she said. Hillyard said his scholarship fund would be a big step forward for the state. “Our future depends on our students getting that training and we all need to step up to the plate and realize there is a serious problem,” he said.
CALIFORNIA A California assemblyman is pushing a novel way of getting teenagers to register to vote: withhold their high school diploma if they don't. Democrat Joe Coto of San Jose has proposed requiring voter registration as a condition of graduation. "I think we need to establish a pattern of voting," Coto said. "It has to be a habit, almost as natural as when you reach the age of 16 and get a driver's license." Coto's bill, Assembly Bill 183, would apply only to high school seniors who are 18, U.S. citizens and meet other election requirements. The measure comes at a time when more than four of every 10 eligible adults younger than 25 don't bother to register to vote. Turnout at statewide elections also has been dismal: Three of the seven worst turnouts in history have occurred since 2000. "We've got to keep working at our democracy, reinvesting in it, educating people about it, impressing on them the importance of it and that voting is a big part," said Coto, a former school superintendent in Oakland and San Jose. But critics counter that AB 183 would create a clerical burden for schools, intrude upon personal choices and be pointless if unwilling students register but never cast ballots. "I don't think it's a good idea to coerce democracy," said Patrick Dorinson, spokesman for the California Republican Party. Dorinson said 18-year-olds, legally adults, can think for themselves. "I want young voters to register to vote, and to be knowledgeable and engaged in our democracy," added Assemblyman Roger Niello, a Fair Oaks Republican. "But they're only going to do that if they want to." AB 183 also raises the specter of partisan gain because more youths tend to register as Democrats than Republicans, though officials of both parties downplay that as a factor. "If you look at history, the youth vote has shifted back and forth," said Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, an Irvine Republican. Coto's measure, if it passes and is signed into law, would take effect beginning in the 2009-10 school year, allowing a one-year adjustment period. The measure would permit 18-year-olds who object to the registration requirement to obtain a waiver by filing a document with school officials. The bill, as currently written, does not require students to state a reason for avoiding registering to vote. But Coto said such exceptions should apply only to students with religious or other specific objections. Under AB 83, school districts would be responsible for notifying students about the registration requirement and verifying their compliance. Though the measure threatens a penalty to push students to register, Coto said he cannot imagine anyone's diploma getting withheld. He said it would be easy for students to comply with the voting registration rules. Coto is leader of a caucus of Democratic Latino legislators. Latinos stand to gain significantly from AB 183, because they constitute 32 percent of California's adult population but only 14 percent of likely voters, according the Public Policy Institute of California. Tim Storey, elections analyst for the National Conference of State Legislatures, said he knows of no state that mandates voter registration as a requirement for graduation. Assemblyman Mark Leno, a San Francisco Democrat, said he is intrigued by AB 183. "We need to be as creative as possible to engage the next generation of voters," he said. Secretary of State Debra Bowen said the bill is worth considering but that it won't single-handedly change teens' attitudes about politics. "I think we have to start in the fourth grade, with government curriculum," she said. "We have to make it more relevant, and that will be a challenge because the curriculum and school days are packed as it is." Jack O'Connell, state superintendent of public schools, supports making voter registration forms available on campus but not tying them to graduation, said Hilary McLean, his spokeswoman. The California School Boards Association has taken no position on the bill. Students at Sacramento's McClatchy High School had mixed feelings. "I would vote in a heartbeat, if I could right now," said Sancino Gonzales, 16. Alex Stutzman, 16, said many kids are lazy about voting, but she opposes threatening students' diplomas over voter registration. "I don't think it should be a requirement, I just think it should be advertised more in school," she said. Noah Muldavin, 16, said AB 183 might increase voter participation by making teenagers more aware of politics. "I think a lot of kids view the government as run by old people," he said.
WISCONSIN Wisconsin would become one of a handful of states allowing some 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections, under a bill introduced by a Madison lawmaker. The proposal would allow 17-year-olds who would turn 18 by the date of the general election to vote in the primary. If passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Jim Doyle, the bill would go to a statewide referendum in November 2008. Ratification by voters would make the bill law on Jan. 1, 2009. "It's good public policy," said Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, the bill's sponsor. "It gives those young people participating in the process a chance to participate in the entire election cycle." But Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, called the idea "ridiculous." "I think it's crazy. It's ridiculous. Seventeen-year-olds are juveniles," Fitzgerald said. "The premise is flawed, and it makes absolutely no sense to me." The bill is scheduled for a hearing Feb. 13 before the Senate Labor, Elections and Urban Affairs Committee. Rep. Terry Musser, R-Black River Falls, said he expects to sponsor the bill in the Assembly. "If there's a 17-year-old who's that interested in voting, why not?" Musser said. It's unclear exactly how many potential voters the bill would affect, according to the Legislative Reference Bureau. But according to the U.S. Census Bureau there were 81,270 17-year-olds in Wisconsin in 2005. Because Wisconsin's fall statewide primary is held in September, just weeks before the general election, bill sponsors said only a portion of the state's 17-year-olds would be affected during each election cycle. A popular issue UW-Madison students Sarah Myers, 22, of Minneapolis, and Phil Zanoni, 22, of Madison, said that with birthdays in October, they would have benefited from such a bill and that they support it. Both said they voted in a general election at age 18 but couldn't vote in the primaries. "I think at that age you're aware of politics," Zanoni said of age 17. But Jared Gross, 18, a UW-Madison student from Seattle, said he doesn't think 17-year-olds are ready to vote. "I know when I was 17 I wouldn't have voted. I actually became more interested in politics when I came to college," Gross said. Making 17-year-olds eligible to vote in primaries if they would turn 18 by the general election has become a popular issue among states in recent years, according to Jennie Bowser, a policy analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures in Denver. Eight states currently have such laws, she said: Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio and Virginia. Others, including California, Kansas, New York, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Connecticut, Illinois, Oregon and Hawaii have considered similar legislation since 2001 but rejected it, she said. Experts on youth voting said they're not aware of any research that shows allowing some 17-year-olds to vote in a primary election leads to more voter participation among young people. After decades of declining participation, the percentage of 18- to 29-year-olds who voted increased in the both 2004 and 2006 elections, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at the University of Maryland. Mark Hugo Lopez, the research director for the center, said the intensity of the 2004 presidential race between President Bush and Sen. John Kerry, and contested state and federal races in 2006 - in addition to high-profile ballot initiatives like the gay-marriage ban in Wisconsin - led to the increases. "It seems you can get young people to vote if there's something controversial on the ballot," Lopez said. He supports legislation like that proposed by Risser. "You want to get young people to vote as soon as possible because once they vote one time they're more likely to vote again," Lopez said. Left-leaning youth vote In Wisconsin, Democratic lawmakers said the youth vote - mobilized by opponents of the successful amendment banning gay marriage - was a key factor in them winning control of the Senate and picking up eight seats in the Assembly. The 2000 presidential election showed young voters split between Republicans and Democrats, according to CIRCLE. But young voters were increasingly likely to vote for Democrats in 2004 and 2006, the organization said. Allowing some 17-year-olds to vote in primaries could benefit Democrats, Lopez said. But Jane Eisner, vice president for civic initiatives at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia and an expert on youth voting, said the bill likely won't mean a boon for Democrats. She said the 1993 federal "motor voter" law, which required states to let people register to vote by mail and provide opportunities to register at many state agencies, was perceived as a way to benefit Democrats but that didn't happen. "Voters aren't that predictable," Eisner said. "We have to decide as a culture, 'Do we want more people involved in the process?'" Risser and other Democrats who support his bill said they don't see it as a way to get votes. Fitzgerald said his objections to the bill weren't based on whether it could provide an advantage to Democrats. Musser said he believes the youth vote helped Democrats in the 2006 election, but that he's not worried that allowing some 17-year-olds to vote would hurt his party. He said last year one of his constituents was upset that she was eligible to vote in the general election but unable to vote in the primary because she was 17 then. Eisner said that if the legislation is enacted it should be accompanied by education in high schools about the importance of voting and even the process of registering, going to the polls and using voting machines.
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