Zero Tolerance = Zero Results

A recently published research brief by Child Trends, Multiple Responses, Promising Results: Evidence-Based, Nonpunitive Alternatives To Zero Tolerance, suggests that zero tolerance school discipline policies have not been proven effective by research and may have negative effects, making students more likely to drop out and less likely to graduate on time. Instead, the brief recommends the use of nonpunitive disciplinary action, such as behavior interventions, social skills classes, and character education. Unfortunately, no one told law student Jason Fuller who just wrote a law review article in the Akron Law Review entitled Corporal Punishment and ...

Boobie Bracelet Battle Continues

Easton, Pennsylvania school officials announced earlier today that they will continue the tax payer funded battle against bracelets that say "I ♥ Boobies!" The District's school board voted unanimously Wednesday to appeal Tuesday's adverse decision by federal District Judge Mary McLaughlin. District solicitor John Freund says the decision "undermines the authority of school officials to promote civil dialogue and maintain decorum in the schools."

Court Reverses Boobies Bracelets Ban

A federal court in Pennsylvania ruled today that school-imposed bans of The Keep A Breast Foundation's "I ♥ Boobies" bracelets are unconstitutional and violate students' First Amendment rights. Two middle school students, with ties to breast cancer victims and survivors, were plaintiffs in the free expression case after being banned by the Easton Area School District from wearing the bracelets. In the official ruling, Judge Mary McLaughlin stated, "The bracelets are intended to be -- and they can reasonably be -- viewed as speech designed to raise awareness of breast cancer and to reduce stigma associated with openly discussing breast health. ...

Scared Straight Programs Harm Participants & Increase Delinquency

In this op-ed published February 1, 2011, in the Baltimore Sun, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs Laurie Robinson and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's Acting Administrator Jeff Slowikowski discuss how the use of scared straight programs to prevent delinquency is ineffective and can harm youth. Robinson and Slowikowski comment on this study by Anthony Petrosino and researchers at the Campbell Collaboration, which analyzed results from nine scared straight programs and found that participants were up to 28 percent more likely to offend in the future. As a result of such evidence, the U.S. Departm...

Sexting: “Most people don’t think it’s that big of a deal anymore”

The New York Times ran a thoughtful and extensive series of articles on sexting during the weekend. According to one of the stories, sexting is now mostly a middle school phenomenon. By the time they reach high school, most teens are more interested in dirty text messages. With that thought in mind, here are some highlights: But adults face a hard truth. For teenagers, who have ready access to technology and are growing up in a culture that celebrates body flaunting, sexting is laughably easy, unremarkable and even compelling: the primary reason teenagers sext is to look cool and sexy to someone they find attractive. Indeed, the photos can confer ...

Fifth Circuit Issues Landmark Ruling for Child Victims

Late yesterday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans adopted my longstanding position that there is no general proximate cause requirement governing restitution for victims of child pornography. Since the New York Times wrote this story last year about our firm's effort to obtain restitution for a child pornography victim known as "Amy," hundreds of federal district courts across the country have denied restitution or issued de minimus restitution orders on her behalf. The Fifth Circuit's unprecedented decision held that proximate cause is not a general requirement when deciding restitution and only applies to one open ended provision in ...

The Relationship Between Child Sex Abuse and Criminality

A recently published article looks at the relationship between child maltreatment and violent delinquency. In "Disentangling the Relationship Between Child Maltreatment and Violent Delinquency: Using a Nationally Representative Sample," researchers Ilhong Yun, Jeremy D. Ball, and Hyeyoung Lim used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescents to examine the relationship between child maltreatment and violent delinquency. The cases of 3,472 adolescents were analyzed for any relationship among child maltreatment and violent delinquency and for potential moderating effects of gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and religiosity. The authors ...

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