Kansas Resources

• Johnson County Families - JoCoFamily.Net is funded through a Juvenile Crime Prevention grant from the Tenth Judicial District of Johnson County, Kansas. It has been created by the Johnson County Library with support from the District Attorney’s Office and Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center. This information service provides 24-hour access to community resources and legal information for Johnson County families of at-risk youth.

• Glossary of Legal Terms - Explanations for many of the legal terms one might encounter in the juvenile justice system.

• Kansas Advisory Group on Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention The purpose of the Juvenile Corrections Advisory Board (JCAB) is to assist in the oversight of community planning for juvenile offenders. Each judicial district has a 16-member Board that meets monthly and makes recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners regarding the ongoing needs of juveniles in the community.

• Kansas Juvenile Justice Authority - The Juvenile Justice Authority is a criminal justice agency, which first began operating in Kansas on July 1, 1997. This site links you to information about the agency, the facilities it operates, and its current initiatives.

• Understanding the Truancy Laws - Video answers to common questions.

• When a youth is arrested - An overview, with explanations, of the juvenile court process

 Other Resources

• Background of the Juvenile Justice Program - Pacer's Juvenile Justice Project began in 1994 with funding from a private foundation. It was the first national project to examine the issues related to the overrepresentation of youth with disabilities in the justice system.

• Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice - These seven juvenile justice monographs are a joint product of the Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice and EDJJ, The National Center on Education, Disability, and Juvenile Justice.

• Children with Emotional Disorders in the Juvenile Justice System - Each year over one million children come into contact in some way with the juvenile justice system. Over 100,000 of these youth are detained each day in a correctional facility.

• Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention - Access information about the Council, an independent organization in the executive branch that coordinates all federal juvenile delinquency prevention programs, all federal programs and activities that detain or care for unaccompanied juveniles, and all federal programs relating to missing and exploited children.

• Department of Justice- Youth Violence - The site offers information that focuses on the concerns of family members who have experienced, witnessed, or been victimized by crime in schools and gang activity. The substance abuse subpages guide parents and others to helpful resources, support groups, publications, and organizations. Resources on keeping our schools safe are also provided on the site.

• A Guide to the Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act & Participation in Juvenile Justice Programs - Sharing Information: A Guide to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and Participation in Juvenile Justice Programs.

• Interagency & Community Systems - This resource site provides an overview of the major federal services and funding streams serving youth with disabilities.

• A Judge's Story: Learning Disabilities & Juvenile Justice - Jeffrey H. Gallet, Judge in Family Court, State of New York, takes us his journey to success. Gallet, who barely graduated from high school, went on to Brooklyn Law School and graduated in the middle of his class. Now a successful judge, Gallet shares how supportive parents, a wonderful friend, a professor who believed in him, and a school willing to take a chance guided him to the success he experiences today.

• Juvenile Justice Cases

• Juvenile Justice & Youth with Disabilities: Vulnerabilities, Unmet Needs & Hopeful Approaches - Pacer Center's Juvenile Justice Project was the first in the country to address the issues of mental health and learning needs among offenders. In 1994 PACER Center established a training project on youth with disabilities in the juvenile justice system. The primary goals were to provide information and advocacy to professionals and parents about the right to special education services for young offenders who have disabilities; the relationship between the presence of disabilities and involvement in criminal and delinquent behaviors; characteristics of disabilities commonly seen in young offenders; and promising collaborative approaches.

• Special Education and Juvenile Justice System - Large numbers of youth involved with the juvenile justice system have education-related disabilities, and as many as 20 percent of students with emotional disabilities are arrested at least once before they leave school. Information regarding disabilities can assist those providing needed services to youth at every stage of the juvenile justice process and even help to determine whether formal delinquency proceedings should take place.

• Juvenile Justice Evaluation Center- Youth With Education-Related Disabilities- A significant proportion of youth in the juvenile justice system have education-related disabilities and are eligible for special education and related services under the Federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). While 8.6 percent of public school students have been identified as having disabilities that qualify them for special education services (U.S. Department of Education, 1998), youth in the juvenile justice system are much more likely to have both identified and undiscovered disabilities.

• Juvenile Justice Resources

• Juvenile Offenders and Victims- Minorities in the Juvenile Justice System - As the Nation moves into the 21st century, the reduction of juvenile crime, violence, and victimization constitutes one of the most crucial challenges of the new millennium. To meet that challenge, reliable information is essential. Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1999 National Report offers a comprehensive overview of these pervasive problems and the response of the juvenile justice system. The National Report brings together statistics from a variety of sources on a wide array of topics, presenting the information in clear, nontechnical text enhanced by more than 350 easy-to-read tables, graphs, and maps.

• The National Center on Education, Disability & Juvenile Justice - EDJJ examines the overrepresentation of youth with disabilities at-risk for contact with the courts or already involved in the juvenile delinquency system. We provide professional development and technical assistance, conduct research and disseminate resources in three areas of national significance: prevention of school failure and delinquency, education and special education for detained and committed youth, and transition services for youth returning to schools and communities.

• Students with Disabilities in Correctional Facilities - Youth with disabling conditions are overrepresented in juvenile correctional facilities (Burrell & Warboys, 2000). Many special educators, parents, and advocates are interested in ensuring that these youth receive the education and related services to which they are entitled under federal and state statutes. Until recently, however, the nature and extent of overrepresentation, the educational services provided, and the credentials of teachers in juvenile corrections have not been adequately examined.

• U.S. Department of Education - Office of Correctional Education - In April 1991 the U.S. Department of Education created a new office to provide national leadership on issues in correctional education. The Office of Correctional Education (OCE) provides technical assistance to States, local schools, and correctional institutions and shares information on correctional education.

• Youth with Disabilities in the Juvenile Justice System
  A Fact sheet from OSEP - Transition planning for youth with disabilities
  has not focused extensively on involvement with the juvenile justice system. Increased attention is needed on the growing number of youth with disabilities involved in the juvenile and adult correctional systems. (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader )

• Youth with Disabilities & the Juvenile Justice System - An estimated 30 to 50 percent of youth in juvenile corrections are identified as youth with disabilities. While the factors associated with overrepresentation of youth with disabilities in juvenile corrections are complex, evidence suggests that school failure, poorly developed social skills, and inadequate school and community supports are related to this phenomenon. Research suggests that effective community-based and school-based interventions can prevent antisocial behavior, reduce risk factors, and enhance protective factors for youth. Yet prevention efforts are often deterred by a general lack of collaboration on the part of the various agencies, schools, and community organizations involved with this population. Many youth, including those with disabilities, do not receive the collaborative prevention services, graduated sanctions, education services while incarcerated, and transition services that would deter future offending.

Contact the Families Together Center near you for more information