::: View a short film about Vera. [Go]

Publications [ main Publications page | Order Printed Copies ]   Download a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader.     Clinical Trials Project: Progress Report 10 Vera Institute of Justice Download now  PDF: 69 KB/11 pages published: March 2008   This report is the tenth in a series of quarterly progress reports describing the Vera Institute of Justice's review of issues related to the enrollment of foster children in clinical trials of HIV and AIDS treatments during the late 1980s and 1990s. It covers the quarter running from October 1, 2007, to December 31, 2007. The current report describes: Progress in implementing the research design and reviewing case files, Additions to the list of files that the Administration for Children’s Services has asked Vera to review, Progress in interviewing clinical trial participants and caregivers, Progress in interviewing key respondents, Preparing the final report, and Next steps.     The Family Assessment Program: Trajectories and Effects Roohi Choudhry Download now  PDF: 133 KB/29 pages published: January 2008   Following up on a 2005 Vera report about FAP, Vera conducted an exploratory study for the Administration for Children's Services, interviewing 100 families who had approached FAP offices in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens between March and September in 2006. Researchers interviewed 75 of those families again after three months. Our investigation suggests that FAP is helping families served. Many of the young people interviewed received prompt referrals to services and showed signs of improved mental health and better family relations three months after approaching FAP.     Clinical Trials Project: Progress Report 9 Vera Institute of Justice Download now  PDF: 53 KB/7 pages published: December 2007   This report is the ninth in a series of quarterly progress reports describing the Vera Institute of Justice's review of issues related to the enrollment of foster children in clinical trials of HIV and AIDS treatments during the late 1980s and 1990s. It covers the quarter running from July 1, 2007, to September 30, 2007. The current report describes: Progress in implementing the research design and reviewing case files Additions to the list of files that the Administration for Children’s Services has asked Vera to review, Progress in interviewing clinical trial participants and caregivers, Progress in interviewing key respondents, Preparing the final report, and Next steps.     Vera Institute of Justice: A Brochure About Vera Download now  PDF: 856 KB/6 pages published: September 2007   The Vera Institute of Justice combines expertise in research, demonstration projects, and technical assistance to help leaders in government and civil society improve the systems people rely on for justice and safety.     Clinical Trials Project: Progress Report 8 Vera Institute of Justice Download now  PDF: 59 KB/7 pages published: August 2007   This report is the eighth in a series of quarterly progress reports describing the Vera Institute of Justice's review of issues related to the enrollment of foster children in clinical trials of HIV and AIDS treatments during the late 1980s and 1990s. It covers the quarter running from April 1, 2007, to June 30, 2007. The current report describes: Progress in reviewing case file documents, Additions to the list of files that the Administration for Children’s Services has asked Vera to review, Progress in interviewing clinical trial participants and caregivers, Issues relating to the review of medical information and obtaining hospital records, Progress in obtaining and reviewing documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, and Next steps.     Clinical Trials Project: Progress Report 7 Vera Institute of Justice Download now  PDF: 63 KB/8 pages published: May 2007   This report is the seventh in a series of quarterly progress reports describing the Vera Institute of Justice's review of issues related to the enrollment of foster children in clinical trials of HIV and AIDS treatments during the late 1980s and 1990s. It covers the quarter running from January 1, 2007, to March 31, 2007. The current report describes: Progress in reviewing case file documents, Additions to the list of files that the Administration for Children’s Services has asked Vera to review, Progress in interviewing key respondents, caregivers, and clinical trial participants, Progress in reviewing clinical trial protocols and related documents, Outreach, Data entry and analysis, and Next steps.     Widening the Lens: A Panoramic View of Juvenile Justice in New York State: System Indicators for State and Local Planning New York State Task Force on Juvenile Justice Indicators Download now  PDF: 708 KB/112 pages published: February 2007   In 2005, the New York State Office of Children and Family Services established a task force to develop statewide juvenile justice indicators that could support local and state planning. This report from that task force, presenting the state’s first-ever set of multi-agency indicators, identifies and calculates key data in five central areas of the juvenile justice system, from arrest through disposition. Section I describes each of the five system areas, provides a synopsis of the indicators for each area, and highlights some initial observations revealed by 2004 data. Section II presents statewide aggregate juvenile justice indicators. Section III provides local-level data for each of New York’s 62 counties. Due to the large size of this document, we are making it available in Adobe Acrobat format for download in sections. Select from the links below to download a section of the report: Section 1: Synopsis and Analysis of the Indicators: What Do They Show Us? [146 KB / 19 pages] Section 2: The Complete Set of System Indicators [168 KB / 23 pages] Section 3: County Snapshots [429 KB / 70 pages] Appendix [120 KB / 4 pages] You may also download this report as a single document. [708 KB/112 pages].   Read the Executive Summary     Final Report of the Connecticut Juvenile Jurisdiction Planning and Implementation Committee Connecticut Juvenile Jurisdiction Planning and Implementation Committee Download now  PDF: 1189 KB/366 pages published: February 2007   In 2006, as one of only three states that tried 16- and 17-year-olds in the adult criminal justice system, Connecticut’s practices were out of step with best practices and scientific research showing significant cognitive differences between older adolescents and adults. To align the state’s policies with mainstream practice, the state’s General Assembly established the Juvenile Jurisdiction Planning and Implementation Committee. This report from the committee, written with support from Vera’s Center on Youth Justice, proposes to raise the age of juvenile jurisdiction from 16 to 18, effective July 1, 2009.   Read the Executive Summary     Clinical Trials Project: Progress Report 6 Vera Institute of Justice Download now  PDF: 171 KB/8 pages published: January 2007   This report is the sixth in a series of quarterly progress reports describing the Vera Institute of Justice's review of issues related to the enrollment of foster children in clinical trials of HIV and AIDS treatments during the late 1980s and 1990s. It covers the quarter running from October 1, 2006, to December 31, 2006. The current report describes: Progress in reviewing case file documents, Additions to the list of files that the Administration for Children’s Services has asked Vera to review, Progress in interviewing key respondents, caregivers, and clinical trial participants, Progress in reviewing policy documents, Progress in reviewing clinical trial protocols, Progress in reviewing Office for Human Research Protections documents, Outreach, and Next steps.     Clinical Trials Project: Progress Report 5 Vera Institute of Justice Download now  PDF: 83 KB/11 pages published: October 2006   This report is the fifth in a series of quarterly progress reports describing the Vera Institute of Justice's review of issues related to the enrollment of foster children in clinical trials of HIV and AIDS treatments during the late 1980s and 1990s. It covers the quarter running from July 1, 2006, to September 30, 2006. The current report describes: Progress in implementing the research design, Additions to the list of files that the Administration for Children's Services has asked Vera to review, Institutional Review Board review of child and caregiver interviews, Outreach, Next steps, and Updated analysis of Child Care Review Service administrative data that includes new cases.     Clinical Trials Project: Progress Report 4 Vera Institute of Justice Download now  PDF: 54KB/5 pages published: July 2006   This report is the fourth in a series of quarterly progress reports describing the Vera Institute of Justice's review of issues related to the enrollment of foster children in clinical trials of HIV and AIDS treatments during the late 1980s and 1990s. It covers the quarter running from April 1, 2006, to June 30, 2006. The current report describes: Implementation of the research design, Institutional Review Board review of key respondent interviews, Activities of Vera's Advisory Board, Outreach, and Next steps.     Clinical Trials Project: Progress Report 3 Vera Institute of Justice Download now  PDF: 64 KB/8 pages published: May 2006   This report is the third in a series of quarterly progress reports describing the Vera Institute of Justice's review of issues related to the enrollment of foster children in clinical trials of HIV and AIDS treatments during the late 1980s and 1990s. It covers the quarter running from January 1, 2006, to March 31, 2006. The current report describes: Implementation of the document review; Policies to prevent disclosure of confidential information; Vera Advisory Board activity; Institutional Review Board (IRB) developments; Outreach activities; and Next steps. This report also contains an appendix describing our confidentiality protocol.     Clinical Trials Project: Progress Report 2 Vera Institute of Justice Download now  PDF: 174 KB/17 pages published: January 2006   This report is the second in a series of quarterly progress reports describing the Vera Institute of Justice's review of issues related to the enrollment of foster children in clinical trials of HIV and AIDS treatments during the late 1980s and 1990s. It covers the quarter running from October 1, 2005 to December 30, 2005. The current report describes: Lessons learned from the planning process; Development of a research protocol and IRB submission; Advisory Board and IRB member recruitment; Outreach activities; Testimony at City Council hearing; and Next steps. This report also contains two appendices: charts that describe some of the characteristics of the foster children believed to have enrolled in clinical trials and the testimony of Vera's director, Michael Jacobson, at a recent hearing before the New York City Council.     Childhood Loss and Behavioral Problems: Loosening the Links Marcy Viboch Download now  PDF: 767 KB/16 pages published: December 2005   A growing body of evidence suggests that schools and other child-serving systems can help young people with behavioral problems by asking whether they have lost someone they love and responding constructively when answers suggest a child is grieving. Such actions could influence whether a child's behavioral problems spiral into ever wider levels of misbehavior or subside with appropriate help in confronting the challenges of their loss. In 2003, staff at the Vera Institute of Justice began working with a small number of intermediate and elementary schools in New York City to explore the links between loss and student misbehavior. Vera's goal was to identify students who had lost a loved one and develop therapeutic responses to help them. This report, which draws upon existing research, promising practices, and the experience of Vera personnel, is designed to increase policymakers' and practitioners' awareness of how the loss of a loved one influences children's behavioral problems. It also offers suggestions on how to identify grieving children and intervene in cycles of misbehavior tied to grief.     A Study of New York City's Family Assessment Program Claire Shubik and Ajay Khashu Download now  PDF: 177 KB/28 pages published: December 2005   When families are struggling to communicate, trying to control the behavior of an unruly child, or experiencing a crisis, they often look for outside help and support. For many families in New York, the place to turn is the status offender system. In December 2002, New York City's Department of Probation and the Administration of Children's Services (ACS)—the two agencies primarily responsible for administering and funding the city's status offender system—collaborated to launch the Family Assessment Program (FAP), an innovative approach to intake and assessment. FAP seeks to swiftly connect children and families to appropriate services in the community, reduce the city's reliance on family court in Persons in Need of Supervision (PINS) cases, and decrease the number of out-of-home placements for PINS youth. Commissioned by Probation and ACS, this report assesses the progress FAP has made in its first two-and-a-half years, finding that the city is already reaping significant benefits: connecting families to services more quickly and making fewer court referrals.   Read the Executive Summary     Clinical Trials Project: Progress Report 1 Download now  PDF: 98 KB/6 pages published: November 2005   This report is the first in a series of quarterly progress reports describing the Vera Institute of Justice's review of issues related to the enrollment of foster children in clinical trials of HIV and AIDS treatments during the late 1980s and 1990s. It covers the quarter running from July 1, 2005, to September 30, 2005. The current report describes: Efforts to gain access to necessary information, Outreach activities, Preliminary planning to establish our methodology, The recruitment of an independent advisory board, and Next steps.     Translating Justice: A Guide for New York City's Justice and Public Safety Agencies to Improve Access for Residents with Limited English Proficiency Anita Khashu and Cari Almo Download now  PDF: 134 KB/31 pages published: June 2005   In recent years, New York City has experienced unprecedented growth in the size and diversity of its immigrant population. As a result, a significant proportion of city residents have limited English proficiency or do not speak English at all. Finding ways to overcome language barriers is an emerging field, and New York City criminal and juvenile justice agencies have made great strides in addressing the needs of people with limited English proficiency. To help these agencies continue to develop cost-effective strategies for tackling language barriers, staff from the Vera Institute of Justice spoke with agencies and organizations locally and across the nation to discuss ways in which they have improved access to services for people with limited English proficiency. The resulting report, Translating Justice, is a summary of diverse efforts to bridge the language gap. It is intended as a guide for New York City criminal and juvenile justice agencies, which includes language access planning; translation of written communications; using bilingual employees; using professional interpreters; pooling resources; and using technology to overcome language barriers.   Read the Executive Summary     Adolescent Portable Therapy: A Practical Guide for Service Providers Download now  PDF: 900 KB/99 pages published: March 2005   Home-based treatment that combines family therapy and individual treatment to reduce adolescent drug use and address mental health problems and behavioral issues is now widely recognized as best practice. Vera's Adolescent Portable Therapy (APT) program weaves these elements into a coherent treatment model that can be practiced consistently. APT's treatment manual gives service providers and program planners a theoretical framework and procedures, techniques and case examples that will enable them to implement the APT model easily and effectively. The manual emphasizes: Strength-based approaches to assessment and treatment; Integrated Cognitive-Behavioral (CBT) and Family Therapy techniques; Practical steps for helping adolescents reconnect with school; Techniques for helping adolescents and families to function within larger systems; Collaborative strategies for providing treatment within and across complex criminal and social service systems; Effective program staffing strategies; and Techniques for live field-based supervision of therapists     Changing the Status Quo for Status Offenders: New York State's Efforts to Support Troubled Teens Tina Chiu and Sara Mogulescu Download now  PDF: 97 KB/8 pages published: December 2004   Over the past three years, child welfare and probation leaders in New York State have been transforming the state's status offender system to provide timely support to troubled teens and their families in their communities and rely less on courts, law enforcement, and detention. This Issue in Brief, produced by Vera's national Youth Justice Program, examines how this dramatic shift is helping get disobedient, but not delinquent, children back on track while yielding significant cost savings. Jurisdictions looking to better serve their own status offender populations will find useful models in this report's summary of the lessons learned in New York State.     Improving Responses to Allegations of Severe Child Abuse: Results from the Instant Response Team Program Timothy Ross, Francesca Levy, and Robert Hope Download now  PDF: 968 KB/88 pages published: August 2004   Allegations of severe child abuse and neglect may require quick, coordinated responses by child welfare and law enforcement in order to reduce trauma to children and to arrest and prosecute perpetrators. This report examines the operations and outcomes of the Instant Response Team program, a collaboration between the New York City Administration for Children's Services and the New York Police Department that aims to have child protective workers, police, and, when appropriate, prosecutors respond to reports of severe child abuse or neglect within two hours and to conduct joint interviews of victims. The report found a measurable impact on services to children, and staff from all three agencies express support for the program.   Read the Executive Summary     Youth Who Chronically AWOL from Foster Care: Why They Run, Where They Go, and What Can Be Done Marni Finkelstein, Mark Wamsley, Dan Currie, and Doreen Miranda Download now  PDF: 299 KB/51 pages published: August 2004   Adolescents who leave foster care without permission may encounter dangerous situations and place burdens on many government agencies, including child welfare and police. Using data from New York City's Administration for Children's Services, Vera researchers interviewed adolescents with chronic AWOL histories as well as staff at foster care facilities. The report shows that most teens going AWOL from group care stay with friends and return to care voluntarily but that one-third are involved in high-risk situations such as drug use or physical violence. The study suggests that group care staff could provide more activities to counteract the boredom that drives many teens to run away.   Read the Executive Summary     Hard Data on Hard Times: An Empirical Analysis of Maternal Incarceration, Foster Care, and Visitation Timothy Ross, Ajay Khashu, and Mark Wamsley Download now  PDF: 163 KB/23 pages published: August 2004   The rising incarceration rates among women have raised concerns in many quarters, including child welfare. This report shows, for the first time, how many children in foster care have mothers in jail or prison. While Vera researchers found that only a small percentage of the mothers of children in care are incarcerated for 30 days or more, the number of affected children is significant enough to justify programs that allow them to visit their mothers in jail or prison. The report also supports earlier research showing that the majority of women were incarcerated after their children were placed in care.   Read the Executive Summary     Supporting Positive Student Behavior: A Guide for School Personnel Download now  PDF: 278 KB/47 pages published: August 2004   Affirm was launched in 2002 as a strategy for preventing school violence. The one-year demonstration project of the Vera Institute of Justice in partnership with the New York City Department of Education and the New York City Police Department (NYPD) sought to train and coach school-based law enforcement staff—known in New York City as school safety agents—in the theory and techniques of positive reinforcement. Affirm's curriculum, developed with the Oregon Social Learning Center, is presented in this easy-to-use, step-by-step manual that guides trainers in the classroom instruction and field coaching that made up the Affirm program. The NYPD's School Safety Training Unit has incorporated a condensed version of this curriculum into their training of all new school safety agents.     Foster Children and Education: How You Can Create a Positive Educational Experience for the Foster Child Download now  PDF: 776 KB/40 pages published: July 2004   When it comes to succeeding in school, foster children face unique challenges and obstacles that have them lagging behind their peers. This kit, designed primarily for use by caseworkers and educators, lays out those challenges and offers some simple, inexpensive lessons and tools that can enhance the educational experience of children in foster care. The lessons — including how to facilitate school registration and how to increase adult attendance at parent/teacher conferences — can be adapted for use in any community. They are drawn from the experience of Safe and Smart, a joint project of the Vera Institute and the New York City Administration for Children's Services that placed caseworkers in schools to support foster children     Sueños, Bandas y Pistolas: La Interacción entre la Violencia Adolescente y la Inmigración en un Vecindario de la ciudad de Nueva York Pedro Mateu-Gelabert Download now  PDF: 299 KB/45 pages published: January 2004   Para prevenir la violencia entre los adolescentes, debemos entender sus causas. Este informe se basa en un trabajo de campo realizado durante cinco años en una comunidad inmigrante de la ciudad de Nueva York con la intención de describir cómo el salto generacional que separa a los adolescente de sus padres, ampliado por la inmigración, lleva a estos adolescentes a confiar en grupos violentos de compañeros para su protección. Investigaciones anteriores han explicado la violencia adolescente entre los inmigrantes como resultado de la alienación cultural, pero esta investigación sugiere que gran parte de la violencia entre los inmigrantes es una respuesta pragmática a las condiciones del vecindario. Una vez que estos adolescentes dejan sus vecindarios o las amenazas a su seguridad desaparecen, generalmente ponen fin a su relación con amigos violentos. Esta publicación está también disponible en inglés. This publication is also available in English.   Read the Executive Summary     Patterns of Criminal Conviction and Incarceration Among Mothers of Children in Foster Care in New York City Miriam Ehrensaft, Ajay Khashu, Timothy Ross, and Mark Wamsley Download now  PDF: 277 KB/34 pages published: December 2003   Maternal incarceration may affect the number of children entering foster care and the length of time they spend in care. In collaboration with the New York City Administration for Children's Services, Vera researchers examined the patterns of arrest and incarceration of mothers of children in foster care by matching child welfare and criminal justice records, focusing on children who entered foster care in 1991 and 1996. This report presents the rates of conviction and incarceration of mothers of children in foster care and examines the sequence in which maternal arrest, incarceration, and foster care placement occurred.   Read the Executive Summary     Reinforcing Positive Student Behavior to Improve School Safety: An Evaluation of Affirm Ajay Khashu, Thomas Mariadason, Daniel Currie, and Robin Campbell Download now  PDF: 283 KB/39 pages published: September 2003   Can police personnel in schools be effectively trained to engage with students in positive ways to encourage and reinforce good behavior even as they continue enforcing discipline codes and criminal laws? To find out, Vera researchers evaluated Affirm, a training program delivered to 644 police personnel assigned to New York City public schools and another 84 school personnel from April 2002 to June 2003. The results, which are documented in this report, show that school safety agents can be effectively trained to play this more complex role, but they also suggest that a better overall safety climate can be achieved only through the coordinated efforts of all professional staff in a school.   Read the Executive Summary     Implementing a School Safety Project: An Evaluation of the I.S. 275 Brownsville Youth for Peace School Safety Project Milton Mino Download now  PDF: 322 KB/23 pages published: February 2003   In 1999, students, teachers, and staff at Intermediate School 275 in Brooklyn, New York, created the Brownsville Youth for Peace safety project with a $120,000 federal grant. In this publication, Vera researchers report on how the school implemented the project and the challenges it faced, which are common among schools that have implemented safety projects. The report discusses lessons that other schools should consider when they are planning safety programs, such as the necessity of developing strategies to recruit and retain project participants and the importance of linking safety problems to tested solutions.   Read the Executive Summary     Respite Care: A Promising Response to Status Offenders at Risk of Court-Ordered Placements Fiza Quraishi, Heidi J. Segal, and Jennifer Trone Download now  PDF: 98 KB/8 pages published: December 2002   What happens when a teenager routinely skips school, runs away, or engages in other destructive behaviors? Most states have a system in place to assess and refer these "status offenders" and their parents to agencies in the community that can be of help. But by that time, some parents have hit their breaking point and just want the teen out of the house and in a safe and controlled environment. When judges hear the pleas of frustrated, concerned parents, they often have no option other than to remand the youth to a non-secure detention center, foster care group home, or other juvenile institution. Intended to be temporary, these expensive placements often drag out for months and exacerbate the problems that cause family conflict. Respite care takes the opposite approach, using a very short separation to set families on the path toward reunification and stability. This Issue in Brief, produced by Vera's national Youth Justice Program, examines emergency respite centers for runaways and other alleged status offenders by highlighting four programs from around the country that aim to give parents and children the immediate assistance they need.     Approaches to Truancy Prevention Sara Mogulescu and Heidi J. Segal Download now  PDF: 234 KB/17 pages published: October 2002   Every day, hundreds of thousands of youth are absent from school without an excuse. In New York State, truant students are regularly referred by schools to probation departments as status offenders or persons in need of supervision (PINS). Although attempts may be made to adjust truant behavior through PINS diversion programs, these efforts are often unsuccessful and result in referrals to family court for PINS petitions. In the absence of alternative systemic responses and compelled to preserve judicial authority and credibility, frustrated judges regularly remand truant PINS to non-secure detention while the case is pending and to foster care placements for violations of probation. In an effort to identify effective approaches to truancy prevention, Vera's national Youth Justice Program conducted a survey of truancy-specific programs operating across the country. This report highlights particular programs that illustrate effective and practical approaches to addressing the problem of chronic truancy that may be adaptable in New York State and other jurisdictions nationwide.     Respite Care: An Alternative to Foster Care for Status Offenders in New York City Eric Weingartner and Andrea Weitz Download now  PDF: 390 KB/32 pages published: July 2002   Most adolescents who skip school, run away, or rebel in other ways do not need to be placed in foster care. Across the country, however, parents desperate to control children who engage in what the justice system calls "status offenses" are turning to government as a last resort. Their children might spend months in a foster care group home, but these families are unlikely to receive the help they need. This publication explores the problem nationally and in New York and outlines a potential alternative—respite care. As defined by Vera, a respite care program specifically for status offenders would briefly separate parents and children and use mediation to reunite and prepare them to take advantage of services in their communities. The success of such a program would provide a real solution for families in crisis and conserve scarce, expensive public resources. Vera's research and planning leading up to this publication are steps toward mounting a demonstration of respite care in New York City.   Read the Executive Summary     What Keeps Children in Foster Care from Succeeding in School?: Views of Early Adolescents and the Adults in Their Lives Marni Finkelstein, Mark Wamsley, and Doreen Miranda Download now  PDF: 662 KB/61 pages published: July 2002   As a group, children in foster care struggle academically. Researchers interviewed 25 foster children and 54 of the adults in their lives to better understand how being in foster care affects a child's education, and how adults can help them succeed in school. Foster children faced unique roadblocks, among them concerns about their biological parents and siblings that distract from school, and court appearances and doctors' appointments that cause frequent absences. Behavior issues took attention off academics, and many foster children avoided friendships, fearing that their foster status would be discovered. Foster parents, caseworkers, and school staff each lacked a full picture of the children's needs. Making one adult responsible for children's educational progress would be useful. Giving caseworkers access to children's academic records and giving school staff information about a child's foster situation could also help. Finally, school staff could be trained on the demands the foster care system makes on children.   Read the Executive Summary     A Study of the PINS System in New York City: Results and Implications Eric Weingartner, Andrea Weitz, Ajay Khashu, Robert Hope, and Megan Golden Download now  PDF: 455 KB/38 pages published: April 2002   Following the recent passage of a New York State law that raises the age limit for petitioning a youth as a Person in Need of Supervision (PINS) from 16 to 18, and a Vera Institute report that studied the likely impact of the law, the New York City Administration for Children's Services commissioned the Vera Institute to perform a close study of city PINS cases. Researchers examined 200 PINS cases in Brooklyn and Queens to see how agencies in these boroughs respond to families in crisis and which children spend time in foster care as part of the process.   Read the Executive Summary     Working Together to Improve School Safety: An Evaluation of the Park West Problem-Solving Collaborative Initiative Milton Mino Download now  PDF: 481 KB/31 pages published: April 2002   In light of growing concerns about school safety at the local and national level and particularly at Manhattan's troubled Park West High School, The Citizens Committee for New York City, the New York City Police Department Division of School Safety, and the city's Board of Education created the Park West Problem Solving Collaborative Initiative. The project brought together students, teachers, parents, and school safety agents to design and implement their own school safety projects. This report examines the implementation and success of the projects and offers suggestions for the implementation of similar programs in the future.   Read the Executive Summary     Dreams, Gangs, and Guns: The Interplay Between Adolescent Violence and Immigration in a New York City Neighborhood Pedro Mateu-Gelabert Download now  PDF: 209 KB/41 pages published: April 2002   To prevent violence among adolescents, we must understand its causes. This report draws on five years of field work in an immigrant community in New York City to describe how the generation gap separating immigrant adolescents from their parents, made wider by immigration, leads these children to rely on violent peer groups for protection. Previous research has tried to explain adolescent violence among immigrants in terms of cultural alienation, but this research suggests that much violence among immigrant adolescents is a pragmatic response to neighborhood conditions. Once these adolescents leave their neighborhoods or the threats to their safety disappear, they generally end their involvement with violent peers. This publication is also available in Spanish. Esta publicación está también disponible en español.   Read the Executive Summary     How Children's Foster Care Experiences Affect Their Education Dylan Conger and Alison Rebeck Download now  PDF: 355 KB/62 pages published: December 2001   Using a combined database of school and child welfare records for more than 16,000 foster children, researchers considered the impact of such factors as length of stay in care, type of foster home, history of running away, and reason for entering foster care on children's educational experiences. Foster care had a strong effect on children's attendance and school transfers but only minor effects on their reading and math test scores.   Read the Executive Summary     Reducing the Foster Care Bias in Juvenile Detention Decisions: The Impact of Project Confirm Dylan Conger and Timothy Ross Download now  PDF: 277 KB/51 pages published: December 2001   Children in foster care who are arrested for delinquent acts are more likely than other children to be sent to juvenile detention to await their trials, even when they are charged with the same type of crime as their nonfoster peers. The results can be damaging for the children and expensive for taxpayers. For the first time anywhere, this report quantifies the foster care bias in detention decisions and shows that a relatively simple intervention can eliminate it for juveniles facing low-level offenses and with no prior records. The report also identifies obstacles to eliminating these disparities in more serious cases.   Read the Executive Summary     The Experiences of Early Adolescents in Foster Care in New York City: Analysis of the 1994 Cohort Timothy Ross, Mark Wamsley, and Ajay Khashu Download now  PDF: 245 KB/37 pages published: December 2001   Adolescents account for almost half of New York City's foster kids, yet relatively little is known about their experiences in foster care. Adolescents present a different set of challenges than younger children, for whom adoption or reunification are standard options. Using data from the Administration for Children's Services, this report describes the experiences of more than 2,000 adolescents who entered foster care for the first time in New York City in 1994. The study provides new information on who runs away from care, who spends time in juvenile detention, and the cost of care for different groups. Our findings show that what happens to adolescents as they travel through care depends in large part on the reason they entered care. Kids who enter because of abuse or neglect, for example, stay in care longer than those who enter because of a PINS (persons in need of supervision) petition, or those who are voluntarily placed by their parent. Similar variation is found on other outcomes, such as running away, the chances of family reunification, and placement stability.   Read the Executive Summary     Changing the PINS System in New York: A Study of the Implications of Raising the Age Limit for Persons in Need of Supervision (PINS) Jesse Souweine and Ajay Khashu Download now  PDF: 1.1 MB/51 pages published: October 2001   In December 2000, the New York State Legislature passed a law that raises the age limit for petitioning a youth as a Person in Need of Supervision (PINS) from 16 to 18. Under this new law, which is scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2002, troubled 16- and 17-year-olds across New York State will begin to enter a system already struggling to deal with younger children who skip school, leave home, or disobey their parents. This study examines the strengths and weaknesses of the current system and provides the first comprehensive projections of the impact of this new legislation on juvenile justice and social service systems in New York. The report also suggests various approaches to handling the additional cases that could make the whole system stronger.   Read the Executive Summary     Reinforcing Positive Student Behavior to Prevent School Violence: Enhancing the Role of School Safety Agents Hema Sareen Download now  PDF: 253 KB/22 pages published: October 2001   In 1998, when New York City transferred responsibility for its 3,500 school safety officers from the Board of Education to the police department, it was part of a nationwide trend. The U.S. Department of Justice, through its office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), was encouraging officials across the country to place law enforcement personnel inside schools in order to improve student safety. Police and school officials in New York believed they could work together to refine the school safety agents' role and effectiveness. They asked Vera to explore how safety agents could be better marshaled as a resource to reduce school violence. This report proposes a specialized training for school safety agents that recognizes the value of positive reinforcement in improving student behavior. It is the initial design for Affirm, a demonstration project Vera launched in 2002, in partnership with the New York City Department of Education and the New York Police Department.   Read the Executive Summary     A System in Transition: An Analysis of New York City's Foster Care System at the Year 2000 Timothy Ross Download now  PDF: 330 KB/44 pages published: June 2001   Commissioned by the Administration for Children's Services (ACS), A System in Transition is one of the first studies to use data from ACS's Child Care Review System to identify broad trends in the child welfare system. The study addresses three areas: the characteristics of children in foster care, placement stability, and children leaving care without permission (AWOL). For each subject area, the report suggests policy implications and ideas for future research by using point-in-time, trend, and cohort analysis. These multiple approaches provide a comprehensive look at the critical challenges facing child welfare managers.   Read the Executive Summary     A Model for School Safety: Assessing the Accomplishments of two Brooklyn Neighborhoods in the First Year Melorra Sochet Download now  PDF: 152 KB/18 pages published: March 2001   A description of the efforts of principals, teachers, school safety agents, police officers, and parents from two Brooklyn neighborhoods to develop strategies for making their schools and communities safe for students.   Read the Executive Summary     Arrested Development: Substance Abuse and Mental Illness Among Juveniles Detained in New York City Jean Callahan and Melissa Froehle Download now  PDF: 26 KB/6 pages published: December 2000   Findings from survey of 27 juveniles in detention in New York City during Summer 2000.   Read the Executive Summary     The Nuts and Bolts of Implementing School Safety Programs Melorra Sochet and Catherine Berryman Download now  PDF: 328 KB/98 pages published: November 2000   Helps teachers, principals, and school administrators identify effective and appropriate school safety programs. The manual identifies programs from around the country and describes the resources needed to implement each program.   Read the Executive Summary     School Violence: The Bi-Directional Conflict Flow Between Neighborhood and School Pedro Mateu-Gelabert Download now  PDF: 196 KB/28 pages published: July 2000   In this paper the author explores the interrelationship between school and neighborhood violence through ethnographic data collected over two years in a New York City middle school. The author presents a bi-directional flow of adolescent conflict by analyzing incidents taking place outside the school that initially originated in the school setting and other incidents of conflict occurring in school that initiated in the surrounding neighborhood. The research shows the effect of school and neighborhood structures on adolescent violence, concluding that school violence is clearly contextual. Adolescents do not choose their peers in a vacuum, but instead in their selection of peers they mirror the organizational settings of both their school and neighborhood. This paper also presents some successful measures taken by the school staff to stop the conflict flow by halting street codes of behavior within the school setting and helping the students to peacefully solve their disputes.     Understanding Adolescent Violence: An Ethnographic Approach Mercer Sullivan and Nancy Vorsanger Download now  PDF: 122 KB/13 pages published: January 2000   In 1995, against a backdrop of mounting concern about violent teenagers, Vera launched a major ethnographic study of adolescent violence. Rather than focusing on the most extreme events or the broad trends reflected in official statistics, the Vera study sought to examine in depth the ordinary, daily lives of adolescents and the ways they encounter and deal with violence. This paper highlights some key findings that emerged.     New York Family Court: Court User Perspectives Julia Vitullo-Martin and Brian Maxey Download now  PDF: 295 KB/24 pages published: January 2000   A report on the first-ever systematic survey of users of New York County Family Court. The report is based on interviews with more than 600 Family Court users in a seven-month period.   Read the Executive Summary     Ten Rules for Making Schools Safe Harbors for Learning