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Decriminalizing Status Offenders in Wyoming: Where Do We Stand?

by Tom Rose In 1974 the federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) was passed mainly for the purpose of deinstitutionalizing juvenile status offenders. Most states initiated the act over the next few decades. Wyoming did not. Last week wasn't the first time I've run into stories advocating for harsher treatment for juvenile off...
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Juvenile Justice Reforms: The Other Side of the Argument


by Tom Rose As citizens we all want our communities to be safe from violent crime no matter who is committing it. At the same time, we shouldn’t sentence our juvenile offenders of minor non-violent crime to a lifetime of institutionalization. As we go forward in reform efforts let us not forget that Wyoming’s overall violent crime arrests for eithe...
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How Can We Reduce Wyoming’s Juvenile Arrest Rate?


by Tom Rose I have been researching Wyoming juvenile justice issues for several years now, and I am still sometimes surprised at what I find. When I began this research, I will admit that I was predisposed to simply believe that our law enforcement community should just stop arresting so many juveniles. After many interviews with law enforcement of...
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What would Wyoming juvenile crime look like if status offenses were decriminalized?


by Tom Rose As I mentioned in a previous blog, I believe that Wyoming should decriminalize status offenses. According to the most recent data available through both the FBI and the OJJDP, Wyoming ranks second-to-highest in the nation for both juvenile arrests and juvenile incarcerations. Wyoming is also the only state that has not decriminalized st...
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Is Juvenile Crime Decreasing in Wyoming?


by Tom Rose This week I attended two days of the Judiciary Interim Committee. There were several juvenile justice related topics on the agenda. During my attendance at these long and sometimes heated meetings a junior legislator asked out loud (in frustration) if anyone knew whether juvenile crime in Wyoming was actually decreasing. This legislator...
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Why should Wyoming Decriminalize Status Offenses?

by Tom Rose If you have been following juvenile justice issues at all you may have come across the fact that Wyoming is the only state in the nation which has not decriminalized status offenses. You may even believe that you have an understanding of what that means. The concept is fairly simple: a status crime is an action that would not be a crime...
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Wyoming Child Wellness: How High Is Wyoming’s Youth Suicide Rate?


by Tom Rose For the last few weeks I have been writing about child wellness in Wyoming. According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation Wyoming ranked 19th in the 2014 annual report which is a lower ranking than our performance of 15th according to the 2013 report. These rankings are determined according to sixteen measured wellness categories divided a...
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Wyoming Dropouts and Deaths: Child Wellness 2014


by Tom Rose In this part of the Wyoming Wellness series we look a bit more closely at a few of the specific wellness indicators related to child and teen deaths and teens who are not in school and not employed. Our starting point for following these wellness metrics is the 2014 Child Wellness report published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Kids...
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Special Needs Students Are More Likely To Be Arrested In School

by Tom Rose Over the last few months I have been researching juvenile justice issues with a particular focus on how to keep kids out of jail. While writing about my findings I have explored the disturbing national phenomenon of extremely young kids being arrested. This research has also uncovered the troubling connection between police officers (SR...
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Shame on U.S. – Report Recommends Withholding Federal Funds

by Tom Rose The Shame on U.S.report has recently recommended that Congress withhold all federal child welfare funds in order to compel states to comply with child welfare laws and standards that the authors say are being violated in every state. The Children's Advocacy Institute of the San Diego School of Law in conjunction with First Star, a non-p...
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Mailing Address:

1740 H Dell Range Blvd. #274
Cheyenne, WY 82009

Phone: (307) 632-7020