Addressing
the Needs of Juvenile Status Offenders and Their Families
The Office of Juvenile Justice
and Delinquency Prevention presents the videoconference
"Addressing the Needs of Juvenile Status Offenders and Their Families."
Status offenses are non-delinquent/non-criminal offenses that are considered
illegal for underage persons, but not for adults. In 2004, police made 403,800
arrests of persons under the age of 18 for status offenses (about 18% of juvenile
arrests made in 2004). Research on the pathways, causes and correlates of
delinquency have clearly linked status offending behavior with later delinquency,
highlighting the importance of an early, appropriate intervention with these
youth.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/12/addressing_the.php
Less
Help at Home -- Female Support for New Moms on the Decline
Mothers of young children
have experienced a significant decline in the presence and availability of
other women in the household over the last 120 years, according to new research
by a Brown University sociologist. "This work adds
to current discussion of work-family balance issues and the "burden"
young mothers experience while trying to balance time demands by looking beyond
the young mothers' own time-demands and the contributions made by fathers."
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/12/less_help_at_ho.php
**Civic Engagement
Characteristics
of Youth Activists
Concerns about declining
political participation in the United States have once again raised the question
of how young people get involved in politics. This project from Chapin Hall, focuses on engaged
youths and explores the personal trajectories, people and institutions that
encouraged them to become engaged with their communities. Most youth interviewed
have a parent who respects them and listens to their ideas, and are involved
in community and school organizations that provide opportunities for engagement.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/12/characteristics_1.php
**Community Development
Louisiana
Slow To Distribute Aid From FEMA
Louisiana lags behind Mississippi in forwarding federal aid to cash-strapped
communities after Hurricane Katrina, lending support to complaints by local
officials in the New Orleans area that the state is holding up
money they need for repairs and rebuilding. The Federal Emergency Management
Agency has paid Louisiana about $5.1 billion to reimburse local
officials for infrastructure projects after Katrina landed on Aug.
29, 2005, but only
38 percent of that money has reached communities nearly 16 months later.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/12/_louisiana_slow.php
Cultural
Vitality in Communities: Interpretation and Indicators
This report from the Urban
Institute, introduces a definition of cultural vitality that includes
the range of cultural activity people around the country find significant.
This definition is used as a lens to clarify understanding of data necessary,
as well as the more limited data currently available, to document arts and
culture in communities in a consistent, recurrent and reliable manner. The
methodology is developed and recommends an initial set of arts and culture
indicators derived from nationally available data, and compare selected metropolitan
areas based on these measures.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/12/cultural_vitali.php
**Economic Security
Employment,
Social Security, and Future Retirement Outcomes for Single Mothers
According to the Urban
Institute, employment rates for single mothers with dependent children
have been rising, partly because of welfare reform and expansions in the Earned
Income Tax Credit. The results show that employment and earnings gains for
single mothers during the late 1990s will translate into modestly higher Social
Security benefits and better retirement outcomes when they reach later life,
assuming these trends persist.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/12/employment_soci.php
2006
Federal Budget Year in Review
According to the National
Priorities Project the budget process this year began with a whimper and
ended with even less, as Congress failed to act on 11 out of 13 appropriation
bills and deferred this year's business to next year's Congress. At the beginning
of February, the administration proposed deep cuts to the provision of domestic
goods and services, while also making permanent the tax breaks that disproportionately
benefit the wealthiest Americans. By the end of the year, Congress left most
of the government running on last year's budget allocations but passed more
war-related spending and extended corporate tax cuts.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/12/2006_federal_bu.php
**Education
Survey
of Students' Out-of-School Time
This report from Chapin Hall, provides a descriptive
overview of what students in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) do in their
out-of-school time, based on responses to a questionnaire administered to
ninth, tenth, and eleventh graders. The availability of after-school opportunities
and the characteristics and dynamics of life in the neighborhoods in which
students live appear to be critical barriers to participation for many young
people.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/12/survey_of_stude.php
**Hunger and Nutrition
Study
Warns of Hunger Among Hispanics
Nearly one in five Hispanics
lacks sufficient access to nutritious food and one in 20 regularly goes hungry,
posing serious health and economic risks to the nation's largest and fastest-growing minority group, according
to a new study. As with African Americans, poverty appears to be the main
factor limiting Latinos' access to nutritious food. About 22 percent of Latinos
and 25 percent of non-Hispanic blacks are poor, compared with 8 percent of
non-Hispanic whites.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/12/_study_warns_of.php
**Substance Abuse
Overall
Drug Use Down in 2006, But Survey Sees Trouble Brewing with Inhalants, Prescription
Drugs, Smoking
The number of American youths
who tell researchers that they used illicit drugs within the last year continues
to inch downward, but the annual Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey also found
stubbornly high levels of prescription-drug abuse and an end to the decline
in smoking among young teens.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/12/overall_drug_us.php
Study
Questions Marijuana As Gateway Drug
A study of drug use among
young men suggests that those who used marijuana before trying alcohol or
tobacco were about as likely to develop an addiction problem as those who
drank or smoked before using marijuana, according to researchers who say the
findings run counter to the "gateway" theory underlying much of
U.S. drug policy. The researchers did
find, however, that marijuana users tended to have less parental supervision,
live in neighborhoods where the drug was easily available, and were more apt
to be behaviorally deviant, less involved in school, and to hang out with
people that their parents didn't like.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/12/study_questions.php
Many
Youths Admitted to Hospitals for Alcohol or Drug Dependence Don't Receive
Treatment
Forty percent or more of
the youths ages 20 or younger admitted to U.S. hospitals for substance dependence
or related psychoses in 2000 had no documentation of receiving alcohol or
drug treatment during their stay, according to an analysis of data from the
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The low rates of treatment may
be due to "a lack of access to capable therapists with adolescent expertise"
as "severe shortages of specialty-certified and trained providers are
reality in most of the U.S."
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/12/many_youths_adm.php
