School empathy first line against bullies

By Maia Szalavitz

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WHEN I was bullied in junior high in the late 1970s, fatalism prevailed. Most parents and educators seemed to think ignoring it was the best solution. Back then, “telling” authorities seemed to carry at least as many risks as benefits: Even a geek as socially clueless as I was could see that getting the bullies in trouble would likely mean more trouble for me. Bullying was just an immutable part of human nature.

The tragedy of 15-year-old Phoebe Prince’s bullying-related suicide is that today, we know much more about the lasting harm that can result from bullying and about how to minimize it.

Our nature as a species is to form and enforce social hierarchies, and bullying has been found in all cultures and throughout history. Yet this behavior is much more malleable than previously believed. Recent findings in evolutionary neuroscience suggest that although humans have our selfish and brutal aspects, we are as well adapted to cooperate as to compete. The key is to create situations that enhance our kind side and play down the darker traits.

That’s not what’s happening in many American schools. As in Prince’s case, it’s rare that teachers and administrators are completely in the dark; the schools with the worst bullying tend to be those that look the other way. So bullies operate with impunity. Worse, teachers and staff who have not yet worked out their own issues from adolescence can play at being “cool kids” — implicitly or sometimes explicitly enabling the exclusion and ridicule directed at the outcasts.

The climate set by school leadership can make the difference between a school that is hell on earth for the less socially adept and one that is at least safe and tolerable. This is because our brains take their cues about what kind of behavior is acceptable and what is inappropriate from the most powerful people around us. In a well-run school, those people are the administrators and teachers. If they tolerate bullying, so will everyone else.

The stress that results doesn’t just hurt emotionally; it can impair academic performance. In high-stress situations, the higher cognitive regions of the brain actually shut down. “This makes learning much less efficient and sometimes impossible,” says Dr. Bruce Perry, a leading child psychiatrist. “An educational climate that tolerates relational hostility and marginalization of children is doomed to be an academic as well as a social failure.” (A disclosure: Perry and I co-authored a book.)

Even worse, the uncontrollable stress experienced by those who are bullied can be toxic to the developing brain, not just in the short term. Being bullied in childhood is associated with later depression, anxiety disorders, addictions, and even conditions like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

This association may not be fully causal; bullies tend to go after children who seem “different” to begin with. Then again, other forms of child abuse can increase the risk for virtually all mental illnesses and even physical disorders like heart disease and diabetes.

So how can schools reduce the toll of bullying? The Department of Defense recently funded a review of the research on “school connectedness,” out of concern about the effects of frequent school changes on children of service members. It found that schools that create a caring climate not only have reductions in bullying and improved academic performance, but also have fewer alcohol and drug problems, less early-age sex, and even reductions in suicidal thoughts and attempts.

While “school connectedness” and “creating a compassionate climate” may sound impossibly fuzzy and utopian, administrators who emphasize kindness towards others and mutual respect in both their actions and their words have been able to make dramatic improvements. A recent review of the research on formal anti-bullying programs by a group called the Campbell Collaboration finds that on average, well-thought-out programs can reduce the number of bullying incidents by a fifth or more.

The most important element is system-wide determination — which starts from the top and permeates down — to support empathetic values. Staff must refuse to ignore acts of bullying and exclusion. “Without that, the zero tolerance or other anti-bullying interventions are drops in the bucket,” says Jessie Klein, an assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice at Adelphi University.

Districts must also avoid some common errors. “Simply putting anti-bullying programs into a distressed, overwhelmed, depleted school will not work,’’ Perry stresses.

And while bullies need to be punished, a general climate of “cracking down” and “getting tough” can backfire. Measures like metal detectors, sniffer dogs and locker searches can make a school feel more like a prison, not a place where people feel safe and respected.

The bad news is that our schools reflect our values — the way we view some people as worthwhile and others as losers. The good news is that we choose the values we express. And if we want not only to fight bullying, but also to reduce the risk of mental illness, cut drug use and teen pregnancy and improve academic achievement, we can start by creating caring, inclusive schools.

Maia Szalavitz is co-author of “Born for Love: Why Empathy is Essential — and Endangered.’’

Bill Looks to Curb Medicating State Foster Kids

Bill Looks to Curb Medicating State Foster Kids

http://cbs4.com/local/florida.legislators.legislation.2.1629212.html

Bill Is Named For 7-Year-Old Gabriel Myers

TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) ― Florida lawmakers are scheduled to discuss a measure
Tuesday designed to curb the prescription of mental-health drugs to children in state care. Senate Bill 2718, also known as the Gabriel Myers Bill, would allow officials to more closely monitor the powerful psychiatric drugs dispensed to Florida foster care children.

The proposal is largely based on the findings of a task force formed after Gabriel locked himself in a bathroom and hung himself with a shower cord last April in his Margate foster home. Gabriel was on Seroquel, used to treat bipolar disorder, and other psychiatric drugs linked by federal regulators to potentially dangerous side effects, including suicide, but the risks may not have been adequately communicated to his foster parents. The drugs are not approved for use by young children. But doctors often prescribe them ‘off-label,’ for purposes for which the drugs have not been approved.

Sen. Ronda Storms (R)-Brandon, who filed the bill, said prescribed drugs have replaced talk therapy and are over-prescribed to subdue unruly children.

The proposed law would require the state Department of Children and Families to assign volunteer guardians to oversee each child’s mental health care. It prohibits foster children from being the subject of clinical drug trials and raises the age at which children are allowed to take these drugs from 6 to 11 in many cases.

It would also give children some say in the drugs they take because it would require foster children to agree to the use of the psychiatric drugs and would require caseworkers to explain to children, in a manner they can understand, why the drugs are necessary and what risks they carry.

The measure would also require an independent review before psychiatric drugs can be administered to children 10 or younger. The bill also requires children to have a mental health treatment plan that includes counseling for children prescribed such drugs.

The state’s growing use of adult medication on emotionally and mentally troubled children has sparked debate for years. Florida has approximately 19,000 children in state care and of those about 3,200 are in Miami-Dade County, according to DCF spokeswoman Flora Beal.

Gabriel’s death prompted a statewide investigation that found 13 percent, or 2,699, of all foster children are on such drugs, according to a DCF study. That compares with only an estimated 4 percent to 5 percent of children in the general population.

A state appointed panel recently reviewed all cases and released a report that found that the policies requiring parental consent or a second opinion were not uniformly followed. Gabriel Myers was on psychotropic medications without the required consent, the panel concluded.

Lawsuit filed in Taycheedah inmate’s death

Treatment used alleged to worsen mental state
Poor mental health care as well as a slow response from guards and medical staff contributed to the suicide of a mentally ill prison inmate, a lawsuit alleges.

James Gende, a Waukesha attorney, filed the suit Monday in U.S. District Court in Milwaukee on behalf of Angela Enoch’s estate and surviving family members.

Enoch, a mentally ill teen who had been in and out of institutions and foster care, died in June 2005 when she was 18. She used a ripped seam from a pillow to strangle herself in an observation cell of the segregated unit at Taycheedah Correctional Institution, the state’s largest prison for women near Fond du Lac.

“I think the system turned her into a throwaway child,” Gende said Tuesday. “The treatment she received while incarcerated by the Department of Corrections was a substantial cause of the deterioration of her mental health status, which resulted in her successful suicide.”

The suit, which names Gov. Jim Doyle, Corrections Secretary Matt Frank, and 20 corrections employees as defendants, seeks a jury trial and damages of $10 million. Enoch’s mother, Roxanne Enoch of Hayward, is named along with Enoch’s two minor sisters as plaintiffs.

“We are in the process of reviewing the lawsuit and conferring with our legal counsel and it would be premature to comment on the matter at this time,” John Dipko, a Department of Corrections spokesman, said Tuesday. “However, we take any suicide that occurs in our prison system very seriously and we re-evaluate our practices and policies in each instance to see if there are any actions that could have prevented the death and if there are any changes that need to be made.”

ACLU, Justice Department also cite Enoch case
The lawsuit comes on the heels of a pending class-action lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union and a separate U.S. Department of Justice investigation, both of which allege grossly deficient medical and mental health care at Taycheedah.

The prison, which has about 730 inmates, has the highest ratio of mentally ill offenders of Wisconsin’s 19 correctional institutions, state Department of Corrections officials say. About two-thirds of its inmates have mental health needs.

The ACLU suit notes that the suicide rate among inmates in segregated units is 10 times the rate of those in the general-population units in Wisconsin prisons. In segregation, inmates typically spend 23 hours of each day alone in a cell, and are given about one hour outside of it to exercise.

Corrections officials say they have been working to improve mental health care at the prison and now give a closer review of inmates considered for segregation.

Enoch’s death is recounted in both the ACLU and Justice Department complaints. But the latest 20-page lawsuit offers new details alleging how Taycheedah’s response to Enoch’s mental illness ultimately led to her death.

“That because of her severe mental illnesses, Enoch was placed in solitary confinement in (Taycheedah’s) Segregation Unit,” the suit alleges. “… Solitary confinement results in exacerbation of previously existing mental illnesses. It is also likely that individuals, like Enoch, will suffer permanent harm due to their solitary confinement.”

Suit alleges prison failures
Enoch entered Wisconsin’s juvenile court system at age 12 and was charged with her first adult crime at 14. She had a history of assaults, as well as self-destructive and suicidal behavior.

She had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, personality disorder, mood disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Despite a court order to give Enoch her prescription medications, Taycheedah staff “failed to take the necessary action in administering (her) prescribed medications in the days immediately preceding her death of June 19, 2005,” the lawsuit alleges.

The suit also alleges it took staff six to eight minutes to enter Enoch’s cell after observing her strangling herself.

“(Taycheedah) staff’s reaction to Enoch’s self-strangulation was unreasonably delayed and in violation of their standard operating procedures for response to an emergency situation, which was a substantial cause of Enoch’s death,” the suit reads.

Among the violations of law, the suit alleges wrongful death, cruel and unusual punishment, violation of equal protection, and violations of the federal Rehabilitation Act and the American with Disabilities Act.

The suit also alleges gender-based disparities. Female prisoners are not afforded the same level of psychiatric care available to male offenders at the Wisconsin Resource Center, a specialized mental health facility administered by the state Department of Health and Family Services through a partnership with the Department of Corrections.

“If Angela had been a man, she never would have been in that segregation unit,” Gende said. “She’d have been in a mental health facility.”

The Department of Corrections’ Committee on Inmate/Youth Deaths reviewed Enoch’s suicide, Dipko said. However, the committee’s findings are confidential under state law, he added.

In Doyle’s proposed two-year budget, the state Building Commission has approved an $11 million proposal for a 45-bed female inmate treatment facility at the Wisconsin Resource Center. His budget also includes a request for 33 additional permanent positions for medical and mental health care at the prison, at a cost of $2.7 million.

Wendy Harris can be reached at 920-993-1000, ext. 526, or wharris@postcrescent.com. Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers contributed to this report.

Florida to Punish Kids for Crimes They Haven’t Committed Yet

I knew it was easy to get locked up in Florida. Apparently, you can get punished in the state before committing a crime, too.

An extremely troubling new partnership between the Florida Department of Corrections and IBM wants to use software to predict which juveniles will commit crimes in the future, so “the best course of treatment” can be chosen. Hey, why wait for juveniles to commit crimes, if we can start their “rehabilitation” now?

The Florida DOC says that by using predictive analytics software, it can “analyze key predictors such as past offense history, home life environment, gang affiliation and peer associations to better understand and predict which youths have a higher likelihood to reoffend.”

What about talking to the kids to determine the best course of action? People are unpredictable and complex; they aren’t data points. Juveniles should be taught that the world is open to them, and that they are the agents of their own destiny — not that they fit into the bottom half of a spreadsheet, and therefore need extra mandatory counseling or placement in a group home.

My biggest problem with this announcement is that it takes a good principle and completely warps it. Evidence-based programming is good. Using data to determine what works and what doesn’t is smart. But we’ve crossed the line when IBM’s vice president for analytics says the software will help authorities “take the appropriate action in real time to combat crime and protect citizens.” What are they thinking?

I first heard about this partnership from Jesus Diaz at Gizmodo, who had the same reaction: “I don’t know about how reliable your system is, IBM, but have you ever heard of the 5th, the 6th, and the 14th Amendments to the United States Constitution? What about article 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? No? Let’s make this easy then: Didn’t you watch that scientology nutcase in Minority Report?”

Florida’s Department of Corrections should use any data collected to guide programming decisions on a macro level, rather than using an individual’s past mistakes to condemn them to a less-promising future. As it stands, Florida’s latest move is badly misguided. But with just a few tweaks, this new partnership could get back on track.

Source: http://criminaljustice.change.org/blog/view/florida_to_punish_kids_for_crimes_they_havent_committed_yet