DOJ Observes Missing Children's Day 2008

The ceremony re-emphasized the Department's commitment to bring missing children home safely and highlighted the progress made and initiatives to protect children developed and implemented by the Department, its components, and State and local partners. Administrator Flores recognized many of these important milestones during his comments made throughout the ceremony.

President Reagan proclaimed the first National Missing Children's Day in May 1983. Since that time, family members, friends, public agencies, and private organizations have gathered throughout the country to rededicate their determination to find the Nation's missing children, celebrate heartwarming stories of recovery, and honor those who can only be present in their hearts and memories.

The ceremony began with a video presentation highlighting the achievements and developments of child protection during the past 8 years. In his keynote remarks, Attorney General Mukasey praised the law enforcement personnel and private citizens dedicated to finding and returning abducted children.

It is an honor to pay tribute to individuals who are committed to making extraordinary differences in the lives of children. These honorees set the bar and inspire others to persevere in their efforts to defend and protect innocent children.

At the ceremony, Attorney General Mukasey recognized the following awardees:

• Two detectives, Justin Spence, Florida Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, and Sgt. Jay Poupard, Michigan ICAC Task Force, each received the Attorney General's Special Commendation Award for their prompt actions and information sharing, which saved the life of an 8-year-old girl. Their actions also prevented the further distribution of pornographic images of children.

• Lt. Jessica Farnsworth from the Utah Attorney General's Office of Investigations received the AMBER Alert Law Enforcement Award for her efforts in the creation of the Utah Attorney General's Child Abduction Response Team, in which she successfully recruited dedicated Federal, State, and local investigators and highly skilled support staff.

• Two radiological technicians, Lisa Ahlbrandt and Sue Midgett, from Norfolk, VA, were presented the AMBER Alert Citizen Award for their intuitive actions and fortitude in safely recovering an abducted infant who was the subject of an AMBER Alert.

• Trooper First Class Becky North, a Maryland State Police Officer, received the Child Protection Award for her efforts in investigating a child abuse case in which a sex offender was charged with more than 100 criminal charges and received a 99-year prison sentence.

• Doyoun Park, a fifth grader from Quail Hollow Elementary School in Sandy, Utah, was selected as winner of the 2008 National Missing Children's Day Art Contest. Her artwork will be used as the logo for next year's Missing Children's Day festivities.

The release of a new OJJDP publication, You’re Not Alone: The Journey From Abduction to Empowerment, also was announced during the ceremony. You’re Not Alone was written by and for survivors of abduction and offers shared experience on the process of recovering. Administrator Flores praised the authors for their sacrifice and unselfishness in sharing their experiences with other survivors:

I am so proud of these young men and women. They shared their thoughts, feelings, and insights into their personal journeys—through the days, weeks, and months following their return home—in the hopes that they could offer more comfort to other children and help them put their lives back together.

(For more information on You’re Not Alone: The Journey From Abduction to Empowerment, see the New Publications page of this OJJDP News @ a Glance.)

Ernie Allen, President and CEO of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, praised the efforts of the private sector in working with public sector agencies to return missing children. He singled out the news media for their continued practice of publishing images of missing children to raise awareness, and credit card companies for adopting practices that have significantly reduced the usage of credit cards in online child pornography transactions. Allen said, as a result of the collaborations between the private and public sectors:

More missing children are coming home safely today than at any other time in our nation's history.

Activist Ed Smart also gave remarks summing up his experience as the parent of an abducted child. (His daughter, Elizabeth, is one of the authors of OJJDP's new survival abduction guide.) He urged bipartisan legislative reform and praised the AMBER Alert system:

It sends a clear message to kidnappers: Don't do it because, if you do, the whole nation will be looking for you.

The ceremony also highlighted the second anniversary of the Department's Project Safe Childhood (PSC) initiative, which brings together Federal, State, and local investigators and prosecutors to combat online child exploitation crimes. The Department implemented PSC in 2006 and has built the initiative upon integrated partnerships involving international, Federal, State, and local law enforcement and prosecutors.

The ceremony concluded with a performance from the Benjamin Orr Elementary School Choir of Washington, DC. The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) has had a relationship with the Orr School since 1991 as part of DOJ's volunteer outreach program. To see a full photo gallery from the day's events, please click here.

Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey

The Benjamin Orr Elementary School Choir

Child Safety Symposium Discusses Internet Safety Issues

Held in May in recognition of Missing Children's Day, the conference offered training and information on topics and model programs to social workers, counselors, educators, childcare and youth workers, law enforcement personnel, medical and legal professionals, parents, elected officials, and other interested child advocates. In addition to overall child safety, protecting children on the Internet was a major focus of the conference.

Administrator Flores stressed in his remarks both the rising threat children face on the Internet and the increased efforts of OJJDP staff to confront these dangers:

Research by the University of New Hampshire showed that one in seven children who use the Internet has received an aggressive sexual solicitation while online, such as an invitation to meet for the purpose of having sex or gifts intended to groom the young person as a potential victim.

In fiscal year 2007, OJJDP's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces made more than 2,400 arrests and completed more than 10,500 forensic examinations of equipment used to create, store, or disseminate child pornography.

Roughly 250 participants attended a variety of educational programs and workshops on child abuse and neglect prevention as well as workshops for specialized training credits and professional development led by national experts.

Other distinguished guests included Massachusetts State Child Advocate Judge Gail Garinger, Massachusetts State Senator Gail Candaras, and parents of current and former missing children, including John and Maggie Bish, Aaron Runyon, Ed Smart, Doug and Mary Lyle, and Mika Moulton.

Juvenile Justice Summit Salutes Arrest Prevention Program

Miami-Dade County Manager George Burgess; State Attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle; Juvenile Services Director Wansley Walters; OJJDP Administrator J. Robert Flores; White House Drug Control Policy Chief of Staff Steve Katsurinis; and Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez.

Through the National Demonstration Project, which has been funded by OJJDP since 2000, Miami-Dade County launched the Civil Citation Initiative, a program that has been instrumental in reducing juvenile arrest rates, particularly among minorities. Juvenile arrests have decreased by 41 percent, well above the national average of 24 percent, and re-arrest rates have been reduced by 78 percent in the last 10 years. Miami-Dade County is the only major urban area in the United States to consistently reduce juvenile arrests since 2001.

In his remarks, Administrator Flores applauded the success of the program:

This model is a win-win for everyone. We encourage other regions throughout the nation to take notice of the good work happening in Miami-Dade.

The summit offered an overview of the National Demonstration Project and the juvenile justice system's reforms in Miami-Dade County. The day concluded with a general panel discussion with the juvenile justice partners about the benefits of the program from one of its successful participants. Law enforcement personnel, judiciary workers, State attorneys, and public defenders from around the country attended the conference. Also attending the ceremony were Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez and ONDCP Deputy Director Scott Burns. Wansley Walters, Director of the Miami-Dade County Juvenile Services Department, also delivered remarks.

Miami-Dade County is the first jurisdiction in the nation to institute a program such as the Civil Citation Initiative. Officers issue civil citations instead of criminal infractions for those juveniles with misdemeanor offenses, saving kids from criminal arrests while requiring restitution and rehabilitation, as appropriate. Also, parents can refer their children to the program so that these children can change their behavior before they get into trouble. The Civil Citation Initiative, which has a successful completion rate of 84 percent, uses mental health, school intervention, substance abuse counseling, case workers, and other services to treat the root of the problem and the individual.

"By identifying and addressing the individual needs and issues of the child, we are preventing arrests," said Walters. "It is a systematic change in how juvenile justice is delivered that focuses on prevention and treatment." 

In addition to improving circumstances for the children of Miami-Dade County, the Initiative has improved the juvenile services department's operations by reducing the number of children in the juvenile system and the work required to service them. The intake and screening process has been reduced by more than 60 percent, and court appearances also have been reduced. All in all, the Initiative yields annual savings of more than $16 million.

More than 1,800 young people have participated in the program, more than 95 percent of whom are minorities. Such a large involvement of minorities in the program has been essential in reducing disproportionate minority contact in Miami-Dade County.

A book detailing the program, The Miami-Dade County Juvenile Justice Model, was provided to summit participants and is available free on the Miami-Dade County Juvenile Services Department Web site.

Don't Miss the OJJDP National Youth Gang Symposium, June 23–26

Register today to attend the 2008 OJJDP National Youth Gang Symposium, which takes place June 23–26 in Atlanta, GA. This important event is only held every 3 years. The theme this year is "Partnering to Prevent Youth Gang Violence: From Faith-Based and Community Organizations to Law Enforcement."

The 2008 symposium will feature workshops designed to enhance efforts by law enforcement, school personnel, faith-based and community organizations, policymakers, youth-serving agencies, and others who are working together to combat youth gang problems. OJJDP's cosponsors are the National Youth Gang Center.

The symposium is expected to attract more than 1,200 participants. Registrations are being accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.

The plenary speakers will be:

For detailed information, including a complete list of speakers, breakout sessions, and presymposium workshops, visit the registration is available.

OJJDP Participates in National Institute of Justice
Conference in July

OJJDP staff will participate in two panels at the annual National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Conference, July 21–23, 2008, in Arlington, VA.

For more than a decade, NIJ's annual conference has brought together criminal justice scholars, policymakers, and practitioners at the local, State, and Federal levels to share the most recent findings from research and technology.

The two OJJDP-led panels:

Ganging Up on Youth Gangs: Best Practices To Shut Them Down

This panel will summarize evaluation findings and lessons learned from two youth gang research projects: Evaluation of the Gang-Free Schools Initiative and Evaluation of OJJDP's Gang Reduction Program. Presenters also will discuss a new publication, "Best Practices To Address Community Gang Problems: OJJDP's Comprehensive Gang Model," developed by OJJDP's National Youth Gang Center.

Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children: Pathways and Prosecution

Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) is a widespread problem. Over the past few years, OJJDP and NIJ have supported programs and research to address this issue and to understand how law enforcement and victim service agencies are responding to it. Panelists at this session will present findings from two of these projects, including risk factors, prevention, early intervention, and prosecutorial efforts, as well as findings from a focus group of practitioners who work with sexually exploited youth.

For more information about the conference and to register, visit the NIJ Conference Web site.

OJJDP Gears Up for Annual SRAD/EUDL Conferences in August

OJJDP's State Relations and Assistance Division (SRAD) and Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws (EUDL) Program will both hold their annual conferences in Nashville, TN, the week of August 17–23, 2008. This is the first year that the OJJDP/SRAD and EUDL conferences have been held the same week at the same location, allowing participants to attend both conferences, network with colleagues, and gain information on related topics.

OJJDP/SRAD Conference

The 2008 OJJDP/SRAD National Conference will be held August 17–20. Conference sessions are focused around four themes: 3-year planning, special interests, compliance monitoring, and disproportionate minority contact (DMC). There will be 1 day of preconference sessions followed by 2 days of training and information sessions.

Who Should Attend?

The sessions will offer information on the latest training methods from national experts. Training and information sessions are available for juvenile justice specialists, State Advisory Group (SAG) members (including youth SAG members), compliance monitors, Juvenile Accountability Block Grants (JABG) coordinators, Title V coordinators, and DMC coordinators. Attendance is by invitation only and is a requirement for the Title II Formula Grants Program.

Sessions

The conference will feature breakout sessions filled with information, training, and new methods that can be applied to grant dispersal and assisting States in implementing delinquency prevention and intervention programs at the local level. Sessions will present information related to the 3-year comprehensive plan, the core requirements of the JJDP Act, and other topics, including compliance monitoring, the SMART system, strategic planning tools and techniques, preparing DMC plans, youth violence reduction, identifying States' priorities, Native American/Tribal programs, and other topics.

Preconference Workshops

Full-day and half-day training sessions are available for attendees interested in additional instruction before the conference begins. These sessions are available to all conference participants and will address specific training issues for new juvenile justice specialists, new compliance monitors, SAG members, and youth SAG members.

EUDL Conference

The 10th Annual Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws Program Conference, "A Notable History: Forging the Future," will be held August 21–23. Roughly 2,000 participants are expected this year.

Who Should Attend?

All professionals working to reduce drinking among children should attend. This includes law enforcement professionals at the State, county, and municipal levels, prevention advocates, representatives from elementary through higher education, public officials, community volunteers, researchers, parents, counselors, and judicial officials. Attendance is open to the general public.

Sessions

Conference workshops will address a variety of topics, including educational sessions on the health impacts of different types of alcohol and mixed drinks, coalition building, policy implementation and policy enforcement, promoting youth advocacy, case studies and best practices at the local and State levels, student involvement in reducing underage drinking, and other strategies.

The EUDL Program

Established by OJJDP in 1998, EUDL is the only Federal initiative directed exclusively toward preventing underage drinking. The program is a $25 million initiative consisting of block grants to each State and the District of Columbia and discretionary grants to selected States to fund the best and most promising activities and research at the local level.

The awards support a wide range of activities, including a strong emphasis on compliance checks of retail alcohol outlets to reduce sales to minors, crackdowns on false identification, programs to reduce older youth or adults providing alcohol to minors, "party patrols" to prevent access to alcohol at large youth gatherings, and "cops in shops" to deter minors' attempts to purchase alcohol.

To register for the EUDL conference, please visit the conference Web site.

OJJDP Developing New Strategies for Engaging Youth
(This story was reprinted from the OJJDP SAG Gazette Summer 2008 edition.)

The State Relations Assistance Division (SRAD) is seeking to increase the numbers of active youth State Advisory Group (SAG) members, and this year's second annual OJJDP/SRAD joint training conference will address how youth can better perform their SAG responsibilities.

The conference will feature workshops and events specifically targeting the youth members and their responsibilities as SAG members. Workshops will assist youth members to develop their leadership and listening skills so they can make meaningful and effective contributions to their advisory groups.

Under the requirements of Section 223(a) (3) (A) (IV) of the JJDP Act, at least one-fifth of the membership of each SAG must be composed of youth members, appointed on or before their 24th birthday. However, recruiting and retaining youth members has always been a challenge for the SAGs.

To begin with, SAGs sometimes have trouble identifying appropriate candidates for youth membership. Most effective youth members seem to fall into two camps: They are either veteran social activists, with a long personal history of volunteerism and community engagement, or they are young people who have had some personal involvement with the juvenile justice system and are now interested in giving something back. Finding enough youth with these special qualities—who also have the time and inclination to serve on a mostly adult State advisory committee—remains a challenge.

Even when SAGs do manage to identify the requisite number of youth members, getting youth appointments officially confirmed is often lengthy and cumbersome. Most governors prefer to confirm SAG appointments in batches—rather than on an individual ad hoc basis—which means that it sometimes takes months for a youth member's nomination to be approved. "Many of the States that are currently out of compliance have actually put forth nominations," reports OJJDP State Representative Kristie Brackens, "but they are still awaiting confirmation of their recommendations."

Once youth have been officially appointed, many SAGs still struggle with the challenge of keeping youth members active and engaged. At a recent OJJDP-sponsored SAG training event in New Jersey, youth members offered a host of reasons they found it difficult to participate regularly in their advisory group meetings—scheduling conflicts with school, problems covering expenses, and a lack of basic transportation, to name but three. Some youth members also report they are put off by the length of SAG meetings and the prevalent use of acronyms, which make it hard for them to follow the conversation.

Some States have begun to find creative ways to address these issues. For example, Colorado's SAG now holds some SAG events on weekends, and it pairs each of its youth members with an older SAG member, who serves as a mentor for the youth—making sure they understand any necessary acronyms and helping solve other problems as needed. Similarly, North Carolina's SAG is considering having older committee members "sponsor" youth members' attendance at meetings and conferences.

Training Wrap-Up

OJJDP offered a variety of training sessions during May and June. The training addressed the needs of State Advisory Group (SAG) members, investigators and prosecutors of child pornography cases, and law enforcement and school officials who interview and interrogate juvenile witnesses.

The "2008 State Advisory Group Training of Trainers" session was held in Bethesda, MD, May 8–9. The course addressed issues for both new and advanced SAG members, including strategic planning, the history of the JJDP Act, and performance measures and data collection techniques. The training is designed to increase the number of qualified and OJJDP-approved SAG trainers. The session was attended by 10 SAG trainees and 2 SAG trainers as well as additional SAG staff.

Two training sessions for Project Safe Childhood were held for investigators and prosecutors on how to increase collaboration and cooperation among law enforcement agencies and Federal prosecutors on child pornography cases. Course material covered investigative strategies that lead to successful prosecution of online enticement cases, commercial Web site child pornography, and the use of peer-to-peer networks to distribute child pornography. The sessions offered an indepth look at how to prosecute child pornography cases more effectively at the Federal level. Approximately 56 people attended the training course held May 19–23 in Seattle, WA, and 56 people attended the course held June 2–6 in Albuquerque, NM.

"Interviewing and Interrogating Juveniles" is designed for law enforcement officers and school officials who have limited work experience in interviewing and interrogating juvenile witnesses. The 2-day training was held in Charlotte, NC, May 20–21, and approximately 63 people attended. The session offered interactive methods for attendees to determine appropriate interview techniques for victims, witnesses, and suspects; identify practices to reduce the likelihood of false confessions; and develop skills for improving the effectiveness of contact and communication with juveniles.

For more information on these and other OJJDP training and technical assistance opportunities, please visit the OJJDP Web site.

New Publications

You're Not Alone: The Journey From Abduction to Empowerment

This resource for young people who are victims of abduction was prepared with the assistance of five young adults who were abducted as children and who are walking the path of healing and recovery. The guide is designed to help those who experience abduction begin to put their lives back together, and joins two previous titles OJJDP created for families coping with abduction: When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide and What About Me? Coping With the Abduction of a Brother or Sister.

When abducted children return home, the event is often accompanied by great fanfare. It is a happy ending to a tense and dramatic search that may have lasted for hours, days, months, or even years. Parents, families, friends, communities, law enforcement, and the media rightfully celebrate the moment. When the initial glow fades, child survivors are left with the overwhelming task of adjusting to a life that has been dramatically altered through no fault of their own. OJJDP has developed this publication to support and assist these children as they navigate to a "new normal" state of being after their abduction.

The publication is divided into five sections, each dealing with a different aspect of a survivor's journey from trauma to gaining a sense of empowerment. It discusses the journey itself and what the survivor might expect along the way; finding people who can help; taking control of one's life and making the right choices; roadblocks the survivor might face and possible ways to handle them; and finding the survivor's individual "new normal."

The authors of the document are survivors of child abductions who wanted to reach out to future survivors to help them understand that they are not alone and that they can survive the experience. They are:

• Tamara Brooks, who was abducted when she was 16 years old. She was rescued 16 hours later, thanks to an AMBER Alert. Tamara has made speaking out on behalf of survivors a significant part of her life.


• Sam Fastow, who was abducted by his noncustodial father when he was 10 years old. Sam was with his father for 8-1/2 months; a tip from a member of his father's family led to his recovery and safe return to his mother. Sam plans to work toward becoming a principal at an alternative school for troubled youth.


• Alicia Kozakiewicz, who was abducted when she was 13 years old by a 38-year-old man who befriended her on the Internet. He held her captive for 4 days but was eventually caught because he broadcast her image on a Webcam and someone identified her. Alicia has committed a large portion of her life to advocacy and speaks about Internet safety around the country.


• Maggie Maloy, who was 15 years old when she was abducted early one morning while running with her cross-country team. She was brutally attacked, raped, shot, and left for dead; she still has three bullets in her body as a result of the attack. Maggie will receive her paralegal certificate in June 2008 and plans to continue working as a child advocate and guardian ad litem.


• Elizabeth Smart, who was abducted from her home at knifepoint in the middle of the night when she was 14 years old. She was held for 9 months in the woods a few miles from her home before being safely returned. Elizabeth has advocated for legislation such as the Federal Sex Offender Registry.

This publication also serves as a resource to parents, teachers, friends, law enforcement officers, counselors, and others who will interact with a survivor, providing insight into the frame of mind of a child who is recovering from this traumatic experience. The document contains resources for survivors, family members, and others who desire more information about coping with the aftermath of abduction.

You're Not Alone was officially released by Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey at the 25th annual commemoration of National Missing Children's Day on May 21. For more details on this event, see the article "DOJ Observes Missing Children's Day 2008."

News From the Coordinating Council on Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention

The Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (Council) met on Friday, June 6, 2008, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, 810 Seventh Street NW., 3rd Floor Conference Room, Washington, DC.

The preliminary agenda included a presentation on the research conducted by OJJDP's Girls Study Group, a research project that addresses the factors behind female juvenile delinquency. The meeting also included a report on the Federal Council Partnership Projects and legislative and program updates. For more information on the Council meeting, please go to the Web site.

News From the Advisory Committee on
Juvenile Justice

The Spring meeting of the Federal Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice (FACJJ) was held April 6, 2008, at the Washington Plaza Hotel, 10 Thomas Circle NW., Washington, DC, and April 7–8, 2008, at the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, 810 Seventh Street NW., Washington, DC. Members heard from Montana and Massachusetts on promising practices for keeping youth in justice facilities safe from harm, particularly sexual exploitation. Drafts of the 2008 reports to the President and Congress and to the Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention were reviewed. The reports are expected to be finalized before the end of the summer and will be posted online at the FACJJ Web site and/or published and disseminated.

FACJJ meetings are public and anyone may register to attend and observe. For additional information, including information on future and past meetings and annual reports from fiscal years 2004 to 2007, visit FACJJ's Meetings Web page.

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