Collaborating for Alternatives to Arrest: The Connecticut...
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Transcript of Collaborating for Alternatives to Arrest: The Connecticut...
Jeana R. Bracey, Jeffrey J. Vanderploeg, Maria O’Connell, Cathy Foley Geib, and Mark J. Plourd
25th Annual Children’s Mental Health Research & Policy Conference
March 4-7, 2012, Tampa, FL
Collaborating for Alternatives to Arrest: The Connecticut School-Based
Diversion Initiative
MacArthur Foundation
Models for Change
• $130 million juvenile justice reform effort
• Support rational, fair, and effective juvenile justice systems that recognize the developmental differences between juveniles and adults
• 4 Core States and 3 Action Networks developed models ready for dissemination
• Mental Health Action Network developed school arrest diversion strategies
• Mutual interests of decreasing court involvement and increasing well being and educational success
Background
• Lower number of juvenile arrests, rising proportion of in-school arrests – Higher arrests not due to worsening behavior, rather, to changing adult
responses to behavior
• Law enforcement presence in schools, “zero tolerance” policies, the “school to prison pipeline”
• Exclusionary disciplinary practices – Arrest, expulsion, out of school suspensions
– Exclusion linked to less instruction time, worse academic and socio-emotional outcomes, dropout
– Disproportionately affects students from minority racial/ethnic backgrounds (DMC) and students with special education and behavioral health needs
Background Facts
• Youth who are arrested have unmet mental health needs, in fact, approximately 65-70% of youth in juvenile detention have a diagnosable behavioral health condition(Council of State Governments Justice Center, 2011; Shufelt & Cocozza, 2006;
Teplin, Abram, McClelland, Dulcan, & Mericle, 2002).
• Students who are arrested or expelled are disproportionately likely to be students of color, particularly African-American and Hispanic males. – Even when the behaviors are the same, too often school responses
to behaviors are more severe for students of color (Richetelli, Hartstone,
Murphy, 2009).
Primary Partners
•Continuum of services and
supports in CT Judicial Branch,
incl. juvenile intake, referral
CSSD
• Child protection, behavioral
health, juvenile justice,
prevention
DCF
•Develop, train, implement,
evaluate effective
mental health practices
CCEP
•External evaluation of community-level court
referral and EMPS data
Yale
•Legislative education and
advocacy, community
coalition building
CTJJA
School-based Arrests (September-December 2011)
• Almost 20% of all court referrals from schools
• 55% had prior court referrals
• Often for relatively minor offenses
– Breach of Peace, Assault 3rd, Disorderly Conduct, Threatening, Possession of Marijuana
• Demographics
– 65% male
– 29% age 16, 28% age 15, 20% age 14, 13% age 13, 9% age 12 and younger, 1% age 17*
– 33% White, 29% Black, 18% Hispanic, 17% missing, 3% Other
Progress in Connecticut
CT has enacted a comprehensive approach that changes business as usual across systems
• School-Based Health Clinics – Designed to address the mental health needs of students
• Revising the Juvenile Court Intake procedures – Juvenile Probation now has the ability to “send back” non-serious arrests for
in-school offenses
• Systems coordination, pubic awareness, and school policy consultation – OPM Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee School-Police MOA; CT Juvenile
Justice Alliance School-Police forums
• CSSD Data Collection Efforts
• The School Based Diversion Initiative (SBDI) at CHDI – Partners: CSSD, DCF, Department of Education, MacArthur Foundation
– School based health and mental health is part of CHDI’s strategic plan
Goals of the School
Based Diversion Initiative
• Reduce the number of discretionary arrests in school; reduce expulsions and out-of school suspensions
• Build knowledge and skills among teachers, school staff, and school resource officers to recognize and manage behavioral health crises in the school, and access needed community resources
• Link youth who are at-risk of arrest, and who have mental health needs, to appropriate school and community-based services and supports
School Selection
• Interest – Desire to reduce number of school arrests
– Buy-in from superintendent, administrators, key staff
• Need – High level of disciplinary incidents
– Youth with unmet behavioral health needs
• Capacity – Professional development time
– Ability to track and share data
• 13 schools to date across 7 CT communities
SBDI Key Activities
• School Selection
• Conduct Multi-Method Needs Assessment
• Community Coalition Building/Linking to Community-Based
Resources
• Develop and Implement Customized Professional
Development
• School Policy Consultation/Graduated Response Model
• Data collection, analysis, evaluation
• Guided by a Program Manual
Sample Training Menu
• Understanding and Increasing Empathy for Families with
Mental Health Needs
• Effective Classroom Behavior Management Strategies
• Distinguishing Normal Adolescent Development and
Mental Health Symptoms
• Effective Collaboration with EMPS and Care Coordination
• Understanding and Partnering with the JJ System
• Overview of the CT Behavioral Health System
• Parent Engagement and Community Resources
• Multicultural Competence in the Schools
• School Climate and Connectedness
• Introduction to the Graduated Response Model
EMPS as Key Resource
• Emergency Mobile Psychiatric Services (EMPS)
– A component of Connecticut’s behavioral health system--funded and managed by DCF
• Eligibility: FREE to all CT children
• Access: Dial 2-1-1
– Phone support 24/7, 365
– Mobile hours M-F 9am-10pm
– Weekends/holidays 1pm-10pm
• Mobility rate > 90% face-to-face
• Required response within 45 minutes (often 30 min or less)
Graduated Response Model
SAMPLE Behavior Intervention
Classroom Intervention
Excessive talking Incomplete homework
Change seat Parent call/meeting
School Administration Intervention
Disruptive behavior Verbal student conflict
Detention
Assessment and Service Provision
Inappropriate behavior Insubordination
SpEd referral EMPS referral
Law Enforcement Intervention
School policy violation Drug possession
Informal response to arrest
Adapted from the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee School/Police Task Group
What the Schools Say…
• “The SBDI program helped our school connect to effective community resources. Like many other schools our own staff did not have the time to make these connections on our own.”
• “As a result of the trainings and improved collaboration with community agencies, our school climate has improved.”
Student-Level Data: School Responses to Student Crises
12
8
19
6
0
5
10
15
20
EHMS Wilcox
Co
un
t
Police Involvement
Baseline (2009-10) SBDI (2010-11)
(+58%)
(-25%)
16
4 5
2 0
5
10
15
20
EHMS Wilcox C
ou
nt
Students Arrested
Baseline (2009-10) SBDI (2010-11)
(-69%)
(-50%)
School-Level Data:
Administrative Discipline
1006
146
903
144 0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
EHMS Wilcox
Co
un
t
In-School Suspensions
Baseline (2009-10) SBDI (2010-11)
(-1%)
525
10
487
6 0
100
200
300
400
500
600
EHMS Wilcox C
ou
nt
Out-of-School Suspensions
Baseline (2009-10) SBDI (2010-11)
(-7%)
(-40%)
(-10%)
School-Level Data:
EMPS Utilization
5
0
4
18
8
24
6
15
34
9
21
9
25
7
2
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
DePaolo MS (756) JFK MS (812) Marin: K-8 (859) East Hartford MS* (973)
Wilcox Tech HS* (727)
SBDI School Referrals to EMPS
Pre-SBDI Active SBDI Post SBDI
* Post SBDI reflects a period of 3 months, 9/1/11-12/31/11 NOTE: Student enrollment numbers are in parenthesis
Community Level Data: Reduced Likelihood of Initial Arrest
Among those referred directly to Court: 50% arrest rate
• Among those referred first to EMPS: 13% arrest rate
Youth referrals to EMPS or Court 9/1/09 to 8/31/10
% o
f yo
uth
with
no
su
bse
qu
ent co
urt
re
ferr
al
Days until subsequent court referral
Community Level Data: Lower Re-Arrest Rates
Comparing communities with and without SBDI:
Subsequent arrest rates were significantly lower for SBDI communities (31%) than non-SBDI communities (43%) even after controlling for: • Previous court involvement
• Race
• Age
• Gender
Time to subsequent court referral in SBDI and non-SBDI
% o
f yo
uth
with
no
co
urt
refe
rra
l
Days until subsequent court referral
Summary of Outcomes
• Arrests are down, re-arrests reduced and delayed
• Suspensions dropping
• School staff have better awareness of community resources, resulting in better referrals for families
• EMPS utilization has increased
• Graduated Response Model is being used to clarify school staff roles and responses to behavioral incidents, including administrators and SROs
Recommendations and
Next Steps
• Promote awareness of in-school arrests
• Interagency collaboration to sustain initiatives • Continued program development to meet needs of local
communities and schools – Accessing existing resources in the community
• Expand to additional communities and schools
• Cross-system data collection and evaluation
Acknowledgements
• MacArthur Foundation: Laurie Garduque
• National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice: Joe Cocozza and Kathy Skowyra
• CSSD: Bill Carbone, Steve Grant, Cathy Foley Geib, Lou Ando
• DCF: Bert Plant, Tim Marshall
• CHDI/CCEP: Judith Meyers, Bob Franks, Kristin Adomeit
• Yale School of Medicine: Maria O’Connell
• OPM: Valerie LaMotte
• CTJJA: Abby Anderson, Lara Herscovitch
Contact Information
For more information about the Connecticut School-Based Diversion Initiative or this presentation, contact:
Jeana R. Bracey, Ph.D., SBDI Coordinator
Connecticut Center for Effective Practice of the
Child Health and Development Institute
Phone: (860)679-1524