Nebraska Educational Planning for Systems-Involved Youth Conference

For youth with and without disabilities, such as brain injury, involvement with the juvenile justice system can be very punitive and traumatic and rarely involves meaningful “rehabilitation.” The experience is often a cycle, and youth with disabilities, such as brain injury, are impacted more significantly at every level compared to their nondisabled peers, becoming more prevalent at each stage of the system.
Preliminary data from a local project BIA-NE is doing indicates up to 75% of justice-involved youth potentially have had a lifetime history of brain injury, and the symptoms they are experiencing are statistically significantly higher than those not indicating a lifetime history of brain injury.
Youth with brain injury may be more vulnerable to involvement in the juvenile justice system when poorly developed reasoning ability, inappropriate affect, and inattention are misinterpreted by professionals as hostility, lack of cooperation, and other inappropriate responses. Youth with brain injury may behave in ways that are perceived to be outside of acceptable norms.
Police officers, attorneys, judges, corrections staff, and probation officers are typically unaware of characteristics associated with youths' disabilities (Keilitz & Dunivant, 1986). Youth with a brain injury benefit from support and preventative services to minimize their vulnerability vs. punitive consequences. Early identification of brain injury can lower the odds of incarceration and assist youth, their families, and their communities in developing more productive relationships and experiences. In addition to prevention, community-based services in lieu of incarceration can provide appropriate sanctions for youth while avoiding the negative outcomes associated with imprisonment.
Learning Objectives:
1. Participants will gain tips for identifying brain injury among justice-involved youth.
2. Participants will identify alternative responses in meeting the unique needs of justice-involved youth with brain injury.