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Youth 411: Youth in the News

Volume 2, Number 15, October 1-15, 2007

Contents
State Watch
Research
Government

STATE WATCH

• Connecticut awards grants to cities to fund programs aimed at reducing youth violence.
• Pittsburg sees first-hand the nationwide trend of youth committing more violent crimes.
• Communities across the nation are receiving YouthBuild grants to teach at-risk youth about construction and leadership.
• A county in Mississippi offers several engaging youth programs that prepares youth for adulthood.
• Universities and communities are taking steps to fight against binge drinking.

RESEARCH

• A new study shows that public and private urban schools have similar effects on student academic achievement, college completion and future job satisfaction.
• Research shows that the types of friendships adolescents have often reflect their childhood relationships.

GOVERNMENT

• States continue to debate whether or not immigrant children should be eligible for resident tuition at public post-secondary institutions.
• California passes several pieces of legislation addressing gang violence.
• Illinois is using several strategies to address underage drinking.
• A legislator in Pennsylvania proposes that school districts adopt anti-bullying policies.
• The California Legislature passes bills that will help disabled foster youth apply for assistance as they age out of the system and will create a pilot program that provides alternatives to group home care.
• Many foster care youth in Rhode Island fear how the budget cuts are going to affect the services they receive. 
• Members of Congress are considering legislation regulating youth boot camps.

ARTICLES

CONNECTICUT

Enfield Town gets $80,000 to fight youth violence
October 10, 2007
By Anne Pallivathuckal, JournalInquirer.com

The town has been awarded an $80,000 grant to support training and recreational programs for young people in an effort to reduce youth violence.

The funds are part of $1.5 million in grants for programs throughout the state aimed at reducing youth violence, according to a statement from the governor's office.

The grant is awarded by the state Office of Policy and Management.

"It's a very important grant that we're receiving," Councilwoman Cynthia Mangini said today, adding that funding crime prevention programs will help the town "get a head start on how to deter this crime issue."

The town will use the funds to provide young people with training in areas such as problem solving, decision making, and conflict resolution, according to Pamela Brown, the town's director of social services.

Other programs, such as athletics, dances, music, and theater, also will be available at the Youth Center, which will have regular weekend hours.

In addition, there will be efforts to encourage increased interaction between police and young people. The goal is to reach young people ages 12 to 18 who are most at risk for problematic behavior, including pregnant teenagers and those who have children, school dropouts, and young people who have run away from home.

Mangini, a member of the National League of Cities' board, said statistics show that such programs have reduced youth violence in larger cities.

She added that good partnerships between the social services and other departments, like education, were important to accomplishing these goals.

The state will measure the success of the program by looking at whether young people volunteer more in the community and meet their job responsibilities. It will also look for less negative behavior, such as alcohol

consumption, drug use, and fights, according to Brown.

The funds will cover expenses such as the hiring of new staff or the increase in hours of part-time staff members.

Also, police officers would be paid overtime with grant funds.

There is a possibility that the grant could be renewed for the fiscal year that starts next July 1.

PITTSBURGH
Juveniles committing horrific crimes
October 14, 2007
By Karen Zapf, pittsburghlive.com

The 16-year-old gunman allegedly ignored the pleas of a Mt. Oliver convenience store clerk before killing him last August.

The victim, Jamal Muzafar, 28, of Syria had come to Pittsburgh for medical treatment and for adjustment of his prosthetic leg. Eric Hancock, the teenager accused of shooting him, is awaiting trial.

In June, two gun-toting, masked intruders came into Inez Evans' Broadway Avenue convenience store in Pitcairn, demanded money and pistol-whipped the 84-year-old proprietor. Jamal Holyfield, 16, and Lamar Green, 15, were held for trial Friday on charges of robbery, assault, possessing a firearm and other charges in connection with the incident. They are being prosecuted as adults.

In Blairsville, Codee Wheeler, 17, is charged with setting a fire in March that killed William Wheeler, 57, her adoptive father.

These and other crimes involving teenagers are part of a disturbing trend: Federal crime experts are recording more arrests of young people for violent crime.

Crime experts say they're concerned by the horrific nature of many juvenile crimes, which they attribute to several factors, including the availability of guns; addiction and mental health conditions; the proliferation of violent films, music lyrics and video games; unemployment; and the lack of nurturing, caring adults in youths' lives.

"The glorification of violence impacts how kids relate to one another and solve problems," said Jim Anderson, executive director of the Juvenile Court Judges' Commission in Harrisburg and a former probation officer. "They're willing to engage in behavior that is illegal."

Anderson said some youths see violence as a way to solve problems. Over the past decade, Anderson said, he has seen more juveniles commit crimes with violence typically associated with adult crime.

The number of people under 18 arrested for murder and manslaughter across the United States has increased. According to the National Center for Juvenile Justice, 1,110 juveniles were arrested for murder and manslaughter in 2004; 1,260 were arrested in 2005 and 1,310 in 2006.

The number of juveniles arrested for robbery went from 25,340 in 2004 to 28,910 in 2005. Last year, the number of juveniles arrested for robbery was 35,040. Burglary arrests were at 81,600 in 2004. The number fell to 78,000 in 2005 and rose to 83,900 in 2006.

"Over the last year or so, we have seen an increase (in juvenile arrests)," said Jeff Shook, assistant professor of social work and law at the University of Pittsburgh. "Where juvenile crime is headed is the question."

Shook maintains that "get tough" policies in which juveniles are prosecuted in the adult system aren't working.

"A lot of people went to prison at young ages and returned (to society)," Shook said. "We're not doing a good job at re-entry (to society)."

Allegheny County's probation department saw a small drop in the number of juvenile cases referred to it -- from 6,349 in 2005 to 6,190 in 2006. Cases of aggravated assault dropped from 297 in 2005 to 288 in 2006. In 2004, 281 aggravated assault cases were referred to the probation department.

Jim Rieland, the county's director of juvenile and adult probation, doesn't regard the numbers so much as a drop in crime but just holding steady. He attributed the serious cases, such as aggravated assault, to "the proliferation of guns and the willingness of young people to use them."

Rieland said gang activity plays a role.

"There are various gangs out there," Rieland said. "But they're not as organized as some people think. Pittsburgh is still neighborhood identification first and other gang-related activity second."

Edward Mulvey, professor of psychiatry and director of the Law and Psychiatry Program at the Western Psychiatry Institute and Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, said nearly half the youths who wind up in the justice system have "diagnosable mental health conditions."

"It is harder to clearly diagnose mental health problems in juveniles," Mulvey said. "There's not as much history, and the disorders come through in mid- to late-adolescence. It's fuzzier in adolescence."

The best way to reduce teen violence is to get teens involved in jobs, their community and family relationships, said Richard Garland, executive director One Vision One Life, an Allegheny County violence-prevention program.

Particularly helpful are after-school programs, because the time between 3 and 9 p.m., when youths are out of school while parents might be at work or preparing dinner, are the most likely for trouble.

"If we give them the right opportunities, kids always achieve," Garland said.

Three years ago, the Allegheny County Human Services Department began a summer program called the summer Youth and Violence Prevention Effort to get teens off the streets. Garland said the best advertisers are the program participants.

"Kids in this program are staying out of trouble."

YOUTHBUILD
96 Groups Receive U.S. Labor Department’s First YouthBuild Awards
$47 million will improve communities in 36 states and District of Columbia
October, 12, 2007
PRNewswire.com

U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao today announced the award of $47 million to 96 groups that will provide education in construction as well as leadership training to at-risk young people across the United States, who will take part in building affordable housing in their own communities. Dayton's Improved Solutions for Urban Systems, one of the award-winning organizations, hosted the department's announcement of its first YouthBuild grant selections from hundreds of competitively screened proposals.

"These $47 million in YouthBuild awards will help at-risk youths get the education, training and opportunity they need to achieve a better life," said Secretary Chao.

YouthBuild will include individuals who have been in the juvenile justice system, young people aging out of foster care, high school dropouts and others.

"Young people in YouthBuild can take pride in the fact that they are not only improving their own lives, but also making a positive difference for their families, friends and neighbors," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training Emily Stover DeRocco. "Their participation in this creative program will help them take the first steps toward a variety of rewarding educational opportunities and careers."

Today's awards are the result of a competition begun in April, during which 322 qualified applications were received. Organizations chosen for YouthBuild funding include workforce investment boards, faith-based and community groups, and local and nonprofit housing development agencies.

With broad support, Congress transferred YouthBuild from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to the U.S. Department of Labor in 2006. The program's original goals remain -- to educate, provide construction training and employ at-risk youth in their communities -- while a greater emphasis is being placed on offering postsecondary education and forging stronger links with the One-Stop Career Center system and the nation's community colleges.

MISSISSIPPI

New youth programs march towards progress
October 11, 2007
By Peter Thomas, Tunicatimes.com

Officials with the Tunica County Recreation Department are on a mission of helping develop responsible, caring, and productive citizens in this community.

Through collaborative efforts with county agencies, including but not limited to the Sheriff’s Department, Tunica County Schools, faith based organizations, and other agencies and businesses in the community, the department and its many representatives are helping address some of the historical problems faced by citizens of Tunica.

The newly formed Youth Development Program, the Entrepreneurship Program, Youth Patrol Program, and many other youth and adult oriented activities are designed to enrich the lives of the citizens of Tunica County.

“We are frontrunners in this community,” said Billy Willis, Director of Parks and Recreation for Tunica County. “We serve a number of people. We don’t just do recreation. A lot of people think that we are about basketball, but that is the farthest thing from what we do. We are diversified in what we are doing in our community by offering Recreation, Health and Wellness, Transportation, Youth Development, and other services. We are building people, not just with the young population, but also with adults, we are adding years to their lives.”

Willis explained that the Recreation Department and its partners are bringing citizens of Tunica a host of opportunities for education, character development, health and fitness, and community service for both young and old in Tunica.

“They (elderly) are adding to their years by coming to our exercise programs on Tuesdays and Thursdays,” said Willis. “Our teenagers are going to learning programs and preparing to get a summer job, not just getting a job, but preparing for a job with our Youth Development Programs.”

Willis added that our children are the future leaders of this community and that positive change comes from taking action beginning with our youth.

“We who are in the positions that can really make a difference in the community, have to understand that the key concept is collaborating,” Willis said. “With the help of our county government and other county agencies, we can realize that the life of a child is a repeated cycle. It starts in the home, then they go to school and after 3 p.m., they are in the community.

“The community can either be a structured program like the Recreation Department, the Boys and Girls Club, which has a variety of recreational, educational, and cultural programs. or he can go and hang out on the street corner where there is gang banging and drugs and crime. If the home is in collaboration with us, the schools are with us, and if the community is with us in collaboration, then we can address some of the historical problems of our community. Regardless of race, regardless of religion, whatever the case may be, we have to stay open. We have to look straight ahead and not look at the previous issues the community has had, but look at it from a positive note that we are building people. Once we have that, then we will have it made or will have made a tremendous impact on this community.”

The collaborative efforts of the Recreation Department and other agencies in the county have made it possible to institute the Youth Development Program headed by Program Director Yolanda Kemp and Assistant Lanatte Milam.

Youth in Tunica can take part in the sessions free of charge as a prerequisite for summer employment with several county agencies and businesses that offer work and pay opportunities through the program.

“This is a program designed for citizens ages 15-18 that go to school in Tunica County and are interested in summer employment,” said Kemp. “We have sessions outlined that consist of five weeks each that cover topics like character and leadership skills, vocational and technical skills, broadcasting and public speaking, and other areas of education and instruction.”

Currently, the center is offering sessions from now through May of 2008 with closing ceremonies scheduled for May 3, 2008, where students will receive recognition for their accomplishments.

Youth in the program relay to officials their desires and interests. Representatives work with students to set and accomplish their goals for employment in their desired fields. Students in Level One are required to voluntarily take part in 20-25 hours of classroom training offered during the five-week sessions. They then move on to Level Two, which is 10-12 hours of On the Job Training at a perspective employer. Finally, they progress to paid summer employment.

Students that have shown development and a desire to enter business for themselves can also move on to Level Three which is the new entrepreneurship program headed up by Dianne Norwood and Instructors Mark Hudson and Vonesha Mitchell.

“We keep files on the students to monitor their success and we take all of this information to place students in this program,” said Kemp.

“Level Three is for those students that have exemplified good behavior and met all the criteria on their sessions with the Youth Development part of the program. These are kids that have shown focus and are sure of what they want to do. These students that want to operate and run a business. They sign a commitment letter which teaches them to be responsible and we then help them in educating them on administrative, accounting, and other fundamentals of running a business and then we help them develop a business plan and even help them launch their idea,” Hudson said.

“We are hoping to “spark” some ideas so that hopefully they can develop and bring some new ideas into this community and do business here,”said Kemp.

Another program that has taken off from Youth Development is the Youth Patrol Program for students with an interest in law enforcement and criminal justice that is being led by Deputy Dennis Taylor of the TCSD.

“With the truancy rate and behavior and the things that were happening in the school district, we wanted to come up with a Youth Patrol that would actually inspire other children, not to rat on other children, but to actually take back control of their school and their school system. They can help monitor halls, sporting events, and other events in the community to make sure safety is kept,” said Taylor.

Willis said the focus of all these programs is to prepare children for tomorrow.

“These are our future leaders,” added Willis. “We hear a lot of negative comments about our workforce, but we are training at least 100 quality students every year into respectful and quality working people. By the time they finish high school, they will have been able to see what is being produced through these programs. That is responsible working citizens that are not looking at others to take care of their needs, but they are looking for a job, going into a field and having a successful life. There are some miraculous things going on here that the community doesn’t have a clue about.”

UNIVERSITIES
Colleges go on offense against binge drinking
October 03, 2007
By Pauline Vu, Stateline.org

To many college students, binge drinking and everything that goes with it – beer pong, keg stands and $1 shots – are a rite of passage, as integral a part of the college experience as midterms and all-nighters.

But to college administrators, drinking too much is a hazard to students’ health and safety. As a result, officials are addressing excessive drinking with tactics such as moving classes to Friday to prevent “Thirsty Thursdays,” convincing nearby communities to limit drink specials like ladies’ night, and requiring incoming students to take online classes about alcohol use.

“The academic and social consequences are just very high, to say nothing of the value of human life,” said University of Mississippi spokesman Mitchell Diggs, who listed a litany of potential ailments that go along with binge drinking: crime, falling grades and death.

Alcohol abuse by college students is a rampant problem. A March study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University reported that 3.8 million full-time college students, or 49 percent, regularly abuse drugs or binge drink, which is defined as five or more drinks at a time for men, and four or more drinks for women.

Even the federal government is worried. In March, the U.S. surgeon general issued the office’s first call to action to stem underage drinking, with recommendations for parents, schools, colleges, communities, governments and even the alcohol industry on how to stop the abuse. The surgeon general asked colleges to end alcohol advertising in campus newspapers, provide more alcohol-free late-night events, and shift more classes to Friday to “shorten the elongated weekend” that has students binge drinking by Thursday night.

The University of Iowa — ranked 12th on the Princeton Review’s list of top party schools — is answering that particular call. Starting in the fall of 2008, the school will move more classes to Friday.

The move was discussed for years, but the decision was cemented with the July release of a University of Missouri study that found students with Friday morning classes are less likely to over-imbibe on Thursday. This spring, the University of Iowa averaged 2,438 classes daily Monday through Thursday but had only 1,404 classes on Friday.

Associate Provost Tom Rocklin said more Friday classes are just one strategy in the fight against binge drinking. “There is no single thing that will make a dramatic change,” he said. Friday classes aren’t “going to make binge drinking go away. But it’s one thing that will help the problem, so it’s worth doing.”

Another tactic to cut extreme intoxication looks at advertising. Two years ago, the California State University (CSU) system put tighter controls on alcohol advertising, such as banning promotion on campus of two-for-one drink specials. This summer CSU-Fullerton hired a student to take down unauthorized campus fliers that advertise drink specials.

Several colleges also sponsor alcohol-free events, such as Late Knights at the University of Central Florida, Wildcat WILD Nights at the University of Kentucky, and Friday Night Live events at the University of Cincinnati.

But if incentives don’t work, there is always punishment. In recent years, more schools have instituted a two- or three-strikes policy to punish students for public drunkenness or possession of alcohol by a minor. The final strike can result in a semester’s suspension. The University of Mississippi began a two-strikes policy in November, with five suspensions so far.

“Ole Miss,” currently No. 2 on Princeton Review’s party-school list, had long discussed curbing alcohol abuse. But the school began its crackdown in earnest when a campus officer, Robert Langley, died in October after pulling over a car driven by a student with alcohol, cocaine and marijuana in his system; the student took off, dragging Langley to his death.

Mississippi also joined more than 200 colleges in requiring that incoming students take a three-hour online AlcoholEdu course, which surveys students on their drinking habits and explains alcohol’s impact on the mind and body. At Ole Miss, athletes and fraternity and sorority members also have to take the course.

But experts say universities’ attempts to cut binge drinking also must involve local communities. The American Medical Association (AMA) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which provides grants to improve health and health care, are nearly finished with a decade-long experiment at 10 universities to cut student drinking by encouraging partnerships with their communities.

“When we first went in, communities were angry with universities, as if universities had landed from outer space and brought all these drinking students with them,” said Richard Yoast, the director of the project. Colleges and communities “realized they needed to work together. The finger-pointing really stopped.”

Cities have taken steps such as requiring more training for bartenders, tightening penalties for bars caught serving minors, restricting liquor licenses and banning cheap drink specials, Yoast said.

The University of Wisconsin, one of the schools in the project, split costs with the city of Madison, Wis., to hire an alcohol policy coordinator. Last month, the Madison City Council approved the plan by former “bar czar” Joel Plant to limit the number of new bars allowed in downtown Madison, where there are already about 120 bars packed in less than one square mile.

In March 2006, Louisiana State University worked with the East Baton Rouge Metro Council to ban “all-you-can-drink” specials and deeply discounted drinks after 10 p.m.

This year, Utah became the 28th state to enact a law prohibiting happy hours or drink specials like unlimited drinks. Enforcement of these laws varies from state to state, however, and bars can get around regulations by offering, for example, an all-day drink special that’s not specifically banned, instead of a happy hour.

The AMA also partnered with the Center for Science in the Public Interest to ask universities to ban print and broadcast ads for alcohol when promoting sporting events. Since the campaign began three years ago, 248 schools and two conferences, the Big South and the Ivy League, have signed on, including athletic powerhouses like the University of Florida and Ohio State. Last month, the Big 10 conference launched its own sports channel, BTN, which will not accept any alcohol advertising.

Although most of the action has been taken by college officials, states also have gotten tough on underage drinkers this year. South Carolina enacted a law that could take state-funded scholarships away from offenders.  Iowa and Nebraska have new statewide keg registration requirements to check the identification of keg buyers, and Oregon, Utah, and West Virginia enacted or tightened laws to suspend the driver’s licenses of the underaged for alcohol-related offenses.

URBAN SCHOOLS
Where kids go to high school may not matter
October 10, 2007
By David Hunn, stltoday.com

Urban private high schools have about the same effect on academic achievement, college completion and future job satisfaction as public schools among poor, inner-city students, according to a new analysis of national data released today.

The study, commissioned by the Washington-based Center on Education Policy, contradicts widely held assumptions, researchers said.

"If parents are thinking their children will do better academically, and in life, by enrolling them in private school and paying that tuition, then this report ought to make that parent pause and think," said Jack Jennings, president and CEO of the nonpartisan center — and an avowed advocate for public schools.

The center's study acknowledged that overall, even low-income students in private schools outperformed those in public schools. But when the researchers accounted for students' family backgrounds, including socio-economic status and parental involvement in schools, they found public school students fared about as well.

Private and Catholic school officials in St. Louis did not dispute the research Tuesday. But they cautioned against making local conclusions based on a national study.

"I'm just not able to make the leap that it's representative of any specific urban area, ours or anybody else's," said Karen Tichy, the associate superintendent for instruction at the St. Louis Archdiocese's Catholic education office.

"Does it tell us more than we knew before?" she asked. "Yes. But does it tell us everything?

"Definitely not."

For more than two decades, studies have shown that students attending private high schools have, on average, outperformed public school students.

Then, last year, two studies found that when family backgrounds were taken into account, students in public school scored the same or better than their private school peers.

The studies, however, each covered just a moment in time. Some said the differences couldn't really be attributed to the schools.

The study released today used data gathered over 12 years to answer the same question. The Center on Education Policy hired Columbia University researcher Harold Wenglinsky to analyze data from the federal National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988-2000.

That study tested 13,000 U.S. students in eighth grade and again in 12th, and it surveyed them at various points, including in 2000, when the original participants were 26 years old.

Wenglinsky pulled the results for the 1,000 poorest participants who lived in the inner city and went to an urban school.

His analysis showed that when adjusting for poverty and family background, only schools run by Catholic religious orders — locally, schools such as St. Louis University High, run by the Jesuits, and St. Elizabeth Academy, run by the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood — affected urban academics positively.

Even then, parental income and involvement had a much larger effect, the study found.

However, Wenglinsky did note that students at independent private schools had much higher SAT scores than other groups.

Area educators, however, say the findings hardly paint a complete picture.

Jane Goff, a principal at the all-boys St. Mary's High in St. Louis, said schools teach differently now. Fifteen years ago, teachers at her school were just beginning to learn how boys think. They've now applied that to teaching.

Sister Joan Andert, principal at Rosati-Kain High in the Central West End, said parents needed options. "There's no one school that's right for everybody," she said.

William Tate, professor and chairman of the department of education at Washington University, said the study didn't seem to take into consideration why families choose private schools.

"The reason you go to private schools is for social networks, not academics," he said. "Schooling is about advancement."

Tate went to a Catholic school himself, he said, and there, his family knew he couldn't possibly fall through the cracks. The school had a decades-old system set up for its graduates, he said.

Catholic colleges were waiting to catch him.

ADOLESCENT RELATIONSHIPS
High-quality adolescent friendships may come at a cost for youth with shared deviant values
Eurekalert.org

The types of friendships adolescents have often reflect their childhood relationships and predict how they do in the future. In a new study, researchers found that antisocial teenagers’ friendships tend to involve less listening, eye contact, and responsiveness, and that these teens spend more time talking about deviant topics such as substance abuse and breaking the law. However, when these adolescents are in friendships in which they interact more closely, they tend to have higher incidences of problem behavior.

The findings, by researchers at the University of Oregon, are published in the September/October 2007 issue of the journal Child Development.

In their work, the researchers observed the characteristics of friendships of three groups of adolescents representing different histories of problem behavior, such as theft, truancy, aggression toward others, and substance use. The groups included

• persistently antisocial youth with high levels of problem behavior that began in childhood and continued throughout adolescence,
• teenagers who had little problem behavior until middle adolescence, and
• adolescents with low levels of problem behavior.

At age 16, each adolescent participated with a close friend in a videotaped discussion of a variety of topics. Researchers gauged the quality of the friends’ interaction (e.g., how the friends responded to each other’s comments and listened, and whether they maintained regular eye contact) and the conversational content of the interactions (e.g., what percentage of the time the teenagers spent discussing deviant topics or positive topics such as academic achievement and helping others).

Young people who were persistently antisocial generally demonstrated lower-quality interactions in their friendships, that is, they paid less attention to one another and did not listen very carefully, and they spent much more time discussing deviant topics than the other adolescents. Interestingly, while the amount of time the teens spent discussing deviant topics generally reflected each group’s typical behavior, there were no differences between the groups in the amount of time they spent talking about positive topics, the study found.

The lower-quality relationships of these persistently antisocial youth were thought to reflect a history of poor peer relationships involving conflict and frequent rejection by others. The other adolescents, on the other hand, were more likely to have had positive early friendship experiences, allowing them to better develop the skills needed to maintain close and caring relationships with peers.

The researchers also examined how the quality of friendships and the typical topics of discussion influence problem behaviors. Looking across all the groups, those adolescents who spent a lot of time talking about deviant topics and who also had high-quality interactions with their peers were especially likely to have high levels of problem behavior, the researchers found. This finding supports the idea that friendships that are closely bonded over deviant values may more heavily influence problem behaviors.

IMMIGRANT CHILDREN
Unauthorized Youths And Higher Education: The Ongoing Debate
By Dawn Konet, Migration Policy Institute

When policymakers discuss the unauthorized population in the United States, the focus is mainly on immigrants who crossed the border as adults. Less frequently discussed are the children brought into the country illegally.

The presence of unauthorized children creates a unique set of policy problems, mainly because of their numbers. These children make up a large portion of the unauthorized population — 16 percent (2 million individuals) of the estimated 12 million unauthorized, according to analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center of US Census Bureau data.

The Forum for Youth Investment, a nonprofit dedicated to helping young people, has found that children of immigrants are the fastest growing component of the youth population, composing 44 percent of children in the United States, with an estimated quarter to a third of them unauthorized. The Urban Institute has reported that 65,000 of these unauthorized students are graduating from US high schools each year (based on estimates of the unauthorized population from the 2000 census).

These numbers and the country's emphasis on higher education make it difficult, if not impossible, for policymakers to avoid the debate on whether these students should be granted access to publicly funded higher-learning institutions.

Various state legislatures have proposed, adopted, or rejected measures to grant or deny access. In general, these bills mandate that a determination of a student's immigration status must be made before they are permitted to participate in public higher education programs. Some bills provide in-state tuition for immigrants who meet certain qualifications; other bills bar unauthorized immigrants from qualifying for in-state rates.

On the federal level, recent immigration-reform proposals in Congress have included provisions to regularize immigrant students that meet certain criteria.

Background

The federal government first addressed the issue of unauthorized students and their access to education in the 1982 Supreme Court case Plyler v. Doe. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional a Texas statute that authorized local school districts to deny enrollment to children who were not legally admitted to the country. The court found that the statute violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

In his opinion for the court, Justice William J. Brennan wrote that the statute "imposes a lifetime hardship on a discrete class of children not accountable for their disabling status. These children can neither affect their parents' conduct nor their own undocumented status."

However, this ruling applied only to unauthorized children enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade; it did not address public education beyond the 12th grade.

Fourteen years later, Congress included post-high school education in the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA). Specifically, Section 505 of IIRIRA mandates that unauthorized immigrants "shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a State for any postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit without regard to whether the citizen or national is such a resident."

While Section 505 does not explicitly prohibit states from offering unauthorized students in-state tuition, only 10 states have chosen not to apply the IIRIRA provision to tuition rates at public colleges and universities (see Table 1).

Some analysts see Section 505 as problematic because it sets a federal mandate for state residency requirements, a determination states typically make. Thus, some critics view Section 505 as an infringement on states' rights.

Furthermore, public colleges and universities generally use graduation from an in-state high school as the main criteria for residency. This is one way that the 10 states who do not apply the IIRIRA provision defend their policies to grant admission and in-state tuition to unauthorized students.

In addition, "granting" states maintain that their policies are not discriminatory or in violation of federal law because individuals from other states are also eligible for the tuition benefit once they meet the residency requirements. Many public colleges and universities simply do not determine residency based on a student's immigration status.

States that do not permit access or in-state tuition argue that unauthorized students are residents of another country, per federal law, and are ineligible to receive postsecondary education benefits based on state residence. Institutions in these states typically require students who seek resident tuition to provide evidence of US citizenship or legal immigration status. Students whose eligibility cannot be verified are classified as nonresidents for tuition purposes.

Some "denying" states, such as Arizona, also claim that, in contrast to out-of-state students, students eligible for in-state tuition do not pay the full cost of their education, which taxpayers must in turn subsidize. These states argue that US citizens should receive taxpayer subsidies before unauthorized students who are violating federal law.

Either type of law, whether its purpose is to grant or deny in-state tuition, is enforceable because both focus on legitimate arguments within the debate. "Granting" states often cite their state's residency requirements to qualify their laws; "denying" states cite Section 505 to support their policies.

These varied interpretations have resulted in discrepancies and conflicts within states and between federal and state laws. In recent years, cases on the legality of the in-state tuition issue were brought before courts in Kansas and California, both "granting" states. The Kansas federal district court and the California state court upheld the legality of each state's law. However, both cases are awaiting decision on appeal.

The Debate

At the heart of the state- and national-level debate is a conflict between pragmatism, compassion, and fairness. Most of the students in question have lived in the United States for a number of years. In nearly all cases, it was not their decision to come to the United States illegally. Yet, once they arrive, they adapt to American life, and most become fluent in English. Sociologist Richard Alba has found that English dominates among all immigrant groups by the third generation (see Bilingualism Persists, But English Still Dominates).

As graduation nears, those who want to attend state colleges or universities find they must overcome many obstacles. According to The College Board, a nonprofit membership association of education institutions, the current average cost for in-state tuition and fees at a four-year public university is $5,836; the average cost for an out-of-state resident is $9,947. In some cases, the out-of-state tuition rate is three times higher than the in-state rate.

Due to rising tuition costs, two-thirds of all college students graduate with student loan debt. Unauthorized students, however, are not eligible for federal and state loans, grants, or federal work study, and cannot legally work to support themselves while in college.

On one side of the issue are those who believe students should be permitted to attend at the in-state rate despite their status, provided they meet certain criteria. On the other side are those who actively seek to prevent unauthorized immigrants from receiving in-state tuition or attending public higher-learning institutions.

Colleges and universities generally do not take stances on political issues, but the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, an association representing over 400 public colleges, universities, and systems of higher education throughout the United States, believes that states' authority over tuition policy must be preserved and respected; the association encourages states to offer in-state tuition to qualified unauthorized students.

Other proponents of in-state tuition believe that everyone should have access to public education and access to in-state tuition if they meet residency requirements, regardless of their immigration status.

This group, which includes organizations such as the Center for Community Change and the National Council of La Raza, often argues that it is inconsistent to educate unauthorized immigrants through high school, only to deny them access to a higher education that can lead to greater social and economic mobility. They also argue that unauthorized students may be less inclined to complete high school if they believe that post-secondary education is not a feasible option.

Opponents of in-state tuition, such as the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), hold the view that tax dollars should not be used to support those in the country illegally, and argue that unauthorized immigrants should not have access to any publicly funded benefit, including higher education. Opponents also claim that granting in-state tuition encourages more illegal immigration, incurs costs to individual states, and takes enrollment slots away from citizens and legal residents.

In some "granting" states, the debates include a third side: those who do not want state and school personnel to be forced into the role of "immigration police." Some opponents of Arizona's Proposition 300 used this reason to justify their position. Proposition 300, which Arizona voters approved in November 2006, denies in-state tuition to the unauthorized.

Analyzing Arguments on Both Sides

Those who support granting in-state tuition benefits to the unauthorized believe that doing so can lead to greater social and economic mobility for this group. The available data back up this argument.

Earnings increase significantly as a worker's level of education rises. According to the US Census Bureau, people with a bachelor's degree earn nearly twice as much on average than those with only a high school diploma.

Based on estimates by the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey 2007 Annual Social and Economic Supplement, college graduates (those with a bachelor's degree and higher) in 2006 earned an average of 263 percent more than high school graduates. The median annual earnings for college graduates (bachelor's degree and higher) in 2006 were $66,828, compared to $27,384 for high school graduates.

In addition, the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the unemployment rate among people who hold professional degrees is significantly lower than that of people with only a high school diploma. In 2006, the average unemployment rate was 4.3 percent for high school graduates and 2.3 percent for those with a bachelor’s degree.

The primary barrier to higher education is the cost. Unauthorized students who do not have the financial means (or permission) to attend college are left with few career options. It is likely that many eventually join the workforce as unauthorized workers (see the Pew Hispanic Center's report "The Size and Characteristics of the Unauthorized Migrant Population in the U.S.").

Those who oppose granting in-state tuition benefits to unauthorized students contend that doing so costs state schools too much. Yet, for a number of reasons, it is difficult to determine the cost to public colleges and universities of educating unauthorized students.

First, because of their unauthorized status, it is virtually impossible to determine a precise figure for the unauthorized immigrant population, including those who are students.

Second, many schools tend to lump noncitizen students into one category that encompasses both authorized and unauthorized noncitizens. This practice does not allow schools or states to separate unauthorized students for the purpose of calculating costs of their education.

Third, because tuition costs at public institutions vary across the country and within individual states, it is impossible to determine an "average" cost of educating unauthorized students, even if colleges and universities were to keep figures on these students specifically.

State Action

The "granting" states generally require unauthorized immigrants to establish residency by attending a local high school for two to four years (with most requiring three), graduating or earning a high-school equivalency in that state, and signing an affidavit promising to legalize their immigration status as soon as they are eligible. Nebraska was the most recent state to enact such legislation, passing a measure in late 2006.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, several states have recently considered or are considering bills to grant in-state tuition for immigrants who meet certain qualifications, while others would bar unauthorized immigrants from receiving in-state tuition. In late August 2007, Republican state legislators in Virginia introduced a bill that would prohibit Virginia's public colleges and universities from admitting unauthorized immigrants altogether, even if they attended a public high school.

Since Proposition 300 passed, unauthorized students in Arizona are no longer eligible for in-state tuition rates and are barred from accessing state-subsidized programs for adult education. As of December 2006, Arizona's public college and university students seeking in-state tuition rates must prove they are citizens or legal residents through a verification process.

Federal Action

Repealing Section 505 of IIRIRA would restore the rights of states to determine residency for public education benefits and allow them to decide whether to offer resident tuition rates to unauthorized students.

The Development, Relief, and Education of Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, introduced in Congress several times since 2005, would repeal Section 505. It would also provide immigration relief to unauthorized students by permitting adjustment to lawful permanent resident (LPR) status "certain long-term residents who entered the United States as children" (prior to the age 16), provided they meet the criteria.

According to analysis by the Migration Policy Institute, 715,000 youth between the ages of 5 and 17, as well as 360,000 high school graduates ages 18 to 24, would become eligible for adjustment of status sometime in the future under the Dream Act. In fact, most immigrant students who have grown up and graduated from US high schools would be eligible.

Adjustment to LPR status, in addition to placing students on a path to citizenship, would make these students eligible for resident tuition benefits (provided they meet the state's residency requirements) and federal financial aid. This would include Pell grants, Stafford education loans, federal work study, and other entitlements that fall under the Higher Education Act of 1965.

The Dream Act of 2007 was reintroduced in the Senate earlier this year by Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL), one of the provision's original sponsors, and was incorporated into the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007.  Since the Senate was unable to reach consensus, the bill died on the Senate floor in June. Subsequent attempts to attach the Dream Act to pending legislation also failed; no further debate on the Dream Act is currently scheduled in the Senate.

Members of the House of Representatives have also included Dream Act provisions in House proposals, such as the Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy (STRIVE) Act, the Education Access for Rightful Noncitizens (EARN) Act, and the American Dream Act. All three proposals were referred to the appropriate committees. The House is unlikely to bring the Strive Act to a floor debate; the other bills with Dream Act provisions currently remain in committee and await further action.

Dream Act opponents do not want the government to grant a public benefit to a group that violated federal law. The terrorist attacks of 9/11, as well as the federal government's perceived inability to secure the border and reach a consensus on comprehensive immigration reform, have created considerable anti-immigrant sentiment throughout the country, particularly toward unauthorized immigrants. This is apparent from an increase in unauthorized immigrant-targeted proposals throughout the country.

Supporters of Dream Act proposals argue that, without in-state tuition rates, talented students will not be able to pursue the American dream. These supporters contend that for most unauthorized students, in-state tuition is the only affordable way to attend college, and since many of these students could eventually gain legal residency, it makes sense to allow them to further their education in the interim.

Some supporters, including the National Association for College Admission Counseling, argue that the Dream Act would provide a powerful incentive for unauthorized students to stay in school, since the tuition and citizenship benefits would only be available to high school graduates.

Looking Ahead

The Supreme Court in Plyler established a precedent that unauthorized youths should not be held accountable for their status, nor do they have the means to affect their status. The question is whether college-aged youths should be granted access to higher education under the same precedent.

Passage of the Dream Act would put eligible unauthorized students on a path to legal residency, which would in many cases negate the resident/nonresident argument.

However, it is likely that, if the Dream Act passed, individual states and public education institutions within those states would still determine the residency requirements that a student must meet in order to receive resident tuition.

If a Dream Act provision is not passed, state legislatures will likely continue to propose legislation to grant or deny in-state tuition to unauthorized students, and the federal-versus-state power struggle will remain unresolved.

CALIFORNIA
Governor to sign five new laws aimed at fighting gang violence
A statewide office will coordinate anti-crime efforts, focusing on rehabilitation. Recent increases in violence inspired the legislation.
October 11, 2007
By Patrick McGreevy, Latimes.com

Addressing the plague of gang violence in California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will sign five bills aimed at stemming the tide of killings, including the creation of a state office of gang and youth violence policy to oversee the efforts, a spokesman said Wednesday.

Other bills scheduled to receive the governor's signature today will allow judges to order parents of gang members to attend anti-violence classes, improve protection to witnesses of gang killings and arm prosecutors with power to evict gang members caught in possession of weapons in apartment buildings used as hangouts.

The governor's office also announced that Schwarzenegger had signed 79 bills Wednesday, including measures to protect the publicity rights of dead celebrities and to prohibit smoking in cars where minors are passengers.

He vetoed 26 bills Wednesday, including a proposal to require children up to 8 years old to use special car seats.

A rash of gang violence in Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento and other major cities drew the attention of state lawmakers this year, resulting in nearly a dozen bills aimed at the problem.

In anticipation of the bill creating a new gang office, Schwarzenegger had already appointed former federal prosecutor Paul Seave to serve as a kind of gang czar, heading the office and coordinating various plans of attack against street gangs.

"A key component of this anti-gang bill package focuses on the rehabilitation of vulnerable youth who are often coerced through fear and intimidation into joining gangs," Seave said Wednesday.

The office will be responsible for identifying and evaluating state and local gang and youth violence programs and helping to secure federal grants for the effort.

Last year's 14% growth in gang violence in Los Angeles sparked much of the legislation, including a bill by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles), which creates the new gang office. Nuñez noted that Los Angeles has become the gang capital of the world, with more than 700 gangs involving 40,000 members.

One of the bills earning the governor's signature allows prosecutors in Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Diego, Oakland and Sacramento to bring eviction action against tenants for illegal weapons possession in cases when the landlord is unwilling or afraid to act. That bill, AB 1013, was sought by the Los Angeles city attorney's office, which has launched an effort to close down apartment buildings used as gang headquarters.

The governor is also signing a bill that beefs up witness relocation programs, giving the state attorney general authority to coordinate with and reimburse local agencies that provide protection to those testifying against gang members. Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) wrote the legislation, SB 594.

Schwarzenegger is also approving legislation allowing judges who sentence juvenile gang offenders to order the parents to attend classes to learn how to keep their children from engaging in gang violence.

The legislation, AB 1291 by Assemblyman Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia), calls for a curriculum that would include a meeting between the parents and families of victims of gang violence.

Another bill expands policies on juvenile offenders in state custody to provide for education programs to promote family ties and personal responsibility. It calls for the creation of a system to allow juveniles behind bars to more easily make telephone calls to families so their support network is encouraged.

The legislation, AB 1300 by Assemblyman Curren Price Jr. (D-Inglewood), requires the division of juvenile programs in the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to pursue programs to educate youthful offenders in ways that promote family ties. It also is supposed to restore communication and emphasize that young offenders take accountability for their crime victims.

In other actions Wednesday, Schwarzenegger:

• Signed SB 7 by Sen. Jenny Oropeza (D-Long Beach), which sets a $100 fine for people caught smoking in cars when minors are present, starting Jan. 1.
• Signed a bill prohibiting law enforcement and court officials from selling or soliciting for sale any photos or confidential information obtained in the course of their work on celebrities and others. AB 920 by Assemblywoman Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica) was denounced by media rights groups as the Mel Gibson and Paris Hilton protection act.
• Signed a "truth in music" bill, AB 702 by Assemblyman Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge), which prohibits individuals from performing live music under the name of a recorded group unless the performers hold a trademark, at least one of the performers was a member of the original group, the event is advertised as a tribute or the performing group has prior authorization.

"Now California audiences will know that they're getting what they paid for when they go to see a show, and the musical pioneers of the doo-wop era, as well as all musical groups from now on, can rest assured that their legacy is safe from this insidious kind of identity theft," said John "Bowzer" Bauman, formerly with the 1970s group Sha Na Na.

• Vetoed AB 881 by Assemblyman Gene Mullin (D-San Mateo), which would have increased the age of children required to use car seats from 6 to 8. He said in his veto message that "a better strategy is to move toward full compliance with the laws we already have."
• Vetoed AB 701 by Assemblyman Hector De La Torre (D-South Gate), which would have allowed city councils in dozens of small cities to vote to double their salaries. "The citizens must be given the opportunity to decide through a vote of the people whether their city council members should be compensated at a higher rate," the governor wrote.
• Rejected SB 152 by Sen. Dean Florez (D-Shafter), which would have allowed a 45% increase in the number of gaming tables that some card clubs could operate without requiring voter approval. The bill, he said, would have created "a significant exemption to the current moratorium on expanding local gaming establishments."

The governor has until Sunday to act on bills sent to him by the Legislature.

ILLINOIS
Teen drinking graduates by grade
Myriad anti-alcohol programs available, but parents ultimately at center
October 14, 2007
By Susan Kaufman, Register-mail.com

Sarah, 43, considers herself a good parent and has a close bond with her two children. She says she is a strict parent, a devout Christian and allows her kids to drink alcohol in her home.

"I absolutely let my daughter drink alcohol at home when she was in high school and attending Carl Sandburg College," said Sarah. "I have a son in eighth grade now and I know when the time comes, I will do the same for him."

Sarah is not her real name. She requested her identity be hidden not because she is ashamed of her beliefs she said, but to prevent unfair judgment of her children.

"If people want to judge me, that is one thing," she said. "But I can see some teachers and parents taking it out on my son and we haven't even crossed that bridge yet."

Sarah said her oldest daughter, now 23, drank alcohol at home with friends on several occasions. "I never bought liquor for her and her friends - not once. And they never drove once they were drinking."

"Face it. We are not going to stop teens from drinking," she said. "Having a parent supervising them makes them more responsible. There are no drinking games or heavy drinking. It doesn't become a big deal."

"It isn't like I am going to say to my son, 'Why don't you invite some friends over for some beer.' But if he gets into a situation where he will be drinking somewhere, I would rather it be here at home," she said.

"I guess it probably does make drinking more acceptable and more accessible. But from what I have seen, those kids that grow up where alcohol is forbidden end up being the worst drinkers. At least when they are here, I am in control and can monitor what is going on."

That mind set may be common among some parents and, according to officials, that is a problem.

Galesburg High School Assistant Principal Brett Wolfe said he has seen a broader acceptance of teenage drinking in the 10 years he has worked in the school district. "We hear parents say, 'They are going to do it anyway, so it might as well be at our house' but it is still illegal," Wolfe said. "To a degree, the message parents are sending to kids is that even though you are breaking the law, we will look past it."

Social Host Law

According to Galesburg police, a parent allowing their child to drink small amounts of alcohol in their own home is not illegal. But when a parent allows their teen to drink excessively or permits other peoples' teens to drink in their home, it becomes illegal.

"A parent could be charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor or providing unsafe living conditions," said Galesburg Police Capt. Lindsey May. He acknowledged that homeowners' constitutional rights make enforcing those laws difficult. "In most cases, we can't just go into someone's home if we suspect underage drinking happening."

However, felony charges could be filed against adults who knowingly allow underage drinking and someone is killed or injured under a new law signed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The new social host law calls for one to three years in prison and up to $25,000 in fines for offenders.

The bill amends the Liquor Control Act by changing parents' and guardians' liability and punishment for incidents of underage alcohol consumption in the home. The new legislation increases the penalty to a Class 4 felony for a parent if they allowed underage drinking in their home and bodily harm or death resulted. This would include an underage drunk driving crash, alcohol poisoning and other incidents leading to injury or death involving an underage drinker. An exception is allowed for a parent who provides alcohol to underage individuals for religious observance.

"We have been extremely fortunate that we have not had a fatal accident due to drinking involving a GHS student that I can remember," said Joe Luna, Galesburg High School liaison officer. "It is a bad sign if it takes a fatality for people to wake up to this problem."

What's the big deal with teen drinking?

"Teen drinking is a problem for many reasons," explained Cheryl Geitner, University of Illinois Extension Youth Development and Family Life educator. "For one, we know that alcohol is the gateway to other drugs."

Alcohol use among youth is also correlated with violence, risky sexual behavior and poor academic performance. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, traffic crashes are the number one killer of teens and over one-third of teen traffic deaths are alcohol related.

Teens tend to drink in dorm rooms, in isolated fields or unsupervised house parties without adult supervision that can result in excessive drinking. Examples of teen drinking problems are evidenced in some recent Galesburg Police Department reports.

In late September, an underage Knox College co-ed went to the emergency room after drinking alcohol at a party. She told police officers she experienced several black-outs and thought she might have been raped.

An 18-year-old from Abingdon was arrested for illegal consumption of alcohol by a minor in mid-June. After his release from jail, he stole a truck, drove it at high speeds and crashed it in the town square. The teen was not seriously injured. The truck was totalled and damage was done to trees and the flag pole on the square.

Last weekend, a male teen without identification was dropped off by two women at a local emergency room. The teen, who had a blood alcohol level over three times the legal limit, was unconscious for a long period of time before being able to tell medical staff his name.

Teen drinking trends in Knox County

A 2006 youth survey conducted by the Knox County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition showed not only are local youth starting alcohol use earlier, they are also drinking in record numbers.

The survey was given to Knox County sixth-, eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders. Geitner said the survey found a surprising number of sixth-graders had consumed alcohol. Twenty-three percent of sixth-graders admitted to alcohol use at least one time during the previous year and 13 percent admitted to using alcohol during the previous month.

Those numbers increased dramatically with higher grades. By grade 12, 69 percent of area students said they used alcohol at least once over the previous year.

"We, as a task force and community, need to look at the big picture," Geitner said. "Why do they drink and how do they get it? What factors, such as community, social and environmental factors contribute to teen drinking? And what are the social norms that make alcohol use acceptable?"

"One of the biggest challenges we face is the 'We did it as kids' attitude. It is scary. People just don't think of the liabilities."

Geitner said the task force looks at many risk factors as to why kids drink and also takes a pro-active approach by looking for possible solutions to reverse the trend.

City compliance checks

"Before we started the task force, there were no compliance checks done at businesses who sell liquor," Geitner said. "We have worked with local businesses and provided training so the staff knows they need to ask for ID when someone buys liquor."

Alcohol compliance checks are conducted by the GPD once a month and target every business in town that sells alcohol including liquor stores, gas stations and grocery stores.

Luna said fines for owners and clerks have doubled since the department started conducting the checks in 2004.

"The clerk that sells to a minor gets fined and the liquor license holder, usually the business manager, also gets a ticket," Luna said. The fine for a first offense is $300. The second offense carries a fine of up to $500 and a possible one day suspension for the business.

Galesburg Mayor Gary Smith said the compliance checks have helped tremendously.

"We have shut a couple of businesses down for a day," he said. "I think all (liquor) providers know of the shutdowns and take it seriously. It's an embarrassment to the business and hurts them financially."

So far, no Galesburg business has been shut down for more than one day at a time but Smith said if a business would be non-compliant continuously and flagrantly, he would shut them down for up to five days. "By law, I can shut them down for up to 30 days, which would essentially put them out of business."

Hy-Vee Wine and Spirits manager Darren Henninger said the laws that hold businesses and employees responsible for selling alcohol to minors are a positive step.

"The laws and fines are making many businesses become more conscientious about it all," Henninger said. "When we opened, we had employee training which helped tremendously." Henninger said Hy-Vee's policy is to card anyone who looks younger than 30. "It is better to be on caution's side."

"Increasing fines for these offenses brings needed attention to the problem," Luna said. "We need to do all we can to keep alcohol out of kids' hands."

Luna said the alcohol compliance checks are an effective tool in keeping alcohol out of teens' hands. "It definitely does not solve the problem though," he said. "We know that teens still get alcohol from older siblings and friends."

Luna said he also supports a city keg registry that is in the early stages of development. "Basically, anyone who purchases a keg of beer would have to provide a phone number and address," Luna explained. That information would be available to police officers who could then track the kegs and crack down on underage drinking.

Tracking alcohol

The TrAIL (Tracking Alcohol in Illinois) Program is another program designed to hold accountable those who provide alcohol to individuals younger than 21.

A TrAIL investigation occurs when underage alcohol consumption is suspected in an incident that results in serious consequences such as alcohol poisonings and overdoses, or other events which cause serious injuries or deaths. If the above criteria are met, first responding officers on the scene call a 24-hour hotline number to deploy a TrAIL investigator, who assists the responding officer in the collection of evidence and pursues a line of questioning to determine where the alcohol was purchased or served.

Knox County Sheriff David Clague said although Knox County does not have an officer strictly devoted to tracking alcohol, it is a priority to investigate if an incident occurs.

Illinois State Police District 7 Safety Education officer Jason Wilson said the ISP also takes teen alcohol tracking seriously.

"If officers on a scene of an accident can't find out where the liquor came from, we turn it over to investigators," Wilson explained. "We are not always successful, but it is a priority."

Illinois counties currently involved in the program are Sangamon, Jackson, Kane, McHenry, Jo Daviess, Carroll, Whiteside and Kendall.

The program will continue to be expanded into additional counties, with an ultimate goal of being made available statewide in the near future.

Communication is key

"The fact is, teen drinking has been going on forever and will continue to be around," said Mayor Smith. "We are limited as lawmakers on what we can do. Ultimately, I believe the first responsibility is not with the city, it is with the parents."

Smith said many people want to government to do more and more but nothing beats the communication between the teen and parents.

"I would implore citizens to sit down and talk to teens about teen drinking and the life-long problems that can result," said Smith. "As parents, we need to stay one step ahead of our kids."

Geitner agreed. "We know that kids and parents are not communicating enough about this," she said. "Parents are the hardest group to reach - it's tough, but kids do listen."

Risk Factors for Teen Drinking

• Anti-social behavior
• Alienation and rebelliousness
• Early use
• Distant, uninvolved and inconsistent parenting
• Unclear family rules, expectations and rewards
• Association with peers who engage in problem behaviors
• School transitions
• Academic failure
• Long work hours
• Poverty
• Permissive community laws
• Media influences

Protective Factors

• Good problem solving skills and intellectual abilities
• Self-esteem and personal responsibility
• Well-developed social and interpersonal skills
• Religious commitment
• A close relationship with an adult
• A close friend
• Positive school experiences
• A supportive community

PENNSYLVANIA
From bullying springs more hate, violence
October 12, 2007
By Dan Hardy, Philly.com

The 14-year-old former Colonial School District student arrested yesterday after police found weapons in his home was plotting to "take revenge on society," because he saw himself as the victim of bullying, Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. said yesterday.

Neighborhood children said that the boy, when he was in sixth grade, had been harassed by other students because of his weight, said Sally Black, a school district resident and an assistant professor of health services at St. Joseph's University who is an expert on youth violence. The boy's parents decided to home-school him 18 months ago.

"My understanding is that students mumbled nasty names about his weight as they walked past his desk," Black said, referring to what she learned from his classmates.

The arrest is one more grim reminder that bullying, once regarded by many districts as a problem between two students, has emerged as one of the root causes of school shootings.

That belief is borne out by a 2000 Secret Service report on the prevention of school attacks that said in two-thirds of the shooting cases studied, the attacker had felt persecuted, bullied, threatened, attacked, or injured before the incident. Many had experienced long-standing and severe bullying and harassment, which some attackers described as "torment."

On Wednesday in Cleveland, 14-year-old Asa H. Coon wounded four people at his school before killing himself. Reports indicate that he was bullied.

According to the Stop Bullying Now! Web site, sponsored by the National Bullying Prevention Campaign, studies show that 15 percent to 25 percent of students are bullied with some frequency, while 15 percent to 20 percent report that they bully others.

In an effort to combat bullying, State Sen. Connie Williams (D., Montgomery) has proposed that Pennsylvania school districts must adopt anti-bullying policies.

"Student bullying is much more than name-calling or shoving on the playground," she said. "It is the underlying cause of school violence, truancy, and even teen suicide. To begin to lower the statistics on these types of events, we need to address the underlying cause."

It's an issue the district must take seriously, said Black, who said she was frustrated several years ago when her son, also a student in the Colonial District, had been "severely victimized" and it was dismissed by an administrator as "joking" between kids.

"I came back and said that's not good enough," Black said. "This was bullying, and it had to be stopped."

She said of the boy arrested yesterday: "We can't just blame this child for what's happened. We have to look at ourselves as adults and say, 'How could this have been prevented?' "

While the district has many anti-bullying initiatives, Black said, she is not convinced that they are far-reaching enough. "You need to change the whole environment so that teachers, when they see the put-downs, say they will not tolerate that behavior," she said.

Cassandra DeLong, the Colonial School District's pupil services director, said yesterday that the district is serious about taking on bullying.

Plymouth Whitemarsh High School is in the second year of using a "No Place for Hate" program that is certified by the Anti-Defamation League. The program is also at the middle school this year. And there is a "Challenge" assembly put on at the middle school that challenges students to stop bullying.

DeLong said the district would be forming a task force to "take a hard look at our programs and make sure we are using the most effective one."

She added: "We are very much engaged in that process. . . . We are not in the dark about it."

CALIFORNIA
Bill to Provide Critical Support to Disabled Foster Youth Passes; Awaits Governor's Signature
Coastalpost.com

Severely disabled foster youth may begin receiving critical income support upon emancipation out of foster care if legislation that was passed by the Assembly and the Senate early this morning is signed by the Governor.

The legislation is Assembly Bill 1331, authored by Assemblymember Noreen Evans, would create a safety net for severely physically and mentally disabled foster youth who are exiting the state's foster care system by requiring county child welfare agencies to screen all youth at age 16 for a mental or physical disability and apply for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for those who are likely to qualify. SSI is a federal program that provides monthly cash benefit to our nation's most vulnerable: disabled children and adults with limited or no income.

According to Staff Attorney Angie Schwartz of the Public Interest Law Project in Oakland, up to 15% of these youth suffer from a serious physical or mental disability, and yet the vast majority of these youth are exiting foster care without SSI in place. "Without financial supports in place, these youth will likely become homeless or incarcerated, beginning a chronic cycle of poverty. We can stop this cycle by ensuring that youth emancipate with the critical support of SSI."

"SSI is a critical resource for youth leaving foster care that are too disabled to work, often because of the very abuse or neglect which landed them in care at the outset. However, many leave foster care without SSI in place because currently no one is charged with assessing foster youth for eligibility for SSI and assisting youth with the arduous application process," according to Attorney Laura Streimer, from the Alliance for Children's Rights, which together with the Public Interest Law Project, California Child Welfare Director's Association and the John Burton Foundation for Children Without Homes is a co-sponsor of the legislation.

"With this legislation, California is on the forefront of providing the support and aid that severely disabled foster youth need to make a safe and successful transition out of foster care," says Cathy Senderling, Legislative Advocate for the California Welfare Directors Association. While many other states have made some effort to screen and assess foster youth for SSI eligibility, "California will be the only state that will ensure that these benefits are in place at the point of emancipation, when foster youth really need the assistance."

"This legislation is not only good policy, it is a cost savings. Homelessness, incarceration and unemployment have real costs for the taxpayers of California," according to Amy Lemley, Policy Director of the John Burton Foundation. "Failing to help foster youth with disabilities make a successful transition is short-term thinking that is irresponsible and expensive."

The Governor has until October 14th to sign AB 1331.

RHODE ISLAND
Teens tell Senate panel how cuts will hurt them
October 10, 2007
By Steve Peoples, Projo.com

The teenagers who gathered in Room 313 last night are confused.

They fear they are about to lose their homes, their access to education, their ability to see a doctor. They fear they are about to lose contact with the social workers and counselors they consider family.

“If this bill passes I will no longer have a place to live,” 19-year-old Felicia Hernandez told the handful of state senators convened yesterday afternoon at the State House for a special meeting of the Senate Health and Services Committee. “If this bill passes I will not be able to go to college.”

Hernandez didn’t understand that the law that reduces services to 18-to-21-year-olds in state care was passed by the General Assembly three months ago. She didn’t understand that the committee hearing yesterday was simply to help lawmakers study the effect of the social-service cuts enacted in the state budget.

The truth is that Hernandez and an estimated 600 others like her probably won’t immediately lose state-subsidized health care, housing or even access to a free education, according to Department of Children, Youth and Families Director Patricia Martinez.

The new policy eliminates the role of the Family Court from the young adults’ lives. But it requires the state to provide some services. No one seems to know, however, exactly what those services will be.

Hernandez, who was taken from her home when she was 12, knows only that her caseworker said, “I’d be closed to the court but I’d stay in DCYF custody, which I really didn’t understand.”

Hernandez, 18-year-old Soniya Bhogal and 18-year-old Camden O’Brien waited almost three hours to testify at yesterday’s hearing. They are among the hundreds young adults whose lives are in limbo as they wait for state officials to sort out the new law, which is now on hold pending Supreme Court review.

Martinez, who had also testified at the three previous committee hearings on her department, told the panel that her agency was facing a daunting task. Struggling to close a massive budget deficit, the General Assembly ordered the DCYF to continue caring for 18-to-21-year-olds, but cut the program’s budget roughly in half.

The budget was passed at the end of June and a streamlined system designed to care for the same number of young adults with half the resources was supposed to be in place this fall.

“We were asked to transform a system of 30 years in less than three months,” Martinez told the committee yesterday.

The DCYF has been given some extra time to develop a transition plan, however.

In a test case in July, Family Court Chief Judge Jeremiah S. Jeremiah Jr. rejected the DCYF’s attempt to end Family Court involvement with Kenneth K., a 20-year-old group home resident.

The state Supreme Court declined to overrule Jeremiah, but has agreed to review the case.

“The case is not expected to be heard anytime soon,” court spokesman Craig Berke said yesterday. “The court only recently agreed to hear it. Now there is a process of document filings, briefs and conferences before it gets to oral arguments…There has been no move to expedite this case.”

The DCYF has successfully dropped 59 young adults from state-subsidized care since the law was passed, Martinez confirmed yesterday, although the department “terminated” the cases using justification based on the old law. Specifically, the state moves to end involvement when young adults can be safely moved back to their families.

The future of the vast majority of the 18-to-21-year-olds in state custody will depend on the Supreme Court ruling.

If the new law is cleared by the court, Rhode Island would be the only state in New England not to offer court oversight to children in state care after their 18th birthday, according to Lisa Guillette, executive director of the Rhode Island Foster Parents Association.

Nationally, 24 states have extended court oversight to youth raised in foster care beyond the age of 18, according to a 2004 study by the American Bar Association’s Center on Children and the Law. Seventeen of those states extended protection to children until age 21.

Under Rhode Island’s previous system, children in DCYF custody had a court-appointed advocate to oversee their care. Significant changes regarding placement or services proposed by the DCYF often required the approval of the advocate and the Family Court.

The law also allowed the 18-to-21-year-olds to attend college for free. This year, taxpayers are covering the college education of 92 young adults, most of whom attend the Community College of Rhode Island, according to Martinez.

“There are children going to college now, but I think we’re going to lose a substantial number of them if they don’t continue to have the support and encouragement of the people who guided them thus far,” said Ross Harris, of the state’s Court Appointed Special Advocate program.

“What is this about getting rid of the court? Is it so nobody can see what happens later?” he asked. “We have made them. We have shaped them. We have separated them from their former communities. And now the day comes when they are on the threshold of adulthood…we’re saying, ‘Go out and make it now on your own.’ We’re not helping them over that threshold.”

Hernandez, who hopes to become a nurse, has just that fear.

“We will lose support systems such as counselors and caseworkers who have been there with us through the good times and, more importantly, the bad times,” she told the committee. “Without families we will be left on our own.”

CONGRESS
Congress to Probe Youth Boot Camps
October 10, 2007
By Nancy Zuckerbrod, Time.com

A federal investigator and parents whose children died at youth boot camps urged other families Wednesday to avoid enrolling teens in such programs until there is more oversight of them.

"Buyer beware," said Greg Kutz, who led a congressional investigation into the camps. "You really don't know what you're getting."

The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, found thousands of allegations of abuse, some of which involved death, at boot camps, also referred to as residential treatment programs, since the early 1990s.

Kutz, who led the investigation, said the GAO closely examined 10 closed cases where a teenager died while enrolled in one of these programs.

"Ineffective program management played a key role in most of these deaths," Kutz testified before the House Education and Labor Committee.

He said the staff at the facilities was often poorly trained, and kids weren't properly fed and were exposed to dangerous conditions. He said teenagers' cries for medical assistance or help were ignored.

Kutz said in only one of the 10 cases studied closely was anyone found criminally liable and sentenced to serve prison time.

Residential treatment programs are slickly marketed to parents who are at a loss as to how to help an emotionally troubled teen, Kutz said. In the cases he studied, "The parents were pretty much told what they wanted to hear," Kutz said.

Bob Bacon, of Phoenix, Ariz., whose son Aaron died while enrolled in a wilderness program in Utah, said he was fooled by the owners of that facility into believing his son would be well cared for.

"We were conned by their fraudulent claims and will go to our graves regretting our gullibility," he said.

Bacon said his son was forced to hike eight to 10 miles a day with inadequate nutrition and was not given protective gear to withstand freezing temperatures. When Aaron complained of severe stomach pains and asked for a doctor, his pleas were ignored even though he had dramatically lost weight and suffered from other serious symptoms, his father testified. Aaron died of an acute infection related to a perforated ulcer.

These residential programs can be privately run or state-led programs and sometimes include an educational or school-like component.

They are loosely regulated by states. There are no federal laws that define and regulate them.

Republicans and Democrats in Congress said Wednesday that federal legislation may now be necessary to better ensure the safety of children enrolled in such programs.

Jan Moss, executive director of the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs, a trade group, said many kids have been helped by residential treatment programs.

She said the industry was taking steps to improve. "Clearly we still have a very long way to go," she said.