Youth Issues

By Paul Blume – November 24, 2024

(FOX 9) – A review of state and county data as well as spending records highlights the challenge of addressing youth mental health issues in Minnesota, particularly among children coming through the juvenile justice system.  
“With complex needs, you look to what is there,” explained Hennepin County Administrator David Hough. “And unfortunately, if there are not resources available in Minnesota, we look to other states. And that is where you have the out-of-home placements and the spend on out-of-home placements.”
In total this year, there have been applications submitted for at least 117 Minnesota kids for treatment facilities in another state, according to the Department of Children, Youth and Families.
Minnesota spends millions sending troubled youth out-of-state for treatment | FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul

BY COURTNEY JOHNS AND ANNIE KNOX, KSL-TV – November 22, 2024

SALT LAKE CITY — In the past decade, Utah has seen a dramatic increase in firearm-related offenses among teenagers, with the number of juvenile detention bookings for these crimes more than doubling.
Data from the Utah Juvenile Justice Oversight Committee shows that in 2015, 43 juveniles were booked for firearm offenses. By 2023, that number had surged to 107. Experts are raising alarms about where these teens are getting firearms and how to stem the rising tide of youth violence.
Utah youth firearm offenses double, but no one really knows where they’re getting the guns

July 11, 2024

Peers who have been through the juvenile justice system can help put incarcerated young people on a path to rehabilitation and redemption, but these mentors need access. States should give it to them.
OPINION | July 11, 2024 •  Dieter Cantu
Across the U.S., so-called “tough-on-crime” measures targeting children and teens are on the rise. In Washington, D.C, the City Council is considering a bill that would require more aggressive prosecution of young people who commit certain crimes. Texas wants to build more juvenile detention centers. And in Tennessee, child welfare advocates say they were baffled when a bill that would have strengthened oversight of child detention centers — aimed at protecting kids from solitary confinement — failed to pass.
If the goal is to create a better future for younger generations, the focus needs to be on helping young people rehabilitate and transition out of incarceration, not on finding new ways to put them behind bars.
. . . If we want to move young people caught up in the criminal justice system from punishment to rehabilitation, we need to give them tools that actually work for them. One of those tools is peer mentorship. Research shows that those who have been incarcerated themselves are the best mentors for people still in carceral settings.
What Kids Behind Bars Need: Mentors Who’ve Been There (governing.com)

May 29, 2024

Challenges at the Juvenile Justice Center in Sioux Falls are focused on violent youth, special needs teens, medical costs and turnovers, according to Director Jamie Gravett who discussed the issues with county commissioners on Tuesday, May 28.
He said assaults on staff, which include hitting, biting, and spitting, more than doubled last year over 2022 from 22 to 46. Gravett said most of the incidents occur when the youth are attempting to be restrained and that 47% of the assaults were done by just the same six youths last year.
The number of assaults are falling this year, he said. As for special needs, the number of youths with severe mental health needs and developmental disabilities, including autism, are increasing.
https://www.siouxfallslive.com/news/sioux-falls/juvenile-justice-center-details-challenges-numbers-as-new-facility-construction-begins