NEWS FROM THE NATIONAL ORGANIZATION OF FORENSIC SOCIAL WORK

Executive Council President: Kathleen Carty kcarty@cox.net President-Elect: Tina Maschi tmaschi@fordham.edu Vice President: Valarie Mitchell Valarie.mitchell@ defender.org Secretary: Susan McCarter smccarter@uncc.edu Treasurer: Steven Hartsock slhartsock@frostburg.edu Councilors: Elgie Dow elgiedow@charter.net Stacey Hardy shardy8@gmu.edu Viola Vaughan-Eden Violavaughaneden @cox.net Executive Director: Paul Brady pbrady@nofsw.org

Open Court
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Congratulations and Welcome Aboard!

President-Elect: Tina Maschi, PhD, LCSW, ACSW With over 15 years of clinical social work and research experience in juvenile and criminal justice settings and community mental health settings, Dr. Tina Maschi works as an assistant professor at the Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service in New York City. Her forensic social work specialty is at the intersection of aging, mental health, and criminal justice. She is a 2010 recipient of the competitive Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars Program Award, which is funded by the Hartford Foundation and the Gerontological Society of America (GSA). Dr. Maschi is the lead editor of the book, Forensic Social Work: Psychosocial and Legal Aspects in Diverse Practice Settings. Vice-President: Valarie Mitchell, MSW, LICSW After relocating to Seattle, Washington Ms. Valarie Mitchell began working as a therapist at Ryther Child Center, a residential treatment center for children with sexual behavior problems. Ms. Mitchell received her Affiliate Sex Offender Treatment Provider certification and began working in private practice under the supervision of Timothy Kahn, providing individual, family and group therapy to adolescent and adult sex offenders as well as specialized evaluation services to the courts for these clients. In 2007, after becoming licensed as an Independent Clinical Social Worker, she accepted a job with The Defender Association as a Mitigation Specialist/ Forensic Social Worker where she continues to provide forensic social work services to high risk youth and families through the public defender's office and has served over 400 youth in that capacity. Treasurer: Steven Hartsock, PhD, LCSW-C Dr. Steven Hartsock is an associate professor in the Department of Social Work at Frostburg State University where he also serves as the Director of Field Education. Dr. Hartsock received his MSW from Catholic University and his PhD from the University of Maryland. He has been teaching practice courses for over 10 years . Dr. Hartsock also maintains a private practice which he has nurtured for the past 30 years. As part of this practice, he has served the courts doing both presentence forensic evaluations as well as sex offender assessments and treatment. NOFSW is thrilled that Dr. Hartsock brings previous experience as treasurer as he has served in this role for the Maryland Chapter of NASW! Secretary: Susan McCarter, PhD, MS, MSW As an assistant professor of social work at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Dr. McCarter teaches graduate research and capstone courses. Dr. McCarters area of research, practice, and advocacy is risk and resiliency in adolescence specifically racial and ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system. Her practice experience includes policy advocate; innercity, mental health counselor; and juvenile probation officer. She currently has several funded projects examining risk and protective factors for adolescents involved with the juvenile justice and child welfare systems. Councilor/Historian: Elgie Dow, LMSW Mr. Elgie Dow is a forensic social worker employed by the State of Michigan Department of Corrections at the Kinross Correctional Complex in Kincheloe, MI. While employed by corrections, he has worked on a psychiatric team for 6 years. For the last 17 years, he has provided crisis management services and has run Assault Offender and Sex Offender Program groups. After almost 40 years of employment with State of Michigan, he will retire January 1, 2011 to open a forensic practice in group work. Mr. Dow has been a member of NOFSW since 1995!

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Presidents Column

NOFSWs 29th Annual conference Aging Prisoner Forum

Getting Younger?

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Presidents Column
(ROSC). The current economic conditions have forced many organizations, individuals, and agencies to streamline and tailor their services. Unfortunately, many have also collapsed under the weight of budget woes. I am interested in your thoughts on how our organization can contribute to the concept of the ROSC that is being promoted throughout the country as a way to address the convergence of issues that negatively influence society. These include the fields we already represent, including mental health, substance use, and interpersonal violence. As we know, policies and politics impact our ability to effectively deliver services, evaluate programs and problems, and develop primary, secondary, and tertiary approaches. Im very interested in your ideas regarding this. I have been working diligently, with many of you, for the past several months to promote our annual conference and our organization. So, things to look forward toand now whats been happening! Election Results!! Executive Council! Welcome to our newly elected officers and councilors! (See cover story for their bios.) They are so committed and enthusiastic. I can barely wait to hear what they want to do! NOFSW Bylaws: The proposed changes to the bylaws were passed and we are working on a plan to implement them as soon as possible. NOFSW Annual Conference! Baltimore, April 2012 here we come! (See page 3 for more information.) The call for presentation proposals is out and we are underway. This years theme is Building Bridges Interdisciplinary Collaboration and the conference committee is reporting that this may be the largest NOFSW conference yet! Be sure to submit your proposal by October 21, 2011. If you have any questions, visit our website for the submission forms and contact information so you can contribute your perspective on forensic social work. NOFSW Website: We have approved significant changes to our websitevery excitingbe sure to check it out at www.NOFSW.org for the changes, the interaction, and how we will be able to incorporate your needs, your goals, and your input on OUR website! Journal of Forensic Social Work: More exciting news from the journal front! The Journal of Forensic Social Work will soon be published three times a year. Visit: www.tandf.co.uk/journals/WFOR to learn more about recent work in forensic social work. And then consider being part of the elite group of authors who contribute to our forensic knowledge base. Sol Gothard Annual Award: Consider submitting your nominations for this prestigious award. The Executive Council will construct the submission form and we will consider all recommendations. We are a front line organization, which also actively engages in the commitment to advanced opportunities for education and research. There are no limits to what we can do! Lets seriously consider who best represents the depth and breadth of this award. With so much happening, theres most certainly a way for you to get involved and enrich your experience with NOFSW!

Members and visitors to this National Organization of Forensic Social Work Newsletter, welcome! The past few months have been very difficult for many of our members. Mother nature has let herself be known with tornadoes, hurricanes, drought, earthquakes, and floods. We have struggled with losses and recovery. As you know, we lost a dedicated, longterm member of our organization when Elton Louis passed away. And this month also marks the ten -year anniversary of the tragedy of September 11, 2001. Well, NOFSW is an organization known for having people feel as if they belong. You are a member of this family and you are in my thoughts daily. Autumn is upon us; lets hope Mother nature leaves us with nothing but vibrant color and crisp evenings! I know how hard you work, how you often dont have time to relax or get rest. This is the organization that most appreciates the hard work, the complicated work, and the best-practices work in which you all engage! As many of you know, we are not only dedicated in our forensic fields but we also engage in interdisciplinary work on other committees, communities, and boards. Id like to begin the discussion of using our existing model of interdisciplinary approach to forensic social work and consider if, or how, we can insert our disciplines in the recovery-oriented systems of care

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NOFSWs 29th Annual Conference Building BridgesInterdisciplinary Collaboration

NOFSW invites proposals for presentations that embody the conference theme of Building Bridges Interdisciplinary Collaboration and highlight collaborative work with forensic populations including evidence-based and innovative approaches to forensic social work practice through micro practice/service delivery, mezzo practice/service delivery (work within agencies or groups), and macro practice/service delivery (policy and advocacy on a regional, national, or international scale.) NOFSW welcomes submissions on topics which include, but are not limited to: criminal and civil/ family legal domains; family or community mediation; mitigation in capital cases; jail/correctional setting services; intimate partner violence including elder abuse (offenders and victims); risk management for service providers; legal and ethical issues with forensic populations; restorative justice; medical/health/hospice or occupational social work; issues related to human development and/or race/ethnicity; child welfare, guardianship, dependency, and care issues. The 29th Annual NOFSW Conference will be held in Baltimore April 15-18, 2012 at the Tremont Plaza Hotel, 222 St. Paul Place, Baltimore, MD. www.tremontplazahotel.com Room rates are $155 plus taxes (about 15.5%) single or double, $175 plus taxes triple, and $194 plus taxes quad. Call 1800-873-6668 for reservations and request the group rate for National Organization of Forensic Social Work Annual Conference or make your reservation online here and be sure to put in the code NOFSW2012 in the group code box.

Submit your Presentation Proposals by October 21, 2011 www. nofsw.org

Proposals for presentation should be submitted in Microsoft Word in the form here. The deadline

for submitting proposals is October 21, 2011.

Please send completed submission to pbrady@nofsw.org. Questions about the conference, please contact any of your Executive Council members.

April 15-18, 2012 Tremont Plaza HotelBaltimore, Maryland

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Open Court Co-Editors: Susan McCarter smccarter@uncc.edu Cynthia Edwards ccedwards121@hotmail.com

Next Open Court will be published December 1, 2011Get your copy in by November 1, 2010!
To submit to Open Court, email your articles to the co-editors by the deadline (one month prior to publication). All submissions become property of NOFSW.

Forensic social work is the application of social work to questions and issues relating to law and legal systems.

If you need to update your contact informationor would like us to send a friend the newsletter!

ARE TEENAGE CRIMINALS GETTING YOUNGER AND YOUNGER? EXPOSING ANOTHER URBAN LEGEND
BY MIKE MALES & DANIEL MACALLAIR

A typical recent news story, Younger and Twice as Violent, stated that young-teen crime was exploding nationwide, quoting a prosecutor: Younger kids than 18 are now fitting into that demographic who are committing more and more crime The 18-year-old of my day is, in terms of criminal activity, probably the equivalent of at least a 16-year-old if not a 15-year-old today (Vosk & Berry, 2009). However, in a report for the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, Males and Macallair found that:

Over the last 40 to 50 years, the average American violent offenderincluding the average teenage offenderhas become older, not younger. Teenage violent offenses have become considerably less seriousthat is, more likely to be misdemeanors than felonies and to involve lesser violence rather than murderover the last half century. The average younger teen today is much less likely to be a murderer or other serious criminal offender, both in absolute rate and in comparison to older teens and older adults, than the average younger teen of the 1960s, 70s, 80s, or 90swith an especially impressive drop over the last 10 to 15 years. T he falling age of all murder arrestees is not recent, but occurred from the 1960s to the early 1990s. Meanwhile, violent offenders have aged steadily for three decades and serious, Part I, offenders have been aging since 1968. http://www.cjcj.org/files/Are_Tenaage_Criminals_Getting_Younger_and_Younger.pdf