Brendan Dassey: Another face of the disproportionate number of intellectual/developmentally delayed youth within the justice system

If you haven’t seen the Netflix original series, “Making a Murderer,” you might be feeling a bit behind at the water cooler. The series had 19 million viewers in its first 35 days, making it one of the most popular documentaries in recent times. The series follows the Avery family through the wrongful conviction of Steven Avery in 1985 (a charge from which he was exonerated in 2003) to present day. Avery is currently serving a life sentence for the 2005 murder of photographer Teresa Halbach. Public opinion varies greatly about his guilt or innocence related to the most recent conviction, although nearly 100,000 people have signed a petition calling for President Obama to grant him a full pardon. While it was difficult for me to draw a conclusion about Avery’s guilt, I am haunted by the treatment of his 16-year-old nephew, Brendan Dassey, accused of being an accomplice in the murder. 

Accepting help is its own kind of strength--a success story as told by an MST therapist

When I initially contacted Arturo’s mother by phone, she was very reluctant about receiving Multisystemic Therapy (MST). She felt it was Arturo, on probation at the time, who needed therapy, not her. As soon as I sensed her pushback, I eased her apprehension by suggesting we meet in person, promising her that once I explained the services in detail, it would all make sense to her. During the first session, mother was engaged and very intrigued on how MST would work. Once she opened up to the possibility that I could help her help Arturo change his behaviors, she began to slowly buy in. 

Their home was small, but warm and welcoming. Our sessions were always held at the dining table with their two friendly and adorable cats, Babe and Buddha, pleading for attention. Luckily for me, I’m a cat lover, so it was a wonderful way to engage with the family. In addition to Babe and Buddha, there was sometimes a rambunctious, but cute 2–year-old named Mario running around and crawling in and out from under the table.

Thanks to Ken Warner, New Mexico has Multisystemic Therapy statewide

In 2000 when Ken Warner and his colleagues at the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department, Children’s Behavioral Health Bureau (CBHB) attended a presentation on Multisystemic Therapy (MST) in Albuquerque, he had no idea he would go on to champion the evidence-based program statewide.

Reflecting on his role in the school-to-prison pipeline, an educator offers advice for the classroom

Hulu is currently airing an adaptation of Stephen King’s 11.22.63. In the story, an ordinary man travels to the past to stop the assassination of JFK. As he was a teacher in the present, he uses that skill to get a job and blend into a bygone society. During his interview, the principal grills him on whether he can handle disciplining his class or if he will constantly send students to the office. 

That particular scene made me reflect on the school-to-prison pipeline blog and my own role in the system. I previously worked as an educator in a high school on the Mexican border during the height of cartel violence, a juvenile-development center for teens convicted of serious crimes and a public middle school with the reputation as “the worst in the area both academically and behaviorally.” These environments were and continue to be vulnerable cogs in the pipeline. While serving at-risk youth, did I handle my own discipline effectively? How many students did I send to the office either immediately or via disciplinary paperwork? Would that principal in the 1960s hire me?

Zero tolerance policies are pushing our kids into prison

An African American male born in 1940 had an 8-percent chance of ending up incarcerated if he did not attend college. In 1970, that figure rose to 36 percent. Want to know the chance of an African American male born in 1970 ending up incarcerated if he didn’t graduate high school? Seventy percent. That’s 7 out of 10 black youth.

So, how many African American males are not graduating high school? As of 2013, the graduation rate was 59 percent. (Compare that to 65 percent for Latino males and 80 percent for white males). This begs the question—why are so many of these young men not graduating high school? Well, partially because they’re disproportionately pushed into prison due to overwhelmingly Draconian discipline policies, a phenomenon known as the school-to-prison pipeline.

Using MST to right the ship, Julie Revaz tells the story

What can help reduce the overall number of intakes to the juvenile justice system, support the closing of a detention center, reduce the number of young people in residential settings and help a state improve the overall quality of life for adolescents and their families? 

Julie Revaz, MSW, a manager in Connecticut’s Judicial Branch's Court Support Services Division (JC CSSD), is a key champion of evidence-based practices, and provides the answer to that question and so much more.

For nearly 20 years, Dr. Edwards has been supporting evidence-based reform

Dr. Dan Edwards, president of Evidence-Based Associates (EBA), says he remembers being a lifelong fan of two things: the Red Sox and Multisystemic Therapy (MST). His graduate school seminar on family therapy at the University of Florida was taught by Jim Rodrigue, a protégé of Scott Henggeler, the developer of MST. The required textbook for the course was “Family Therapy and Beyond” (the original book on MST), and so Dr. Edwards just assumed that MST was family therapy when he started out. He knew at that point, he wanted to be involved with MST somehow.

Jeremy Kohomban will explain how to use EBPs to get juveniles out of placement at the MST pre-conference at Blueprints

How does a large organization that provides residential treatment to children and teens change direction to decrease residential care by using evidence-based practices (EBPs)? Not only will Jeremy Kohomban answer that question, but at the MST pre-conference kicking off this April’s Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development Conference in Denver, he will also relate how his organization accomplished this, becoming a key player in national change.

A longtime vocal proponent of juvenile-justice reform coming to Blueprints to share his experience

The Georgia justice system was, to put it mildly, not stellar. The state had gotten on the tough-on-crime bandwagon in the early 90s. That led to the number of prisoners in state lockups jumping from 20,000 in 1990 to 50,000 14 years later. The numbers looked even worse when you considered that a 2009 Pew study determined that one in 13 Georgians were either in jail, on probation or parole. This gave Georgia the dubious distinction of having the highest such rate in the country. Throw into this mix that although blacks were only 31 percent of the state’s population, they accounted for 58 percent of prisoners.

But things have been changing as the attitude of sweep up offenders, even ones who commit lesser crimes, and throw them into prison has changed. Judge Steven C. Teske has been at the forefront of that movement. He is a highly respected jurist who started his career in the justice- system trenches as Atlanta’s Chief Parole Officer, working his way up to chief judge of Clayton County’s juvenile court. 

Two out-of-control teens felt unmanagable until MST stepped in

The Anderson family was lost in conflict. Despite Ms. Anderson trying various programs and services and having the support of the Department of Children’s Social Care, her family was embroiled in constant conflict. Two of her children were referred for Multisystemic Therapy (MST). Her son was physically aggressive at home with his siblings and mother. He was abusing drugs and disruptive at school. Her daughter was also aggressive toward family members and was not attending school. Ms. Anderson was suffering from depression and unable to make a change in the family dynamics. Lauren, from the MST-FIT team, was assigned to the family, and things began to change.