Youth in the News
Volume 2, Number 19, December 1-15 , 2007
Contents
State Watch
Research
Government
STATE WATCH
- Experts on youth violence advocate for investing in prevention and early intervention programs.
- New York City is providing workshops to teach young people and youth service providers about abusive and healthy relationships.
- In Arkansas, a transitional living program that teaches homeless girls life skills offers services to girls 13 to 22.
- Native American youth express their desire to be more involved in community decision-making processes and their need for caring adult relationships.
- In Napa, California, a youth-run organization, the first of its kind, provides housing, education and employment programs for youth aging out of foster care.
- A Boulder, Colorado charter school teaches anger management, communications skill and conflict resolution to students that are truant, expelled, dropouts, or have been involved in the criminal justice system.
- A school district in Denver, Colorado created 17 distinct programs for its seven different high schools.
- Experts debate whether or not the juvenile justice system is the right place to manage drug treatment for teens in this audio conference sponsored by the Urban Institute.
RESEARCH
- A new study shows that kids are taking more time to transition into adulthood.
- Research shows that foster youth who remain in care after the age of 18 transition more successfully to adulthood.
GOVERNMENT
- A Georgia legislator is going to introduce legislation addressing the treatment of juvenile offenders as adults.
- A committee in Michigan hears testimony on legislation requiring parental consent for anyone under the age of 18 to use a tanning bed.
- If Congress adopts legislation allowing the FDA to control tobacco products, proposals claim that it could help states like Ohio saves billions of dollars in health care costs.
- State and local officials in New Jersey are analyzing how the state prosecutes and sentences juvenile offenders.
- The North Carolina General Assembly is studying the possibility of raising the age juvenile offenders are treated like adults from 16 to 18.
- Alaska plans to address underage drinking in the next legislative session.
ARTICLES
YOUTH VIOLENCE
Experts on youth violence: Intervene early or pay dearly later
December 7, 2007
By Ashley Broughton, CNN.com
A college student embarks on a shooting spree, taking 32 lives. A teenager with an assault rifle opens fire on holiday shoppers in a department store in middle America. And, long before that, two youths turn the halls of their high school into a virtual abattoir, leaving some 13 dead before killing themselves.
Blame for the explosion of violence by teenagers and young adults in recent years has fallen on everything from the breakdown of families to video games, from lax security to violent music.
In reality, experts say, a variety of societal factors is behind youth violence. But, they maintain, it is not an unavoidable consequence of life in the 21st century: It can be reduced, if not prevented entirely, through programs aimed at increasing awareness and education, reducing the stigma sometimes associated with mental illness or depression, and providing youth with the skills and confidence needed to handle difficulties.
"We've learned a lot about what works," said Tom Simon, deputy associate director for science for the Centers for Disease Control's Division of Violence Prevention. "There's only so much we can do as a society to keep the places where we gather safe -- metal detectors, guards, cameras. The need, really, is to focus on primary prevention. We need to start early."
'At least I can be notorious'
Youth violence rocketed to the forefront of American consciousness in 1999, when Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 12 of their fellow Columbine High School students and a teacher before turning their guns on themselves. The two live on in cyberspace, where they have gained a cultlike following among disgruntled youth -- and continue to inspire similar acts, experts say.
"A large number of people over the Internet ... idolize Klebold and Harris and consider them to be heroes," Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney Bruce Castor said last month. Castor was speaking about a case in which a 14-year-old was arrested and accused of plotting to launch a Columbine-style attack at his former high school.
That youth, Dillon Cossey, had contact via computer with Finnish teenager Pekka-Eric Auvinen, who on November 7 killed eight people at his high school outside Helsinki before committing suicide.
The two discussed their admiration for Klebold and Harris, as well as their interest in violent role-playing computer games, Castor said.
Louis Schlesinger, a forensic psychologist and professor of psychology at New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice, pointed out that President John F. Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. were both on the cover of Newsweek magazine once.
"Klebold and Harris were on the cover of Newsweek twice," he said. "What does that tell you?"
Teenagers and young adults, he said, got the message loud and clear. A suicide note left by Robert Hawkins, the 19-year-old gunman behind Wednesday's shootings at an Omaha, Nebraska, department store, says that he had been "a piece of sh-- all his life and that now he'd be famous," according to the woman who found it.
"He's thinking, 'OK -- I'm a nobody, I'm treated like dirt, at least I can be notorious,'" said Ralph Larkin, a research associate and adjunct professor at John Jay College and the author of the book "Comprehending Columbine." "That's what he thought when he went into the mall."
Hawkins killed eight people before turning his rifle on himself.
Seung-Hui Cho, a Virginia Tech student who in April killed 32 students and faculty before shooting himself to death, was also fixated on Columbine, something noted in his middle and high school records.
Although there is an undeniable rise in youth violence in the past 30 years, Schlesinger points out that life in general is different than decades ago -- in schools and in families. For instance, there are more single-parent families, and in two-parent families, both parents are more likely to work outside the home. Those societal shifts have a ripple effect that may have unintended consequences, he said.
"It's in every area of society. It's so different."
In many cases, rampage shooters -- like Klebold and Harris -- are seeking revenge "for usually a long history of victimization, public humiliation, being bullied," Larkin said.
Or they may feel repeatedly rejected. According to Debora Maruca-Kovac, who let Hawkins live with her after he experienced problems at home, the teen was "kind of like a pound puppy nobody wanted."
He recently had broken up with his girlfriend, she said, and lost his job the day of the mall shootings. He previously had withdrawn from school, and was turned down when he attempted to join the Army.
Hundreds of thousands of youth have similar experiences yet do not become violent, Schlesinger notes.
And "the majority of people with mental illness are not violent," said Terry Cline, an administrator with the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). "The majority of violence we see in our country is committed by people who are not mentally ill. There are millions of people in our country who are living successfully with mental illness."
However, in nearly every case of rampage shootings by youths, a clear pattern emerges -- after it's too late.
Warning signs of emotional disturbance are usually there, Cline said. But those who see it -- typically a youth's friends or fellow students -- are "not quite sure what to do with that."
In addition, he said, the stigma still attached to mental disturbances prevents people from asking for help or talking to someone about it.
"We want to make certain that people have a better understanding of those early warning signs and know what to look for," Cline said.
Critical support
There are ways, both in and out of the classroom, to ensure that children don't grow into troubled, violent youths, experts maintain. And research has proved their effectiveness.
"There really is the potential if you start early and work with these kids," Simon said. "There really is promise for primary prevention."
Larkin advocates the need for a "peace education program" built into school curriculums that focuses on non-violent conflict resolution as well as issues such as bullying. "We have to build much stronger support networks for kids," he said.
Students who participate in such a universal school program -- aimed at impacting all the children in a school, not just those who are at risk for future violence -- have shown a 15 percent relative reduction in violent behavior, Simon said.
SAMHSA has launched a program called "What a Difference A Friend Makes," Cline said. It is aimed at educating young people on the signs of mental illness and emotional disturbance and encouraging them to provide support to friends who may be experiencing difficulty, rather than becoming awkward and uncomfortable and turning away.
"Their support may be critical to that person's recovery," he said.
The program, which targets 18- to 24-year-olds, involves public service announcements and other ads. In addition, information packets have been distributed to college students nationwide. SAMHSA is retooling it to target ethnic and racial minorities and will relaunch it in the near future, Cline said.
Focusing on the age group is important, he said. Half of all lifetime cases of mental illness are diagnosed by age 14, and three-quarters by the age of 24.
After-school programs can provide a youth with the opportunity to learn new skills and build a positive relationship with at least one adult, and mentoring programs can provide teens with a "supportive, nonjudgmental role model," according to the National Youth Violence Prevention Center, an organization that evolved from the White House-established Council on Youth Violence, the CDC and other agencies following the Columbine shootings.
A program called therapeutic foster care places troubled youths with a pattern of delinquent behavior into specially trained foster families for several months, Simon said. They are provided with a structured environment, where positive social behavior is rewarded and negative behavior is punished. Research has shown a 70 percent reduction in violent crime among youths participating in the program, he said.
Such programs, he acknowledged, are expensive to implement, which may be an obstacle.
Cline said SAMHSA attempts to maximize scarce funding by focusing on being proactive, rather than reactive.
"The key with the funding is that we be as strategic as possible," he said. "That's why we're focusing upstream with those issues. It's not targeting individuals who are already in the throes of mental illness.
"We are really emphasizing more of a public health approach. There are things we can do to decrease risk factors and increase resiliency ... so (youth are) less likely to have negative outcomes."
"Funding is always a problem," Simon said. But in the case of the therapeutic foster care program, for instance, a cost analysis has shown that for every dollar spent, $14 is saved that would be spent in the justice system -- meaning that making prevention a priority will pay off in the future.
"It really comes down to our willingness to go long-term," he said.
NEW YORK
City report on youth violence
December 6, 2007
By Talia Kahn-Kravis
One in 15 New York City public high school students have reported carrying a weapon to school within the past month, according to a recently released city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) survey.
This statistic may seem alarming; however, officials noted it is a 25 percent reduction from 1997 rates and is similar to the national average of teens carrying weapons.
Although this decrease correlates with less fighting in public schools, physical dating violence and forced sex have increased as 10 percent of NYC youth reported experiencing physical violence from a partner. This elevated statistic may not necessarily denote higher rates of sexual violence among teens, but more incidents of teens identifying and reporting the violence.
Meanwhile, youth who carry weapons to school and those threatened by carriers have shown higher rates of illegal drug use and are more likely to have attempted suicide within the past year, according to the report.
“Violent experiences can affect the well-being of teens,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, New York City Health Commissioner. “As parents, teachers and health care providers, we have a responsibility to work together to keep our children safe and secure. By taking action early, we protect their health and prevent violence from interfering with teens’ development at home or in the classroom.”
One of a number of city and community-based initiatives, the Mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence has teamed with the Department of Youth and Community Development to educate young people on dating violence.
Together, these agencies developed the New York City Healthy Relationship Training Academy, which hosts workshops that teach young people and youth service providers about the dynamics of abusive relationships and the characteristics of healthy, loving relationships.
“We are working to empower young people with the tools and knowledge to recognize what healthy, loving relationships look like,” said Yolanda B. Jimenez, Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence. “Through our peer-education anti-violence programming and outreach, we are taking the first step in preventing domestic violence and keeping teens safe.”
During the workshops, peer educators highlight real-life experiences and encourage participants to evaluate their own lives in an effort to identify healthy and unhealthy relationships. Since the program’s inception in 2005, it has held 77 workshops serving more than 1,300 youth participants; 23 percent of these workshops took place in Queens.
Department of Health recommendations to parents for prevention of teen violence include:
- Know where your children are, what they are doing (at home, away from home, and on the Internet), and who their friends are.
- Be prepared to respond quickly if you notice troubling changes in your children’s behavior, including violence, depression or possible substance use. If you are concerned, discuss the possibility of violent experiences with your child and seek appropriate mental health services.
- For information and help with mental health problems, call 1-800-LifeNet (1-800-543-3638) or call 3-1-1 and ask for LifeNet.
- Talk to school staff and health care providers about coordinated violence prevention strategies, such as school conflict-resolution programs.
ARKANSAS
Youth Bridge to provide young females transitional living services
December 9, 2007
By Susannah Patton, nwanews.com
With the help of a federal grant, Youth Bridge will be able to provide a safe and stable environment for eight homeless or runaway females.
Youth Bridge, a nonprofit organization that provides assistance and treatment to at-risk youth, received a $ 200, 000 grant from the Runaway and Homeless Youth Program of the Family and Youth Services Bureau.
Youth Bridge has purchased a house to function as a group home for eight girls between the ages of 13 and 18 who are not already in the custody of the Department of Human Services.
Matt Johnson, Youth Bridge area manager, said the girls must qualify as homeless youth to be accepted into the program.
The program will accept referrals from the entire region and even from out of state, he said. Referrals come from police departments, hospitals, schools, churches and other nonprofit organizations. Clients will enter the program on a volunteer basis.
Johnson said Youth Bridge has been operating a transitional living program for 18- to 22-yearolds for the past two years and wanted to broaden its range of services to include the younger demographic.
"There are at least 500 homeless people in Northwest Arkansas and 25 percent of them are under the age of 18," he said.
The program will provide a home for the girls for up to 18 months, during which time they receive basic life skills training and counseling services.
Those who have dropped out of school will be assisted in completing high school requirements, either at their high school or through the GED program. They will also be taught daily living skills, such as money management, budgeting, consumer education, interpersonal skill building and job seeking and attainment.
The goal of Youth Bridge's transitional living programs is for the clients to develop the necessary skills in order to eventually transition to self-sufficient living.
NATIVE AMERICAN
NCAI Youth Commission: 'We are leaders now'
December 07, 2007
By David Meimer, Indiancountry.com
The National Congress of American Indians Youth Commission came together with its largest numbers ever during the 64th annual NCAI convention, held Nov. 11 - 16. The youth leaders work in the communities with young people, elders and tribal officials, youth commission members said. When introduced as future leaders, the youth reminded people that they are already leaders.
''We are leaders now. We will take the ideas on self-governance back with us,'' said Cynthia Biro, youth commission member and member of the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians.
''We want councils involved with youth. When the leaders go to conferences, take a youth with you and let them shadow you and also introduce them to other leaders,'' she added.
Jacqueline Johnson, executive director of NCAI, echoed Biro's comments at a separate meeting, telling convention delegates to include youth on the councils and engage them in leadership roles.
''The health and well-being of the village means the health and well being of the youth,'' Johnson said.
The bottom-line message from the NCAI concerning youth and education stressed the importance of community, with emphasis on nurturing parenting.
''On many reservations there is a lack of parenting skills. Those from boarding schools were not taught parenting skills and were left to their own devices,'' said John McCoy, Tulalip Tribe.
H. Sally Smith, chairman of the National Indian Health Board, appealed to the other side. She asked each participant to think back when they were children.
''Many of us were born in small communities and are products of nurturing.
''As national organizations, we can set aside our mantles and look at this one issue: our children. What is it we can do for them?'' she asked.
To create future leaders, very young children must be nurtured both physically and mentally, she said.
Willard Sakiestewa Gilbert, president of the National Indian Education Association, said that data showed 1.2 million minority students did not graduate. Of that figure, a large number were American Indian.
''Creative minds are being wasted. They are lost when there is a failure to provide a nurturing environment,'' he said.
He added that the transition into high school is most difficult because the child is not prepared early on. Education begins in the home, he said.
A separate forum on education mirrored the comments from discussions in other forums.
Educators indicated that most young people need attention and if their family does not take responsibility, it may be up to the community and educators.
Language and cultural education was emphasized; but because of state and federal guidelines, educators are caught between serving the Adequate Yearly Progress provision in the No Child Left Behind Act and teaching the culture.
Both educators and students said disconnection between adults and youth is a factor that affects youth development, and many students are lost because they don't receive the help they need.
The problems, questions and comments offered by the participants of the forums became the foundation for potential solutions.
''A vision is not just about clean minds and clean hearts; we have to provide guidelines,'' said Joe Garcia, NCAI president.
''Children should be prepared, and a vision ought to include the vision from youth. ... Children should have the knowledge required to include traditional ways and also know the dominant society.'' Suggested curricula included a focus on civil values, traditional teachings and the natural world. Attendees also thought a support system between teachers and parents is a necessity.
''Children's care is about sovereignty and culture. There is no more sovereign decision you can make than one that helps children,'' said Terry Cross, executive director of the National Indian Child Welfare Association.
CALIFORNIA
Napa foster care group builds a dream house
December 04, 2007
By David Ryan, Napavalleyregister.com
At 1801 Oak Street in Napa, the children of the foster care system are finally getting a home of their own.
Voice Our Independent Choices for Emancipation Support, the two-year-old Napa nonprofit group, is busy putting the final touches on a remodel of the first two floors of a Victorian house just across the street from Fuller Park.
For the past 20 Saturdays, 200 volunteers have teamed up with local contractor Steve Carlson to knock down walls, install a kitchenette and rework computer wiring in an effort to make the house more comfortable as a home-like space for the VOICES crew.
The house is a far cry from the cramped office park off Soscol Avenue the group used to inhabit, and the group's move from its old location symbolizes the growth it has enjoyed as a nonprofit. Already it has helped more than 200 teens ease their transition from the foster care system to the real world with housing, education and employment programs.
"Not only are youth using VOICES' services, we are running the center, making decisions, leading and developing the programs," said Mitch Findley, assistant director of VOICES and a former foster youth, in a prepared statement. "We are respected and given responsibility. That is what makes the difference."
In addition, VOICES staff have traveled the country, preaching the benefits of youth-run care for emancipated foster youth. VOICES is the first program of its kind in the country.
Now with the new home, the group hopes to help even more foster youth than before in ways it couldn't quite do out of an office park.
"The whole point of this community build (of the VOICES headquarters) is to build community," said Alissa Gentille, VOICES program director. "So I hope young people can come into this building and feel a sense of family and home and comfort when they're going through a really challenging transition."
That sense is important. Sometimes, the youth who come to VOICES for services find the camaraderie and sense of family they've missed. Other times, clients are homeless, aged-out foster youth who store some of their belongings at VOICES. Now in the new space they can also do their laundry and fix themselves something to eat.
There are about 80,000 foster youth in the state, and Napa has about 100 at any given time. Studies have shown that foster youth who have aged out of the system -- which happens in many cases on their 18th birthday -- face more challenges than other teens. Often they have emotional difficulties or developmental problems caused by having bounced from home to home during their time in the system.
As VOICES grows, it is also trying to find a way to start another VOICES-like group in another county. Merced, Shasta and Los Angeles have been mentioned as possible sites, Gentille said.
On Wednesday, the group will host more than 200 guests at its new location in a kind of open house.
"We work hard together, laugh together, cry together and we celebrate together just like all good families do," Gentille said in a prepared statement. "That's what our Dec. 5 event is all about: celebrating our family and a year's worth of transformations."
COLORADO
Nonprofit spotlight: Justice High School
Dailycamera.com
OUR MISSION: Justice High School (JHS) is a Charter School designed to provide year round College Preparatory Education. Central to JHS's mission is a focus on the individual student and empowering each student to see the importance of the educational process.
The Discovery Program is one of the cornerstones of the curriculum at JHS, aimed at teaching effective group dynamics, anger management, communication skills, assertiveness training, problem solving and conflict resolution to help instill high standards for education, values, behavior and learning to primarily at risk students.
This approach, founded on the administration's belief that each at-risk youth has talents that when encouraged can lead to excellence, focuses on empowering JHS students to be successful academically, socially and emotionally. Developing these lifelong learning skills will serve these students well in all aspects of their lives. A diploma from JHS reaches far beyond a certificate of completion. It represents the transformation of an individual who had no hope dealing with negative habits and few life skills to an individual who can flourish and become successful.
In addition to the Discovery Program, JHS emphasizes a pre collegiate curriculum utilizing Advanced Placement (AP), a national program that offers high school students the opportunity to receive college credit for their work during high school. JHS also utilizes Dreamcatchers, incorporating instruction that is based on the theory that learning can happen at an accelerated rate when educators deliver instructions that are clear, identify and address areas likely to produce misinterpretation, and thereby reduce potential confusion among the students. This instruction also provides students with necessary tools to generate meaningful connections that enable them to form reasonable and insightful generalizations.
Our goal at JHS is to provide each student with the opportunity to grow into respectful adults who have the life skills, knowledge, will, and the self esteem necessary to succeed in college and in life.
WE SERVE: JHS is unique as it targets at risk students who are chronically truant, expelled, dropouts, or who have been involved in the criminal justice system. JHS serves as the truancy and expulsion school for both Boulder Valley and St. Vrain School Districts. Currently there are 80 students enrolled at JHS.
BRIEF HISTORY: JHS is the result of the community's need to address the growing truancy and expulsion problems in the Boulder Valley and St. Vrain School District. In the summer of 2002, Chief Judge Roxanne Bailin convened a community wide task force to address the concerns surrounding truancy, delinquency and schools in general. During these meetings, it became clear that an alternative high school had to be created to address the needs of at risk youth. Designed by Magistrate Tijani Cole and other members of the community, Justice High was created, receiving its charter status on Jan. 12, 2006.
PROUDEST ACCOMPLISHMENT: Graduation Day! Last year JHS had a senior class of nine. JHS has six graduates from the class of 2006 attending Mesa State College and two students are planning to attend University of Colorado Denver and Colorado State University in the Spring.
GREATEST NEED: The greatest need at JHS is funding. Most students attending JHS may embrace the opportunity to participate in various programs and to push themselves to excel in many areas; however, they often do not have additional financial resources available to them. JHS has benefited and continues to benefit from community support on many levels. For example, some agencies offer reduced fees for extracurricular activities and technical school programs. However, even at a reduced fee, when multiplied by 15 or 20 students who may qualify for these programs, the expense adds up and the opportunities remain out of reach for many JHS students.
Given our mission to provide each student with opportunities to succeed in and beyond high school, JHS students would benefit tremendously from individual or corporate sponsorships designated to fund students who wish to attend college or vocational school or participate in other developmentally important extracurricular activities.
FUTURE PLANS: Starting Jan. 9, JHS will be incorporating Jobs for America's Graduates (JAG). JAG is a grant funded program designed to help youth stay in school through graduation and obtain the skills they need to transition successfully into the workforce or post-secondary education. It is based on a comprehensive program of services provided during the school day, after school, and for 12 months following graduation.
COLORADO
A District Where No Two Schools Are Alike
By Larry Abramson
School districts all across the country are breaking apart their traditional, large high schools. But once districts have thrown out the old, the question is: What do they offer instead?
For the Mapleton School District near Denver, the answer is just about everything.
Charlotte Ciancio grew up in the Mapleton schools. Back then, the system had a dropout rate of more than 50 percent. When she came back to be superintendent of schools here in 2001, that statistic still held true — and she knew that had to change.
"We've had that graduation rate for years. We just never really talked about it," Ciancio says. "So I knew that was happening here. My brothers and sisters graduated from school here."
In fact, Ciancio decided, the entire 5,500-student system needed a shakeup. So she toured the country looking for models — and for partners. She says she had one guiding principle: "In Mapleton, the kids were not to be used as guinea pigs. … Anything I implemented here had to be proven practice, and had to be research based."
With that in mind, Ciancio threw the deck of cards up in the air and has reshuffled every school, creating 17 distinct programs. They are as different as schools can be. Seven high schools have replaced the district's single, large high school.
Welby New Tech, with 286 students, was the only building the district could afford to rehab. There are computers everywhere, and classrooms are large to permit team teaching.
Bill Nelson, in his second year teaching at Welby New Tech, says the program is tailored for students who want to learn on their own.
"I mean, I make lectures, and talk for 30 to 40 minutes before people back in Iowa," Nelson says. "But if I talk for more than 15 minutes in to these kids, they want to get busy. They want to do something."
The school is based on New Tech High in Napa, Calif., one of the schools Ciancio visited while on the search for models.
Welby works for self-motivated techies. But where do you go if you're more of a traditional learner?
Just three miles north, Ciancio walks into a building that housed a struggling junior high just two years ago.
"This is York International; it'll be a K-12 school," Ciancio says. "It's currently a K-9, so we have freshmen here. This is uniform school, so the kids are in uniform dress code."
Compared with Welby New Tech, everything at York is more buttoned down. Once again, Ciancio says she is responding to a demand in the marketplace.
"This is a traditional delivery school," she says. "It's an International Baccalaureate Candidate, so people who are very involved with their kids and are looking for a more private-like experience would be here."
The lessons look more traditional: Students sit in desks, following the teacher. As Ciancio puts it, there's a lot of paper-pencil activity.
Mapleton is trying to offer a broad menu of school experiences, but its system operates under the assumption that families will take advantage of the variety offered. Many students, however, say they're at a particular school "because my cousin goes here." Others say they want to leave a school because they don't like the uniforms.
Ciancio acknowledges that some people simply choose schools based on convenience. But she's working on spreading the word, so families can make more-informed decisions.
The startling degree of choice here slaps in the face when you enter the old Skyview High School, which once served 1,400 students. The building now holds a Montessori pre-school, and two high schools with different approaches to learning.
One of those is MESA, Mapleton Expeditionary School for the Arts, perhaps the most progressive offering in Mapleton's educational department store.
"We wanted to demonstrate that progress education could do a successful job of preparing poor kids and kids of color for college," Principal Michael Johnston says.
You see that approach in Chris Carithers' class on Voltaire's Candide.
Here, students will explore the Enlightenment by taking on topics such as free will and destiny as personal issues.
The wide variety of colors in Mapleton's palette has attracted plenty of attention — and garnered a lot of foundation money. The Gates Foundation kicked in $2.6 million. But all these choices have not gotten standardized test scores out of the cellar.
"Oh they're terrible, they're embarrassing," Ciancio says.
There are small signs of progress, but overall, Ciancio's reforms have yet to deliver on the promise of higher achievement. Like others experimenting with small high schools, the Mapleton School District still can't say whether small is beautiful.
Mapleton School District's Guiding Principles
- Mapleton students are not to be used as guinea pigs. The district only uses research-based models developed by nationally recognized groups, such as the Coalition of Essential Schools.
- The school district's motto? Give parents the maximum choice, and let them choose the style that's best for their kids.
- One high school embraces the Expeditionary Learning model developed by Outward Bound, which encourages yearlong exploration of a topic in great depth. Another school takes a more traditional approach designed to prepare students for the International Baccalaureate program. Yet another focuses on developing leadership skills. There's also an early college program, which allows students to take community college courses for credit.
DRUG TREATMENT
Is Juvenile Justice the Right Place to Manage Drug Treatment for Teens?
Most publicly funded adolescent substance abuse treatment is provided and managed by the juvenile justice system, and juvenile courts and allied agencies are often the first responders to teen drug problems. But is this the right approach?
The juvenile justice system's fundamental goal is public safety. Are the missions of justice and treatment truly compatible, or will treatment be inevitably compromised when it is coordinated by the justice system?
Researchers and practitioners debate these and other issues in light of the recent findings of the Urban Institute/Chapin Hall national evaluation of Reclaiming Futures, an initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to improve the integration of juvenile justice and substance abuse services.
Link to audio conference: http://www.urban.org/Pressroom/thursdayschild/december2007.cfm.
TIME
Study finds kids take longer to reach adulthood
December 6, 2007
By Brittani Lusk, heraldextra.com
Life is full of phases. There's the milk-only phase, the macaroni and cheese phase, and on and on through childhood. But an increasing number of people are taking longer to transition to adulthood.
"In prior generations, you get married and you start a career and you do that immediately. What young people today are seeing is that approach has led to divorces, to people unhappy with their careers," said Brigham Young University professor Larry Nelson, who recently completed research on the transition from childhood to adulthood.
Nelson, who is working with colleagues Jason Carroll and Laura Walker, said young people's attitudes have changed to reflect a generation wanting to be completely ready before starting a family or a serious career.
"The majority want to get married they just want to do it right the first time, the same thing with their careers," Nelson said.
Ben St. Clair, a junior at BYU, said he feels stuck between the two phases.
"In some ways I do feel like an adult, but in other ways I think that the transition between teenage years and adulthood sometimes isn't as obvious as perhaps I would have thought," he said.
For the BYU study, researchers asked parents if they thought their young adult child was an adult. Most of the parents said no or not all the way, and the students agreed they aren't quite there. However, parents and children in the study had different views on what makes a person an adult.
"It's not events. We used to think you go through a certain right of passage," Nelson said. "It's characteristics and abilities that you need."
Parents rate complying with societal norms and not getting in trouble high on the list of adult attributes. Those items are lower on the list for young people, who would rather use their young adulthood to have the time of their lives.
"They also see this time period as a chance to have fun and explore, kind of focus on themselves a little bit," Nelson said.
Nelson said there are two types of people in this life transition stage: those who are flourishing with the time and those who are floundering in destructive behavior. Those who flourish use the time between the teenage years and adulthood as a stepping stone to create better lives for themselves by figuring out what they want from life and pursuing it. The flounderers are using their newfound freedom to try new things that aren't always good, including drugs.
"We used to think all of those things happen in adolescence," Nelson said. "Those behaviors reach their peak during this time period."
National research also supports the transition trend. According to the Network on Transitions to Adulthood, which is funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, young adults are moving away from home later, extending their education, marrying older and changing jobs more often. Barbara Ray, communications director for the network, said most of those things used to be accomplished by the time a person reached 25, but now the transition to adulthood is stretching into the 30s.
Nelson pointed out that the average age of first marriages is increasing, that more students are going to graduate school in subjects different from their undergraduate work, and that it is harder to achieve financial independence than it was for the rising generation's parents.
Young adults who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which owns BYU, have a reputation for marrying earlier and embarking on adult responsibilities like having children at a younger age than the national average.
Other research conducted by Nelson found that students at BYU tend to acquire adult-like attributes earlier than their peers, even their religious peers. He attributes that to the roles placed on young adults by the church. LDS youth are given more structure than some of their peers, and that allows them to develop attributes like selflessness and avoidance of negative behaviors.
Ray and Nelson say that the transition trend isn't the result of children who just won't grow up, but it is new. Ray said it has emerged in the last decade, and the consequences aren't yet known.
"The change is fairly recent, so we don't quite know if it's a good thing or a bad thing," Ray said.
FOSTER CARE
Benefit seen in longer foster care
Study finds easier shift to adulthood
December 11, 2007
By Felicia Thomas-Lynn, jsonline.com
Young people who are aging out of Milwaukee County's foster care system are less likely to go to college and more likely to become pregnant compared with their counterparts in Chicago, according to a new study being released Wednesday.
The study, done by the Chapin Hall Center for Children, a child policy research center at the University of Chicago, found that caring for foster youths past 18 improves their transition to adulthood.
"Half of the young people in this country who are 18 to 24 are living with one or both of their parents. It is not normal for kids to be expected to live on their own at 18," said Mark E. Courtney, the study's lead author. "If it is not normal to expect them to be totally independent, then why should it be normal to expect that of children in the foster care system who have many more challenges?"
Researchers over a five-year period tracked 732 foster youths - 63 from Iowa, 474 from Illinois and 195 from Wisconsin - who were 17 and 18, with girls outnumbering boys.
They caught up with 603 of them at age 19, and the most recent findings are based on interviews with 591 of the 732 when they were 21 years old.
"Because Illinois is one of only a few states in the nation that extends the state's parental responsibilities until youth turn 21, we were also able to analyze how those remaining in state care longer were coping with adult responsibilities, in contrast to those who left at age 18," Courtney said.
In Wisconsin, foster youths can remain in out-of-home care up to age 18 unless they are scheduled to graduate from high school sometime between the age of 18 and 19. Last year, out of the 401 teens who aged out of foster care in the state, 39 were age 19.
According to the report, youths who remain in state care until age 21 are 3 1/2 times more likely to attend college and more than twice as likely to complete at least one year of college than those who leave care at 18.
Each additional year in state care is associated with increased earnings of about 17%, the study says, and remaining in state care until age 21 is associated with a 38% reduction in the risk of becoming pregnant during late adolescence.
"We are very concerned about the outcomes for youth who leave out-of-home care at age 18 or 19 - and their success once they are on their own," said Stephanie Marquis, communications director for the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services.
The department, along with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and the Iowa Department of Human Services, commissioned the study.
Since the study was completed, Marquis said, Gov. Jim Doyle expanded Medicaid for youths who age out of foster care, up to age 21. The measure was signed into law as part of the 2007-'09 biennial budget bill, which created BadgerCare Plus.
GEORGIA
Officials say adult jails no place for youths
December 02, 2007
By Johnny Edwards, The Augusta Chronicle
Working in Augusta's youth detention centers for two decades, Elliott Norman has seen plenty of boys graduate to adult prison.
Like other states, Georgia got swept up in the crackdown on youth crime in the 1990s, with legislators adding "seven deadly sins" to state law that can put teenagers in the adult criminal system with 10-year minimum sentences.
Mr. Norman, now director of the short-term Regional Youth Detention Center where offenders can be held before Superior Court sentencings, said he has mixed feelings about the practice. The worst offenders deserve sanctions, he said, but juvenile facilities focus on rehabilitation and education rather than punishment alone, and shipping them off could wipe out any chance of making them productive citizens.
"The problem is not rehabilitation," Mr. Norman said. "The problem is habilitation, because they don't have the skills they need to know how to act. I'm afraid that once they go to the Department of Corrections, they get taught by hardened criminals."
With a coalition of attorneys and nonprofit groups setting out to rewrite the juvenile justice code, and with new research indicating that incarcerating teens with adults makes them more likely to be re-arrested for violent crimes, some say it's time to rethink how Georgia handles its worst juvenile offenders.
"I think it's excessive and overkill," Georgia Alliance for Children President Rick McDevitt said. "I don't think that kid should get a hug, but I don't think he should go to the Department of Juvenile Justice until he's 17, then go to Reidsville (site of Georgia State Prison). A 17-year-old in Reidsville is nothing but fresh meat."
According to the state Department of Corrections, there are 111 inmates in adult prisons between ages 15 and 17. Most are kept segregated at Burruss Correctional Training Center in Forsyth, spokeswoman Mallie McCord said.
Of the state's total inmate population, 781 were sentenced at age 16 or younger, including 184 serving life sentences and two serving life without parole. Those figures include inmates tried as adults even before the "seven deadly sins" went on the books, back when juvenile judges had sole discretion to send certain cases to Superior Court.
Passed in 1994, Senate Bill 440 automatically sends offenders between 13 and 17 years old to Superior Court if they're charged with murder, voluntary manslaughter, rape, armed robbery with a gun, aggravated child molestation, aggravated sodomy or aggravated sexual battery. Senate Bill 441 imposed minimum 10-year sentences. Prosecutors, though, have discretion to return the cases to Juvenile Court, where the cases are treated as designated felonies and defendants can be sentenced to as much as five years in a juvenile facility.
A report released last week by the Task Force on Community Preventive Services -- an independent panel of community health experts formed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- recommended against laws transferring youths into the adult system. If trying youths as adults is a strategy to prevent crime, the report said, it's failing miserably because they're more likely to go on to commit violent offenses.
Recent psychological research has found that the human brain is still maturing during the adolescent years and reasoning and judgment are still in flux as late as the mid-20s. Experts say teens are therefore more likely to act impulsively without understanding consequences.
State Rep. Alisha Thomas Morgan, D-Austell, has been trying to undo SB 440 and SB 441 since her election in 2003, and she said she'll introduce altering legislation again next year. One bill would do away with 10-year mandatory sentences and another would give discretion back to juvenile courts as to which teens get tried as adults.
"It's so unjust, the way we're treating children," said Ms. Morgan, a member of the Children and Youth Committee.
Her attempts to change that treatment have yet to reach the House floor. The bills have been watered down, tabled or stuck in committee, even when Democrats controlled the Legislature in 2003.
She's expecting her effort to get a bit more traction this year in light of the high-profile Genarlow Wilson case. Mr. Wilson was 17 years old when he was charged, and the mandatory 10-year sentence he received for consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old sparked public outrage and led the Georgia Supreme Court to order him released.
Another chance to rethink the "seven deadly sins" could come through JUSTGeorgia, a coalition of nonprofits and attorneys that wants to present an overhauled juvenile justice code during the 2009 General Assembly, at the earliest.
Sharon Hill, a former Fulton County Juvenile Court judge and executive director of the Georgia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, said she has no doubt that the "seven deadly sins" part of the code will be a hot-button issue. Gripes about youths languishing for six months or more in juvenile jails while awaiting trial in adult court have already come up, she said.
"It is worth the effort," Ms. Hill said, "to do it better than we're currently doing it."
MICHIGAN
Michigan State Medical Society Says Tanning Parlor Legislation a Crucial Step in Curbing Skin Cancer Deaths
December 11, 2007
RNewswire-USNewswire
The deadliest form of skin cancer, melanoma, is on the rise.
The Michigan Legislature can begin to have an impact on that trend as the House Commerce Committee takes testimony today on House Bill 4146 introduced by Michigan Rep. Frank Accavitti, Jr., of Eastpointe, which addresses the risks of indoor tanning in Michigan. His legislation would require parental consent for anyone under 18, larger warning signs in stores listing potential health consequences, a signed informed consent form for all customers, and licensing by the state.
This legislation is in line with 25 states and numerous counties across the country that currently restrict youth access to indoor tanning facilities.
Melanoma is now the second most common cancer in women ages 20-29 and cases of pediatric melanoma have increased 100 percent in the last 20 years. It accounts for 73 percent of all skin cancer deaths.
Despite these deadly facts, 30 million Americans, including 2.3 million teenagers, continue to tan indoors each year. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation, the primary factor in the development of skin cancer, is 15 times greater in a tanning booth than outdoors.
"Skin cancer rates continue to increase and new studies have shown that there is an unequivocal correlation between tanning bed use and skin cancer," said Kay Watnick, MD, a West Bloomfield dermatologist and member of the Michigan Dermatological Society, which, in conjunction with the 15,000-member Michigan State Medical Society (MSMS), supports stronger regulation of tanning facilities.
"This legislation will ensure that the public can make an informed decision before using a tanning bed, and that parents can give informed consent for their children," said MSMS president AppaRao Mukkamala, MD, a Flint radiologist.
"Teens are at a particularly high risk for the damaging effects of these powerful ultraviolet rays," Doctor Mukkamala said. "This is a potentially life-saving public health issue."
The Michigan State Medical Society believes this legislation is a necessary step toward protecting the health of residents, reducing overall health care costs, and achieving the goals set out in the MSMS Future of Medicine initiative. Wellness and prevention are key principles of the initiative's goal to ultimately transform health care in Michigan.
CONGRESS
Legislation May Give Authority to FDA to Implement New Regulations Against Tobacco Industry
December 07, 2007
By Article Writers Inc., associatedcontent.com
A new report was released this week by the group Faith United Against Tobacco, which is a diverse alliance of both clergy and lay persons from all over Ohio and the U.S. The report states that if Congress adopts legislation that would empower the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to control tobacco products. Under the proposed new law Ohio would save $2 billion in health care related to tobacco use by keeping 114,200 youth from taking up tobacco habits.
Ohio residents incur $4.37 billion in health care bills associated with tobacco use on a yearly basis. Tobacco use claims the lives of 18,600 residents of the state annually and 20.5% of Ohio high school students presently admit to smoking. It is the enormous impact that tobacco has on her state that prompted Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, who is a member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee, to cosponsor the pending FDA legislation. The other Ohio Senator, George Voinovich is being urged by constituents to support the bill.
Tobacco as a leading cause of illness and death is well documented in spite of that it remains unregulated in regards to protection of the consumer's health. The current lack of regulation gives the tobacco companies the right to target the advertising of their products to children. Tobacco companies regularly do not divulge all health concerns related to their products to the consumers who use them. The Tobacco industry as a whole has attempted to avoid changes that could lessen the harm of their products.
The proposed new FDA legislation would allow the FDA the power to go on the offensive against the Tobacco industry by implementing new regulations. The new regulations will make it more difficult for the Tobacco companies to continue their practice of marketing their products to kids. The regulations will also force tobacco companies to print larger, more effective warnings and product contents on their products. The FDA would require decreases in dangerous ingredients that tobacco companies use in their products.
According to the Faith United Against Tobacco group's report the FDA legislation would decrease instances of youth smoking by 12.5% in the first five years. In the State of Ohio the 12.5% reductions would translate to 114,200 tobacco related deaths in kids that would be averted by not taking up the habit. It would also mean saving the lives of 36,600 kids that are alive today from dying prematurely due to tobacco related illness. The 12.5% reduction would also mean that Ohio residents would save $2 billion of health care costs, $354.1 million of which the state foots the bill for through it's Medicaid program.
On a national scale, a 12.5% reduction in youth smoking would save 2.5 million kids from taking up the potentially deadly habit; thereby, saving 797,000 kids alive today from dying prematurely due to tobacco related illness. Healthcare savings nationwide over the first five years of the program will total an estimated $44.4 billion, including $7.9 billion by the Medicaid program. The increased regulations will lead to 2.3 million less adults who smoke which can translate into 600,000 fewer deaths directly linked to tobacco use.
The purposed legislation has widespread support among members of congress, voters, public health organizations, and more than 560 faith based and other groups. If the bill passes it will be a major victory in the fight against tobacco which is the leading preventable cause of death in our country. It claims more than 400,000 lives a year nationally and is linked to healthcare costs around the $100 billion mark annually.
NEW JERSEY
N.J. analyzes youth crime laws
December 3, 2007
By Carolyn Salazar and Michael J. Feeney, northjersey.com
A surge in gang-related violence in New Jersey has forced local and state officials to rethink how they prosecute and sentence juveniles who commit violent crimes.
Though the trend in many states during the past 25 years has been to impose more stringent penalties on juvenile offenders, New Jersey has moved in a more measured way. But now, public policy officials are wondering whether the state needs to overhaul its youth laws, considered more lenient than those of other states.
On one side of the issue are those who say a community-based, social-oriented approach that advocates rehabilitation over incarceration is not working. They say the state needs to take a hard-line stance on youth crime to show that violence will not be tolerated, and that the age of the offender should make little difference.
And with gangs a top priority for Attorney General Anne Milgram, state lawmakers are already sponsoring several bills to address the growing gang problem. One proposal would outlaw gang recruitment; another would impose mandatory sentences for juveniles convicted on gun charges.
"Kids need to know it's not going to be just a slap on the hand," said Paterson police Lt. Calvin Swann. "It becomes a joke for them ... even for the law enforcement officers who go out there to lock them up. What's the deterrent? There's nothing there to deter these kids from doing these things."
But others say harsh punishment is not a deterrent, and that juvenile detention centers and jails -- already rife with gang activity -- are not the place for young people. They say the state should continue its community-based approach, which centers on counseling programs, education and non-punishment solutions.
"I've always felt strongly that you have to address the root causes and why these kids are doing this because that's the best way to prevent them from becoming adult offenders." said Jeff Steinfeld, chairman of the juvenile practice commission of the Bergen County Bar Association.
A study by The Associated Press found that many states are reexamining their juvenile sentencing laws after implementing a get-tough approach on youth crime. A MacArthur Foundation report that will be released this month showed half of the states are involved in juvenile justice reforms, including the ramping up of community-based services. A national poll commissioned by the foundation and the Center for Children's Law and Policy found widespread support for rehabilitating teens rather than locking them up.
Even in New Jersey, where juvenile laws have historically been less harsh than in the majority of the country, child advocates are pushing for the state to move even further toward rehabilitation. The state is expanding the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative, a national program introduced in New Jersey in 2004 that promotes counseling over confinement. In Bergen County, the recent trend has been for non-violent youth offenders to receive counseling or, in more serious cases, home confinement.
But in the most severe cases, county prosecutors have not been shy about imposing harsher penalties. A 17-year-old boy in Hackensack will likely be tried as an adult on charges he fatally stabbed a 15-year-old in front of a Hackensack deli in October. Another 17-year-old also will likely face adult murder charges after he allegedly shot and killed a Newark man in a Lyndhurst home last month.
Even so, some believe New Jersey's juvenile laws don't go far enough.
Clamor for tougher laws
A sharp rise in youth crime during the late 1980s and early 1990s, largely due to the crack cocaine epidemic and easier access to guns, prompted many states to clamor for a get-tough approach on juveniles. Forty-eight states made it easier to transfer youths to adult court, with some even lowering the age to be tried as an adult. Many state sentencing laws were also strengthened. This meant that in some states teenage offenders convicted of serious crimes faced life without parole.
New Jersey's response to the crime surge was more tepid. Lawmakers approved legislation allowing juveniles to be moved to adult court, but gave local prosecutors discretion in doing so. Sentencing guidelines for youths remained virtually intact. Unlike New York, where a 16-year-old is considered an adult, New Jersey kept the age cutoff at 18.
A recent report by the University of San Francisco School of Law showed at least 2,381 prisoners across the country are serving life without parole for crimes committed when they were under 18. In Pennsylvania, there are 433 such prisoners. New Jersey has none.
According to the state Juvenile Justice Commission, there has been a 25 percent drop statewide in juvenile arrests during the past 10 years. There were 62,350 juveniles arrested in the state last year, with 7,753 arrested for violent crimes, according to the FBI Uniform Crime Reports. Of those, 1 percent, or 719 juveniles, were transferred to adult court.
"New Jersey has really never changed or modified its juvenile laws to accommodate the rise experienced in juvenile violent crimes," said Assemblyman Gordon Johnson, D-Englewood. "There have been amendments throughout the years but it never did anything extraordinary. We're pretty consistent with the previous juvenile laws."
But now, some are wondering whether that approach needs to be reevaluated. Even those who prefer rehabilitation wonder whether it will work for the most violent gang members.
"The system, I think, is trying to determine where to draw the line. What's appropriate in the lion's share of the non-violent cases versus what's more appropriate in the serious gang-related type issues?" said Steinfeld, who has defended many youths. "I think law enforcement in general, nationwide, is trying to come up with solutions and trying to come up with ways and techniques to address what is clearly a growing problem, which is the gang problem."
Child advocates say authorities need to be more careful if they attempt to tighten juvenile laws to address the state's gang problem.
"Historically, the point of juvenile laws is to put in place a disposition that will both protect community safety and to address what has brought this child to the court -- and prevent the child from coming to court again," said Laura Cohen, a professor of clinical law at Rutgers Law School. "But to single out some notion of gang affiliation -- which, I believe, has not been broken down as carefully as it should be -- and to use that as a basis for taking away that individualized consideration from young people in the juvenile court system seems to be really missing the point."
NORTH CAROLINA
Report: Let 16-year-olds be juveniles
Child advocates say treating youth as adults causes increase in crime
December 6, 2007
By David Ingram
North Carolina, one of only three states where 16-year-olds are treated as adults in the criminal justice system, should raise that age to 18, child advocates argue in a report scheduled to be released today.
The report highlights a new study from an affiliate of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that suggests treating youth as adults increases crime.
The issue has divided the General Assembly, pitting child advocates against law enforcement. Supporters of the current law say that it helps crime victims and that the juvenile system is already underfunded.
The law has been in place since 1919.
"In addition to research on brain development, national and state data have shown that sending youth through the juvenile justice system improves public safety while increasing the likelihood that youth will go on to be productive, crime-free adults," concludes the new report from Action for Children North Carolina, based in Raleigh.
It adds, "North Carolina law does not incorporate this knowledge into its treatment of 16- and 17-year-olds in the criminal justice system."
In April, a task force affiliated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a review of scientific research and reported that youth handled in the adult court system were 33.7 percent more likely to be rearrested than youth handled in the juvenile justice system.
The lead author of the review is scheduled to speak in Raleigh today.
Connecticut and New York are the other states that automatically treat 16-year-old crime suspects as adults, though Connecticut is moving its threshold to 18 by 2010 and New York courts provide more leeway in moving 16- and 17-year-olds to the juvenile system.
"We are unique in this country, and we don't get good results because of it," said state Rep. Alice Bordsen, an Alamance County Democrat. "If we did get good results, then everyone would be clamoring to be like us. But they're not."
Bordsen sponsored legislation this year to raise the age to 18. The bill never made it to the House floor, and legislators are considering a study.
Opposition came from district attorneys, sheriffs and the juvenile justice system itself, which is undergoing a major overhaul. There is no estimate of how much a change would cost the system, but the amount is thought to be high.
"There's been no discussion of how those needs would be met," said Eddie Caldwell, lobbyist for the N.C. Sheriffs' Association.
ALASKA
Bid to curb teen drinking launched
Underage consumption of alcohol cost state $316.5 million in 2005
December 5, 2007
By Hal Spence, peninsulaclarion.com
One out of every five alcoholic drinks consumed in Alaska in 2005 was downed by a minor, says the state Department of Health and Social Services.
That rate of illegal consumption is raising serious health risks and social problems including depression, high-risk sexual behavior and suicide, difficulties in school, youth violence and alcohol abuse, according to national statistics cited by the department in a press release Monday announcing the draft plan to reduce and prevent underage drinking.
Among the things that need to change is the tacit societal acceptance of underage drinking, noted Diane Casto, prevention and early intervention manager for the Division of Behavioral Health.
The national report concluded that youth couldn't be held solely responsible for drinking because society treats alcohol use as normal and pervasive.
The 20 percent of alcohol consumed by miners in 2005 accounted for $74 million in sales, providing profits to the alcohol industry of $36 million. Underage drinking cost citizens of Alaska a whopping $316.5 million in 2005, including medical care, work loss, pain and suffering equivalent to $3,944 per year for each youth in the state.
The largest costs are associated with youth violence ($225.5 million) and traffic accidents ($24.9 million). High-risk sexual activity (ages 14 to 20) accounted for an additional $18.4 million.
According to the department, enforcement efforts conducted by the Department of Health and Social Services and the Department of Public Safety in 2006 showed 13 percent of all retailers investigated sold tobacco to underage buyers, whereas 30 percent of all retailers investigated sold alcohol to underage buyers. Those cases generally involved teens hired by investigators to attempt alcohol and tobacco purchases, Casto said.
One thing revealed by those investigations is the disparity in legal action applied to sales of tobacco versus alcohol. Casto said Alaska has the most stringent penalties in the country for sales of tobacco to minors, typically resulting in penalties even on first offenses.
"We're quite proud of that," Casto said.
Penalties for underage alcohol sales, however, are determined by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, she said, and often are not consistent.
Legislation to address that disparity is to be introduced in the nest legislative session, Casto said.
Alaska's draft plan includes six top-priority recommendations. They are:
- A legislative review of state statutes and regulations, comparing them to recommendations in the plan;
- More screening, treatment and prevention services for youth;
- Training and education for policy makers and stakeholders in the criminal justice system on proven strategies and best practices;
- Matching underage-sales penalties for alcohol and tobacco, if possible;
- Boosting compliance with laws against underage sales; and
- Creating a Web site with local, state and national material.
The Alaska draft plan is now open for public comment and will be through April 14, 2008. To read the full plan, get details about how to comment, or to request a public meeting, go to http://hss.state.ak.us/dbh.
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