This article describes four waves of juvenile justice reform across the past century that have profoundly impacted how youth are served in community-based, detention, and correctional settings. This first wave of reform began in 1899 as Jane Addams founded the modern juvenile court in Chicago. These progressive reforms soon spread worldwide.…

This article examines racial trauma and highlights strategies for healing and transformation to support the disproportionate number of children and youth of color who fail in school and become trapped in the pipelines of treatment, social service, and justice systems. The difficulty in meeting the needs of these children and youth is failing to…

Periodic mass school shootings and the steady slaughter of youth on the streets of our cities are both products of cultures of violence. The authors highlight key factors that promote or prevent such acts, beginning with the little-known account of a young boy who perpetuated the most deadly school violence in history.

Routine life stressors can trigger anger and violence with children who have poor emotional regulation. This article describes "Response Ability Pathways" (RAP) strategies that equip youth in managing these daily challenges. The strategies require establishing steps to gain the young persons trust and providing alternative methods to…

Youth are in the cross-fire of gun violence, and the highest rate in the nation is in Flint, Michigan. This article highlights six innovative strategies that prepare youth to solve problems at home and in their communities in peaceful ways. The Michigan Youth Violence Prevention Center (MI-YVPC) works with community groups to strengthen…

Trauma can turn anyone inside out. But when an entire community experiences the same trauma in a matter of minutes, it shatters the rhythm of everyday life and forces a redefinition of "normal." In this article, a school counselor in Newtown who experienced the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School shares her perspectives on the…

In this article, the author recalls her face-to-face meeting with a prison inmate. Paul Jensen is currently serving a life sentence without parole in South Dakota for a crime committed at age 14. In January 1996, Paul was involved in a robbery that went tragically wrong and resulted in the shooting death of taxi cab driver Michael Hare. Three…

For over 30 years, Ken Ponds has served as Chaplain to thousands of children of color at Starr Commonwealth. This school was founded in 1913 by Floyd Starr with the legendary motto "There is no such thing as a bad boy." Starr Commmonwealth sees their mission as "discovering greatness" in every young person. In this interview…

Three years before his Nobel Prize, Dr. King shared his vision of non violence in a televised interview published in this article for the first time in print. King and his father both began their lives given the name "Michael" King. During a 1934 trip to Nazi Germany to attned the Baptist World Alliance Conference, the elder R. King…

This discussion is drawn from the writings of two eminent founders of strength-based approaches to troubled children and adolescents. August Aichhorn is best known for his classic book, "Wayward Youth," and Fritz Redl as co-author of "Children Who Hate". August Aichhorn and Anna Freud mentored a young educational psychologist, Fritz Redl…

A great deal has been written about resilience; however, there has been very little published about Posttraumatic Growth (PTG). Although they share common characteristics, there is a critical distinction between the two. Resilience is a term used to describe youth who possess innately positive psychological and emotional attributes such as…

When upset, 15-year-old Peter overreacts, dumping verbal hostility on everyone, even those trying to help. Peter's attempt to see the principal--who was out of the office--led to an emotionally explosive crisis. In this life space crisis intervention (LSCI), staff calmly tried to help Peter clarify distorted reality. But patient questioning raised…

Children and youth develop the ability to surmount difficult life challenges through a combination of external supports and internal strengths. Positive peers can contribute substantially to growth in resilient coping and problem-solving skills. Positive Peer Culture (PPC) programs are designed to strengthen supportive social bonds, competence,…

Red Flag Reclaiming Interventions are used with students who import problems from the home or community and display them in another setting. This article describes how an incident of violence in the community created a crisis in the classroom. A Life Space Crisis Intervention (LSCI) was used as a student learns to communicate about conflicts…

In this article, a process evaluation of a school-based, violence intervention program is presented. The program was modeled after bullying prevention programs described by Daniel Olweus (1993) whose components were implemented to achieve student safety goals. The process evaluation instrument used in this study was developed by a rural Midwestern…