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AUGUST 2013, VOLUME 3, NUMBER 7
 

Our readers are the experts. We want to share your perspectives on city developments, youth engagement,
 

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story ideas and articles to NFYVP@dsgonline.com.
 

IN THIS ISSUE 

Real-Time Prevention for Acting Out 

Successful Reentry 

Updates 

News & Views 

• Reports 

• News 

• Other Resources 

Announcements & Upcoming Events 

• Training Opportunities 

REAL-TIME PREVENTION
 FOR ACTING OUT 

by Dave Marsden 

When we think of violent acts committed or
 

SUCCESSFUL 

REENTRY 

by Rachel Stephenson 

Every year, approximately 100,000 juvenile justice–involved youth 

exit out-of-home placements and reenter the community. Reentry 

and aftercare programs are designed to help youth successfully 

reintegrate back into the community and overcome the problems 

they may face after returning from residential placements. 

Research on such programs have found several elements crucial 

to the successful reintegration of youth: starting reentry services 

during placement and continuing those services following release; 

involving family members and other prosocial individuals during 

the transition process; assessing youths' risks and needs to 

provide them with appropriate services; and focusing on important 

parts of reintegration, such as education, to ensure successful 

reentry. 

The National Reentry Resource Center's Advisory Committee on 

Juvenile Justice is working to develop resources for the 

successful reentry of juvenile offenders. In a 2011 publication, the 

Committee identified five key areas emerging in youth reentry 

policy and practice: 

1. Integrating the science of adolescent brain development 

into the design of reentry initiatives. 

2. Ensuring reentry initiatives build on youths' strengths and 

assets to promote prosocial development. 

3. Engaging families and community members in a
 

meaningful way through the reentry process.
 

4. Prioritizing education and employment as essential
 

elements of a reentry plan.
 

5. Providing a stable, well-supported transition to adulthood 

that helps create lifelong connections. 

witnessed by young people, we often view 

prevention as a long-term investment that begins 

when children are young and takes years to "pay 

off." But there is another variety of prevention for 

those who work with youth in residential facilities, 

h it l sch l t l h i d 

Evidence-based reentry programs specifically target youth 

reentering the community. Operation New Hope (formerly 

Lifeskills '95) is a curriculum-based aftercare treatment program 

designed to assist chronic high-risk juvenile offenders as they 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

hospitals, schools, etc.—people who are required 

to defuse potentially violent situations on an 

ongoing basis. Despite all the situations that can 

arise during a day in the life of a youth, there are 

only seven precipitating factors that contribute to 

acting out. This type of behavior results from 

events and circumstances that play out as young 

people interact with peers and staff. 

As the director of a secure juvenile detention 

center for 17 years, I was trained in several 

nonviolent crisis intervention disciplines. The 

Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) of Milwaukee, 

Wisconsin, and Handle with Care (HWC) of 

Gardiner, New York, provided outstanding training 

for those who worked with young people in 

institutional or formal settings. One of the core 

components of training was how to stabilize 

violent behavior. CPI participants say the program 

approaches issues with long-term preventive 

solutions rather than relying on staff to act 

appropriately when faced with aggression. It's a 

common-sense method that helps organize 

thinking about chaotic moments. Staff identify 

behaviors that may escalate into dangerous 

situations, and defuse such situations through 

nonverbal and verbal intervention strategies. 

HWC has provided school staff training for 

managing students from Pre-K–12 since 1985. 

Their verbal intervention programming 

integrates two models of thinking: 1) 

understanding the cycle of violence and different 

points along the continuum where people may be, 

so interventions can target their needs, and 2) a 

self-awareness model that identifies common 

triggers staff need to be aware of to monitor and 

control youths' reactions and provide better care. 

CPI's seven precipitating factors that lead to 

acting out are as follows: 

Fear: A youth is likely to act out because of fear 

when he or she is in an unresolved conflict with a 

peer or is being placed in a setting for the first 

time. Psychologically, a young person placed in a 

new setting may be unconsciously asking, "Can 

you control me? Because if you can't ... how can 

you protect me?" One way a youth expresses this 

uncertainty is by physically acting out—testing 

how authority figures deal with the situation. The 

HWC curriculum asks, "Are you a solid object that 

a youth can reach out and touch, or does the 

hand go right through you because you are not a 

solid person and therefore not worthy of trust?" I 

have seen great bonds develop between a scared 

kid and a staff member who handled him or her 

appropriately, even in a violent moment when the 

staff member chose to restrain the youth in a 

nonviolent and compassionate way. 

Failure: The youth we work with every day have 

often experienced a life of continued 

disappointment and failure. School, sports, and 

reintegrate into the community after being released from secure 

confinement. The treatment consists of 39 hours of programming 

completed over 13 consecutive weekly meetings that focus on 

different coping skills. Primary treatment topics include dealing 

with emotions, expectations, family dynamics, and living with 

addiction. A 1999 evaluation found the program had significant, 

positive impacts on recidivism (including arrests), substance 

abuse, employment, and social behavior. 

Another aftercare program is a form of Multisystemic Therapy 

(MST) called Family Integrated Transitions (FIT). The program 

provides integrated individual and family services to juvenile 

offenders who have co-occurring mental health and chemical 

dependency disorders. Services begin in the youth's final 2 

months at a residential facility and continue for 4–6 months during 

parole supervision. The program includes components of MST, 

Dialectical Behavior Therapy, and Motivational Enhancement 

Therapy. An evaluation found it had a significant impact on felony 

recidivism rates (although it did not impact misdemeanor 

recidivism rates). 

The Boston Reentry Initiative (BRI) is a voluntary interagency 

public safety program that helps high-risk adult male offenders 

between ages 17 and 30 transition back to their neighborhoods 

following release from local jails. The goal is to reduce recidivism 

with mentoring services, case management, social service 

assistance, and vocational development. Services begin with the 

creation of a transition accountability plan, continue with a family 

member or case manager who meets the offender on the day of 

release, and move forward with services provided in the 

community. An evaluation of the program found arrests for all 

crimes (violent crimes included) were significantly lower for BRI 

participants compared with a control group. Even after 3 years, 

BRI participants were 30 percent less likely to have been 

rearrested for a violent crime. 

Several federal grant programs have also been developed in 

recent years, providing community funding to support delivery of 

comprehensive reintegration services. The Serious and Violent 

Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) was designed to assist adult 

and juvenile offenders upon their release from incarceration in 

areas such as employment, education, health, and housing. 

SVORI provided federal funding to 69 state and community 

agencies to enhance reentry services for returning offenders. It 

was a results-oriented initiative as local programs needed to 

achieve specific outcomes and goals in services provided to 

offenders. However, the structure and implementation of 

enhanced reentry services offered by community programs varied 

substantially by site. Overall, a multisite evaluation of SVORI 

found reentry services did not have a significant impact on 

offenders, including juvenile offenders, with regard to measures of 

housing experience, employment, substance abuse, or criminal 

behavior. Part of the problem may have been the variation in 

services provided by sites, and the difficulty in identifying a 

"program" to evaluate because of the customized nature of 

services offenders were receiving. 

The Second Chance Act was signed into law in 2008 to fund 

programs that help improve outcomes for people returning to the 

community after incarceration, and reduce their odds of 

recidivating. The Act was developed from research on reentry and 

lessons learned from prior attempts to improve reentry efforts 

(including SVORI). Federal grants provided under the Second 
disa ointment and failure. School ort and

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

pp , sp s, 

relationships may have gone poorly, and new 

situations are merely an opportunity for more 

humiliation. Why not act up right away and avoid 

the embarrassment? I once brought a young man 

to his new classroom in a group home and 

introduced him to his teacher. The class was 

reading from a school book at the time and the 

new student was asked to read paragraph four 

aloud. He stood up, grabbed the table and flipped 

it, simply because he could not read. From his 

perspective, it was better to be seen as volatile 

than thought of as stupid or incapable. The 

situation was a true learning lesson for me and I 

never let it happen again. For the next 18 years, 

new students were always interviewed by the 

teacher to determine their learning levels and 

capabilities before setting foot in an unfamiliar 

classroom. 

Frustration and resentment may also stem from 

learning disabilities (LDs), according to the 

National Center for Learning Disabilities. As 

kids move into middle school, behavioral signs

of LD include resisting class work or homework, 

refusing to follow the teacher's directions in order 

to get sent from the room, cutting class, and 

bullying. 

Displaced Aggression: A trip to court, an 

appointment with a social worker or probation 

officer, a disappointing visit from family members, 

or abuse or bullying that recently took place—all 

of these scenarios can trigger acting out due to 

displaced aggression. In cases like these where 

you are present and the source of the anger is 

not, look out. 

Maintenance of Self-Esteem: Regardless of the 

organization or role, not once did we allow staff or 

youth to refer to each other by their nicknames. 

Depending on a child's situation, a well-intended 

handle can easily turn into an insult that leads to 

an assault. Responses vary depending on who 

uses the nickname, inflection and tone, and the 

state of the person being referred to. An 

abbreviation like "Bob" is likely safe, but "Shorty" 

or "Razor" could cause any number of problems, 

resurfacing bad memories or reinforcing negative 

roles. 

To the furthest extent possible, behavior should 

be corrected offstage—not publicly, if it can be 

avoided. Snapping fingers at someone, using 

"hey you" to get his or her attention, or taking a 

teasing or condescending tone may eventually 

lead to trouble. The behavior we model teaches 

young people how to act and interact 

appropriately. 

Loss of Personal Power: Treating everyone in a 

community facility or classroom the same way 

may challenge those who see themselves as 

adults to show you just how wrong you are. A 17-

Chance Act have funded programs related to substance abuse 

treatment, family programming, reentry courts, mentoring, 

housing, and victims support. Part of the legislation directed the 

National Institute of Justice (NIJ) to evaluate the effectiveness of 

demonstration projects receiving funding. As opposed to one 

large multisite evaluation that was conducted for SVORI, NIJ is 

funding various evaluations to examine different Second Chance 

Act projects. Many of those evaluations are still ongoing; 

therefore, the effectiveness of the Second Chance Act is not yet 

known. 

Additional information on Operation New Hope, MST-FIT, BRI, 

and SVORI can be found on NIJ's CrimeSolutions.gov. 

Rachel Stephenson is a Research Analyst at Development 

Services Group, Inc. 

NEWS 

& VIEWS 

Reports 

Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2012 

Institute of Education Sciences National Center for Education 

Statistics, 2013 

The Bureau of Justice Statistics has released "Indicators of 

School Crime and Safety: 2012," reporting on current crime and 

school safety data. Twenty-one indicators of school crime are 

described, including victimization at and away from school, 

teacher injury, bullying and cyberbullying, weapons, and schools' 

safety and security measures. 

2013 Short Report on Youth Mental Health 

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 

2013 

This report addresses challenges faced by young adults. More 

than one fourth of young adults surveyed had experienced four or 

more types of potentially traumatic events, such as physical 

abuse, sexual abuse, or witnessing domestic violence. Nearly 20 

percent of young adults aged 18–25 had a mental health 

condition in the past year—of these, more than 1.3 million had a 

severe disorder that compromised their ability to function. The 

Children's Mental Health Initiative, aimed at improving mental 

health outcomes from birth to age 21, funds grantees to put 

system-of-care principles into practice by helping adolescents and 

young adults obtain services and supports, build partnerships with 

their families and communities, and use evidence-based practices 

to improve functioning at home, in the classroom, and in other 

areas of life. 

Four in 10 Teens Have Experienced Dating Violence: What

Parents and Providers Can Do 

Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013 

More than one in three teens has experienced dating violence, 

according to a recent study. The report was based on data from a 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

year-old in a group setting who has been out of 

school for 2 years, fathered a child, been shot, 

and continues to sell drugs for a living must be 

handled differently than a youth who has run 

away for the first time. Clearly, not all youth are 

the same, and therefore must be treated 

differently. Pulling a youth aside, confirming his or 

her status, and asking respectfully for cooperation 

is likely to yield better results. 

Attention Seeking: Many young people who are 

engaged in service systems cannot communicate 

well. Whatever the cause—parenting deficiencies, 

abuse and neglect, immaturity—the result is often 

an inability to express needs. Some children 

simply don't know how to appropriately get the 

attention of an adult to discuss a problem or ask 

for something. Experience has taught them if they 

act out, an adult will have to pay attention and 

may lead to getting what they need or want. 

Mental Illness/Impairment: Some young people 

are suffering from diagnosable disorders that can 

lead to acting out. While very few youths are 

psychotic (the onset of psychosis is generally in 

early adulthood or later), mood disorders, autism, 

and developmental or intellectual disabilities can 

result in defiant behavior, as the youth does not 

have skills or abilities to cope with stressful 

circumstances. Use of illegal substances can also 

cause acting out. 

We used to teach our staff to take inventory every 

day and ask this question: If each child in our 

care acts out today, what would likely be the 

cause? What would precipitate the behavior? A 

thoughtful answer to that question allows you to 

head off trouble at the pass. This approach is 

"real time" prevention. Thoughtful preparation and 

modeling of appropriate behavior is the heart of 

leading by example, and smart policy for those 

who interact with young people on a daily basis. 

Dave Marsden is the National Forum on Youth 

Violence Prevention Technical Assistance 

Director. 

UPDATES 

American Bar Association Endorses Task 

Force Recommendations to Address 

Children's Exposure to Violence 

On August 12, 2013, the American Bar 

Association (ABA) House of Delegates 

unanimously approved a resolution supporting 

implementation of 56 policy recommendations 

from the "Report of the Attorney General's

National Task Force on Children Exposed to

Violence (CEV)" According to the ABA

"the 

national online survey to assess victimization and perpetration of 

dating violence. 

OJJDP Family Listening Sessions Executive Summary 

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2013 

Four listening sessions were convened by OJJDP in 2011 to 

provide the Office, state juvenile justice agencies, and other 

stakeholders with a greater understanding of challenges families 

face when their child becomes involved in the juvenile or criminal 

justice system. Common themes were noted as well as 

recommended improvements for criminal and juvenile justice 

systems. 

News 

Campaign to Provide Safe Passage on Way to School 

Along the Safe Passage routes, 1,200-plus workers watched 

over students as they made their way back to school. While 

many cities have programs to help children get to and from school 

safely, few are as extensive as Chicago's—proof of the city's 

intense commitment to violence prevention and education. 

The Secret for Preventing Youth Violence 

Seven months after 730 8th- through 12th-grade students in 

Chicago completed a 2012 summer jobs program that aimed to 

give teens social skills and support, participants noted a 

substantial (51 percent) drop in arrests. 

Stopping the Slaughter 

Philadelphia's Mayor Michael Nutter calls for action to end the 

gun violence that claims some 32 victims a day in the United 

States. Seventy-five percent of homicide victims in the city are 

black men, as well as about 80 percent of those arrested for 

homicide. Mayor Nutter says a partnership is in order for cities, 

states, and federal agencies and corporate, philanthropic, 

religious, and social advocacy communities to break the cycle of 

violence that has plagued Philadelphia for too long. 

Other Resources 

Recent studies associating bullying with depression and suicide 

led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to convene an 

expert panel. In conjunction, the Journal of Adolescent Health 

released a special online supplement examining the 

relationship between bullying and suicide among youth. Three 

findings were key: bullying is a significant public health problem; a 

strong association exists between bullying and suicide-related 

behaviors; and public health strategies can be applied to prevent 

bullying and suicide. 

In an effort initiated by the Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention to end teen dating violence, organizations, advocates, 

students, and violence prevention professionals have submitted 

short Public Service Announcements. On September 6, 

winners of the "I Veto Violence Because ..." contest will be 

announced. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Violence (CEV). According to the ABA, the 

recommendations of the CEV report regarding 

youth in the juvenile justice system seek to 

ensure that youth who have been exposed to 

& UPCOMING EVENTS 

violence receive the services they need to 

address its effects, [and] also promote the idea 

that youth in the juvenile justice system should 

not be treated as hardened, irredeemable 

delinquents or criminals. Instead, youth should be 

treated in a way that takes their age, background, 

identity, and violent or traumatic experiences into 

account." 

Contact Us 

Send questions or feedback about the newsletter to 

NFYVP@dsgonline.com, or subscribe. 

Training Opportunities 

Improving Conditions for Youth in Confinement 

On September 4, 2013, the National Center for Youth in Custody 

will present "Putting It All Together: How Juvenile Facilities

Can Create and Sustain Improved Conditions for Youth" to 

discuss methods for providing consistently safe, secure, humane, 

and therapeutic environments for confined youth. 

OJJDP Webinar to Explore Survey Data Collection 

In collaboration with the National Juvenile Justice Evaluation 

Center, OJJDP's National Training and Technical Assistance 

Center will host "Demystifying Survey Data Collection," a 90-

minute Webinar focusing on the process of survey data collection. 

Methods of electronic data entry, tabulation and reporting, and 

paper-and-pencil surveys will be discussed, as well as how to 

develop a participant survey, format data for efficient use, and use 

descriptive statistics to summarize results. Register to participate 

in the September 5, 2013, Webinar. 

The National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention Newsletter 

is prepared under Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 

Prevention (OJJDP) Cooperative Agreement No. 2012–MU– 

FX–K009 with Development Services Group, Inc. 

The views, opinions, and content of this newsletter are those 

of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views, 

opinions, or policies of OJJDP.