Saying YES to a Better Future

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Saying YES to a Better Future
Community BreakfastPresentation2009 Legislative
Session
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CTJJA Who Are We?

• A group of organizations and individuals working
  statewide
• to reduce the number of children and youth
  entering the
• juvenile and criminal justice system and to
  advocate a safe,
• effective and fair system for those involved.

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How do we do what we do?

• Legislative Education Advocacy
• Community Organizing
• Strategic Communication
• Local, State, National Partnerships

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• Raise the Age CT - passed in 2007!
• www.RaiseTheAgeCT.org
• Families With Service Needs (FWSN) passed in
  2005, implemented in 2007!
• In-school suspension passed in 2007!

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• Raise the Age not scheduled for
  implementation until January 1, 2010.
• FWSN only 4 of 10 Family Support Centers
  funded.
• In-school suspension delayed implementation
  until 2009, many concerns from local school
  districts.
• Risk of further threats and delays this year.

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Getting to YES

• The YES Campaign!

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With Youth Empowered to Succeed,You Ensure
Public Safety

• Say YES! to strong families.
• Continue to support the changes to Family
  With Service Needs policies and practices.
  First, appropriate funds to establish full
  spectrum of Family Support Centers, providing
  crisis intervention and ongoing support,
  statewide.

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With Youth Empowered to Succeed,You Ensure
Public Safety

• Say YES! to engaging schools.
• Support initiatives to improve the school
  community and boost student engagement and
  citizenship. These include truancy prevention and
  alternatives to unproductive discipline tactics
  like suspension.

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With Youth Empowered to Succeed,You Ensure
Public Safety

• Say YES! to safe communities.
• Pass legislative changes to fully fund and
  implement Raise the Age. We know that the
  juvenile system does a far better job of reducing
  recidivism, offering better prospects for our
  young people and reducing crime in our
  communities.

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How do these three issuesfit together?Healthy
familiesEngaging schoolsSafe communities
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Youth in the FWSN system are at high risk for
entering the delinquency system.
FWSN
Approximately 47 of FSWN referrals result from
truancy
FWSN
Direct connections
Juvenile Justice
Large referral source into system Suspension and
expulsion predictors of J.J. involvement
Schools
Source 2008 FWSN Advisory Board Report
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Selling Connecticut on Investing in Kids

• Supporting kids in their homes, schools and
  communities is proven to work.
• It is exponentially cheaper than incarceration
  and other high-end interventions.
• Even in a bad economic climate, services that
  help kids today and save money tomorrow must be a
  priority.

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Families With Service Needs

• Legislation was passed in 2005 to overhaul the
  FWSN system. Those changes went into effect in
  2007 and appear to be very effective.
• Family Support Centers were mandated to serve
  every community in CT. Right now, there are 4
  centers serving only 39 of CTs 169 towns and
  cities.

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FWSN Data

• From June 2007 to July 2008 FWSN referrals
  dropped 38 overall

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FWSN Information
One of the main goals in changing the law was to
make sure youth and families could get the
services they need without ending up in the
deep-end of the system Between Oct. 06 and May
07 1,515 youth were adjudicated FWSN (deepest
end) Between Oct. 07 and May 08 95 youth were
adjudicated FWSN (94 drop)
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FWSN Information
Where they exist, Family Support Centers are
working well and are working at capacity. Most
families are involved for approximately 6
months. In a lot of cases, it takes the first few
months to simply meet the familys basic needs
(housing, employment) so that the process of
working on mental health, truancy, out of control
behaviors can begin effectively. Family Support
Centers clients are about 50 / 50 male/female,
81 minorities and their average age is 14 and a
half years old.
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YES, we have work to do.

• Fund Family Support Centers to serve every
  community, as required by law.
• Support efforts to reduce truancy, the root of
  about half of all FWSN referrals.
• Encourage real, effective collaboration among
  state agencies.

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School Issues

• Why does CTJJA care about school issues?
• Youth who are successful in school are more
  likely to graduate and less likely to get in
  trouble with the law.
• When youth are suspended or expelled their rates
  of dropout and arrest increase substantially.
• Schools are one of the largest feeders of
  referrals into the juvenile justice system
  (actual arrests of students on campus, Family
  with Service Needs referrals).
• Kids who become involved in the juvenile justice
  system often have a very hard time getting
  re-engaged in school when they return to the
  community.

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Your School District and Suspensions

• Statewide, the average rate of K-12 students who
  are suspended is 7
• In New Haven that rate is 17
• (one of the highest rates in the state)

Data from Missing Out Suspending Students from
Connecticut Schools, August 2008, Connecticut
Voices for Children (Taby Ali and Alexandra
Dufresne, J.D.).
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YES, we have work to do.

• Oppose further delays to the out-of-school
  suspension law.
• Support schools that build positive cultures.
• Support no-cost legislation that helps to
  re-engage youth in schools.
• Tell your legislators and local school officials
  that you care about keeping kids in school.

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No-CostSchool Legislative Proposal A

• Problem Youth attempting to return to school
  after an out-of-home placement are immediately
  expelled for the same offense that led to their
  out-of-home placement.
• Statutory solution If the student seeks to
  re-enter the district after having been in an
  out-of-district placement as a result of an
  expellable offense, the district must allow the
  student to re-enroll and cannot move to expel the
  student for that offense.
• Cost Zero Dollars

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No-Cost School Legislative Proposal B

• Problem Children trying to enter school who have
  been in an out-of-home placement or who have
  moved from one placement to another are facing
  long delays and registration difficulties.
• Statutory Solution Schools must admit these
  children within two days of their registration.
  Children returning to the district after being
  placed out-of-district by a state agency will not
  have to complete the full registration process
  because the state and facilities require that
  they be up-to-date medically. 
• Cost Zero Dollars

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No-CostSchool Legislative Proposal C

• Problem Schools have been denying youth credit
  for school work they do while at CJTS.
• Solution Education credits youth earn while at
  CJTS (Unified School District 2) must be
  accepted by any school district the student
  enters after leaving CJTS.
• Cost Zero Dollars

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No-CostSchool Legislative Proposal D

• Problem The role, responsibility and training
  requirements of School Resource Officers is not
  always clearly defined and is not standardized
  from district to district. This leads to
  confusion, lack of consistency and difficulty
  evaluating SRO effectiveness.
• Solution Standardize the roles, responsibilities
  and training of SROs statewide.
• Cost Zero Dollars

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Raise the Age
Connecticut is one of only three states to treat
all 16- and 17-year-olds as adults, no matter
what their offense. This affects about 10,000
youth every year with many long-term, negative
consequences for our youth and communities.
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Raise the Age

• In 2007, Raise the Age legislation passed The
  law says that 16- and 17-year-olds accused of all
  but the most serious crimes will return to
  juvenile jurisdiction effective January 1, 2010.
• CSSD has begun to make systemic changes and to
  test programs and services specific to this
  population.
• However, the majority of funds to implement Raise
  the Age have not yet been allocated.

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Raise the Age Getting to 2010

• Raise the Age will not happen unless the juvenile
  justice system is equipped to handle 16- and
  17-year-olds
• Court space
• Probation Officers
• Programs and Services (prevention, early
  intervention, community-based, residential,
  re-entry)
• Local costs police
• This means some statutory changes and budget
  allocations.

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Raise the Age Solutions

• Statutory Changes
• Police release youth on their own recognizance
• Motor vehicle violations and infractions
  remainin adult court
• Budget
• All spending is on the chopping block in the
  upcoming session. Those who opposeRaise the Age
  will use the budget crisisto try to kill the
  reform.

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YES, we have work to do.

• Ask your legislator to fully fund and implement
  Raise the Age.
• Support the entire YES agenda, which will limit
  the number of children and youth in the justice
  system.

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What can you do about it?
Visit www.SayYesCT.org

• Join the YES campaign
• Wear a button
• Become a chairperson
• Join our listserv
• Attend advocacy gatherings

Healthy Families, Engaging Schools, Safe
Communities