BY ALVIN W. COHN, D. CRIM
President, Administration of Justice Services, Inc.
OJJDP Newsletter
The bi-monthly OJJDP newsletter, News at a Glance, will be available for dissemination online only. To subscribe to the electronic version, go to the OJJDP Web site’s home page under “Get Information.” Subscribe at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ojjdp.
NCJRS Catalog
The NCJRS Catalog will be replaced by an online quarterly publication and will be called The Justice Resource Update. It will continue to highlight significant initiatives, priorities, products, and Web sites of NCJRS sponsor agencies as well as announcing grant opportunities. See http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/pr000001.pdf.
College Student Poll
U.S. college students who are strongly religious differ markedly from the least religious students on political identification and moral issues, according to a survey conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles. The poll was based on responses from 3,680 juniors on 46 campuses nationwide. The survey found that about one-fifth of the collegians were “highly religious” and that another one-fifth ranked very low on religious activities, such as attending worship services and reading sacred texts. Women were significantly more religious than men. Other findings include:
- Among those who called themselves politically conservative, 50 percent showed high levels of religious commitment; 18 percent of political liberals showed high commitment levels.
- Capital punishment was opposed by 38 percent of the highly religious and by 23 percent of the least religious.
- Just seven percent of the highly religious thought it was alright for people who have known each other “a very short time” to have sex; 80 percent of the least religious said it was all right.
- Of the highly religious, 24 percent wanted abortion to remain legal, compared with 79 percent of the least religious.
- Of the highly religious, 38 percent said they would support “laws prohibiting homosexual relationships,” compared with 17 percent of the least religious.
- Of the highly religious, 17 percent wanted marijuana legalized, compared with 64 percent of the least religious.
States Support Education Law
Many educators dislike the federal No Child Left Behind Act, but states are complying. The number of states on track to:
Identify dangerous schools—47 percent
Report achievement by income and racial groups—33 percent
Identify which schools need improvement—27 percent
Offer schools research-based curricula—23 percent
Demonstrate that new teachers are competent—11 percent
A look at the number of states in compliance with some of the Act’s requirements include:
Reading standards established—40
Math standards established—38
Annual assessment in reading, language arts—30
Annual assessment in math—29
Report cards—19
Highly qualified teacher definition—23
Subject-matter competence—11
Tests for new elementary teachers—43
Highly qualified teachers in every classroom—0
High-quality professional development—0
New Data on U.S. Children
America ’s children are less likely to commit a violent crime or become a victim of one, but more of them are living in poverty, according to a report by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. Additionally, the report states that the teen birth rate has declined steadily since 1991, hitting a record low in 2002. However, teenagers who gave birth are less likely to finish high school; and infants born to teenage mothers are more likely to be of low birth weight, increasing their chances for blindness, deafness, mental retardation, mental illness, and cerebral palsy. And the death rate has gone down for young people. However, children are more likely to be overweight than they were before, and child poverty has inched up after several years of decline.
Teachers’ Salaries
The typical public school teacher’s salary barely kept pace with inflation in the 2002-2003 school year, according to the U.S. Department of Labor and the American Federation of Teachers. At $45,771, the average salary was up 3.3 percent from the previous year. The typical beginning teacher earned $29,564, up 3.2 percent. In the same period, health insurance premiums rose 13 percent on average. Average teacher salaries by states include:
FIVE HIGHEST:
California - $55,693
Michigan - $54,020
Connecticut - $53,962
New Jersey - $53,872
D.C. - $53,194
FIVE LOWEST:
South Dakota - $32,414
Oklahoma - $33,277
North Dakota - $33,869
Mississippi - $35,135
Montana - $35,754
Next-Generation Scientists
The U.S. Department of Energy recently announced an initiative to promote “science literacy” and boost the number of American students interested in becoming scientists and engineers. The program will award scholarships at national laboratories for math and science teachers. It also will require the 17 labs to host 1,000 fifth-graders and 1,000 eighth-graders for at least one day each year. The Department will also sponsor an annual science expo, “science appreciate days” and career days in which scientists will visit public schools. According to an international study completed in 1999, U.S. fourth-graders ranked among the world’s best in math and science. By eighth grade, they fell below the international average. By 12th, they trailed students in nearly every other industrialized country.
Children and Memory Study
Researchers reported recently that a five-year-old could beat most adults on a recognition memory test, at least under specific conditions, due to the fact that adults “know too much.” The study conducted at the Center for Cognitive Science at Ohio State University showed 77 young children and 71 college students pictures of cats, bears, and birds. The children were accurate 31 percent of the time in identifying pictures of animals they had seen earlier, while the adults were accurate seven percent of the time. Researchers believe the reason for the difference is that children used a form of reasoning called similarity-based induction which means that when they were shown subsequent pictures, they looked carefully to see if the animal looked similar to the original. Adults used category-based-induction—once they determined what the animal picture was, they paid no more attention.
National CASA Evaluation
Some of the findings include:
- Judges tend to assign CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) volunteers to the most difficult cases—i.e., children who tend to have multiple risk factors, previous involvement in the child protection system, and to be at severe risk for future abuse.
- Children with CASA volunteers were in the system about as long as the non-CASA cases.
- CASA volunteers are “highly effective” at making recommendations to the courts.
- CASA volunteers are engaged in a variety of activities, but much of their time is spent in contact with the child.
- Children with CASA volunteers—as well as the children’s parents—received more services such as health care or substance abuse treatment.
- Parents of CSA children ranked the volunteers positively on every measure, including their helpfulness to the parents themselves.
Vaccine Safety
Two British studies appear to refute concerns that a mercury-based preservative in vaccines may increase the risk of autism. In fact, the studies found that the preservative thimerosal may have a protective effect. One study followed nearly 13,000 children, and the other looked at more than 107,000. Findings show reduced risk of behavioral and developmental problems in children who get thimerosal-containing vaccines in infants.
Office of National Drug Control Policy
ONDCP announces the release of two new publications aimed at curbing substance abuse among students, including What You Need to Know About Starting A Student Drug Testing Program, which reviews the steps that parents and school administrators need to take when implementing a student drug testing program, including the kinds of tests that can be utilized; and The Challenge in Higher Education: Confronting and Reducing Substance Abuse on Campus, which gives higher education administrators a basic understanding of illegal drug use among the college population and how to create a drug-free environment. It also includes sidebars explaining innovative programs at several universities and colleges. The documents are available online at: http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/student_drug_testing/ http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/challenge_higher_ed/
Expensive Public Universities
Based on 2004-2005 tuition for in-state students, USA TODAY reports the following are the most expensive universities:
| Pennsylvania State University | $10,856 |
| Rutgers University | $10,460 |
| University of Vermont |
$10,226 |
| University of New Hampshire | $9,226 |
| University of Massachusetts | $9,008 |
| Ohio State University |
$8,854 |
| University of Minnesota | $8,255 |
| University of Michigan | $8,201 |
| University of Illinois | $7,922 |
| Ohio University | $7,920 |
U.S. Teens’ Hopes and Skills
The academic skills of the typical U.S. 15-year-old are average compared with most of the industrialized world, but a larger proportion of American teens see themselves holding top-paying jobs in the future, according to a study by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The study finds, as in past years, U.S. students’ reading performance sits around the middle of a 27 nation pack, just five points higher than average; math performance is five points lower than average. U.S. students also rank below average in high school graduation rates and just about average in school “engagement,” or how much they participate and feel a sense of belonging. But when asked what kind of job they expect to hold by the time they are 30, 80.5 percent of U.S. students said they would have a white collar, high-skilled job, far exceeding the average of 62.2 percent. U.S. girls had even higher expectations of themselves, with 85.8 percent expecting a top job by age 30. Among all nations, only students in Mexico had higher expectations. Along with the U.S. and Mexico, the nations with the highest aspiring 15-year-olds include Canada, Greece, South Korea, and Portugal. Among students in Russia and Hong Kong, only 58.6 percent had the same high expectations.
Poll Looks at Teens
Teenagers are far more likely to seek out friends for help with ethical decisions than to ask a member of the clergy, a poll by Harris Interactive reports. Among teenagers polled, 83 percent said they would turn to friends for help in making such choices, followed by their parents (68 percent), teachers (27 percent), the Internet (24 percent), and clergy (14 percent). The poll showed that almost one-third of teenagers surveyed think they have to “bend the rules to succeed.” Twenty percent gave that answer in a similar poll last year. The survey of 624 students was drawn from a larger Harris Interactive poll that was conducted via e-mail and weighted demographically to represent the nation.
Drug Courts
OJJDP announces that it has been charged with the management of all juvenile and family drug court programs under the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs. Over the next few months, OJJDP will assume responsibility for all grants currently administered by OJP’s Bureau of Justice Assistance and will be announcing solicitations for fiscal year ’05 grant funds.
NIJ Research
The National Institute of Justice quarterly prepares the Research Review, which contains short summaries of significant research findings from recently funded reports and lists titles of other recently completed projects. Web addresses are provided for easy electronic access to the full abstract of each report. The report is available online at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/rr/index.html.
Household Victimization
The percentage of U.S. households victimized by violent crime or thefts during 2003 remained at the lowest levels since the Bureau of Justice Statistics reintroduced this crime indicator in 1994. Victimization fell from 25 percent of all households in 1994 to 15 percent of all households in 2003. “Crime and the Nation’s Households, 2003” can be found at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/cnh03.htm.
Mentally Ill Juvenile Offenders
Nearly 2,000 children awaiting mental health treatment are incarcerated on any given night in juvenile detention facilities across the U.S., where many attempt suicide or attack others, according to a report prepared for Congress. Problems include a failure by federal and state officials in social service, criminal justice, and educational agencies to communicate and agree on how to treat any given child. In addition, the cost of treatment often prevents parents from seeking services. The General Accounting Office found in 2001 that parents surrendered 12,700 children to the government for Medicaid treatment because the families could not afford mental health care on their own. The report surveyed 500 juvenile detention administrators in 49 states. It included about three-fourths of all facilities and covered the first half of 2003. More than 1,900 juveniles were incarcerated on any night while waiting for mental health services. Two-thirds of the facilities reported that youths either attempted suicide or attacked others.
NIC Mental Health Online
The National Institute of Corrections (NIC) recently made new prison mental health guidelines available online, providing standards for procedures, planning, methods, budget development, monitoring, and evaluation. Effective Prison Mental Health Services: Guidelines to Expand and Improve Treatment presents historical, legal, and ethical issues dealing with mental illness in corrections. Contents incorporate observations and recommendations from mental health professionals and information gathered from written surveys, literature searches, and site visits. See www.nic.org.
Suicide Surge
A suicide takes place somewhere around the world every 40 seconds, or nearly one million a year, and the rate looks to surge over the next two decades, reports international health experts. Although men in their sixties—retirement age—are by far the most likely to die at their own hands, the numbers among younger men between 15 and 19 are rising, largely because of the availability of guns. Suicide accounts for 1.5 percent of the total cost of disease to world society, reports the U.N. World Health Organization. Former communist states— Lithuania, Estonia, Russia, Latvia, and Hungary—had the highest rates. The next five were Sri Lanka, ex-Soviet Kazakhstan and Belarus, Slovenia, and Finland, according to figures for 2000.
Adoptions in the U.S.
1.6 million—Number of adopted children (under 18) of “householders.” These children comprise 2.5 percent of all children of householders.
16—Percentage of adopted children under 18 who are black. Seven percent are Asian and two percent are American Indian and Alaska native.
17—Percentage of adopted children under 18 who are of a different race from the householder. This compares with 11 percent of stepchildren and seven percent of biological children.
3.9—Percentage of children under 18 in Alaska who are adopted, the highest of any state.
21,616—Number of immigrant visas issued to orphans coming to the U.S. for adoption in 2003, up from 7,377 a decade earlier. The leading sources of these orphans are China and Russia.
43—Average age of householders with adopted children, which is about five years older than householders with biological children or stepchildren.
$56,000—Median income for households with adopted children under 18, higher than those with biological children ($48,000) and stepchildren ($51,000).
Government Publications Available
Juvenile Arrests 2002 at: http://www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org/publications/PubAbstract.asp?pubi=11822
Trends in the Murder of Juveniles: 1980-2000 at: http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/publications/PubAbstract.asp?pubi=11831
Disproportionate Minority Confinement: 2002 Update at: http://www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org/Publications/PubAbstract.asp?pubi=11816
Youth Gangs and Urban Gangs at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubs-sum/jr000251.htm
Alive at 25: Reducing Youth Violence Through Monitoring and Support at: http://www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/assets/174_publication.pdf
Selected Topics on Youth Courts: A Monograph at: http://www.youthcourt.net/publications/monograph.pdf
Compendium of Federal Justice Statistics, 2002 at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/cfjs02.htm
FBI’s Crime in the United States,
2003 at: http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm#cius