Evidence-Based Practice in the Juvenile Justice System: Balancing Clinical Expertise with Best Available Research and Client Variables

Each year, thousands of adolescents are processed through the juvenile justice system -- a system that is complicated, expensive, and inadequately addressing the needs of the youth in its care. While there is extensive literature available in support of interventions for youthful offenders that are clinically superior to current care and more cost-effective than the existing structure, there is a gap between research and practice that is preventing their implementation. The use of Evidence-Based Practice in Psychology (EBPP) as defined by the American Psychological Association is presented as one method to bridge this gap. This paper identifies and discusses each of five barriers to effective use of EBPP: cost, fragmentation of the mental health system, historical and systemic variables, research methodology, and clinician variables. These barriers are first defined and then illustrated using examples from the author's experience working in the juvenile justice field. Finally, recommendations for the field are presented.

The European Court of Justice and process-oriented review. Research Paper in Law, 01/2012

Structuralism is a theory of U.S. constitutional adjudication according to which courts should seek to improve the decision-making process of the political branches of government so as to render it more democratic.1 In words of John Hart Ely, courts should exercise their judicial-review powers as a ‘representation-reinforcing’ mechanism.2 Structuralism advocates that courts must eliminate the elements of the political decision-making process that are at odds with the structure set out by the authors of the U.S. Constitution. The advantage of this approach, U.S. scholars posit, lies in the fact that it does not require courts to second-guess the policy decisions adopted by the political branches of government. Instead, they limit themselves to enforcing the constitutional structure within which those decisions must be adopted. Of course, this theory of constitutional adjudication, like all theories, has its shortcomings. For example, detractors of structuralism argue that it is difficult, if not impossible, to draw the dividing line between ‘substantive’ and ‘structural’ matters.3 In particular, they claim that, when identifying the ‘structure’ set out by the authors of the U.S. Constitution, courts necessarily base their determinations not on purely structural principles, but on a set of substantive values, evaluating concepts such as democracy, liberty and equality. 4 Without claiming that structuralism should be embraced by the ECJ as the leading theory of judicial review, the purpose of my contribution is to explore how recent case-law reveals that the ECJ has also striven to develop guiding principles which aim to improve the way in which the political institutions of the EU adopt their decisions. In those cases, the ECJ decided not to second-guess the appropriateness of the policy choices made by the EU legislator. Instead, it preferred to examine whether, in reaching an outcome, the EU political institutions had followed the procedural steps mandated by the authors of the Treaties. Stated simply, I argue that judicial deference in relation to ‘substantive outcomes’ has been counterbalanced by a strict ‘process review’. To that effect, I would like to discuss three recent rulings of the ECJ, delivered after the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, where an EU policy measure was challenged indirectly, i.e. via the preliminary reference procedure, namely Vodafone, Volker und Markus Schecke and Test-Achats.5 Whilst in the former case the ECJ ruled that the questions raised by the referring court disclosed no factor of such a kind as to affect the validity of the challenged act, in the latter cases the challenged provisions of an EU act were declared invalid.

Talking with the “pouvoir constituant” in times of constitutional reform: The European Court of Justice on Private Applicants’ Access to Justice. Research Paper in Law 3/2003

[From the Introduction]. European lawyers, at least those dealing predominantly with institutional matters, are living particularly interesting times since the setting-up of the “European Convention on the Future of Europe” in December 2001.1 As the Convention’s mandate, spelled out in rather broad terms in the European Council’s declaration of Laeken,2 is potentially unlimited, and as the future constitution of the European Union (EU) will be ultimately adopted by the subsequent Intergovernmental Conference (IGC), there appears to be a great possibility to clarify, to simplify and also to reform many of the more controversial elements in the European legal construction. The present debate on the future of the European constitution also highlights the relationship between the pouvoir constituant3 and the European Courts, the Court of Justice (ECJ) and its Court of First Instance (CFI), who have to interpret the basic rules and principles of the EU.4 In that light, the present article will focus on a classic theme of the Court’s case law: the relationship between judges and pouvoir constituant. In the EU, this relationship has traditionally been marked by the ECJ’s role as driving force in the “constitutionalisation” of the EC Treaties – which has, to a large extent, been accepted and even codified by the Member States in subsequent treaty revisions. However, since 1994, the ECJ appears to be more reluctant to act as a “law-maker.”5 The recent judgment in Unión de Pequeños Agricultores (UPA)6 – an important decision by which the ECJ refused to liberalize individuals’ access to the Community Courts – is also interesting in this context. UPA may be seen as another proof of judicial restraint - or even as indicator of the beginning of a new phase in the “constitutional dialogue” between the ECJ and the “Masters of the Treaties.”

The socio-economic of exclusion: Re-questioning citizenship in relation to social justice in the post Arab Spring Egypt. Arab Citizenship Review No. 15, 19 February 2016

The most recent official statistics reveal that over a quarter of Egypt’s population still live in poverty, a third of its youth are unemployed and three out of five children are malnourished. Much of the criticism of Egypt’s human rights record, particularly after the Arab Spring, remains focused on the country’s civil and political rights, and freedoms with an intentional (or unintentional) disregard to socioeconomic rights, fuelling widespread poverty, deteriorating living standards, socioeconomic exclusion and unequal and/or degrading treatment. This paper examines the socioeconomic policies of exclusion that are still undermining the enjoyment of basic citizenship rights in Egypt.

The Federal Technology Transfer Act : environmental monitoring technologies opportunities.

Mode of access: Internet.

Report of the Attorney General of the United States prepared pursuant to section 708(e) of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended. Identical bidding as of August 9, 1961.

Includes bibliographical references.

Bankruptcy act : memorandum by Solicitor-General relative to S. 3866 and H.R. 9968, to amend the Bankruptcy act.

At head and foot of title: 72d Congress, 2d sesion. Senate committee print. Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary.

Americans with Disabilities Act : annotated bibliography of resources /

"Grant #93-CR-CX-0001"--P. [2] of cover.

Reauthorization of GSA and multiple award program : hearing before the Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, One Hundred Second Congress, second session, on S. 1958 ... and S. 2619 ... June 11, 1992.

"S. 1958, to authorize functions and activities under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, to amend laws relating to federal procurement, and for other purposes and S. 2619, to amend the Federal Property and Amdinistrative Services Act of 1949 to enact provisions governing the negotiation and award of contracts under the multiple award schedule program of the Feneral Services Administration"

YES, Youth Environmental Service : technical assistance package.

"June 1996."

Reauthorization of the independent counsel law : hearing before the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management of the Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, One Hundred Second Congress, second session, August 11, 1992.

Shipping list no: 93-0072-P.

Child labor requirements in nonagricultural occupations under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Shipping list no.: 90-604-P.

Report of the Attorney General to the Congress of the United States on the administration of the Foreign agents registration act, as amended

First report covers period June 28, 1942-Dec. 31, 1944

Lawsuits against the government relating to a bill to amend the Privacy Act of 1974.

Mode of access: Internet.

Child labor requirements in agriculture under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Mode of access: Internet.