This report serves to assess the Nation¿s progress in addressing juvenile crime. The 2007 data bring some welcome news, as the recent trend of modest increases in juvenile arrests in 2005 and 2006 has been broken. The good news is reflected not only in the 2% decline in overall juvenile arrests and the 3% decline in juvenile arrests for violent crimes from 2006 to 2007 but also in the data for most offense categories, for males and females, and for white and minority youth. However, one area that merits continued attention is disproportionate minority contact with the juvenile justice system. For example, the arrest rate for robbery among black juveniles was more than 10 times that for white youth in 2007. Charts and tables.

This Bulletin summarizes 2007 juvenile crime and arrest data reported by local law enforcement agencies across the country and cited in the FBI report, "Crime in the United States 2007." The Bulletin describes the extent and nature of juvenile crime that comes to the attention of the justice system. It serves as a baseline for comparison for juvenile justice professionals and others seeking to assess the Nation's progress in addressing juvenile crime. The 2007 data bring some welcome news, as the recent trend of modest increases in juvenile arrests in 2005 and 2006 has been broken. The good news is reflected not only in the 2% decline in overall juvenile arrests and the 3% decline in juvenile arrests for violent crimes from 2006 to 2007 but also in the data for most offense categories, for males and females, and for white and minority youth. Although this general trend is indeed encouraging, it should not be misconstrued to provide a rationale for complacency. One area that merits our continued attention is disproportionate minority contact (DMC) with the juvenile justice system. For example, the arrest rate for robbery among black juveniles was more than 10 times that for white youth in 2007. OJJDP remains committed to supporting initiatives to reduce DMC, including improved and expanded delinquency prevention efforts in minority communities. [This bulletin was written with the assistance of Melissa Sickmund and Ben Adams.].

Adolescence is a distinct, yet transient, period of development between childhood and adulthood characterized by increased experimentation and risk-taking, a tendency to discount long-term consequences, and heightened sensitivity to peers and other social influences. A key function of adolescence is developing an integrated sense of self, including individualization, separation from parents, and personal identity. Experimentation and novelty-seeking behavior, such as alcohol and drug use, unsafe sex, and reckless driving, are thought to serve a number of adaptive functions despite their risks. Research indicates that for most youth, the period of risky experimentation does not extend beyond adolescence, ceasing as identity becomes settled with maturity. Much adolescent involvement in criminal activity is part of the normal developmental process of identity formation and most adolescents will mature out of these tendencies. Evidence of significant changes in brain structure and function during adolescence strongly suggests that these cognitive tendencies characteristic of adolescents are associated with biological immaturity of the brain and with an imbalance among developing brain systems. This imbalance model implies dual systems: one involved in cognitive and behavioral control and one involved in socio-emotional processes. Accordingly adolescents lack mature capacity for self-regulations because the brain system that influences pleasure-seeking and emotional reactivity develops more rapidly than the brain system that supports self-control. This knowledge of adolescent development has underscored important differences between adults and adolescents with direct bearing on the design and operation of the justice system, raising doubts about the core assumptions driving the criminalization of juvenile justice policy in the late decades of the 20th century. It was in this context that the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) asked the National Research Council to convene a committee to conduct a study of juvenile justice reform. The goal of Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach was to review recent advances in behavioral and neuroscience research and draw out the implications of this knowledge for juvenile justice reform, to assess the new generation of reform activities occurring in the United States, and to assess the performance of OJJDP in carrying out its statutory mission as well as its potential role in supporting scientifically based reform efforts.

In this completely revised and updated classic, Professors Roberts and Springer, along with 51 justice-oriented and forensic experts, have set the standard of care for mental health treatment and the delivery of social services to crime victims, juvenile and adult offenders, and their families. The second edition of Social Work in Juvenile and Criminal Justice Settings was published almost ten years ago in 1997, and was also translated to Chinese. Now Dr. Roberts, Dr. Springer, and their team of 51 prominent chapter authors have done such a thorough job of updating and finding new authors, that the end result is a comprehensive new book. In this third edition, 16 of the 31 chapters are new and specially written for this book. A growing number of mental health professionals are recognizing the need to examine current evidence-based program developments, assessment, and treatment practices with crime victims and offenders. This book focuses on the multiple roles and practices of justice social workers, also known as forensic social workers and crisis counselors. Many professional social workers, counselors and field placement students work in corrections and probation, forensic mental health, addictions treatment, juvenile justice, victim assistance, and police social work settings. In the words of Dean Barbara W. White (former President, Council on Social Work Education, and NASW) in her laudatory Foreword to this edition: "This groundbreaking book provides the necessary blueprints and guidelines for best practices with crime victims as well as juvenile and adult offenders in institutional, community- based, diversion, and aftercare programs. . . . This is the first all-inclusive, authoritative, exceptionally well-written volume on social policies and social work practices in both juvenile justice and criminal justice settings. . . . This book is a landmark achievement." An increasing number of offenders and victims have been found to be

Recalibrating Juvenile Detention chronicles the lessons learned from the 2007 to 2015 landmark US District Court-ordered reform of the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC) in Illinois, following years of litigation by the ACLU about egregious and unconstitutional conditions of confinement. In addition to explaining the implications of the Court’s actions, the book includes an analysis of a major evaluation research report by the University of Chicago Crime Lab and explains for scholars, practitioners, administrators, policymakers, and advocates how and why this particular reform of conditions achieved successful outcomes when others failed. Maintaining that the Chicago Crime Lab findings are the "gold standard" evidence-based research (EBR) in pretrial detention, Roush holds that the observed "firsts" for juvenile detention may perhaps have the power to transform all custody practices. He shows that the findings validate a new model of institutional reform based on cognitive-behavioral programming (CBT), reveal statistically significant reductions in in-custody violence and recidivism, and demonstrate that at least one variation of short-term secure custody can influence positively certain life outcomes for Chicago’s highest-risk and most disadvantaged youth. With the Quarterly Journal of Economics imprimatur and endorsement by the President’s Council of Economic Advisors, the book is a reverse engineering of these once-in-a-lifetime events (recidivism reduction and EBR in pretrial detention) that explains the important and transformative implications for the future of juvenile justice practice. The book is essential reading for graduate students in juvenile justice, criminology, and corrections, as well as practitioners, judges, and policymakers.

State-of-the-art critical reviews of recent scholarship on the causes of juvenile delinquency, juvenile justice system responses, and public policies to prevent and reduce youth crime are brought together in a single volume authored by leading scholars and researchers in neuropsychology, developmental and social psychology, sociology, history, criminology/criminal justice, and law.

Juvenile Justice: A Text/Reader offers a unique new spin on the core textbook format. Organized like a more traditional juvenile justice text, this text/reader is divided into eight sections that contain all the usual topics taught in a juvenile justice course. After a comprehensive overview, each section has an introductory "mini-chapter" that provides engaging coverage of key concepts, developments, controversial issues, and research in the field. These authored introductions are followed by carefully selected and edited original research articles. The readings, from prominent scholarly journals, were written by juvenile justice experts and often have a policy orientation that will help address student interest in the "so what?" application of theory. Key Features and Benefits Boasts extensive and unique coverage of the juvenile justice system, focusing on law enforcement, the court system, correctional responses to juvenile offending, and an overview of the causes of delinquency Features a unique "How to Read a Research Article"—tied to the first reading in the book—to give students a guide to understand and learn from the edited articles that appear throughout the text. Provides an introduction to each reading to give students an overview of the purpose, main points, and conclusions of each article. Utilizes photographs, boxes, and suggested Web resources to enhance the book's presentation and engage student interest. Offers a clear and concise summary of key terms and concepts in each section and discussion questions that enhance student comprehension Ancillaries A Student study site at www.sagepub.com/lawrencestudy provides self-quizzes, e-flashcards, additional readings, and more. Instructor Resource on CD include test questions for both the text and readings, PowerPoint slides, teaching tips, and other resources. Qualified instructors can request a copy by contacting Customer Care at 1-800-818-SAGE (7243), 6AM-5PM, Pacific Time. Intended Audience This Text/Reader is designed to serve as a replacement for a core text, or a supplement text for upper-level undergraduate Juvenile Justice courses in departments of criminal justice, criminology, sociology and related disciplines. Interested in a text/ reader for another criminology or criminal justice here? Explore other titles in the series.