The Federal Push for Community-Based Services for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Across the country, the trend in treating individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities has been deinstitutionalization. In recent years, several states have been working to transition the treatment of their intellectually and developmentally disabled citizens from state-operated developmental centers to community-based services. In the process, numerous developmental centers have been closed. While some residents, parents, advocates and professionals are pleased with this direction, others are fighting the process. As a society, we have had great success in discharging intellectually and developmentally disabled residents from our state institutions; have we been as effective in providing them the services they need to successfully live in the community?

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See no evil . . .

A report issued yesterday by attorneys hired by the Lower Merion School District found that the collection of images stemmed not from an effort to spy on students but from "the district's failure to implement policies, procedures and recordkeeping requirements and the overzealous and questionable use of technology by IS personnel without any apparent regard for privacy considerations or sufficient consultation with administrators." The report also criticized leaders and several members of the IS department as "not forthcoming with the Board, administrators and students ...

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School Captured 56,000 Images from Student Laptops

Finally the truth about Lower Merion's use of remote monitoring software on student laptops: On Monday, the District's lawyer admitted that the school system captured 56,000 images of students, although thankfully "none of the images appeared to be salacious or inappropriate." Back in February, the District's website declared that they only activated the software to locate lost, stolen or missing laptops: "The district has not used the tracking feature or webcam for any other purpose or in any other manner whatsoever," the Web site said. Conclusion: there must be an ...

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Support NY Sex Abuse Victim Justice!

According to Law Professor Marci Hamilton: Jewish and Catholic clergy are squaring off over legislation in New York State to reform statute of limitation laws for childhood sexual abuse. In this case, let's root for the rabbis - because if they win, the real winners will be victims who have been foreclosed from seeking justice against their perpetrators for far too many years. The bill in question is the Child Victims Act. Scheduled to shortly go before the New York state Legislature, it would extend the statutes of limitations by five years for child sex abuse prosecu...

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Lawyers for Children are Unconstitutional in PA

No surprise here: legislation requiring any juvenile who appears in court to be represented by a lawyer would be unconstitutional according to PA Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald Castille. This is PA's official judicial response to the Luzerne County PA scandal in which former Common Pleas judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan pleaded guilty in February to taking $2.6 million in bribes to put juveniles in private detention centers. Hundreds of youngsters were sent to facilities without the benefit of legal counsel. State Senator Lisa Baker, a Republican who ...

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XOb (PA Judicial Corruption)

Corrupt PA juvenile judge claims "judicial privilege" shields him from lawsuits for illegal juvenile prison terms Link

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XOb (Middle School Strip Search)

Case Update: How to Strip Search a Middle School Student heads to the Supreme Court Link

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