Project PA: Just uncovered documents give 'Kids for Cash' victim hope in getting kids back

There are late-breaking developments in our Project PA story we first brought you last week.

Joshua Fromel is one of the thousands of victims in the “Kids for Cash” scandal; it’s called one of the biggest cases of judicial misconduct in American history.

More >> Project PA: Just uncovered documents give 'Kids for Cash' victim hope in getting kids back

Judge: Teen accused of rape deserves leniency because he’s from a ‘good family'

An appeals court reprimanded a New Jersey court judge last month for refusing to try as an adult a 16-year-old boy accused of raping an intoxicated girl and sharing a video of the alleged assault with friends, according to several media reports.

Judge James Troiano claimed the boy was “from a good family,” was an Eagle Scout and attended an “excellent school.”

More >> Judge: Teen accused of rape deserves leniency because he’s from a ‘good family'

‘Unwanted’ foster children being held in juvenile jail

The crisis surrounding the treatment of WA’s unwanted children has deepened with revelations authorities are using the State’s only juvenile jail to hold them because they cannot find a place for them to stay.

The West Australian has learnt two wards of the State remain locked up at Banksia Hill Detention Centre because there are no vacancies at any residential or community care homes in WA.

More >> ‘Unwanted’ foster children being held in juvenile jail

‘Unwanted’ foster children being held in juvenile jail

The crisis surrounding the treatment of WA’s unwanted children has deepened with revelations authorities are using the State’s only juvenile jail to hold them because they cannot find a place for them to stay.

The West Australian has learnt two wards of the State remain locked up at Banksia Hill Detention Centre because there are no vacancies at any residential or community care homes in WA.

More >> ‘Unwanted’ foster children being held in juvenile jail

VIRGINIA TEEN WAS DETAINED AND PROSECUTED FOR SAYING ‘OINK OINK’ TO COP

In May 2016, James (not his real name), then 17, was sitting outside a mall in Arlington, Virginia, when police officers approached him. They picked him up, slammed him to the ground, dragged him aggressively to their car, and brought him to the police station. All those details are documented by a bystander’s cellphone.

But what preceded it is a matter of debate. James remembers sitting on the sidewalk, smoking a cigarette, and saying “oink oink” to a police officer, but the police had a different version of events. They claimed James provoked violence, refused to give his name, and resisted arrest.

More >> VIRGINIA TEEN WAS DETAINED AND PROSECUTED FOR SAYING ‘OINK OINK’ TO COP

City Children's Services Unlawfully Sent Juveniles Back to Detention, State Judge Finds

In the absence of rules created following the passage of a 2012 law, city officials relied for years on internal rules for how to handle the revoking of parole for those in the juvenile justice system.

More >> City Children's Services Unlawfully Sent Juveniles Back to Detention, State Judge Finds

Youth feel hopeless in Arkansas juvenile justice system

After 16-year-old Kristyn failed a drug test and ran away from home, the state jailed her for more than six months. Her expected sentence was three.

Teens like Kristyn are subject to a juvenile justice system that can extend their sentences for any rules infraction, or because necessary counseling isn't available or because they have to wait in county youth jails until a state bed opens.

More >> Youth feel hopeless in Arkansas juvenile justice system

State rep 'blown away' over billing practices of child services

A lawmaker who chairs the House Child and Family Law Committee said he was “blown away” to find out that the state bills parents who receive help from the state for their children, charging for everything from foster care to expensive incarcerations at the Sununu Youth Services Center.

On Sunday, the New Hampshire Sunday News reported the long-standing practice of billing families. Nearly 4,000 accounts are active, and three parents spoke of receiving bills they had not expected when they agreed to services such as Children in Need of Services (CHINS).

More >> State rep 'blown away' over billing practices of child services

Boy isolated 400 days: Manitoba urged to end long solitary confinement for youth

Manitoba’s children’s advocate is urging the province to stop lengthy solitary confinement of youth in custody after a review that found one boy was isolated for 400 straight days in a cell no bigger than a parking stall.

Daphne Penrose and provincial ombudsman Marc Cormier jointly investigated the use of solitary confinement, segregation and pepper spray in Manitoba’s youth jails.

More >> Boy isolated 400 days: Manitoba urged to end long solitary confinement for youth

Manitoba to look at connection between youth incarceration and child welfare

Manitoba is taking a hard look at youth justice and its connection to child welfare after a study found more than half of kids incarcerated had also been in care.

Justice Minister Cliff Cullen announced Friday that the province will review why youth are bouncing between the two systems without having positive outcomes.

More >> Manitoba to look at connection between youth incarceration and child welfare

Washington handles runaway foster kids with handcuffs, shackles and jail. Is there a better way?

"I've done nothing wrong," said a 14-year-old after she landed in jail for the fourth time. Many agree, and are trying to stop Washington state from arresting runaway foster kids. The head of the agency responsible says he wants to, but faces a "moral conundrum."

More >> Washington handles runaway foster kids with handcuffs, shackles and jail. Is there a better way?

Children describe how they were criminalised while in care

Four children and young people who were criminalised while living in residential care have told their stories in a new briefing published by the Howard League for Penal Reform.

One young person, Eddie*, who was taken into care at 11 and again at 13, reveals that he attempted suicide in a children’s home on Christmas Day. He says that a care worker’s response to his self-harming led to him being charged with assault and spending a night in a police cell.

More >> Children describe how they were criminalised while in care

Police reports detail fights, sex crimes at Iowa academy for troubled youth

In February, a Lincoln, Nebraska, mother of a 15-year-old student at Iowa's Clarinda Academy told police that a staff member assaulted her daughter.

The girl fell and hit her face on the floor, causing bruising, after the facility's director, Brad Honnald, tried to restrain her, according to a police report. 

The next month, eight teens attempted an escape that resulted in a 32-year-old staff worker Nathanial Bennett suffering broken bones and falling unconscious and left another staffer injured.

More >> Police reports detail fights, sex crimes at Iowa academy for troubled youth

Number of juveniles in detention for minor offenses has dropped since 2015

The number of youth incarcerated in the state’s juvenile detention centers for minor offenses dropped significantly between 2015 and 2017, pulling Connecticut from its number two ranking in a national study tracking juvenile confinement.

That study, released last month by Pew Charitable Trust, found there were 51 juveniles detained in Connecticut for technical offenses, such as violating probation orders or failing to show up for treatment, on a single day — Oct. 28 — in 2015.

More >> Number of juveniles in detention for minor offenses has dropped since 2015

Group calls for investigation after Texas judge releases defendants after election loss

The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas asked the state judicial commission to investigate the actions of a Harris County judge who released youthful offenders after they promised not to kill anyone on Wednesday — a day after he lost an election, a report said.

“It is improper for a judge to make orders motivated by partisan interests or spite as a result of his political loss,” Sharon Watkins Jones, director of political strategies for the ACLU of Texas said in a statement, Patch Houston reported.

More >> Group calls for investigation after Texas judge releases defendants after election loss

Promise not to kill anyone? After losing election, TX judge wholesale releases juvenile defendants

After losing his bench in a Democratic sweep, Harris County Juvenile Court Judge Glenn Devlin released nearly all of the youthful defendants that appeared in front him on Wednesday morning, simply asking the kids whether they planned to kill anyone before letting them go.

More >> Promise not to kill anyone? After losing election, TX judge wholesale releases juvenile defendants

Security measures tightened at boys reform school

The Simpson C. Penn School for Boys has implemented short and long-term security measures to ensure that there are no future breaches, said Minister of Social Services Frankie Campbell.

The move comes after five boys who absconded from the reform school in recent weeks still remain at large.

More >> Security measures tightened at boys reform school

A painful reunion at school of horror

The Florida State Reform School — more dungeon than deliverance for much of its 108-year history — has kept chilling secrets hidden behind red-brick walls and a razor wire fence amid the gently rolling hills of rural North Florida.

Established by state lawmakers in 1897 as a high-minded experiment where "young offenders, separated from the vicious, may receive careful, physical, intellectual and moral training," the reformatory instead became a Dickensian nightmare.

More >> A painful reunion at school of horror

Maine’s failed to keep at-risk youth safe. No wonder Long Creek is overwhelmed.

The last time Maine’s system for providing children with mental health services got a comprehensive look was in 1997.

That’s when state officials — at the Legislature’s direction, and with the help of service providers, parents and others — assembled a strategic plan for building up the range of services for children with mental health challenges that they could access without having to check into a hospital or be committed to an institution.

More >> Maine’s failed to keep at-risk youth safe. No wonder Long Creek is overwhelmed.

Locked away: Iowa is holding troubled children in isolation to punish them even as it pays out huge settlements

For nearly 2½ years, JaQuan Bradford — a boy with emotional and mental disabilities — was held in isolation by the Iowa Department of Human Services for most of each day.

More >> Locked away: Iowa is holding troubled children in isolation to punish them even as it pays out huge settlements