Found 778 matches.
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Sticker Shock 2020: The Cost of Youth Incarceration
Tags: Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Youth in the Adult System | Reports | Research | Partner Publications
In 2014, when the Justice Policy Institute first analyzed the cost of secure youth confinement, 33 states and the District of Columbia reported an annual cost per youth that eclipsed $100,000. 1 In 2020, despite more than a half-decade of falling youth arrests and declining rates of youth incarceration since 2014, 40 states and Washington, D.C. report spending at least $100,000 annually per confined child, with some states spending more than $500,000 per youth per year The average state cost for the secure confinement of a young person is now $588 per day, or $214,620 per year, a 44 percent increase from 2014. These cost figures over a six-year period represent the growing economic impact of incarcerating youth. However, the long-term impact of these policies extends well beyond the fiscal cost. Extensive research reveals that secure youth incarceration increases the likelihood of recidivism and harms educational attainment, lifetime wages, and future health outcomes for youth. Additionally, carceral settings have proven to be a primary vector for the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Many jurisdictions have reduced the number of youth detained pre-trial to stem the spread of the virus, either by cutting down the number of youth admitted to detention, or by releasing some young people from confinement; but much more work remains to be done. For example, while admissions to youth detention fell by 50 percent between February and May 2020, rates of release also declined after a brief increase in March.2
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The Presence of School Resource Officers (SROs) in America's Schools, Justice Policy Institute, July 2020
Tags: School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports | Research | Partner Publications | Fact Sheets and Briefs
Communities across the country have come together to demand meaningful changes to law enforcement practices in the wake of the tragic murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Rayshard Brooks at the hands of the police. The focus has rightly been on how deadly police actions have had an outsized impact on communities of color. These calls for action have delivered some immediate victories, including changes in leadership in some law enforcement agencies as well as cultural paradigm shifts, such as calls to defund the police and invest those resources into community-designed and community-owned public safety strategies. Minneapolis, the epicenter of the movement, passed legislation to dismantle the police department and revisit that city’s law enforcement and public safety strategies.i This movement for reform extends beyond municipal police departments. In fact, one of the first demands from community advocates in Minneapolis was to remove police from within city schools.
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Re:Imagining Change: How to Use Story-based Strategy to Win Campaigns, Build Movements, and Change the World
Center for Story-Based Strategy (2010). 1st Edition. How to use story-based strategy to win campaigns, build movements, and change the world.
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8th Free Metro Pass Campaign Report
Tags: California | Prevention | Reports | Member Publications
Report arguing for free student Metro passes over law enforcement criminalization of riders for fare evasion. Youth Justice Coalition.
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Building a Positive Future for LA's Youth
Tags: California | Prevention | Reports | Research | Partner Publications
Arguing for funding for youth development including history of suppression in LA County, history of youth development in other regions, and LA's addiction to suppression and incarceration.
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Getting Paid
Tags: California | Prevention | Fines and Fees | Reports | Teleconference | Member Publications
Report for the Youth Justice Coalition's campaign that ended charging of juvenile system fees at the County levels and eventual passing of SB 190 ending fees and fines for youth statewide
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HIA Report from LA County Department of Public Health
Tags: California | Prevention | Reports | Teleconference | Member Publications
Published in collaboration with Youth Justice Coalition about youth on Free Metro Pass Campaign.
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Pre-Booking Youth Diversion Evaluation Metrics
Tags: California | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Prevention | Reports | Research | Partner Publications
Human Impact Partners (HIP) developed this resource to highlight metrics, indicators, and potential data sources detailed in the Advancing Racial Equity in Youth Diversion: An Evaluation Framework Informed by Los Angeles County. The HIP team partnered with the Los Angeles County Office of Youth Diversion and Development (YDD) to produce this evaluation framework.
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Youth Diversion and Development Summit: Understanding Los Angeles County's New Model to Help Youth Thrive and Succeed
Tags: California | Prevention | Presentations | Reports | Teleconference
Report and recommendations focused on advancing a comprehensive and coordinated countywide approach to youth diversion in lieu of arrest
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NJPC Souls of Young Folk Report
Tags: New Jersey | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Youth in the Adult System | Reports | Member Publications
Every year, over 75,000 children and youth are tried as adults across the country.1 Between 32,000 and 60,000 of those youth are held in adult jails.2 The number of laws providing for the prosecution, incarceration, and sentencing of youth as adults grew substantially in the 1980s and 1990s, including in New Jersey. This brief explores the causes of racial disparities and disproportionality in New Jersey's waiver of black youth to the adult criminal justice system. To analyze potential causes, we reviewed data from the New Jersey Department of Corrections, the Office of the Attorney General, and the New Jersey State Police along with qualitative surveys from incarcerated youth and their families. In addition to data, we gathered historical research on the treatment of black adults and youth in New Jersey and the development of New Jersey's waiver laws over the past thirty-seven years. Our conclusion is that there are a constellation of factors including historical, structural, and implicit bias that contribute to the disproportionate waiver of black youth to the adult system. As a result, the New Jersey Parents' Caucus recommends ending the practice of waiver of youth to the adult system to address the historical, structural, and implicit bias embedded in the waiver process. We recognize that ending youth waiver is a long-term effort; therefore, to start addressing bias immediately, we recommend holding prosecutors accountable for the discretion they wield in transferring youth to the adult criminal justice system. Specifically, there is a need for more detailed data collection, transparency, and oversight to address the ongoing effects of historical, structural, and implicit bias negatively impacting black youth.
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An Initiative to Develop a Sustainable Restorative Juvenile Justice System: Appendices
Tags: Maine | Restorative Justice | Reports
These are the Appendices to the Final Report to Maine's Juvenile Justice Advisory Group on how to develop a sustainable statewide restorative justice system.
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Crime, Shame and Reintegration
Tags: Restorative Justice | Reports | Research
“Crime, Shame and Reintegration” by John Braithwaite describes the pivotal theory of reintegrative shaming that he discussed in his book by the same title and discusses why restorative justice is most likely to be the best method of crime prevention.
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Principles of Effective Juvenile Justice Policy
Tags: Federal | Colorado | District of Columbia | General System Reform | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Youth in the Adult System | Advocacy | Reports | Member Publications | Partner Publications
The NCSL Juvenile Justice Principles Work Group project was developed under an NCSL partnership with The Pew Charitable Trusts public safety performance project. The work group project responds to the challenge lawmakers face of constructing juvenile justice systems that are both fiscally responsible and improve outcomes on many important fronts: protecting and enhancing public safety, holding youth accountable, helping youth develop the skills they need to succeed, preserving and strengthening families, and promoting fairness. The issues addressed in these Principles reflect the important role of state legislatures in enacting policies that avoid unnecessary involvement of youth in the justice system and support evidence-based interventions that reduce recidivism and protect public safety. While working group members and other lawmakers recognize that confinement may be necessary for youth who commit the most serious crimes and pose the greatest threat to public safety, a major interest of the group was sustaining and reinforcing the current trends of falling juvenile crime and out-of-home placement rates.
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Youth Justice in Europe: Experience of Germany, the Netherlands, and Croatia
Tags: International | General System Reform | Reports | Research
Youth Justice in Europe: Experience of Germany, the Netherlands, and Croatia in Providing Developmentally Appropriate Responses to Emerging Adults in the Criminal Justice System
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Tap into Funding by Tapping into your Confidence
Tags: Federal | North Carolina | Fiscal Issues and Funding | Evidence-Based Practices | Advocacy | Presentations | Reports | Research | Partner Publications | Fact Sheets and Briefs
This PowerPoint, presented by Erin Dale Byrd of Blueprint NC at NJJN Forum 2018, provides a toolkit of best practices for nonprofit organizers when reaching out to potential donors.
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Intersectional Justice in Practice
Tags: Federal | North Carolina | LGBTQ Youth | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Prevention | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Victims | Advocacy | Presentations | Reports | Research | Partner Publications | Fact Sheets and Briefs
This powerpoint from NJJN Forum 2018 was put together by Ames Simmons, Director of Transgender Policy at Equality North Carolina, and addresses potential legislative responses to discriminatory policies and practices that unfairly target LGBTQ youth.
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LGBTQI Youth in Juvenile Justice Settings: Closing the Gap between Recommended Practice and Reality
Tags: Federal | New York | Collateral Consequences | Crime Data and Statistics | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | LGBTQ Youth | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Physical Health | Positive Youth Development and Strengths-Based Programming | Prevention | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Evidence-Based Practices | Advocacy | Administrative/Regulatory Policies | Court Decisions and Related Documents | Legislation | Presentations | Reports | Research | Partner Publications | Fact Sheets and Briefs
This presentation from NJJN Forum 2018 was developed by Currey Cook, Youth in Out-of-Home Care Project Director at Lambda Legal, and provides information on how LGBTQ youth are disproportionately represented in the justice system and legal protections granted to members of the LGBTQ community.
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Concerns Over Recent Actions by the Department of Justice and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Tags: Federal | Deinstitutionalization | Detention | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Youth in the Adult System | Advocacy | Administrative/Regulatory Policies | Reports | Partner Publications
This backgrounder published by the Campaign for Youth Justice outlines how recent actions taken by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) toward loosening compliance with the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Acts (JJDPA) core requirements will be extremely detrimental to young people in contact with the justice system, especially youth of color.
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Improving Outcomes for Justice-Involved Youth Through Structured Decision-Making and Diversion
Tags: Federal | Virginia | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | General System Reform | Positive Youth Development and Strengths-Based Programming | Risk Assessment and Screening | Restorative Justice | Evidence-Based Practices | Advocacy | Administrative/Regulatory Policies | Reports | Research | Partner Publications | Fact Sheets and Briefs
This issue brief by the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University reviews research on the structured decision-making process and diversion, including the use of risk and needs assessment tools and dispositional matrices. It also has a focus on how these tools can improve the effectiveness of juvenile diversion programming. Moving from research to practice, this brief further highlights some of the recent reform efforts in Fairfax County, Virginia.
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Understanding Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Gender Expression (SOGIE) Data for Stanislaus County, CA
Tags: California | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Girls | LGBTQ Youth | Advocacy | Reports | Research | Partner Publications | Fact Sheets and Briefs
This study by Dr. Angela Irvine at Ceres Policy Research examines the need to continue to reduce racial/ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system, while also considering the way that race intersects with sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression (SOGIE) among system-involved youth. This report also highlights the efforts of Stanislaus County, CA to achieve both of these goals.
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National Sheriffs’ Association Resolution on Youth Tried as Adults
Tags: Federal | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Youth in the Adult System | Administrative/Regulatory Policies | Reports
This resolution states the National Sheriffs' Association's support for keeping youth under 18 out of the adult justice system. The group says that the youth justice system should have original and exclusive jurisdiction over cases involving youth under the age of 18, unless there is evidence, reviewed by a judge, that refutes the presumption that a young person can be safely rehabilitated in the youth justice system.
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White Paper : Youth Justice in Maine : Imagine a New Future Summit
Tags: Maine | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | General System Reform | Institutional Conditions | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Positive Youth Development and Strengths-Based Programming | Reports
Maine's juvenile justice system should shift away from reliance on large facilities like Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland towards a continuum of care utilizing community-based in-home services and evidence-based out-of-home services for youth, according to a new white paper from the Justice Policy Program at the University of Southern Maine's Muskie School of Public Service and the Maine Center for Juvenile Policy and Law at the University of Maine School of Law.
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NORCOR_DRO_Don't Look Around-A Window into Inhumane Conditions for Youth ...
Tags: Oregon | Deinstitutionalization | Detention | General System Reform | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Physical Health | Youth in the Adult System | Correctional Education | Reports | Research | Member Publications
The report shows the fact and statistics of youths being incarcerated in correctional facilities in Oregon. Due to the fact that a lot of facilities are not regulated, the safe and humane conditions for youth in such facilities have become a big concern. The lack of oversight and accountability has allowed Northern Oregon Regional Correctional Facility (NORCOR), for example, to neglect the basic mental health and social development needs of kids in custody. Disability Rights Oregon is calling for immediate implementation of the 2016 recommendation by the Oregon State Court Juvenile Justice Mental Health Task Force: that all child-serving systems commit to employing evidence-based, trauma-informed practices and that juvenile detention facilities be regulated and licensed.
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Putting Justice in North Carolina’s Juvenile System
Tags: North Carolina | Family and Youth Involvement | General System Reform | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Youth in the Adult System | Restorative Justice | Reports | Research | Member Publications
This report by the Youth Justice Project Southern Coalition for Social Justice shows the number and statistics of youths entering the adult court system at an early age. It mentions the Juvenile Justice Reinvestment Act, that, beginning in December 2019, will no longer automatically charge all 16- and 17-year-olds as adults in the criminal system. However, the report further explain the existence of problems in the juvenile justice system that should be improved to treat youths fairly without compromising public safety.
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Western States Rubric
The goals of this exercise are to give you time to begin to analyze your organization in terms of the organization's anti-racist vision. This is an evaluation tool. This evaluation is designed for organizations that are either all white or which include both white people and people of color.
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BULLIES IN BLUE: THE ORIGINS AND CONSEQUENCES OF SCHOOL POLICING
Tags: Federal | Texas | Washington | Crime Data and Statistics | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Family and Youth Involvement | Gangs | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports | Research
This report explains the unfavorable result of school policing, especially in low-income Black and Latino communities with the evidence from some states. Police is often seen using force or violence against youth, such as arresting and handcuffing students, even for minor crimes or misbehaviors. In addition, more presence of police in school including their presence in a classroom has increased fear among them. All these facts help support why schooling policing should be reconsidered.
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Western States Anti-Racist Organizational Development
The goals of this exercise are to give you time to begin to analyze your organization in terms of the organization's anti-racist vision. This is an evaluation tool. This evaluation is designed for organizations that are either all white or which include both white people and people of color.
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Western States Racial Jusice Assessment Tool
A checklist to see where your organization is on the anti-racist continuum.
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Building Organizational Capacity for Social Justice: Framework, Approach and Tools
This packet contains information about the capacity building framework and accompanying tools developed by the National Gender & Equity Campaign (NGEC), a pilot project of Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP) for use within its Organizational Fellowship Program (OFP) currently being tested in Minnesota and California.
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Moving a Racial Justice Agenda: Organizational Assessment
The following assessment is designed to raise critical issues as organizations and organizers think about their capacity to move a racial justice agenda. This assessment is designed to identify potential barriers to taking on a racial justice focus and outline the preparatory work that may be needed to effectively engage in and sustain racial justice work.
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Social Service and Social Change by Building Movement Project
This guidebook was developed for staff and board members of nonprofit service organizations who are interested in learning how to incorporate progressive social change values and practices into their work. Progressive social change aims to transform the underlying systemic problems that result in inequalities in the distribution of power and resources—inequalities that directly affect the lives of those served by the vast majority of nonprofit service organizations.
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Be Her Resource: A Toolkits About School Resource Officers and Girls of Color
Tags: Girls | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports | Research | Fact Sheets and Briefs
Over the past several decades, police officers have become a familiar and growing presence in our nation’s schools. Initially deployed in response to school shootings, these officers — known as school resource officers (SROs) — have, over time, become increasingly involved in students’ everyday lives. While the presence of law enforcement on campus signals a prioritization of student safety, it has also produced undesired consequences associated with the surveillance and criminalization of youth. Most significantly, it has been shown to result in an increase in arrests and other forms of student contact with the juvenile justice system — particularly for students of color.
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ADDRESSING THE INTERSECTIONS OF JUVENILE JUSTICE INVOLVEMENT AND YOUTH HOMELESSNESS: PRINCIPLES FOR CHANGE
Tags: National | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Detention | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Physical Health | Positive Youth Development and Strengths-Based Programming | Prevention | Risk Assessment and Screening | Evidence-Based Practices | Reports | Research | Partner Publications | Fact Sheets and Briefs
Coalition for Juvenile Justice reports ways to ensure young people do not experience homelessness as a result of involvement with the juvenile justice system, and likewise do not become involved with the justice system because of a lack of housing.
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Charging Youth As Adults Is Ineffective, Bias-Fraught & Harmful
Tags: California | Brain and Adolescent Development | Collateral Consequences | Crime Data and Statistics | Detention | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Positive Youth Development and Strengths-Based Programming | Risk Assessment and Screening | Youth in the Adult System | Victims | Evidence-Based Practices | Legislation | Reports | Research
Prop. 57 passed this past November, one section took away from prosecutors the power to cause a young person to be tried as an adult out, and gave the power back to judges. The report includes disproportionality of race and geography in adult sentencing.
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Juvenile InJustice: Charging Youth as Adults is Ineffective, Biased, and Harmful
Tags: California | Brain and Adolescent Development | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Positive Youth Development and Strengths-Based Programming | Youth in the Adult System | Restorative Justice | Evidence-Based Practices | Reports | Research | Member Publications
A collaboration of formerly incarcerated youth and their families. Shows the harmful effects and provides recommendations for restorative justice-oriented solutions to improve health outcomes.
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Seattle and King County leaders oppose youth detention center
Tags: Washington | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Fiscal Issues and Funding | Positive Youth Development and Strengths-Based Programming | Public Opinion and Messaging | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Restorative Justice | Media | Reports
The proposal to build Children and Family Justice Center (CFJC) in Seattle’s Central District must be redesigned to achieve ending the school-to-prison pipeline and ensure children and families in crisis are served with a model justice system.
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NCCD Now: A Question of Evidence, Pt. 2
Tags: International | Risk Assessment and Screening | Reports | Research | Partner Publications
National Council on Crime and Delinquency board chair Chris Baird critiques several risk assessment models in a comprehensive report.
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The governor has used his executive powers to help some New Yorkers who committed crimes in their youth
Tags: New York | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Family and Youth Involvement | General System Reform | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Youth in the Adult System | Advocacy | Media | Reports
Efforts in Justice Reform: Gov. Andrew Cuomo has pardoned more than 100 New Yorkers who turned their lives around after criminal convictions at that young age.
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A stolen cellphone, then an odyssey through Maryland's juvenile justice system
Tags: Maryland | Aftercare/Reentry | Brain and Adolescent Development | Collateral Consequences | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Detention | Family and Youth Involvement | Institutional Conditions | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Prevention | Victims | Restorative Justice | Correctional Education | Media | Reports
A thirteen year old boy was with a group of boys who had stolen a cell phone. The counsellors and attorney argued that restorative action be administered as a best outcome. The Judge disagreed and ordered a 90 day term in a juvenile detention.
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Missouri dooms countless children to the school-to-prison pipeline
Tags: Missouri | Collateral Consequences | Detention | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Media | Reports
The school-to-prison pipeline is about to get worse. Missouri will soon charge students who get into fights with felonies. A Missouri state statute that goes into effect on Jan. 1 will no longer treat fights in schools or buses as a minor offense, regardless of a young person’s age or grade. Instead, School Resource Officers (SROs) and local law enforcement will now intervene by arresting and charging them with assault in the third degree — a Class E felony.
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Our Opinion: Maine should lead on closing youth prisons
Tags: National | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Family and Youth Involvement | Positive Youth Development and Strengths-Based Programming | Public Opinion and Messaging | Advocacy | Reports
Troubled youth should be treated in community-based settings that stress accountability and a sense of belonging. Maine, with its relatively small number of youth prisoners and strong sense of community, can and should be a leader in this effort of decarceration.
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Reducing Recidivism for Justice-Involved Youth
Tags: Federal | National | Aftercare/Reentry | General System Reform | Risk Assessment and Screening | Correctional Education | Reports | Web-Based Tools
New guides and resources to help justice-involved youth transition back to traditional school settings. Includes a guide written for incarcerated youth; a newly updated transition toolkit and resource guide for practitioners in juvenile justice facilities.
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Advocates Want Juvenile Justice Overhaul, Clash Over Direction
Tags: Virginia | Deinstitutionalization | Institutional Conditions | Advocacy | Reports | Partner Publications
Virginia, a state poised to set a national standard, is still bedeviled by some of the same problems seen in other states, thanks in part to an outdated national attitude that juvenile offenders only deserve punishment.
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DOJ filed a statement of interest
Tags: South Carolina | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Court Decisions and Related Documents | Reports
Enforcement of these vague statutes drives large numbers of young people into the juvenile and criminal justice systems, criminalizes common youthful behavior, results in racial disparities.
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New Report- Defend Children: A Blueprint for Effective Juvenile Defender Services
Tags: National | Detention | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Reports | Web-Based Tools | Partner Publications
Details how children are arrested, prosecuted, and incarcerated without attorneys at their side. Youth, and disproportionately youth of color, are swept into a system that criminalizes normal childhood behavior and deliberately withholds rights and protections that children not only deserve, but are constitutionally entitled to receive.
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LESS CRIME FOR LESS MONEY
Tags: Massachusetts | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Family and Youth Involvement | General System Reform | Reports | Partner Publications
Police, district attorneys, and court personnel offer a discretionary and disparate array of programs and practices, with no statutory mandate or other support, It is critical to assess whether the programs we pay for are offered fairly or are effective.
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Promoting Positive Development: The Critical Need to Reform Youth Probation Orders
Tags: Federal | Oregon | Pennsylvania | Washington | General System Reform | Life Without Parole and Parole Issues | Positive Youth Development and Strengths-Based Programming | Reports | Partner Publications
Research discussing the fairness and effectiveness of placing children on probation. Outlines the most common failings of probation orders and offers suggestions for making them age-appropriate, legal, and targeted towards positive development instead of seeking blind compliance.
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The Harms of Juvenile Detention
Tags: Federal | Aftercare/Reentry | General System Reform | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports | Research | Partner Publications
This infographic outlines the harms of juvenile detention on youth. Increased involvement in the justice system causes lack of access to education and poor mental health outcomes for youth.
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The Prosecution of Youth as Adults in California: A 2015 Update
Tags: California | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Youth in the Adult System | Reports | Fact Sheets and Briefs
A report updates trends in California's use of "direct file", wherein a prosecutor has the ultimate power to file charges against youth as young as 14 years old directly in adult criminal court. Direct filing disproportionately impacts youth of color.
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The Right to Remain a Student: How California School Policies Fail to Protect and Serve
Tags: Federal | California | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports | Fact Sheets and Briefs
A report explaining how increased student-police interactions in California schools has funneled thousands of students into the school-to-prison pipeline.
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Righting Wrongs: The Five-Year Groundswell of State Bans on Life Without Parole for Children
Tags: Nevada | West Virginia | National | Brain and Adolescent Development | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Life Without Parole and Parole Issues | Youth in the Adult System | Reports | Partner Publications
Report from Campaign for Fair Sentencing of Youth highlights recent legislative reforms, some of the key stakeholders involved, and some of the lives impacted by these reforms.
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Debtors' Prison for Kids? The High Cost of Fines and Fees in the Juvenile Justice System, EXEC SUMMARY
Tags: Pennsylvania | National | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Fines and Fees | Administrative/Regulatory Policies | Reports | Partner Publications
A report on the impact of juvenile court costs on youth and their families. The report was featured in a New York Times article (http://nyti.ms/2d2GR0c) and includes a companion microsite featuring interactive maps (http://bit.ly/2deF6cP).
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Debtors' Prison for Kids? The High Cost of Fines and Fees in the Juvenile Justice System, JLC
Tags: Pennsylvania | National | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Fines and Fees | Administrative/Regulatory Policies | Reports | Partner Publications
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The Path From School Suspensions to Youth Incarceration in California
Tags: California | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports | Research
A report discussing how suspensions dramatically increased the chance that youth will be detained or incarcerated in California. Data also shows how youth of color are more likely to become incarcerated than their counterparts.
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Defining Violence: reducing incarceration by rethinking America’s approach to violence, JPI
Tags: National | General System Reform | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Victims | Administrative/Regulatory Policies | Reports | Partner Publications
To impact mass incarceration, this piece from the Justice Policy Institute urges rethinking how the justice system responds to violent crimes, starting with how these crimes and behaviors are defined, and how that affects prison populations.
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Unjust: How the Broken Juvenile and Criminal Justice Systems Fail LGBTQ Youth
Tags: National | General System Reform | LGBTQ Youth | Reports
The report identifies several factors in the overrepresentation of LGBTQ youth in the system: pervasive anti-LGBT stigma and discrimination in families and communities; and how LGBTQ young people are unfairly treated and abused in the system.
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Stemming the Rising Tide: Racial & Ethnic Disparities in Youth Incarceration and Strategies for Change (Burns Institute)
Tags: National | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Detention | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Youth in the Adult System | Restorative Justice | Reports | Partner Publications
Report from Burns Institute documenting racial disparities trends in the juvenile justice system and recommending strategies to address the roots of racial inequities and allow youth of color a chance at restorative justice and greater well being.
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Detained: Nebraska’s Problem with Juvenile Incarceration (Voices for NE Children)
Tags: Nebraska | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Detention | General System Reform | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Reports | Member Publications
A fact sheet reviewing Nebraska's over-use of detention for youth, with recommendations to address the problem.
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Infographic: It Takes a Village - Diversion Resources for Police and Families
Tags: Connecticut | Illinois | Michigan | Nebraska | Nevada | Oregon | Brain and Adolescent Development | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Status Offenses | Reports | Partner Publications
Summary of brief from Vera Institute of Justice explores the community-focused work being done in Nevada, Connecticut, Nebraska, Michigan, Illinois, and Oregon to find productive responses to youth "acting out."
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It Takes a Village: Diversion Resources for Police and Families
Tags: Connecticut | Illinois | Michigan | Nebraska | Nevada | Oregon | Brain and Adolescent Development | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Status Offenses | Reports | Partner Publications
This brief from Vera Institute of Justice explores the community-focused work being done in Nevada, Connecticut, Nebraska, Michigan, Illinois, and Oregon to find productive responses to youth "acting out."
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The Prosecution of Youth as Adults: A County-Level Analysis of Prosecutorial Direct File in California and Its Disparate Impact on Youth of Color, Burns Institute
Tags: California | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Youth in the Adult System | Reports | Partner Publications
Joint report examining the prosecution of youth as adults in California finds: Prosecutors are increasingly using direct file despite plummeting youth crime; racial and ethnic disparities have grown; county-level disparities have led to an inequitable system of "justice-by-geography."
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Report on the Evaluation of Judicially Led Responses to Eliminate School Pathways to the Juvenile Justice System
Tags: California | Colorado | Connecticut | Delaware | Florida | Georgia | Indiana | Kentucky | Massachusetts | Maryland | Michigan | North Carolina | New Mexico | Tennessee | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports | Research
Report on judicially-led collaboratives to reduce stringent school discipline and referrals of youth to juvenile courts for school-based behaviors. Discusses findings and some lessons learned. (Copyright 2015, released in June 2016.)
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Mothers at the Gate: How a Powerful Family Movement is Transforming the Juvenile Justice System
Tags: National | Family and Youth Involvement | General System Reform | Reports
This report reflects an initial effort to map a movement of family members — particularly mothers — that aims to challenge both the conditions in which their loved ones are held and the fact of mass incarceration itself, and to distill the shared wisdom of its leaders. Mothers at the Gate, produced with the financial support of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, looks inside this emerging movement to find first-hand accounts, strategies, and needs of family members in their individual and collective work to transform an unjust juvenile justice system.
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Burdened for Life: The Myth of Juvenile Record Confidentiality and Expungement in Illinois
Tags: Illinois | Confidentiality | Reports | Research
llinois’ treatment of juvenile records is failing the citizens of Illinois.Its confidentiality and expungement laws and policies threaten public safety, produce substantial unnecessary costs, and impede young people’s ability to transition to productive adulthood. While many believe juvenile records are kept confidential, they are not. The erosion of record confidentiality protections over the past 40 years calls into question whether the word “confidential” can be used in good faith anymore.
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A Shared Sentence: The devastating toll of parental incarceration on kids, families and communities
Tags: National | Family and Youth Involvement | General System Reform | Reports
This report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation explores the impact of parental incarceration on youth, families, and communities.
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A conservative case to 'raise the age' in Michigan
Tags: Michigan | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
This policy study from R Street makes the case for raising the age in Michigan from a conservative political standpoint.
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Evidence-Based Policies, Programs, and Practices in Juvenile Justice: Three States Achieving High Standards Through State Support Centers
Tags: National | Evidence-Based Practices | Reports | Research
JJGPS reports on states' use of evidence-based policies and programs in the field of youth justice reform.
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Fight for Our Girls: Status Offenses
Tags: National | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Girls | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Status Offenses | Reports | Research
This resource from the Center for the Study of Social Policy unpacks the history of girls of color's interaction with the justice system through the disproportionate application of status offense statues.
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Racial Disparities in Youth Committments and Arrests
Tags: National | Detention | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Reports
This brief from the Sentencing Project examines continued racial and ethnic disparities among youth in contact with the justice system.
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More Harm Than Good: How Children are Unjustly Tried as Adults in New Orleans
Tags: Louisiana | Youth in the Adult System | Reports | Research | Member Publications
This SPLC report examines the practice of trying youth as adults in New Orleans: Research consistently demonstrates that prosecuting children as adults increases the likelihood that they will end up behind bars again. As a general matter, juvenile transfer also unjustly treats a child as a fully formed adult when science shows that young people's brains -- and their decision-making abilities -- are still developing. The sentences that transferred youth receive in Orleans Parish are often the same as they could have received in the juvenile justice system. But young people in the adult system will serve those sentences without the services offered by the juvenile system -- services that rehabilitate, educate, and prepare them for successful re-entry into the community, even as they are held securely in a juvenile prison.
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No Place for A Child: Direct File of Juveniles Comes at a High Cost; Time to Fix Statutes
Tags: Florida | General System Reform | Youth in the Adult System | Reports | Research
Since 2009, more than 12,000 children have been tried as adults in Florida over the last five years -- 98 percent of these children are "direct filed" in adult court by prosecutors with no hearing, due process, oversight or input from a judge. This policy brief from the James Madison Institute examines the consequences of "direct file" for Florida's youth.
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Support Not Punish: Participatory Action Research Report
Tags: New York | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Family and Youth Involvement | General System Reform | Reports | Research
A team of Bronx youth who are actively engaged with community-led efforts to keep youth free from incarceration have just released the results of their 18-month inquiry into what their peers experience in the juvenile justice system. The team of researchers are Bronx youth, under the age of 24, who have either experienced the juvenile justice system personally, or have family members and close friends who have been locked up. The young people used a form of inquiry called Participatory Action Research (PAR), which mobilizes individuals who are directly impacted by a problem to study the issue, and to generate solutions using collective inquiry with their peers.
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Truancy and Detention Fact Sheet: Colorado Division of Juvenile Justice
Tags: Colorado | Status Offenses | Reports
This Colorado study examined the impacts on youth of secure detention for youth with court oversight for truancy.
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Graduated Responses Toolkit: New Resources and Insights to Help Youth Succeed on Probation
Tags: National | General System Reform | Life Without Parole and Parole Issues | Evidence-Based Practices | Reports | Partner Publications
The Center for Children’s Law and Policy has prepared a new toolkit designed to help jurisdictions create an effective graduated response system or improve an existing system. The publication collects best practices and examples from jurisdictions around the country that have successfully reduced incarceration for technical violations of probation.
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Policy Brief - No Place for A Child: Direct File of Juveniles Comes at a High Cost; Time to Fix Statutes
Tags: Florida | General System Reform | Life Without Parole and Parole Issues | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Data reported by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice shows that most children tried as adults in Florida are charged with non-violent felony offenses, primarily property and drug crimes, or misdemeanors. Moreover, more than 70 percent of children convicted in adult court are sentenced to probation, not prison, calling into question whether a more serious, adult court transfer was necessary in the first place. These facts are reason for concern and highlight the need for change in Florida’s “direct file” system. -
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A Legislated Study of Raising the Age of Juvenile Jurisdiction in Louisiana: The future of 17-year-olds in the Louisiana Justice System
Tags: Louisiana | General System Reform | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
This study, authorized by the Louisiana State Legislature in House Concurrent Resolution No. 73 of the 2015 Regular session, was completed at an expedited pace over a six-month period to meet the deadlines established in the resolution. Three key findings of this study are summarized below. *There is a growing consensus, based on a large body of scientific evidence, that 17-year-olds are developmentally different than adults and should be treated as such. *The last several years of reform in the Louisiana juvenile justice system have created a capacity to accept, manage, and rehabilitate these youth in a manner that will predictably generate better outcomes than the adult system. *The initial impact projections are generally lower than states that have recently gone before Louisiana in raising the age of juvenile jurisdiction, and those states found that the impact on the system was substantially less than first predicted. In fact, states have reported substantial fiscal savings. We have reason to suspect this will be the same for Louisiana.
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Juvenile Justice in Arizona: The Fiscal Foundations of Effective Policy
Tags: Arizona | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Fiscal Issues and Funding | General System Reform | Reports | Member Publications
Analysis of the state of the youth justice system in Arizona, and the fiscal underpinnings of effective youth justice policy.
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What Works in Managing Young People who Offend? A Summary of the International Evidence
Tags: International | General System Reform | Prevention | Reports | Research
In agreement with previous reviews, this review found that the approaches that tend to be the most effective at reducing youth reoffending are those that: 1) are targeted at individuals who are most at risk of reoffending; 2) consider their needs (including pre-existing risks); 3) assess their ability to respond to services provided; and, 4) take into account the wider context within which the offence occurred.
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Juvenile Offenders and Victimes: 2014 National Report
Tags: National | Crime Data and Statistics | Victims | Reports
Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 2014 National Report is the fourth edition of a comprehensive report on juvenile crime, victimization, and the juvenile justice system. The report consists of the most requested information on juveniles and the juvenile justice system in the U.S. Developed by the National Center for Juvenile Justice (NCJJ) for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), the report draws on reliable data and relevant research to provide a comprehensive and insightful view of young offenders and victims, and what happens to those who enter the juvenile justice system in the United States.
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Status Offenses: A National Survey
Tags: National | Status Offenses | Reports | Partner Publications
This brief examines existing status offense laws across the 50 states and the District of Columbia. It details the legislative label that each state applies to status offense behaviors, the types of behaviors that fall within that label, diversion options that are available in the case, possible outcomes following adjudication, and whether the state uses the valid court order (VCO) exception or a 24-hour hold for youth who are detained for status offense behaviors.3 This brief may be used by judges, advocates, and legislators to assess national trends and gather ideas for system reform.
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Compensating Victims of Crime - John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Tags: Federal | National | Victims | Reports
This report discusses the system by which victims and survivors can be compensated for expenses resulting from their victimization or from the death of a family member. Compensation originates from state statutes and is supplemented by federal funds, which represent one-third of benefits paid. States distribute compensation in the form of reimbursements to eligible victims and survivors whose claims are approved. The financial structure of victim compensation is problematic at the federal level, where funds are vastly under allocated. While some states have more than enough funds to pay compensation benefits, other state programs are understaffed or suffer from improper methods of accounting.
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Juvenile Detention Facility Assessment 2014 Update - Annie E. Casey Foundation
Tags: National | General System Reform | Institutional Conditions | Reports
Since 2004, officials in JDAI sites have assessed, improved, and monitored conditions in juvenile detention facilities using a set of standards published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The materials in this volume include updated detention facility standards, a set of guidelines for conducting facility assessments, and “How To” materials covering each component of the standards.
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Summary of National Standards Restricting the Solitary Confinement of Youth - ACLU
Tags: National | General System Reform | Youth in the Adult System | Administrative/Regulatory Policies | Reports
This document highlights national standards and best practices for juvenile justice settings (including examples from specific systems), as well as mental health and educational facility standards and best practices, and international standards. These standards and best practices, drawn from a range of institutional environments, all apply limitations on the use of solitary confinement for youth.
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United Nations Human Rights Council: Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
Tags: International | National | General System Reform | Institutional Conditions | Reports
In the present report, the Special Rapporteur focuses on children deprived of their liberty from the perspective of the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
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FINAL REPORT OF THE GOVERNOR'S COMMISSION ON YOUTH, PUBLIC SAFETY AND JUSTICE: Recommendations for Juvenile Justice Reform in New York State
Tags: New York | Brain and Adolescent Development | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Why “raise the age” now? Numerous developments have converged in recent years to forge a growing consensus for this and related reforms to New York State’s juvenile justice system. In brief, at least seven key developments have brought us to this point where reform is both necessary and possible. Each of these developments is explored in greater detail in this report.
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Instead of Suspension: Alternative Strategies for Effective School Discipline
Tags: North Carolina | National | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports | Research
This report includes a compendium of alternatives to suspension and brief profiles of examples of where those alternatives are in place. It is a unique and valuable resource for school boards, school administrators, teachers, and others who are rethinking their approaches to school discipline without compromising the learning opportunities or safety of the school community as a whole. The report will acquaint school districts with a range of approaches to school discipline. Some are proven, others are promising. All have the potential to foster better school climates and better student outcomes.
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JJGPS State Scan: U.S. Age Boundaries of Delinquency
Tags: National | Youth in the Adult System | Administrative/Regulatory Policies | Reports
This JJGPS State Scan describes and lists state-based laws and policies regarding the lower and upper ages of juvenile court jurisdiction nationwide.
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United Nations: Convention on the Rights of the Child - General Comment No. 10 (2007)
Tags: International | National | General System Reform | Administrative/Regulatory Policies | Reports
The objectives of this general comment are: To encourage States parties to develop and implement a comprehensive juvenile justice policy to prevent and address juvenile delinquency based on and in compliance with CRC.
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A Family Guide to Pennsylvania's Juvenile Justice System
Tags: Pennsylvania | Family and Youth Involvement | General System Reform | Reports | Web-Based Tools
This guide was written by a team of family advocates and juvenile justice practitioners.They created this guide to help you understand Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice system and be better prepared to work closely with juvenile justice staff to promote positive outcomes for your child.
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Protecting Childhood: A Blueprint for Developmentally Appropriate School Policing in Virginia
Tags: Virginia | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports | Research | Member Publications
The report describes the problems with school policing in Virginia and then provides recommendations for reforms. The appendices include tools for lawmakers and policymakers, such as a model memorandum of understanding (MOU) that school divisions and law enforcement agencies can use to incorporate best practices. The goals of the report are two-fold: 1) to stress the acute need for reform and create a more nuanced understanding of specific problems related to school policing; and 2) to advance proven reforms.
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Black, Brown, and Over-Policed in L.A. Schools
Tags: California | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports | Research
Structural Proposals to End the School-to-Prison Pipeline in the Los Angeles Unified School District and to Build a National Movement to Stop the Mass Incarceration of Black and Latino Communities.
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Juvenile Justice in a Developmental Framework
Tags: National | Brain and Adolescent Development | General System Reform | Reports
Every state has implemented developmentally-appropriate juvenile justice reform over the last 15 years, according to a report supported by the MacArthur Foundation’s Models for Change initiative. The report provides a snapshot of nationwide progress as states have evolved many tough on crime policies that treat young offenders as adults to foster a system that considers youth’s developmental needs and capacity for change.
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Zero Tolerance: How States Comply with PREA’s Youthful Inmate Standard
Tags: National | Institutional Conditions | Youth in the Adult System | Reports | Research | Partner Publications
This report explores how states house youth under 18 in prisons in the new age of PREA compliance and enforcement. Furthermore, this report highlights national trends in juvenile arrests, crimes, and incarceration of children in the adult system.
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Electronic Monitoring Is Not the Answer: Critical reflections on a flawed alternative
Tags: Illinois | National | Aftercare/Reentry | General System Reform | Reports
This report offers a critical assessment of electronic monitoring (EM) in the criminal justice system. The report rejects any simplistic rush to deploy electronic monitors as an alternative to incarceration. Instead, the document sets out two critical conditions for EM to be a genuine alternative: (1) it must be used instead of incarceration in prison or jail, not as an additional condition of parole, probation, or pre-trial release; (2) it must be implemented with an alternative mindset that rejects the punitive philosophy that has dominated criminal justice since the rise of mass incarceration.
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Missed Opportunities: Preventing youth in the child welfare system from entering the juvenile justice system
Tags: National | Crossover and Dual Jurisdiction Youth | General System Reform | Reports | Research | Partner Publications
Children pulled into the child welfare system are too often not afforded the kinds of stabilizing support systems that are essential for their healthy growth and well-being. We must seek interventions to prevent these “multi-system,” “dual-status” or “crossover” youth from entering the juvenile justice system. This review found that within the children welfare system, children who eventually had juvenile justice involvement had significantly different experiences from those who did not. These findings present opportunities to intervene, and incorporate different policies and programs that can prevent these children’s juvenile justice involvement.
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Justice Redirected: The Impact of Reducing the Prosecution of Children as Adults in Colorado and the Continuing Need for Sentencing Reform
Tags: Colorado | General System Reform | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Youth in the Adult System | Reports | Research | Member Publications
In 2012, Colorado reformed the way children can be prosecuted as adults by changing the law that previously allowed prosecutors to press charges in adult court without judicial review. The changes to the law reduced the number of children who could be “direct fled,” — or charged — in adult court by the prosecutor, and put in place a system of oversight by allowing a judge to review the prosecutor’s decision to prosecute a juvenile in adult court.
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Locked Out: Improving Educational and Vocational Outcomes for Incarcerated Youth
Tags: National | Aftercare/Reentry | General System Reform | Institutional Conditions | Reports | Research
This report from the Council of State Governments analyzes survey results of state educational and vocational services for youth and makes recommendations for further improvement of those services.
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National Disability Rights Network: Recommendations Regarding School Policing
Tags: National | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
The National Disability Rights Network provides recommendations for federal guidance on school police's behavior in response to nonviolent misbehavior or students in schools.
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Principles for Kansas Youth Justice Reform
Tags: Kansas | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Girls | Reports | Member Publications
This report lays out the central principles with which the Kansans United for Youth Justice campaign approaches youth justice reform.
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Trends in Juvenile Justice State Legislation 2011-2015
Tags: National | Aftercare/Reentry | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Crossover and Dual Jurisdiction Youth | Deinstitutionalization | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
National Conference of State Legislatures tracks trends in state legislation of youth justice reform for 2011-2015. Specific trends have emerged to: Restore jurisdiction to the juvenile court, divert youth from the system, reform detention, shift resources from incarceration to community-based alternatives, provide strong public defense for youth, address racial and ethnic disparities in justice systems, respond more effectively to the mental health needs of young offenders, and improve re-entry and aftercare programs for youth.
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Better Than Zero: How Alternative Discipline is Replacing Zero-Tolerance in Schools
Tags: National | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
This paper takes a high-level look at the current national conversation and policy changes surrounding the school-to-prison pipeline, and a closer look at how zero-tolerance policies in particular are changing nationally and in several states, including some alternatives that have delivered promising results.
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The Supreme Court and the Transformation of Juvenile Sentencing
Tags: Federal | National | General System Reform | Reports
In the past decade, the Supreme Court has transformed the constitutional landscape of juvenile crime regulation. In three strongly worded opinions, the Court held that imposing harsh criminal sentences on juvenile offenders violates the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. This report from Models for Change addresses the key issues facing courts and legislatures under this new constitutional regime, and provides guidance based on the Supreme Court’s Eighth Amendment analysis and on the principles the Court has articulated.
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Youth Arrest and Court Involvement Trends in the District of Columbia 1998-2014
Tags: District of Columbia | General System Reform | Evidence-Based Practices | Reports | Research | Member Publications
This report summarizes recent data on youth arrests and court involvement in the District of Columbia. It reports key findings and makes policy recommendations, including employing a public-health approach to youth crime in the District, and encouraging more thorough data collection.
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Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth in the Juvenile Justice System: A Guide to Juvenile Detention Reform
Tags: National | LGBTQ Youth | Reports
This comprehensive publication provides juvenile justice agencies with the tools to meet their obligation to ensure the safety and well-being of LGBT youth in their care. Although the guide is focused primarily on LGBT youth, its recommendations will benefit all justice-involved youth by exposing and challenging bias, promoting mutual respect and increasing professionalism.
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Repairing the Breach: A Brief History of Youth of Color in the Justice System
Tags: National | Reports | Research
Trying to meaningfully address the unacceptable levels of racial and ethnic disparities in our youth justice system without an understanding and knowledge of the historical roots that drive it will not bring about sufficient engagement strategies. As you will see from this essay, there are deeply held beliefs and social norms from this nation’s earliest days that are embedded into youth justice administration, which create and exacerbate racial and ethnic disparities. It is a largely untold story that should be known by every youth justice professional, service provider, and practitioner as well as families and communities.
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Gender Injustice: System Level Juvenile Justice Reforms for Girls
Tags: National | Girls | Reports
To facilitate developmental juvenile justice system reform for girls, this report will: 1) Map girls’ current paths into and through the juvenile justice system; 2) Describe the social contexts driving girls’ behavior and involvement in the juvenile justice system; and 3) Detail recommendations for an alternative, developmental approach to redesign juvenile justice systems to address harmful social contexts and girls’ resulting behaviors, rather than penalize and punish girls for challenges beyond their control.
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Power in Partnerships: Building Connections at the Intersections of Racial Justice and LGBTQ Movements to End the School-to-Prison-Pipeline
Tags: National | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | LGBTQ Youth | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Over the last decade, the school-to-prison pipeline has gone from a fringe educational issue to a national youth-led movement anchored by grassroots communities across the country. Because of the school-to-prison pipeline’s unique effects on students of color, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) students, and especially LGBTQ students of color, the issue has provided an opportunity for powerful intersectional work among the racial justice community and the LGBTQ community. And while we have made a lot of progress by harnessing our joint power, we would like to—and desperately need to—build even more. This is essential if we are going to win. Power in Partnerships is a resource for all racial justice and LGBTQ groups to help build or continue to build that power.
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Maltreatment of Youth in U.S. Juvenile Corrections Facilities: An Update
Tags: National | General System Reform | Institutional Conditions | Reports | Research
This report, released as a follow-up to No Place For Kids, introduces new evidence on the widespread maltreatment of youth in state-funded juvenile corrections facilities. It tells of high rates of sexual victimization, the heavy-handed use of disciplinary isolation and a growing roster of states where confined youth have been subject to widespread abuse.
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The Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline: The Girls' Story
Tags: National | Girls | Reports | Research
This report exposes the ways in which we criminalize girls — especially girls of color — who have been sexually and physically abused, and it offers policy recommendations to dismantle the abuse to prison pipeline. By illuminating both the problem and potential solutions, we hope to make the first step toward ending the cycle of victimization-to-imprisonment for marginalized girls.
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DOJ Report: Investigation of the St. Louis Family Court in St. Louis, Missouri
Tags: Missouri | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Reports
Following a comprehensive investigation, the Justice Department today announced its findings regarding the St. Louis County Family Court. The Justice Department found that the family court fails to provide constitutionally required due process to children appearing for delinquency proceedings, and that the court's administration of juvenile justice discriminates against Black children.
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Juvenile Prisons: National Consensus and Alternatives
Tags: Connecticut | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Reports | Research | Member Publications
This report by NJJN member the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance makes the case for the closure of the Connecticut Juvenile Training School and the Pueblo Unit, based on national research citing the failure of youth prisons nationwide to rehabilitate young people. The report makes recommendations based on successful state-level models.
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Why Do We Still Shackle Kids?
Tags: Maine | Institutional Conditions | Shackling | Reports
The Crime Report discusses the history of child shackling, the dangerous effect that shackling has on youth, recent efforts of reform throughout the country, and the need to end routine youth shackling.
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Disproportionate Contact: The Color of Maine's Juvenile Justice System
Tags: Maine | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Reports | Research
This research documents the rate of disproportionate minority contact for youth involved in Maines juvenile justice system, differences in pathways to detention for youth of color, and the experiences of youth and families of color who have had contact with Maines juvenile justice system.
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Are We Closing the School Discipline Gap? (Center for Civil Rights Remedies)
Tags: National | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
The main body of this report from the Center for Civil Rights Remedies documents gross disparities in the use of out-of-school suspension experienced by students with disabilities and those from historically disadvantaged racial, ethnic, and gender subgroups. The egregious disparities revealed in the pages that follow transform concerns about educational policy that allows frequent disciplinary removal into a profound matter of civil rights and social justice. This implicates the potentially unlawful denial of educational opportunity and resultant disparate impact on students in numerous districts across the country.
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Ten Strategies to Reduce Juvenile Length of Stay
Tags: National | General System Reform | Institutional Conditions | Reports
The Juvenile Law Center lays out ten strategies that help states reduce the amount of time young people spend in lockup.
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Bridging the Divide: A New Paradigm for Addressing Safety, Crime, and Victimization
Tags: National | Victims | Reports
Bridging the Divide provides snapshots of work being done on the ground and proposes arenas for further action. Victim advocates and criminal justice reformers are engaged in the lengthy, difficult work of creating safe and healthy communities.
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Class, Not Court: Reconsidering Texas' Criminalization of Truancy - Texas Appleseed
Tags: Texas | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Status Offenses | Reports | Member Publications
This report continues Texas Appleseed's school-to-prison pipeline work by delving into how Texas' approach to truancy is driving more children away from school and into the adult criminal courts. Te report explores causes of truancy, evaluates the current approaches to addressing truancy, highlights the disproportionate impacts of truancy charges on certain groups of students, and makes recommendations for ways that the Texas Legislature, the Texas Education Agency (TEA), and school districts can increase attendance and help children in a meaningful way.
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U.N. Human Rights Council | Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment | Juan E. Méndez
Tags: International | National | Institutional Conditions | International and Human Rights | Life Without Parole and Parole Issues | Shackling | Reports
A report for the United Nations' Human Rights Council condemns the use of extreme sentencing, juvenile life without parole, shackling, solitary confinement, and youth in adult court in juvenile justice systems in the U.S.
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Young Adults in Conflict with the Law: Opportunities for Diversion
Tags: Illinois | General System Reform | Prevention | Reports
As this report notes, several nations have already extended “juvenile” alternatives to young adults. In order to explore this new frontier, the Juvenile Justice Initiative examined arrests and jail admissions of Illinois’ young adults age 18 – 24 in CY2013. This paper will document the JJI’s analysis of Illinois’ arrests and admissions to the Cook County Department of Corrections (i.e., Cook County Jail), and examine emerging trends in policy and practice to address the issues posed by young adults in conflict with the law.
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Black Lives Matter: Eliminating Racial Inequality in the Criminal Justice System
Tags: Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports | Partner Publications
The criminal justice system’s high volume of contact with people of color is a major cause of African Americans’ disproportionate rate of fatal police encounters, as well as of broader perceptions of injustice in many communities. This briefing paper identifies four key features of the justice system that contribute to its disparate racial impact, and presents recent best practices for targeting these inequities drawn from adult and juvenile justice systems around the country. In many cases, these practices have produced demonstrable results.
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From Playgrounds to Prisons: An updated look at school-based arrests in Arkansas
Tags: National | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports | Research | Member Publications
Each year, law enforcement action is taken in more than 3,000 incidents in Arkansas schools. The data show that the majority of children in the state of Arkansas affected by school policing are arrested for nonviolent offenses. This finding is consistent with the nationwide trends. Across the country, millions of students are being removed from their classrooms each year for minor misconduct.
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Judicial Leadership to Address Adolescent Mental Health Needs
Tags: National | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
Large numbers of youth involved with the juvenile justice system have significant mental health and substance abuse issues. Many of these youth could be better served in community settings, and juvenile court judges can lead or support community efforts to develop improved policies and service delivery strategies for these youth.
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Juvenile Justice Reform: County Leadership Roles and Opportunities
Tags: National | General System Reform | Reports
County governments are uniquely positioned to be leaders in the juvenile justice field and have a dramatic impact on the lives of their young residents, families and the broader community. As the primary local provider of health, justice and social services, counties have the opportunity and responsibility to implement comprehensive, evidence-based programs and policies that bolster public safety and improve human outcomes. The National Association of Counties (NACo) has joined the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s Models for Change Juvenile Justice Reform Initiative to educate and assist county leaders as they undertake important improvements to benefit communities and reduce costs.
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Latino Voices: The Impact of Crime and Criminal Justice Policies on Latinos
Tags: California | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
This report documents the impact of both crime and criminal justice policy on Latino people, noting that while Latinos comprise a similar portion of the population as whites in California, they are vastly overrepresented in the justice system--both as victims of crime and as those prosecuted for it.
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Law Enforcement’s Leadership Role in Juvenile Justice Reform: Actionable Recommendations for Practice & Policy
From the National Summit on Law Enforcement Leadership in Juvenile Justice, which the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) convened with support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, this report sets forth 33 recommendations for concrete actions that law enforcement leaders can take in collaboration with partners at the local, state, and national levels.
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Rocking the Cradle: Ensuring the Rights of Parents with Disabilities and Their Children
Tags: National | Family and Youth Involvement | General System Reform | Reports
The goal of this report is to advance understanding and promote the rights of parents with disabilities and their children. The report provides a comprehensive review of the barriers and facilitators people with diverse disabilities—including intellectual and developmental, psychiatric, sensory, and physical disabilities—experience when exercising their fundamental right to create and maintain families, as well as persistent, systemic, and pervasive discrimination against parents with disabilities. The report analyzes how U.S. disability law and policy apply to parents with disabilities in the child welfare and family law systems, and the disparate treatment of parents with disabilities and their children. Examination of the impediments prospective parents with disabilities encounter when accessing assisted reproductive technologies or adopting provides further examples of the need for comprehensive protection of these rights.
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State Juvenile Justice Profiles, 2005
Tags: National | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports | Research
The National Center for Juvenile Justice compiles a vast body of knowledge concerning the organization and administration of juvenile justice in each of the fifty states in 2005.
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The SBDI Toolkit: A Community Resource for Reducing School-Based Arrests
Tags: Connecticut | National | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Toolkit developed based on the Connecticut model to divert school-based youth arrests.
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Public Opinion on Juvenile Justice in America
Tags: National | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | General System Reform | Reports
This poll conducted by PEW Charitable Trusts explores voters' opinions on salient topics in juvenile justice policy. Key findings: 1) Voters believe that young people are different from adults, and the courts should invest in preventative programs; 2) Voters support diverting low-level youth offenders from confinement facilities; 3) Voters cross-demographically support juvenile justice reform.
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JJDPA Reauthorization Bill - Summary - December, 2014
Tags: Iowa | Rhode Island | National | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Status Offenses | Youth in the Adult System | Legislation | Reports | Partner Publications
ACT-4-JJ summarizes the content of a bill that would reauthorize the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA), introduced by Sens. Whitehouse and Grassley on December 11, 2014.
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Class Action Litigation Involving Special Education Claims for Youth in Juvenile and Adult Correctional Facilities
Tags: National | Aftercare/Reentry | Institutional Conditions | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Correctional Education | Court Decisions and Related Documents | Reports
This document from the National Center on Education, Disability, and Juvenile Justice lists class action litigation that has been undertaken regarding special education for youth and adults in the justice system.
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Recommendations to Improve Correctional and Reentry Education for Young People
Tags: National | Aftercare/Reentry | Brain and Adolescent Development | Institutional Conditions | Correctional Education | Reports | Partner Publications
The Juvenile Law Center offers these policy recommendations to improve education for youth in confinement and recently exiting confinement.
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Considerations in Applying Benefit-Cost Analysis to Preventive Interventions for Children, Youth, and Families: Workshop Summary
Tags: National | Fiscal Issues and Funding | Reports
Report from the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council on issues in re: cost-benefit analyses and about using them to inform policy and practice.
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DataBits: Violent Youth Arrests Continue to Fall Nationwide
Tags: National | Crime Data and Statistics | Reports
The John Jay College of Criminal Justice released this one-pager summarizing data that indicates the number of youth arrests for violent offenses continues to fall across the U.S.
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Failed Policies, Forfeited Futures: A Nationwide Scorecard on Juvenile Records
Tags: National | General System Reform | Reports | Partner Publications
Juvenile Law Center published this Scorecard to address the negative consequences that flow from the retention and dissemination of juvenile records, and to illustrate how states differ in their treatment of those records.
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Highlights from Pathways to Desistance: A Longitudinal Study of Serious Adolescent Offenders
Tags: National | Aftercare/Reentry | Brain and Adolescent Development | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Evidence-Based Practices | Reports | Research
The Pathways to Desistance Study is a large collaborative multidisciplinary project that is following 1,354 serious juvenile offenders age 14-18 for 7 years after their conviction. The primary findings of the study to date deal with the decrease in self-reported offending over time by most serious adolescent offenders, the relative inefficacy of longer juvenile incarcerations in decreasing recidivism, the effectiveness of community-based supervision, and the effectiveness of substance abuse treatment in reducing both substance use and offending.
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Changing Priorities: State Criminal Justice Reforms and Investments in Education
Tags: National | Fiscal Issues and Funding | Reports
This report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities examines an imbalance in states between incarceration costs and investments in education.
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The Federal Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice 2013 Recommendations to the President, Congress, and OJJDP Administrator
Tags: Federal | National | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Family and Youth Involvement | General System Reform | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Evidence-Based Practices | Administrative/Regulatory Policies | Reports
The Federal Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice makes policy recommendations on topics of evidence-based practices, youth engagement, youth justice and schools, and disproportionate minority contact, as well as strongly urging the president, congress, and OJJDP to reauthorize the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention act.
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The Growth of Incarceration in the United States: Exploring Causes and Consequences
Tags: National | Crime Data and Statistics | Deinstitutionalization | General System Reform | Reports | Research
This study encompasses research on, and analyses of, the proximate causes of the dramatic rise in the prison population, the societal dynamics that supported those proximate causes, and the effects of this increase on U.S. society.
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Treat Kids as Kids
Tags: California | Deinstitutionalization | Youth in the Adult System | Reports | Member Publications
The California Alliance for Youth and Community Justice penned this report highlighting the risks and dangers of trying, confining, or incarcerating young people in adult courts and prisons. The article offers concrete policy recommendations to ultimately end these practices in California.
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LGBTQ Youth of Color: Discipline Disparities, School Push-Out, and the School-to-Prison Pipeline
Tags: National | LGBTQ Youth | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports | Research | Partner Publications
LGBT students are at an increased risk for verbal and physical harassment and assault, mental illness and suicide, harsh disciplinary policies that contribute to school push-out, etc. This study finds that schools are hostile spaces to many students of color.
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LGBTQ Youth of Color: School Discipline Disparities Recommendations
Tags: National | LGBTQ Youth | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
New research from GSA Network and Crossroads Collaborative finds that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth, gender nonconforming youth, and youth of color not only face bullying and harassment from peers, but also harsh and disparate discipline from school staff, relatively higher levels of policing and surveillance, and blame for their own victimization. Based on these findings, Advancement Project and GSA Network make the following recommendations for youth, teachers, school administrators, and policy makers.
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Race and Punishment: Racial Perceptions of Crime and Support for Punitive Policies
Tags: National | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Reports | Research
This report, put out by the Sentencing Project, examines skewed racial perceptions of crime – particularly, white Americans’ strong associations of crime with racial minorities – have bolstered harsh and biased criminal justice policies.
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In Their Own Words: Young People’s Experiences in the Criminal Justice System and Their Perceptions of Its Legitimacy
Tags: Illinois | General System Reform | Reports | Research
The John Howard Association of Illinois, in partnership with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, compiled this report that examines system-involved youth's opinions on the youth justice system. The report finds that from policing, to trial, to sentencing and incarceration, the criminal justice system’s responses are seen as illegitimate, unequal, arbitrary, and racist from the eyes of young offenders and the predominantly minority communities most impacted by crime.
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Implementing Juvenile Justice Reform: The Federal Role
Tags: Federal | National | General System Reform | Reports
Full text of "Implementing Juvenile Justice Reform: The Federal Role," published by the National Academies Press.
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Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach (Full Text)
Tags: International | National | Brain and Adolescent Development | Reports
Full text of the National Academy of Sciences' highly influential report, "Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach." The report discusses adolescence as a distinct, yet transient, period of development between childhood and adulthood characterized by increased experimentation and risk-taking, a tendency to discount long-term consequences, and heightened sensitivity to peers and other social influences. Research indicates that for most youth, the period of risky experimentation does not extend beyond adolescence, ceasing as identity becomes settled with maturity. Much adolescent involvement in criminal activity is part of the normal developmental process of identity formation and most adolescents will mature out of these tendencies.
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STATE TRENDS: Updates from the 2013-2014 Legislative Session
Tags: National | Youth in the Adult System | Reports | Partner Publications
The Campaign for Youth Justice recently released this report highlighting the incredible work of advocates, families, youth, and policy makers to decrease the number of children entering into the adult criminal justice system.
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Don't Shoot to Kill: Homicides Resulting from Law Enforcement Use of Force within LA County 2010-2014
Tags: California | General System Reform | Reports | Member Publications
This report documents the deaths of 589 people who lived in Los Angeles County and were killed by law enforcement between January 1, 2000 and August 31, 2014.1 In addition, the report documents all cases – with name, age, race, location and where possible incident details – from January 1, 2007 – August 31, 2014 in order to remember each individual; to investigate who is impacted by race, age, gender and community (location of the shooting); and to learn from their experiences in an attempt to save lives in the future.
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LA County Law Enforcement Use of Force Resulting in the Death of Community Members January 2007- August 2014
Tags: California | General System Reform | Reports | Member Publications
This chart details the name, age, sex, race, and other biographical details of all community members whose deaths resulted from police use of force in LA County from January 2007- August 2014.
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Juveniles in Placement, 2011 (OJJDP)
Tags: National | Deinstitutionalization | Detention | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention provides a detailed picture of youth in both public and private residential placements for the year 2011.
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Washington Continues to Push for Use of Evidence-Based Practices, Updated Inventory of Evidence-based, Research-based, and Promising Practices
Tags: Washington | Evidence-Based Practices | Legislation | Reports
Based on the positive reports produced by the Washington State Institute for Public Policy, the Washington State Legislature passed a law requiring a thorough overview, inventory, and assessment of evidence-based, research-based, and promising practices in the areas of child welfare, juvenile rehabilitation, and children’s mental health services. The legislation aims to develop a baseline understanding of the availability and use of such practices in the state, understand their cost-effectiveness, and increase their use in the state in a culturally competent manner. The inventory is updated regularly. H.B. 2536/Act No. 232, signed into law March 30, 2012; effective June 7, 2012.
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Close to Home: Strategies to Place Young People in Their Communities
Tags: National | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Reports | Research | Partner Publications
This report from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency details ways in which juvenile justice advocates and practitioners can promote policies to keep youth in their communities and out of confinement facilities.
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Preventing Youth Violence: Opportunities for Action
Tags: National | Prevention | Reports | Research
The Centers for Disease Control provide this guide to the causes and costs of youth violence, and provides recommendations for intervention to prevent young people from engaging in violence.
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Trauma and Resilience: A New Look at Legal Advocacy for Youth in the Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare Systems
Tags: National | Crossover and Dual Jurisdiction Youth | Risk Assessment and Screening | Reports | Partner Publications
This report from the Juvenile Law Center sets forth key points about using research on trauma in advocacy for system-involved youth.
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NCCD Compares Juvenile Justice Risk Assessment Instruments: A Summary of the OJJDP-Funded Study
Tags: National | Risk Assessment and Screening | Reports | Partner Publications
The National Council on Crime and Delinquency provides an assessment and comparison of instruments used for risk assessment of system-involved youth.
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Improving Illinois' Response to Sexual Offenses Committed by Youth
Tags: Illinois | Sex Offender Registries | Reports
This report by the Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission explains how the state can address sexual offending by youth. Recommendations include: highly trained professionals should be working closely with sexual offending youth, focus on and supervise the child's home life and remove youth from sex offender registry. Further methodology is provided in-depth on how Illinois can address this issue.
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Innovation Brief: Avoiding and Mitigating the Collateral Consequences of a Juvenile Adjudication
Tags: National | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Reports | Partner Publications
This Innovation Brief by MacArthur ModelsforChange talks about the impact of the stigma that follows youths after entering the juvenile justice system, even if it's their first and only time.
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Innovation Brief: Using Community Truancy Boards to Tackle Truancy
Tags: National | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Reports | Partner Publications
This Innovation Brief by MacArthur ModelsforChange suggests how to confront the problem of truant youths through a school-oriented intervention.
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Behavioral Health Problems, Treatment, and Outcomes in Serious Youthful Offenders
Tags: National | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Positive Youth Development and Strengths-Based Programming | Reports | Research
Research done by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, provides pathways to desistance for youth who are involved in the juvenile justice system. This can be accomplished by focusing on mental health needs, behavioral health problems, and following up with these youth once care has been adminstered.
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Safely Home
Tags: National | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Reports
Youth Advocate Programs, Inc. (YAP) published this report detailing the effectiveness of community-based alternatives to incarceration.
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Branded for Life: Florida’s Prosecution of Children as Adults under its 'Direct File' Statute
Tags: Florida | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Currently under Florida's "Direct File Statute," whether or not children are tried as adults lies on one single shoulder: the prosecutor. This report highlights the flaws of this statute; one being that the judge does not have the opportunity to review the case and evaluate whether or not the child should be tried as an adult. This one critical decision, could affect the rest of a child's life.
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Youth Behind Bars: Examining the Impact of Prosecuting and Incarcerating Kids in Michigan’s Criminal Justice System
Tags: Michigan | Youth in the Adult System | Reports | Member Publications
This report, from the Michigan Council on Crime and Delinquency (an NJJN member) details the negative effects of adult incarceration on youth in Michigan.
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My Brother's Keeper Task Force Report to the President
Tags: Federal | National | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
A report by My Brother's Keeper explains how to improve life prospects and opportunities for boys and young men of color. Guidelines are based on a 90 day implementation program to help provide equal opportunities by focusing on specific areas such as education, home environment, and the workforce.
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Transforming Victim Services Executive Summary
Tags: Federal | National | Victims | Reports | Research
Vision 21 aims to bring more awareness and knowledge about crime victimization. The final report provides recommendations on how to do so through state, local, and federal levels. Through a collaborative effort, data at all levels should be combined, which should bring an end to the research gap that exists on the topic of crime victimization.
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Transforming Victim Services Final Report
Tags: Federal | National | Victims | Reports | Research
Vision 21 expands the knowledge of crime victimization by delving into three areas of research: basic research, program evaluation, and evidence-based practices. These three areas of research exposes the impact of crime on victims and its consequences. Research shows that more focus needs to be put on victims' rights and providing services to them.
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Vision 21 At a Glance
Tags: Federal | National | Victims | Reports
There are still ongoing challenges in providing crime victims with the adequate services that they need. Ways to avoid these challenges and lack of resources for crime victims are: conduct and integrate strategic planning on all government levels, provide empirical data, strive for policies regarding crime victim issues, and make sure this field area is equipped with the technology it needs.
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Kids Without Counsel: Colorado's Failure to Safeguard Due Process for Children in Juvenile Delinquency Court
Tags: Colorado | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Reports | Member Publications | Partner Publications
A collaboration between the National Juvenile Defender Center and the Colorado Juvenile Defense Coalition, this report exposes the gaping holes in access to counsel for Colorado's youth.
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Suspension and expulsion patterns in six Oregon school districts
Tags: Oregon | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
This study highlights student exclusionary patterns in urban school districts in Oregon during the 2011-12 school year. The study examines exclusionary discipline by grade, gender, race/ethnicity, and special education status.
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The School Discipline Consensus Report
Tags: National | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Strategies from the field to keep students engaged in school and out of the juvenile justice system. Published by the Council of State Governments.
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From Conversation to Collaboration: How Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice Agencies Can Work Together to Improve Outcomes for Dual Status Youth
Tags: National | Crossover and Dual Jurisdiction Youth | Reports
White paper from the RFK resource center and MacArthur's Models for Change initiative regarding system collaboration between child welfare and youth justice systems, to address the specific needs of dual-status youth.
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Criminal Career Patterns
Tags: National | Crime Data and Statistics | Reports
This publication from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention discusses the criminal careers of offenders, specifically the links between offending patterns in adolescence and in adulthood.
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Prediction and Risk/Needs Assessment
Tags: National | Risk Assessment and Screening | Reports
This bulletin from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention discusses our ability to predict whether a young adult will commit crimes based on information available from his or her juvenile years and reviews assessment tools used to make these predictions.
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DC, Reforming Youth Diversion in the District of Columbia, 2014
Tags: District of Columbia | Deinstitutionalization | Detention | Positive Youth Development and Strengths-Based Programming | Reports
This report focuses on how DC can prevent unnecessary youth involvement in the juvenile justice system and explains what stakeholders would be involved in this process.
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Automatic Adult Prosecution of Children in Cook County, Illinois, 2010-2012
Tags: Illinois | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Youth in the Adult System | Reports | Member Publications
This publication explores the effects of a 32-year-old Illinois law that requires juveniles accused of the most serious crimes to be charged as adults. The study finds that the law is discriminatory, prevents judges from exercising their judgment and makes it more likely that those who are convicted will commit violent crimes in the future.
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Using Cost-Benefit Analysis for Justice Policymaking
Tags: National | Fiscal Issues and Funding | Positive Youth Development and Strengths-Based Programming | Reports | Research
The Vera Institute for Justice convened a working group of researchers and policymakers to help advance the use of rigorous cost-benefit analysis (CBA) in decisions about criminal justice programs and policies.
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Just Learning: The Imperative to Transform Juvenile Justice Systems Into Effective Educational Systems - Executive Summary
Tags: National | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Correctional Education | Reports | Research
Exec. summary of Southern Education Foundation survey of the educational provisions of Southern youth justice facilities. The data shows that both state and local juvenile justice systems are failing profoundly in providing adequate, effective education in the South and the nation.
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Just Learning: The Imperative to Transform Juvenile Justice Systems Into Effective Educational Systems
Tags: National | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports | Research
This study by the Southern Education Foundation surveys the educational provisions of Southern youth justice facilities. The data shows that both state and local juvenile justice systems are failing profoundly in providing adequate, effective education in the South and the nation.
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Juvenile Defense Attorneys: A Critical Protection Against Injustice The Importance of Skilled Juvenile Defenders to Upholding the Due Process Rights of Youth
Tags: National | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Reports | Partner Publications
This white paper from the National Juvenile Defenders Center, a member of the Models for Change Resource Center Partnership, details the role of the juvenile defender in the youth justice system.
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How Educators Can Eradicate Disparities in School Discipline: A Briefing Paper on School-Based Interventions
Tags: National | Deinstitutionalization | Reports
This National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) research brief examines states' role in monitoring conditions and outcomes for youth involved in the justice system. It is part of an 8 part series from NCCD on deincarceration in the U.S. youth justice system.
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Stakeholders' Views on the Movement to Reduce Youth Incarceration
Tags: National | Deinstitutionalization | Reports | Research
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Study Methods for the NCCD Deincarceration Project
Tags: National | Deinstitutionalization | Reports | Research
This National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) paper explains NCCD's research methodology for its 8 part series on deincarceration in the U.S. youth justice system.
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Using Bills and Budgets to Further Reduce Youth Incarceration
Tags: National | Deinstitutionalization | Reports | Research
This National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) research brief explores how to leverage fiscal concerns to reduce youth incarceration. It is part of an 8 part series from NCCD on deincarceration in the U.S. youth justice system.
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Advancing the Quality of Cost-Benefit Analysis for Justice Programs
This paper from the Vera Institute for Justice explores the methodological challenges to performing cost-benefit analyses of justice-related investments.
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California Crime Victims' Voices: Findings from the First-Ever Survey of California Crime Victims and Survivors
Tags: California | Victims | Reports | Research
This report describes the findings of a large-scale survey of California crime victims and points to opportunities for further research and reforms to improve victim recovery.
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Dual Status Youth: Technical Assistance Workbook
Tags: National | Crossover and Dual Jurisdiction Youth | Reports | Research
This Technical Assistance Workbook to provide practical guidance for state and local jurisdictions in their endeavor to improve the outcomes for dual status youth and families and to enhance system performance among the critical youth- and family-serving agency partners.
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Guidebook for Juvenile Justice & Child Welfare System Coordination and Integration
Tags: National | Reports | Research
CWLA and RFK Children’s Action Corps developed this guidebook to help state and local jurisdictions determine how they might achieve useful integration and cooperation between their child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Direction in this guidebook is based on research, evidence-based practice, and the experiences of other jurisdictions.
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CIVIL RIGHTS DATA COLLECTION - Data Snapshot: School Discipline
Tags: National | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports | Research
The Civil Rights Data Collection branch of the U.S. Department of Education's latest (2014) data snapshot regarding civil rights and school discipline.
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Vermont Engages in Cost-Benefit Analysis of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Practices, Criminal Consensus Cost-Benefit Working Group Final Report
Tags: Vermont | Fiscal Issues and Funding | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Evidence-Based Practices | Legislation | Reports
The Vermont legislature charged the Criminal Consensus Cost-Benefit Working Group with developing a criminal and juvenile justice cost-benefit model for the state. The goal of the model is to provide policymakers with information needed to weigh the costs and benefits of various programs and to evaluate those policies with the greatest net social benefit. Specifically, the model will be used to estimate costs related to arrest, prosecution, defense, adjudication, and corrections of adults and youth, as well as the cost of victimization. A report submitted by the working group in April 2014 recommends that the state “reinvigorate” its commitment to evidence-based programs, study staff costs further (as having the greatest potential to generate cost savings), and provide the results of their study to criminal and juvenile justice agencies in the state, along with technical assistance for those agencies to evaluate opportunity costs. S.B. 1/Act No. 0061, signed into law and effective June 3, 2013.
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Unlocking Potential: Addressing the Overuse of Juvenile Detention in Massachusetts
Tags: Massachusetts | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Institutional Conditions | Reports | Partner Publications
This report from the Coalition for Juvenile Justice (an NJJN partner) discusses the high rate of incarceration of youth in Massachusetts. It details the number of youth incarcerated for minor and nonviolent offenses, as well as the broad racial and ethnic disparities observable in the state's youth incarceration rates.
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Helping Families to Support their LGBT Children
Tags: National | LGBTQ Youth | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has released this practitioners' guide to helping families support their LGBT children.
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Improving Illinois' Response to Sexual Offenses Committed by Youth
Tags: Illinois | Sex Offender Registries | Reports | Research
The State of Illinois' first comprehensive study of youth who commit sexual offenses. The study finds that such youth are highly amenable to treatment and unlikely to reoffend.
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Executive Summary: Discipline Disparities
Tags: National | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports | Research
The Discipline Disparities Research-to-Practice Collaborative's three-part Disciplinary Disparities Briefing Paper Series about disparities in school removal and research based interventions, conducted by a national group of researchers, educators, advocates and policy analysts, and funded by Atlantic Philanthropies and Open Society Foundations.
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A Comparison of Risk Assessment Instruments in Juvenile Justice
Tags: National | Risk Assessment and Screening | Reports | Research
This report from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency compares risk assessment instruments used in youth justice.
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Pregnancy and Child-Related Legal and Policy Issues Concerning Justice-Involved Women
Tags: National | Girls | Administrative/Regulatory Policies | Reports
This publication from the National Institute of Corrections provides an overview of pregnancy- and child-related legal questions concerning justice-involved women that can be raised in correctional settings.
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Juvenile Arrests 2011
Tags: Federal | National | Crime Data and Statistics | Reports
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) compiled this bulletin drawing together data on youth arrests for the year of 2011.
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Line Drawing: Raising the Minimum Age of Criminal Court Jurisdiction in New York
Tags: New York | General System Reform | Reports
This report from CUNY's John Jay Research Center examines the reasons for changing the age of criminal jurisdiction and reviews the implications of such a change.
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Staff Responses to Organizational Change
Tags: New York | National | Deinstitutionalization | General System Reform | Reports
This report details the effects of juvenile justice facility reform and deinstitutionalization on the ground, drawing from research about facilities in New York. This report seeks to educate policymakers and advocates about the effects of reforms on young people and staff. It examines why some staff members and their unions so strongly resist deinstitutionalization, and what the impact of reform practices and policies are on the individuals who live and work in the facilities.
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The State of America's Children - 2014 Report
Tags: National | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Crossover and Dual Jurisdiction Youth | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Physical Health | Reports | Partner Publications
The Children's Defense Fund's annual report detailing the current status of multiple issues that affect children, including juvenile justice and youth incarceration.
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Better Solutions for Youth with Mental Health Needs in the Juvenile Justice System
Tags: National | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Risk Assessment and Screening | Evidence-Based Practices | Reports
This paper, from the National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice and the MacArthur Foundation's Models for Change Initiative, discusses evidence-based practices for identifying and treating youth with mental health issues before they reach the youth justice system.
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Juvenile Competency Procedures
Tags: National | Reports | Research
Juvenile Competency Procedures
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The Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility
Tags: International | Brain and Adolescent Development | General System Reform | International and Human Rights | Reports
This report from Penal Reform discusses international standards for determining the minimum age of criminal responsibility.
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Appendix 1: Directory of Federal School Climate and Discipline Resources
Tags: Federal | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports | Web-Based Tools
Appendix 1 of the Department of Education and Department of Justice's federal guidelines on school discipline. Provides a list of resources related to school climate and school discipline.
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Guiding Principles: A Resource Guide for Improving School Climate and Discipline
Tags: Federal | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports | Web-Based Tools
The Department of Education and the Department of Justice's joint federal resource guide for improving school climate and discipline.
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Polling on Public Attitudes About the Treatment of Young Offenders, National Juvenile Justice Network
Tags: National | Public Opinion and Messaging | Reports | NJJN Publications
Paper summarizing the findings from several recent polls. Polls show that the general public: believes that rehabilitation and treatment can reduce crime AND is willing to pay extra taxes to provide those services; supports rehabilitation even for young people who commit violent crimes; opposes young offenders being sent to adult criminal court without an individual determination made in each case; agrees that non-white youth are more likely than white youth to be prosecuted as adults; and believes strongly in a separate juvenile justice system.
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Functional Impairment in Delinquent Youth
Tags: Illinois | National | Detention | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
OJJDP bulletin that examines the results of the Northwestern Juvenile Project - a long-term study of youth detained in a Chicago area detention facility. The bulletin addresses youth functional impairment in the school, work, home, and community settings; and in terms of behavior toward others, mood and psychiatric concerns, self-harm, substance use, and rational thought assessed 3 years after the youth were released from detention.
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Maine Crime & Justice Data Book
Tags: Maine | Crime Data and Statistics | Reports
The 2014 Maine Crime and Justice Data Book presents a portrait of crime and justice indicators in the state, using the most recent public safety, corrections, and court data available for Maine.
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Legislative Task Force Recommends Increased Community-Based Programming, S.C.R. 35 Task Force Report
Tags: Kentucky | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Legislation | Reports
Building on the work of a task force created in 2012 to study the Unified Juvenile Code (H.C.R. 129/Act No. 37), a 2013 task force in Kentucky studied issues related to youth who commit status offenses, alternatives to detention, reinvestment of savings from reduced use of facilities to create community-based treatment programs, and the feasibility of establishing an age of criminal responsibility, among other issues. The task force’s report, released December 19, 2013, found that Kentucky spends over half of its budget on secure and non-secure residential facilities; significant resources are spent on out-of-home placements for youth who commit status offenses; there is a lack of funding for community-based services and alternatives; and the majority of cases in the juvenile justice system are for lower-level offenses. The task force recommended expanding community-based services; focusing out-of-home placements on youth who commit more serious offenses, and reinvesting resulting savings in prevention and early intervention efforts; increasing the effectiveness of juvenile justice programs and services and improving oversight of reform implementation; and tracking performance measures. S.C.R. 35, signed into law March 14, 2013.
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A Generation Later: What We've Learned about Zero Tolerance in Schools
Tags: National | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
The Vera Institute's Center on Youth Justice has recently released a report titled, "A Generation Later: What We've Learned about Zero Tolerance in Schools." The report examines research that has investigated "zero tolerance" school discipline policies that rely heavily on suspension and expulsion to respond to student misbehavior. The research indicates that not only have schools not become safer under these extreme policies, they may in fact have the opposite effect.
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Juvenile Justice Reform Project Recommends Reducing Incarceration of Youth
Tags: Hawaii | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | General System Reform | Reports
In August 2013, Hawaii created the Hawaii Juvenile Justice Reform Project, a new bi-partisan inter-branch working group to analyze the juvenile justice system and use data and research findings to develop specific policy recommendations for the 2014 legislative session. The group’s final report was released December 13, 2013 and recommends reducing the population at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility by 60 percent by 2019, confining only youth who have committed the most serious offenses. The report recommends that the resulting savings—estimated to be $11 million over five years—be reinvested in local jurisdictions to fund community-based alternatives, such as mental health, substance abuse, and social services. The report also calls for strengthening of reentry, parole, diversion, informal adjustment, and monitoring practices.
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From Courts to Communities: The Right Response to Truancy, Running Away, and Other Status Offenses
Tags: National | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Family and Youth Involvement | Status Offenses | Reports
This report from the Vera Institute of Justice makes policy recommendations regarding truancy and other status offenses that emphasize family-supported and community-based solutions in place of court referrals.
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National Standards for the Care of Youth Charged with Status Offenses
Tags: National | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Family and Youth Involvement | Status Offenses | Reports | Partner Publications
This publication from NJJN partner the Coalition for Juvenile Justice sets out principles and standards for responding to status offenses in the U.S.
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And Justice For Some: Differential Treatment of Youth of Color in the Justice System
Tags: National | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
This report from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency tracks disparate treatment of youth of color at every stage of the justice process--from police practices through confinement.
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Vision 21: Transforming Victim Services
Tags: National | Victims | Reports
The Office for Victims and Crimes at the Office developed this resource as a guidebook for a more comprehensive, systemic approach to addressing the needs of crime victims.
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Arrested Development: Confinement Can Negatively Affect Youth Maturation
Tags: International | National | Brain and Adolescent Development | Deinstitutionalization | Reports | NJJN Publications
According to recent research funded by the John D. and Catherine T. Macarthur Foundation's Models for Change Initiative, incarceration can stymie young people's psychosocial maturation--meaning that youth who experience incarceration may be more impulsive and susceptible to negative peer influence upon release, increasing the risk of re-arrest.
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Trauma-Informed Approaches: Federal Activities and Initiatives
Tags: Federal | National | Girls | Reports
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA's) National Center for Trauma-Informed Care assisted the Office for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention with this report on trauma-informed approaches for women and girls. The report documents the scope and impact of violence and abuse on women and girls and highlights gender-responsive, trauma-informed approaches that more than three dozen federal agencies, departments, and offices have implemented. The report encourages other governmental and nongovernmental agencies to adopt a cross-sector, interagency, intersystem recognition of and response to trauma.
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Alone and Afraid - Children Held in Solitary Confinement and Isolation in Juvenile Detention and Correctional Facilities
Tags: National | Institutional Conditions | Reports | Partner Publications
This paper documents how solitary confinement, often referred to as room confinement in the juvenile facilities context, can cause extreme psychological, physical, and developmental harm. As the report makes clear, juvenile facilities have been locking kids in physical and social isolation for days, weeks, and even months. Our priority should be protecting kids, helping them grow into productive and healthy adults.
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Nebraska Establishes Commission to Study Juvenile Justice Facilities and Services, Juvenile Services (OJS) Committee Phase I Strategic Recommendations
Tags: Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | General System Reform | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Legislation | Reports
The Nebraska Legislature created the Nebraska Children’s Commission as a permanent forum for collaboration among state, local, community, public, and private stakeholders in child welfare and juvenile justice programs and services. The Juvenile Services (OJS) Committee was also established as a subcommittee of the Nebraska Children’s Commission, with the mandate to review the role and effectiveness of Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Centers (YRTCs), including what populations should be served, what treatment services should be provided at YRTCs, how mental and behavioral health services are provided to youth in secure residential placements, and the need for such services in Nebraska’s juvenile justice system. The committee’s December 2013 report includes recommendations related to foundational system principles and a core framework for the system, legal system changes, YRTC facilities and services, and behavioral and mental health systems of care. L.B. 821, signed into law April 11, 2012; effective April 12, 2012 and L.B. 561 signed into law May 29, 2013; effective September 6, 2013.
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Performance-Based Standards: Reducing Isolation and Room Confinement
Tags: National | Institutional Conditions | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
This Performance-Based Standards report finds that isolation should only be used in extreme circumstances for youth, and even in those circumstances should be brief and supervised. This report outlines the harms that come to youth in isolation, and encourages the reduction of this practice.
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Performance-Based Standards: What Youths Say Matters
Tags: National | Institutional Conditions | Evidence-Based Practices | Reports
Research is mounting that shows youths’ experiences while in residential programs have a significant impact on both the safety and climate within the facility as well as whether the youth continues to commit crimes when he or she returns to the community. A recent analysis of the Pathways to Desistance Study added to the growing body of findings with two conclusions professionals can put into practice: 1) Youths who have generally positive experiences in custody are less likely to recidivate when released and 2) Surveying youths about their perceptions and experiences is a cost-effective means to reduce recidivism.
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Black, Brown, and Over-Policed in L.A. Schools
Tags: California | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Structural proposals to end the school-to-prison pipeline in the Los Angeles Unified School District and to build a national movement to stop the mass incarceration of Black and Latino communities. This report comes from The Strategy Center.
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Innovation Brief - Media Relations: Transforming a Crisis into an Opportunity for Reform
Tags: Pennsylvania | National | Reports
MacArthur Models for Change Innovation Brief on transforming a crisis into an opportunity for reform. The brief details how those at the Juvenile Law Center transformed the Luzerne Count, PA "kids for cash" scandal into meaningful youth justice system reform.
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Virginia's Justice System: Expensive, Ineffective and Unfair
Tags: Virginia | General System Reform | Reports
This report from the Justice Policy Institute summarizes some of the large problems with Virginia's criminal justice system, concluding that overall, the system is expensive, ineffective, and inequitable. While the report focuses on adults, there is a section that focuses on Virginia's youth justice system.
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Rhode Island Training School Reduces Maximum Time Youth Can Be Confined in their Rooms
Tags: Rhode Island | Institutional Conditions | Reports
In response to a 2011 assessment of the Rhode Island Training School’s compliance with Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) standards for conditions of confinement, the Department of Children, Youth and Families amended its policy regarding the maximum time youth at the facility can be confined to their rooms. The maximum period was reduced from five to three days in order to comply with JDAI standards.
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Combatting Gun Violence in Illinois: Evidence-Based Solutions
Tags: Illinois | Prevention | Evidence-Based Practices | Reports | Research
This memo from Northwestern Law details evidenced-based solutions that have been proven to reduce gun violence in Illinois.
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Violent Youth Crime in US Falls to New 32-Year Low
Tags: National | Crime Data and Statistics | Reports
This report from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice finds that violent youth crime in the U.S. has fallen to its lowest point in 32 years.
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Changing Course: Preventing Gang Membership
Tags: National | Gangs | Reports | Research
This book, a collaboration between the National Institute of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, details how community members, schools, and lawmakers--not only law enforcement officials--can help to steer young people away from gang membership. The research emphasizes a comprehensive, prevention-based approach to keeping youth out of gangs.
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Criminal: How Lockup Quotas and Low-Crime Taxes Guarantee Profits for Private Prison Corporations
Tags: National | Privatization | Reports | Research
Report discusses how prison bed occupancy guarantees in private prison contracts undermine criminal justice policy and democratic, accountable government.
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Cross-System Collaboration: NCTSN Trauma-Informed Approach Brief
Tags: Crossover and Dual Jurisdiction Youth | General System Reform | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network, a program of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for Mental Health Services, released six online briefs in September, 2013. This brief, authored by Macon Stewart, discusses the cross-system partnerships necessary to effectively address youth trauma.
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Racial Disparities and the Juvenile Justice System: A Legacy of Trauma - NCTSN Trauma-Informed Approach Brief
Tags: Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network, a program of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Center for Mental Health Services, released six online briefs in September, 2013. This brief outlines the problem of racial disparities in the juvenile justice system, how these disparities contribute to youth trauma, and possible ways to address this problem.
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The Role of Family Engagement in Creating Trauma-Informed Juvenile Justice Systems: NCTSN Trauma-Informed Approach Brief
Tags: Family and Youth Involvement | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network, a program of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Center for Mental Health Services, released six online briefs in September, 2013. This brief, penned by Liane Rozzell, outlines why family involvement is a crucial element of trauma-informed care.
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Trauma and Environment of Care in Juvenile Institutions: NCTSN Trauma-Informed Approaches Brief
Tags: Deinstitutionalization | Institutional Conditions | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network, a program of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Center for Mental Health Services, released six online briefs in September, 2013. This brief outlines how the environment of secure confinement facilities can traumatize youth or exacerbate existing trauma.
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Trauma-Informed Assessment and Intervention: NCTSN Trauma-Informed Approaches Brief
Tags: General System Reform | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network, a program of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Center for Mental Health Services, released six online briefs in September, 2013. This brief outlines methods by which youth trauma can be detected and assessed, and how trauma-informed interventions can be implemented into the existing juvenile justice system.
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Trauma-Informed Juvenile Justice Roundtable: Current Issues and New Directions in Creating Trauma-Informed Juvenile Justice Systems - NCTSN Trauma-Informed Approach Brief
Tags: General System Reform | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network, a program of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Center for Mental Health Services, released six online briefs in September, 2013. This brief outlines the most up-to-date issues and ideas in trauma-informed approaches.
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We're In It for the Long Haul: Alternatives to Incarceration for Youth in Trouble with the Law
Tags: Illinois | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Restorative Justice | Reports
This article, written by Project NIA, describes and assesses numerous alternative programs in operation in Chicago that seek to divert youth from the juvenile justice system.
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OJJDP Family Listening Sessions - Executive Summary
Tags: National | Family and Youth Involvement | Reports
This report summarizes the findings of four listening sessions with the families of system-involved youth held by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the Campaign for Youth Justice (CFYJ).
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Louisiana Children & Youth Planning Board Toolkit: Creating & Optimizing Children & Youth Planning Boards
Tags: Louisiana | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | General System Reform | Reports
This Models for Change toolkit offers 11 tools for the development and operation of "children and youth planning boards."
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Measuring Success: A Guide to Becoming an Evidence-Based Practice
Tags: National | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Evidence-Based Practices | Reports
This Vera Institute guide provides a map of how juvenile justice reform programs--especially community-based alternatives to incarceration--become "evidence-based practices." The guide maps the basic steps creating and effectively utilizing process and outcome evaluations.
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Wyoming Department of Family Services Budget Footnote Study
Tags: Wyoming | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
Summarizes a review of Wyoming's use of residential treatment beds for youth in the justice system, both in-state and out-of-state, and makes recommendations for improvement.
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Nature and Risk of Victimization: Findings from the Survey of Youth in Residential Placement
Tags: Federal | National | Institutional Conditions | Victims | Reports
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) released this bulletin on the nature and frequency of victimization of youth in residential placement. The study finds that there is an urgent need to create policy and implement programs to better prevent the victimization of youth in residential facilities.
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10 Steps for Implementing Mental Health Screening
Tags: National | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Risk Assessment and Screening | Reports
This tool offers 10 essential tips for juvenile facilities or agencies considering implementing mental health screenings.
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Berks County, Pennsylvania Juvenile Detention Risk Assessment
Tags: Pennsylvania | Risk Assessment and Screening | Administrative/Regulatory Policies | Reports | Research
This report assesses the efficacy of a draft Juvenile Detention Risk Assessment Instrument in Berks County, Pennsylvania using data from an 8-month trial period. The report offers data analysis as well as policy recommendations to improve future risk assessment models, advance best practices, and reduce the rate of juveniles in detention.
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Protocol for Competence in California Juvenile Justice Proceedings
Tags: California | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Reports | Research
This tool suggests approaches for developing juvenile competence proceedings in cases where competency may be an issue and there are no specific existing provisions.
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Girls in the Maine Criminal Justice System Bulletin
Tags: Maine | Crime Data and Statistics | Girls | Reports
The purpose of this brief is to understand the experiences of girls who become involved in Maines juvenile justice system. The data used for this report include four cohorts of girls who have had contact with the system between 2006 and 2011.
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Maine Juvenile Recidivism Report
Tags: Maine | Crime Data and Statistics | Reports
This report summarizes the data for four groups of youth involved with the Department of Juvenile Services between the years of 2006 and 2011.
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The Impact of Family Visitation on Incarcerated Youth's Behavior and School Performance
Tags: National | Family and Youth Involvement | Reports | Research
This study by the Vera Institute examines the effect of family visitation on the behavior and school performance of incarcerated youth. The researchers found that family visitation was associated with improved behavior and school performance, highlighting the importance of visitation to incarcerated youth's rehabilitation and success. The researchers recommend that correctional facilities adjust their visitation policies to promote more frequent visitation with families to improve social and familial support and increase these positive outcomes.
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A Multi-State Recidivism Study Using Static-99R and Static-2002 Risk Scores and Tier Guidelines from the Adam Walsh Act
Tags: Federal | National | Sex Offender Registries | Legislation | Reports | Research
This study seeks to examine important components of our nation’s sex offender tracking and monitoring systems, with a focus on risk assessment and sexual recidivism (measured by re-arrest). On average, we found that the recidivism rate was approximately 5% at five years and 10% at 10 years. AWA tier was unrelated to sexual recidivism. The findings indicate that the current AWA classification scheme is likely to result in a system that is less effective in protecting the public than the classification systems currently implemented in the states studied.
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Funding Community Based Supervision: Legislative Levers to Lock in Local Funding
Tags: National | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Fiscal Issues and Funding | Reports | NJJN Publications
When your state proposes to close youth prisons and have counties serve youth in trouble with the law in the community, how do you keep counties at the table? The Fiscal Policy Center's new tip sheet provides four examples of funding legislation that can help.
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Sexual Victimization in Prisons and Jails, Reported by Inmates 2011-12
Tags: National | Youth in the Adult System | Reports | Research
This Bureau of Justice Statistics report uses data gathered from interviews with prison and jail inmates to determine the prevalence of sexual victimization in prisons and jails. The report includes specific statistics on the incidence of sexual victimization among incarcerated youth, aged 16-17.
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Missouri: Justice Rationed, An Assessment of Access to Counsel and Quality of Juvenile Defense Representation in Delinquency Proceedings
Tags: Missouri | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Youth in the Adult System | Reports | Partner Publications
The National Juvenile Defender Center provides policy makers and juvenile defense leaders with the tools to identify system barriers to quality representation in delinquency proceedings, highlights best practices and provides recommendations for implementation strategies for improving Missouri's indigent defense delivery system.
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Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach
Tags: Federal | National | Brain and Adolescent Development | Deinstitutionalization | Family and Youth Involvement | General System Reform | Status Offenses | Youth in the Adult System | Reports | Research
The National Research Council's report brief combines a summary of new research in adolescent developmental psychology with an evaluation of reigning policies in juvenile justice. Based on these materials, the NRC makes recommendations for juvenile justice policy reform.
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To Punish A Few: Too Many Youth Caught in the Net of Adult Prosecution
Tags: National | Brain and Adolescent Development | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Youth in the Adult System | Reports | Research | Partner Publications
This 2007 report from the Campaign for Youth Justice highlights some of the consequences of prosecuting and detaining youth through the adult criminal justice system. The report explores the consequences of transfer for public safety, the costs of prosecuting youth as adults, the lengthy prison sentences faces by juveniles convicted as adults in states with strike laws, the developmental differences between children, teenagers and adults, the disproportionate representation of youth of color in both the adult and juvenile justice systems, and the incarceration of youth in adult detention facilities.
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Family Comes First: A Workbook to Transform the Justice System by Partnering with Families
Tags: National | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Family and Youth Involvement | Reports | Partner Publications
This report, released by the Campaign for Youth Justice, is the first comprehensive analysis of current family engagement and family partnership practices in juvenile justice systems across the country and provides practical tools and resources for juvenile justice system practitioners invested in undertaking a family-driven approach to juvenile justice.
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Raised on the Registry: The Irreparable Harm of Placing Children on Sex Offender Registries in the US
Tags: National | Aftercare/Reentry | Family and Youth Involvement | Sex Offender Registries | Reports | Research
This Human Rights Watch report challenges the view that registration laws and related restrictions are an appropriate response to sex offenses committed by children. The report shows that such measures amount to continuing punishment for youth who commit sex offenses and in fact have a neutral or even negative effect on public safety by overburdening law enforcement with monitoring large numbers of people, undifferentiated by their dangerousness.
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Measuring Success: A Guide to Becoming an Evidence-Based Practice, Vera & Models for Change
Tags: National | Evidence-Based Practices | Reports
This guide, funded by the MacArthur Foundation as part of its Models for Change initiative, describes the process that determines whether a program qualifies as evidence-based and explains how programs can prepare to be evaluated.
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Common Ground: Lessons Learned from Five States that Reduced Juvenile Confinement by More than Half
Tags: Arizona | Connecticut | Louisiana | Minnesota | Tennessee | Deinstitutionalization | General System Reform | Reports | Partner Publications
Report looks closely at five states that did the most to reduce their juvenile incarceration rates between 2001 and 2010-- Connecticut, Arizona, Minnesota, Louisiana, and Tennessee. Looks at the common factors driving their success, and makes recommendations to the field and other states.
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Juvenile Justice Reform in Connecticut: How Collaboration and Commitment Improved Outcomes for Youth Justice Policy Institute
Tags: Connecticut | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Detention | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Status Offenses | Reports | Partner Publications
A look at Connecticut’s juvenile justice system reforms shows how a culture change and major investments in evidence-based services turned a wasteful, punitive, ineffective, and abusive juvenile justice system into a national model, at no additional cost to taxpayers.
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Reducing Youth Incarceration in the United States: KIDS COUNT Data Snapshot
Tags: Deinstitutionalization | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports | Research | Partner Publications
KIDS COUNT data snapshot from the Casey Foundation finds the rate of young people locked up because they were in trouble with the law dropped more than 40 percent over a 15-year period, with no decrease in public safety, though racial disparities persist.
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Adult Decisions: Connecticut Rethinks Student Arrests
Tags: Connecticut | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports | Member Publications
Several Connecticut towns have dramatically reduced arrests in schools without compromising safety, a report by the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance finds. Profiles three Connecticut towns working to end the overuse of arrest in their schools.
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The Facts About Dangers of Added Police in Schools
Tags: Federal | District of Columbia | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
A fact sheet from The Sentencing Project summarizing research on the effects of increased police presence in schools.
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The Bridge to Somewhere: How Research Made its Way into Legislative Juvenile Justice Reform in Ohio
Tags: Ohio | General System Reform | Reports
In 2011, Ohio passed landmark legislation for juvenile justice reforms based on an understanding of evidence-based practices and adolescent development research. This achievement was the result of a collaborative policy change model -- the case study is offers guidance to other states.
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CJJ Fact Sheet: Reauthorization of the JJDPA
Tags: Federal | Fiscal Issues and Funding | General System Reform | Reports
A CJJ fact sheet on the reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Act and the importance of the federal-state partnership in responding to delinquency.
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Executive Summary - Abandoned in the Back Row: New Lessons in Education and Delinquency Prevention Executive Summary
Tags: School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
This resource highlights the importance of school resources and effective support programs in ending the school-to-prison pipeline.
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Executive Summary - Handle with Care: Serving the Mental Health Needs of Young Offenders
Tags: Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Risk Assessment and Screening | Reports
This resource provides recommendations for providing effective mental health services to youth in the juvenile justice system.
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Handcuffs on Success: The Extreme School Discipline Crisis in Mississippi Public Schools
Tags: Mississippi | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
This report focuses on the negative effects of exclusionary discipline in Mississippi's public schools and provides recommendations for legislators.
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Legislative Research Commission Recommends Raising the Age for Youth Charged with Misdemeanors, Legislative Research Commission's Committee on Age of Juvenile Offenders
Tags: North Carolina | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Legislation | Reports
The North Carolina Legislative Research Commission’s Committee on Age of Juvenile Offenders issued a report in December 2012 recommending that the state raise the age of juvenile court jurisdiction from 16 to 18 for youth who are charged with misdemeanors. The committee recommended passage of S.B. 434 from the 2011 session, which would raise the age for misdemeanors, but would keep in adult court 16- and 17-year olds previously convicted of felonies in adult court.
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Defending Childhood: Report of the Attorney General's National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence
Tags: Federal | Brain and Adolescent Development | General System Reform | Girls | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | LGBTQ Youth | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Physical Health | Prevention | Risk Assessment and Screening | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Victims | Reports
The U.S. Attorney General's National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence report makes recommendations to prevent children from exposure to crime, abuse, and violence; and assist those who have been. Includes recommendations to improve the juvenile justice system.
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Defending Childhood: [Executive Summary] Report of the Attorney General's National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence
Tags: Federal | Brain and Adolescent Development | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | General System Reform | Girls | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | LGBTQ Youth | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Prevention | Risk Assessment and Screening | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Victims | Reports
This document summarizes key recommendations from the Attorney General to prevent children from exposure to crime, abuse, and violence; and assist those who have been exposed. Includes recommendations to improve the juvenile justice system. [Executive Summary]
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Reclaiming Students: the Educational and Economic Costs of Exclusionary Discipline in Washington State
Tags: Washington | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports | Member Publications
This report focuses on the effects of exclusionary discipline in Washington State.
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Transfer of Juveniles to Adult Court: Effects of a Broad Policy in One Court
Tags: Youth in the Adult System | Reports
New findings suggest that adult transfer of youth does not necessarily reduce the likelihood that youth will commit criminal acts, makes inevitable the chances that children and teens will be victimized by older inmates, and disrupts their development.
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Mental Health Needs and Due Process Rights: Finding the Balance
Tags: Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Risk Assessment and Screening | Reports
This brief focuses on the challenge of providing youth in the juvenile justice system necessary mental health screening and assessment in a way that does not violate their right against self-incrimination.
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Competency to Stand Trial in Juvenile Court: Recommendations for Policymakers
Tags: Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Reports | NJJN Publications
In this policy update, NJJN outlines the ways that adolescence complicates assessment of competency, and makes recommendations for policymakers to create flexible, but age-appropriate guidelines.
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Seven Ways to Improve Juvenile Indigent Defense
Tags: Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Reports | NJJN Publications
This NJJN policy update reviews key strategies for reforming juvenile indigent defense centered on training, practice standards, communications and collaboration, creating supportive tools and resources, and advocacy.
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Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach
Tags: Brain and Adolescent Development | General System Reform | Reports
A new report from the National Resource Council calls for a juvenile justice reform that takes into account the growing science of adolescent development.
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Risk Assessment in Juvenile Justice: A Guidebook for Implementation, Gina Vincent, Models for Change
Tags: Risk Assessment and Screening | Reports | Research
This Guide from Models for Change provides a structure for jurisdictions, juvenile probation or centralized statewide agencies to implement risk assessment or to improve their current risk assessment practices.
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Recipe for Reform School: Why Some Kids and Teens in the Child Welfare System End Up in the Juvenile Justice System
Tags: Crossover and Dual Jurisdiction Youth | Reports | NJJN Publications
An NJJN Policy Update on crossover youth. New research funded and synthesized by Models for Change in a 2011 Knowledge Brief shows that not all youth in the child welfare system are equally likely to cross over into the juvenile justice system; and highlights the factors that increase the likelihood of crossover.
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Breaking Rules, Breaking Budgets: Cost of Exclusionary Discipline in 11 Texas School Districts
Tags: Texas | Fiscal Issues and Funding | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports | Member Publications
In this report, Texas Appleseed details the cost of the current disciplinary procedures in 11 school districts and recommends strategies for cost-effective school discipline.
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Girls' Experiences in the Texas Juvenile Justice System
Tags: Texas | Girls | Institutional Conditions | Reports | Member Publications
In this report by Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, a survey of girls at one Texas juvenile correctional facility shows there is a great likelihood that many traumatized girls in the Texas juvenile justice system are being re-traumatized due to current policies and procedures.
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Improving the Juvenile Justice System for Girls: Lessons from the States
This report examines the challenges facing girls in the juvenile justice system and makes recommendations for gender-responsive reform at the local, state, and federal levels.
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Snapshot of National Organizations’ Policy Statements on Youth in the Adult Criminal Justice System
Tags: Youth in the Adult System | Reports | Partner Publications
An overview of the major policy statements of juvenile and criminal justice system stakeholder groups and professional associations and examples of statements advancing removal of youth from adult jails and prisons and reducing the prosecution of youth in adult court.
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Youth in the Adult Criminal Justice System
Tags: Youth in the Adult System | Reports | Partner Publications
This policy brief showcases the latest data about youth in the adult criminal justice system, key arguments for reform and recommendations for change.
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Community Solutions for Youth in Trouble
Tags: Texas | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Reports
This report by NJJN member Texas Criminal Justice Coalition identifies juvenile justice programs that have proven successful despite real-world challenges and restraints.
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Cost-Saving & Public Safety-Driven Strategies for Texas’ Criminal and Juvenile Justice Systems, Texas Criminal Justice Coalition Educational Primer
Tags: Texas | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Fiscal Issues and Funding | General System Reform | Reports | Member Publications
The Texas Criminal Justice Coalition created an educational primer that outlines six criminal and juvenile justice areas in need of improvement, with realistic reform solutions in each area.
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Growing Up Locked Down: Youth in Solitary Confinement in Jails and Prisons Across the United States
Tags: Institutional Conditions | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
A report from the Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union on the dangers of the practice of solitary confinement; it includes interviews from individuals held in solitary confinement and prison and jail officials, as well as quantitative data and the advice of experts.
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Washington Judicial Colloquies Project: a Guide for Improving Communication and Understanding in Court.
Tags: Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Reports | Member Publications
This report provides guidance on how to consistently use developmentally-appropriate language in court that youth can understand.
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Trends in Juvenile Justice State Legislation 2001-2011
Tags: General System Reform | Reports
The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) presents a summary analysis of, and trends in, juvenile justice legislation over the past ten years.
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Sex Offender Registration and Notification in the United States: Current Case Law and Issues
Tags: Sex Offender Registries | Reports
The Department of Justice's Office of Sex-Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART) provides a summary of the current state of sex offender registration and notification systems across the country.
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The Unfair Criminalization of Gay and Transgender Youth: An Overview of the Experiences of LGBT Youth in the Juvenile Justice System
Tags: LGBTQ Youth | Reports
An issue brief by the Center for American Progress that details the circumstances that create a significant over-representation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in the juvenile justice system.
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A Multi-State Recidivism Study Using Static-99R and Static-2002 Risk Scores and Tier Guidelines From the Adam Walsh Act
Tags: Federal | Sex Offender Registries | Legislation | Reports | Research
This study seeks to examine important components of our nation’s sex offender tracking and monitoring systems, with a focus on risk assessment and sexual recidivism (measured by re-arrest). On average, the study finds that the recidivism rate was approximately 5% at five years and 10% at 10 years. AWA tier was unrelated to sexual recidivism. The findings indicate that the current AWA classification scheme is likely to result in a system that is less effective in protecting the public than the classification systems currently implemented in the states studied.
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Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 Final Rule
Tags: Federal | Institutional Conditions | Youth in the Adult System | Administrative/Regulatory Policies | Reports
The Department of Justice released the final rule to prevent, detect and respond to prison rape in accordance with the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003.
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Prisoner Reentry Services: What Worked for SVORI Evaluation Participants?
Tags: Federal | Aftercare/Reentry | Reports
A new report from RTI International presenting data collected from a multi-site evaluation of the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) shows that reentry programs could decrease recidivism.
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Blueprint for Kentucky's Children: Ending the Use of Incarceration for Status Offenses in Kentucky
Tags: Kentucky | Status Offenses | Reports | Member Publications
A new report from Kentucky Advocates for Youth shows that community alternatives are cheaper for the state and better for public safety.
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When the Cure Makes You Ill: Seven Core Principles to Change the Course of Youth Justice
Tags: New York | General System Reform | Reports
Gabrielle Prisco outlines seven principles to transform the juvenile justice system.
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IACHR Report on Admissibility: Juvenile Offenders Sentenced to Life Imprisonment Without Parole
Tags: International | Michigan | Life Without Parole and Parole Issues | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
A report on admissibility filed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in which the IACHR agrees to hear the petition filed on behalf of Michigan youth sentenced to life without parole.
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Arizona's Juvenile Court Counts: Statewide Statistical Information FY2011
Tags: Arizona | General System Reform | Reports
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U.S. Department of Justice Findings: Investigation of the Shelby County Juvenile Court
Tags: Mississippi | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division finds discriminatory treatment towards African-American children in Shelby County Juvenile Court, along with systematic due process violations.
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Historic Federal Funding Chart
Tags: Federal | Fiscal Issues and Funding | Reports
Chart: Federal juvenile justice appropriation from Fiscal Year 2002 to present.
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Less Serious Offenses Account for 90 Percent of the Growth in Juvenile Placements
Tags: Deinstitutionalization | Reports
In this fact sheet from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, data from the National Center for Juvenile Justice shows that lesser offenses, like drug violations and disorderly conduct, made up more than 90 percent of all the growth in out-of-home placements since 1985.
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American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry: Policy Statement Against the Solitary Confinement of Juvenile Offenders
Tags: Institutional Conditions | Reports
The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) takes a policy stance against the use of solitary confinement for youth in conflict with the law.
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Developing Statutes for Competence to Stand Trial in Juvenile Delinquency Proceedings: A Guide for Lawmakers
Tags: Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
A guide to determining whether a youth is competent to stand trial; this guide could be useful to legislators, judges, attorneys and mental health professionals in their understanding of competence, as it applies to teens.
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Youth Promise Act Fact Sheet
Tags: Federal | General System Reform | Prevention | Reports
A fact sheet on the Youth Promise (Prison Reduction through Opportunities, Mentoring, Intervention, Support, and Education) Act, legislation aimed at reducing delinquency through a coordinated prevention and intervention response.
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A Blueprint for Juvenile Justice Reform (Third Edition), Youth Transition Funders Group
Tags: General System Reform | Reports
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Department of Justice Investigation of the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility (Walnut Grove, Mississippi)
Tags: Mississippi | Reports
The Department of Justice findings in the investigation of the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility report that the Mississippi facility violated the constitutional and federal statutory rights of youth held at the facility.
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Transfer of Juveniles to Criminal Court is Not Correlated with Falling Youth Violence
Tags: Arizona | California | Florida | Ohio | Oregon | Washington | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Jeffrey Butts of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice points out that the increase in juvenile transfers to adult court is not correlated with the fall in youth violence seen over the past six years.
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Youth Experiences at Giddings State School Survey Findings
Tags: Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Family and Youth Involvement | Reports
Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, an NJJN member, conducted a study of 115 youth at the Giddings State School, a youth prison, and found that youth benefit from contact with family and mentors.
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Re-Directing Justice: The Consequences of Prosecuting Youth as Adults and the Need to Restore Judicial Oversight
Tags: Colorado | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
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John Jay Research and Evaluation: School Crime Has Declined Sharply Since the 1990s
Tags: Crime Data and Statistics | Reports
In this report, new data shows that school crime has been steadily falling since the 1990s.
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The Lives of Juvenile Lifers
Tags: Life Without Parole and Parole Issues | Reports
This report summarizes findings from the first-ever in-depth survey of the approximately 2,500 individuals in the United States serving sentences of life without parole for crimes they committed before age 18.
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Executive Summary-- Re-Directing Justice: The Consequences of Prosecuting Youth as Adults and the Need to Restore Judicial Review
Tags: Colorado | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
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Louisiana Families in Need of Services Commission Final Report, February 10, 2012
Tags: Louisiana | Status Offenses | Reports
A Senate Concurrent Resolution created the Families in Need of Services (FINS) Commission to study Louisiana’s FINS system, including how the state handles youth who commit status offenses. The legislature directed the commission to make recommendations regarding the key components of a model status offender program and to consult with the MacArthur Foundation’s Louisiana Models for Change initiative, among other stakeholders. The commission issued its final report in February 2012, which recommends limited use of detention for youth who commit status offenses; use of alternatives to detention and appropriate graduated sanctions; and gathering and analysis of data related to the FINS system in order to track outcomes.
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Arkansas Youth Justice: The Architecture of Reform
Tags: Arkansas | General System Reform | Reports
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Report on Female Offenders: Statistical Information on Girls and an Inventory of Services, Maryland Department of Juvenile Services, February 2012
Tags: Maryland | Girls | Institutional Conditions | Reports
Legislation passed in Maryland required the Department of Juvenile Services (DJS) to create a detailed plan to provide equitable resources for girls’ services starting in FY 2013. The DJS report, which was published in February 2012, includes statewide and regional information on prevention and diversion services, alternatives to detention, and educational and vocational training services.
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Tennessee Integrated Court Screening and Referral Project
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Collecting DNA from Juveniles
Tags: Confidentiality | Reports
Little is known about laws authorizing the collection of DNA samples from juveniles, so little is known on how to improve confidentiality and address other concerns. "Collecting DNA from Juveniles" attempts to fill the gap in knowledge regarding the highly sensitive area of DNA collection.
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Florida Tax Watch Center for Smart Justice Poll of Republican Voters
Tags: Florida | General System Reform | Reports
A January 2012 poll finds that Florida Republican Voters believe youth belong within the juvenile justice system.
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Screening and Assessment in Juvenile Justice Systems: Identifying Mental Health Needs and Risk of Reoffending
Tags: Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Risk Assessment and Screening | Reports
This brief highlights the benefits of adopting screening and assessment tools for both mental health problems and risk of reoffending among many youth populations.
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Improving Budget Analysis of State Criminal Justice Reforms: A Strategy for Better Outcomes and Saving Money
Tags: Fiscal Issues and Funding | Reports
Together, the ACLU and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities outline the social and economic benefits of turning to reform as opposed to incarceration. The report goes on to point out the impact fiscal analysis can have on showing legislators the value of reform over incarceration.
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Issue Brief: Nebraska's Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Centers
Tags: Nebraska | Deinstitutionalization | Reports
Voices for Children in Nebraska details the benefits of downsizing in Nebraska.
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Juvenile Detention Risk Assessment, Report to Joint Judiciary Interim Committee, Wyoming Department of Family Services, January 2012
Tags: Wyoming | Detention | Risk Assessment and Screening | Reports
Wyoming law requires law enforcement to screen youth taken into custody with a uniform juvenile detention risk assessment instrument designed by county sheriffs (H.B. 12, 2010). The Department of Family Services must collect and analyze data on the application of the risk assessment instrument, and report annually to the legislature. A report submitted to the legislature in January 2012 acknowledges that a large portion of such youth do not belong in a secure facility for reasons of public safety or flight risk. The report encourages communities to consider serving such youth through alternatives to detention.
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Juvenile Justice Realignment in 2012
Tags: California | Deinstitutionalization | Fiscal Issues and Funding | Reports
This report outlines five core recommendations that support Governor Brown's juvenile justice realignment proposal.
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Maine Juvenile Justice Data Book
Tags: Maine | Crime Data and Statistics | Reports
The 2012 Maine Juvenile Justice Data Book presents a portrait of youth involvement with the Maine juvenile justice system.
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Voices From the Field: Findings From the NGI Listening Sessions
Tags: Girls | Institutional Conditions | Reports | Partner Publications
“Voices From the Field: Findings From the NGI Listening Sessions” is a new report that provides insight into the experience of girls in the juvenile justice system, as well as those who care for them.
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Washington Joint Legislative Task Force on Sealing Juvenile Records, Report, January 2012
Tags: Washington | Collateral Consequences | Confidentiality | Reports
2011 law established a joint legislative task force on sealing juvenile records, whose final report includes various proposals around record sealing along with cost estimates.
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Connecticut Biennial Report on Disproportionate Minority Contact FY10-11, 12.31.11
Tags: Connecticut | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
Per H.B. 6634 in 2011, report includes a chart of the steps to be taken by various state agencies to address DMC in FY 2012 and FY 2013, focusing on data, policies and practices, shared initiatives, and training and technical assistance. The report also includes information on efforts made by state agencies to address DMC in the past.
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Delinquency Cases Waived to Criminal Court, 2008
Tags: Crime Data and Statistics | Reports
Based on the 2008 Juvenile Court Statistics Report, this OJJDP factsheet follows the path of judicial waivers which tend to be based largely on the type of offense comitted and the gender of the youth.
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OJJDP Factsheet, Delinquency Cases in Juvenile Courts, 2008
Tags: Crime Data and Statistics | Reports
Based on the 2008 Juvenile Court Statistics Report, this OJJDP factsheet points out the trends in the Juvenile Court caseload, considering gender, age, race and the flow in delinquency cases.
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OJJDP Factsheet: Juvenile Delinquency Probation, 2008
Tags: Aftercare/Reentry | Reports
Based on the 2008 Juvenile Court Statistics Report, this OJJDP facthseet highlights the recent surge in court-ordered probation for juveniles.
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Person Offense Cases in Juvenile Court, 2008
Tags: Crime Data and Statistics | Reports
Based on the 2008 Juvenile Court Statistics, this OJJDP factsheet discusses the increase in person offenses within the juvenile justice system, with simple assault and aggravated assault leading the numbers.
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Educate Every Child: Promoting Positive Solutions to School Discipline in Virginia
Tags: Virginia | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Victims | Reports
This report on the school-to-prison pipeline documents school suspensions/expulsions in Virginia, the negative impact of harsh school disciplinary policies on students and community safety, and offers evidence that an existing program within the schools dramatically reduces the need for expulsion an suspensions, by teaching and supporting positive behavior.
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Invisible Students: The Role of Alternative and Adult Education in the Connecticut School-to-Prison Pipeline
Tags: Connecticut | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Using Connecticut as a case study, this report sheds light on the alarming rate at which school systems are pushing children with behavioral and academic problems out of the school system and into the juvenile justice system. The report goes on to offer recommendations for juvenile justice reform. Presented by A Better Way Foundation and Connecticut Pushout Research and Organizing Project.
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An Executive Summary: Rethinking Juvenile Justice
Tags: General System Reform | Reports
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Innovation Brief: Raising the Standards of Juvenile Indigent Defense
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Innovation Brief: Using Diversion Fairly, Consistently, and Effectively
Tags: Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Reports
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Knowledge Brief: Are Minority Youths Treated Differently in Juvenile Probation?
Tags: Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
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Knowledge Brief: Can Risk Assessment Improve Juvenile Justice Practices?
Tags: Prevention | Reports
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Knowledge Brief: Does Mental Health Screening Fulfill Its Promise?
Tags: Risk Assessment and Screening | Reports
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Knowledge Brief: Harnessing the Capacity for Change
Tags: General System Reform | Reports
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Knowledge Brief: How Can We Know If Juvenile Justice Reforms Are Worth the Cost?
Tags: Fiscal Issues and Funding | Reports
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Knowledge Brief: How Well Is the Child Welfare System Serving Youths with Behavioral Problems?
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Knowledge Brief: Is There a Link between Child Welfare and Disproportionate Minority Contact in Juvenile Justice?
Tags: Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
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Knowledge Brief: Mental Health Services in Juvenile Justice: Who pays? What gets paid for? And who gets to decide?
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Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission Juvenile Reentry Improvement Report
Tags: Illinois | Aftercare/Reentry | Reports
After studying ways to increase the likelihood that young offenders will succeed after their release from state youth prisons, the Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission issued a report that said the state's juvenile reentry system is broken but not beyond repair.
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Notorious to Notable: The Crucial Role of the Philanthropic Community in Transforming the Juvenile Justice System in Washington, D.C.
Tags: District of Columbia | General System Reform | Reports | Partner Publications
The report documents how multiple foundations worked together and with advocates to transform the D.C. juvenile justice system from one of the worst in the nation to a national model. Contains lessons learned; key strategies employed by funders included engaging other foundations, advocacy, strategic investments in programs, capacity building, and technical assistance.
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American Psychiatric Association Position Statement on Review of Sentences for Juveniles Serving Lengthy Sentences
Tags: Life Without Parole and Parole Issues | Reports
The American Psychiatric Association takes a strong stance against lengthy sentences for youth and urges a periodic review by mental health professionals trained to evaluate children.
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Unchain the Children: Five Years Later in Florida
Tags: Florida | Brain and Adolescent Development | General System Reform | Shackling | Reports
Summary of successful advocacy efforts to end the indiscriminate shackling of children in juvenile court in Florida; a look back five years later.
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Criteria for the Design and Evaluation of Juvenile Justice Reform Programmes
Tags: International | General System Reform | Reports
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime's (UNODC) Interagency Panel on Juvenile Justice establishes criteria for the design and evaluation of juvenile juststice programs and the identification of good practices based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international norms and standards.
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Education Under Arrest: The Case Against Police in Schools
Tags: School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
The Justice Policy Institute (JPI) draws attention to the troubling effects that the School Resource Officer is having on America's schools and the juvenile justice system, forcing the questions: Is a school the place for a police presence? And, if so, at what cost?
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Safety, Fairness, Stability: Repositioning Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare to Engage Families and Communities
Tags: Crossover and Dual Jurisdiction Youth | Family and Youth Involvement | Reports
In this paper, produced by Georgetown University's Center for Juvenile Justice Reform, readers have the opportunity to learn the importance of family engagement to the juvenile's growth and behavior patterns and considers what changes may occur within the juvenile justice system if participants placed a greater value on the family structure.
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Non-Judicial Drivers into the Juvenile Justice System for Youth of Color
Tags: California | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
An analysis by the W. Haywood Burns Institute on youth in the juvenile justice system in California indicates that lack of access to medical care and behavioral health care are key drivers for why low-risk youth of color land in the juvenile justice system in such high numbers.
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A Snapshot of the Juvenile Sex Offender Registration and Notification Laws
Tags: Sex Offender Registries | Reports
A survey on the current state of law regarding the inclusion of children in the sex offender registration and notification system. The Snapshot is meant to provide a suitable reference point in a constantly changing juvenile justice system.
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Executive Report: Purposes Behind the Snapshot of Juvenile Sex Offender Registration and Notification Laws
Tags: Sex Offender Registries | Reports
The Executive Report introduces a national survey of state laws adopted to comply with the Snapshot of Juvenile Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).
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Juvenile Court Statistics (NCCJ/OJJDP)
Tags: Crime Data and Statistics | Reports
Prepared by the National Center for Juvenile Justice using the National Juvenile Court Data Archive, this report presents 1.6 million delinquency cases and trends in delinquency cases processed by juvenile courts between 1985 and 2008.
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Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission Youth Reentry Improvement Report, November 2011
Tags: Illinois | Aftercare/Reentry | Reports
The Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission issued a report in November 2011 (pursuant to S.B. 1725 from 2009) based on observations of 237 parole board hearings and review of the records of 386 youth whose parole was revoked between December 1, 2009 and May 31, 2010. The report notes several problems with the current system, and recommends that: members of the parole board receive training in juvenile-specific topics; specific criteria be used to determine whether youth should be released, and that youth receive their decisions in writing; the parole board establish criteria that ensure youth are reviewed for release more often than once a year, and that youth can request such a hearing; and youth on parole be supervised by "aftercare specialists" trained to help them obtain schooling, treatment, and employment.
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Legislative Task Force to Study School Discipline, 2011 Report to Legislative Council, November 2011
Tags: Colorado | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
In November 2011, the Juvenile Justice Task Force of the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice submitted a report to the Legislative Council discussing zero tolerance policies, alternative disciplinary measures, victims' rights, school resource officers, and data sharing. The report recommends that the legislature pass a law limiting mandatory expulsion, discouraging referrals to law enforcement, implementing graduated sanctions, and increasing training for school resource officers.
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Cost-Benefit Analysis for Juvenile Justice Programs
Tags: Federal | Fiscal Issues and Funding | Reports
A guide to performing cost-benefit analyses on juvenile justice programming, from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (2002).
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Trying Juveniles as Adults: An Analysis of State Transfer Laws and Reporting
Tags: Federal | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
In the 1980s and 1990s, legislatures in nearly every state expanded transfer laws that allowed or required the prosecution of juveniles in adult criminal courts. This bulletin, which is part of the Juvenile Offenders and Victims National Report Series, provides the latest overview of state transfer laws and practices and examines available state-level data on juveniles adjudicated in the criminal justice system.
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National Juvenile Defender Center: Juvenile Defender Guide (2011)
Tags: Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Reports
Each year, the National Juvenile Defender Center with important information relevant to juvenile defense. Among other topics, the 2011 guide includes updates in the areas of Child and Adolescent Development, Evidence and Fact-finding and Juvenile Indigent Defense.
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No Place for Kids: The Case for Reducing Juvenile Incarceration
Tags: Deinstitutionalization | Detention | Fiscal Issues and Funding | General System Reform | Reports
The Annie E. Casey Foundation's new report, *No Place for Kids: The Case for Reducing Juvenile Incarceration,* assembles a vast array of evidence to demonstrate that incarcerating kids doesn't work; it also shows that many states have substantially reduced their juvenile correctional facility populations with no increase in juvenile crime or violence. Includes recommendations for further reform.
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The State of Juvenile Justice: What Do We Really Know
Tags: Wisconsin | General System Reform | Reports
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How to Catch Lightning in a Bottle: The Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance's First 10 Years, Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance
Tags: Connecticut | General System Reform | Reports | Member Publications
Report chronicling the incredible achievements of the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance's first ten years, including their victorious Raise the Age campaign.
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A Failing System Reminiscent of Tallulah, Families and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children
Tags: Louisiana | Family and Youth Involvement | Institutional Conditions | Reports | Member Publications
Report charging that the Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice has not effectively implemented the Juvenile Justice Reform Act (Act 1225), and that its attempt to adopt the "Missouri Model" has not worked because it has done so in piecemeal fashion, rather than embracing model wholesale. The report outlines key areas in which the state of Louisiana has failed to follow through on its plan to implement the Missouri Model: "lack of real family involvement; lack of high caliber; staff involvement; lack of productive youth interaction, placement, and services; lack of therapeutic, safe and consistent settings; and lack of transparency." The report includes recommendations for reform.
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Reclaiming Futures in Kentucky: Applying a Proven Framework for an Effective Community and Judicial Response to Status Offenses and Other Complex Needs of Youth in Rural and Urban Settings, Kentucky Youth Advocates
Tags: Kentucky | Status Offenses | Reports | Member Publications
Report modifying the Reclaiming Futures framework to identify the key decision points for youth charged with a status offense or at risk of such a charge. The framework consists of six stages that direct how the juvenile justice system, other youth serving agencies and organizations, and the community can work together to reduce the secure detention of youth charged with status offenses and work toward positive outcomes for these youth and their families.
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Resolution, Reinvestment, and Realignment: Three Strategies for Changing Juvenile Justice, Jeffrey A. Butts and Douglas N. Evans, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Tags: Fiscal Issues and Funding | Reports
Report reviewing three reform strategies to reduce the demand for expensive state confinement and to supervise as many youth as possible in their own communities. The strategies generally rely on three sources of influence: resolution (direct managerial influence over system behavior); reinvestment (financial incentives to change system behavior); and realignment (organizational and structural modifications to alter system behavior). The report reviews the history and development of these strategies and analyzes their impact on policy, practice, and public safety. The report suggests that realignment may be the best choice for sustaining reform over the long term. Reform strategies in juvenile justice are sustainable when they cannot be easily reversed by future policymakers facing different budgetary conditions and changing political environments.
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Michigan Youth Reentry Model: Building a Reentry Framework for Youth, Families and Communities, Michigan Council on Crime and Delinquency, September 2011
Tags: Michigan | Aftercare/Reentry | Reports
The Michigan Youth Reentry Initiative provides a multi-dimensional framework designed to stop the cycle of crime among Michigan's youngest offenders and prepare them for successful transitions into adulthood. The model is based on the successful Michigan Prisoner Reentry Initiative, which serves adults. The three-phase, seven-point youth model describes how stakeholders can collaborate to deliver an evidence-based risk-reduction framework in courts, residential facilities, and communities.
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Telling It Like It Is: Youth Speak Out on the School to Prison Pipeline, Advancement Project and Power U Center for Social Change
Tags: School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Comic-book style booklet designed in a participatory process with young people in an effort to capture their perspective on harsh school disciplinary practices. The booklet features a dialogue between youth around zero tolerance policies, suspensions, police in schools, and standardized testing.
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Adam Walsh Act Update: State Resistance to Comply and Federal Leniency in Compliance Review
Tags: Federal | Sex Offender Registries | Reports | NJJN Publications
Update noting that states are resistant to comply with the Adam Walsh Act, due to the high expense of compliance, the negative public safety and rehabilitation effects of placing youth on registries, and confidence in their own current state laws, many of which have been carefully crafted to assess for actual risk, rather than acting as more blunt offense-based tools. Additionally, the federal SMART (Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking) office modified the law's guidelines, allowing jurisdictions to exempt youthful offenders from public registries, and place them on private, law enforcement-only registries. In doing so, the SMART office has allowed for a more lenient definition of "substantial implementation" than it indicated it would in the past.
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System Overload: The Costs of Under-Resourcing Public Defense, Justice Policy Institute
Tags: Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Reports
System Overload: The Costs of Under-Resourcing Public Defense documents the excessive caseloads public defenders carry in most jurisdictions across the country. Because public defense is not adequately funded, the report argues, defense lawyers do not have enough time to conduct thorough investigations, or meet with and provide quality representation for their clients. This results in adverse outcomes for their clients and contributes to disproportionate representation of people of color and low-income individuals behind bars.
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Misguided Measures: The Outcomes and Impacts of Measure 11 on Oregon's Youth, Campaign for Youth Justice and Partnership for Safety and Justice
Tags: Oregon | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
In 1994, Oregon voters passed Measure 11, which imposed long mandatory minimum sentences for certain crimes and required that youth charged with those crimes be automatically prosecuted as adults. Misguided Measures: The Outcomes and Impacts of Measure 11 on Oregon's Youth, co-released by the Campaign for Youth Justice and NJJN member Partnership for Safety and Justice, reviews the way Measure 11 has affected juvenile crime in the 15 years since it was enacted.
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Resolution in Support of Reauthorizing and Strengthening the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges
Tags: Federal | General System Reform | Reports
Resolution asserting and reaffirming NCJFCJ's support for the reauthorization, continuation, and strengthening of the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), and urging Congress to act to reauthorize and continue the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act and the independence and authority of OJJDP.
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Addressing the Collateral Consequences of Convictions for Young Offenders, Ashley Nellis, The Champion, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
Tags: Collateral Consequences | Reports
Article recommending the following reforms to reduce the negative consequences of collateral sanctions for juveniles: reverse counterproductive school-based policies such as “zero tolerance” that disengage youth from school; ensure expungement of juvenile records; prohibit inclusion of juvenile records on national and state offender registries; restrict non-relevant conviction questions from employment applications; and revise and expand reentry services and supports for youth.
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Bringing Youth Home: A National Movement to Increase Public Safety, Rehabilitate Youth and Save Money, National Juvenile Justice Network
Tags: Alabama | California | District of Columbia | Florida | Kansas | New York | Ohio | Texas | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Crime Data and Statistics | Deinstitutionalization | Fiscal Issues and Funding | Reports | NJJN Publications
Report highlighting positive news stemming from and of interest to budget conscious and public safety-minded states. The publication includes examples of states that reduced their juvenile facility populations and are now not only reaping the rewards of newfound funds that can be directed into more effective community-based services for youth, but are also seeing a better return on their investment in terms of juvenile rehabilitation and public safety.
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End Class C Misdemeanor Truancy Prosecutions for Children Under 12, Texas Criminal Justice Coalition Fact Sheet on S.B. 1489, 2011
Tags: Texas | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Schools in Texas are prohibited from ticketing students ages 10-11 and 18-21 for failing to attend school. The law also requires schools to adopt truancy prevention measures in order to reduce truancy referrals to court. Lastly, courts are now required to expunge “failure to attend” convictions if the youth successfully complies with the court’s conditions and obtains a high school diploma or high school equivalency certificate by age 21. An additional 2011 Texas law eliminated the practice of issuing tickets to youth in grades six and below for violation of the school discipline code.
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Pass HB 2904: HB 2904 Creates a 'Second Look' for Youth Treated as Adults in Our Criminal Justice System, Partnership for Safety and Justice
Tags: Oregon | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Fact sheet on legislation that would allow youth who have served half of their sentence the opportunity to go back before a judge. Second Look recognizes that youth can and do change and transform themselves and therefore the system of justice should not be static and inflexible.
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Pass SB 1014: SB 1014 Creates an Automatic Hearing Before Treating Youth as Adults in Our Criminal Justice System, Partnership for Safety and Justice
Tags: Oregon | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Fact sheet on legislation that would allow youth charged with a Measure 11 crime to receive a hearing so that a judge can determine whether adult court is the best approach for accountability, public safety, and the rehabilitation of the juvenile or whether being sent to juvenile court would deliver the best results.
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Bed Space Forecast for Baltimore Youth Detention Facility - NCCD
Tags: Maryland | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
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Addressing the Needs of Multi-System Youth Strengthening the Connection Between Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice
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DOJ Investigation of the New Orleans Police Department
Tags: Louisiana | LGBTQ Youth | Reports
The U.S. Department of Justice's 2011 investigation of the New Orleans Police Department finds "reasonable cause to believe that NOPD engages in patterns of misconduct that violate the Constitution and federal law," including a culture of discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth.
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Models for Change - Probation Review Guidebook
Tags: Aftercare/Reentry | Reports
This Models for Change Guidebook presents a framework for reviewing the policies and procedures of a probation department to ensure it is working efficiently and effectively. Based on the probation review work undertaken in Jefferson Parish, LA as part of the work in the four core states associated with Models for Change: Systems Reform in Juvenile Justice and in Los Angeles County, CA under a Child Welfare League of America contract with the Los Angeles County Auditor-Controller's Office.
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Models for Change Juvenile Diversion Guidebook
Tags: Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Reports
To guide local policymakers, Models for Change has compiled a detailed guidebook to help jurisdictions plan, implement, or improve a juvenile diversion program.
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Statement of Purpose and Fiscal Note, Idaho S.B. 1003, Youth Tried as Adults May Be Held in Juvenile Detention Facilities
Tags: Idaho | Detention | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Idaho law now provides that youth being treated as adult offenders may be housed with the general population in a juvenile detention center upon court order. The court may make the order on its own, or pursuant to a petition by one of the parties in the case. Prior law prohibited youth who were waived to adult court from being housed in a juvenile detention facility without sight and sound separation from the other youth. Youth waived to adult court may now be housed with the general juvenile population if it is determined by the detention administration that the safety and security of the other youth would not be at risk.
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Opportunities for Action in the 112th Congress, National Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Coalition
A summary of the National Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Coalition's national priorities for the 112th Congress.
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Detention Facility Self-Assessment Revised Guidelines, Juvenile Detention Alteratives Initiative
Tags: Detention | Institutional Conditions | Reports
Guidelines revising/updating 2006 report, "An Overview of the JDAI Facility Site Assessment Process."
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Social Impact Bonds: a promising new financing model to accelerate social innovation and improve government performance
Tags: Fiscal Issues and Funding | General System Reform | Reports
An introduction to social impact bonds, which use private investment to fund and test promising and proven services -- including in the juvenile justice system -- provided by the government for the public good. Includes a review of key challenges and necessary criteria for success.
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Cost-Benefit Analysis of Raising the Age of Juvenile Jurisdiction in North Carolina, Vera Institute of Justice, January 10, 2011
Tags: North Carolina | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
The Vera Institute of Justice issued a cost-benefit analysis of raising the age in North Carolina. The analysis found that expanding juvenile jurisdiction to include misdemeanor and nonviolent felony offenses for 16- and 17-year-olds would annually yield $52.3 million in net benefits.
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A Blueprint for Juvenile Justice Reform, Youth Transition Funders Group
Tags: General System Reform | Reports
Paper setting forth nine tenets of national juvenile justice reform. These tenets include: (1) reducing institutionalization, (2) reducing racial disparity, (3) ensuring access to quality counsel, (4) creating a range of community-based programs, (5) recognizing and serving youth with specialized needs, (6) creating smaller rehabilitative institutions, (7) improving aftercare and reentry, (8) maximizing youth, family, and community participation, and (9) keeping youth out of adult prisons.
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Adolescent Legal Competence in Court, MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice
Tags: Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Reports
Brief detailing findings from the first comprehensive assessment of juvenile capacities to participate in criminal proceedings using measures of both trial-related abilities and developmental maturity.
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Building Lasting Peace in Bell Gardens: The "War on Gangs" Is a War on Youth and Communities!, Youth Justice Coalition
Tags: California | Gangs | Reports
Flyer discussing how the "war on gangs" should be reformed in Los Angeles. Namely, efforts should focus on: (1) human rights and equal justice for all; (2) jobs not jail; (3) humane conditions in lock-up; (4) just immigration policy; and (5) supporting the ongoing gang truces.
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Campaign Research: Gang Injunctions and Gang Database, Youth Justice Coalition
Tags: California | Gangs | Reports
Short brief describing law enforcement definitions and the goals of the California's anti-gang laws.
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DYS and Arkansas’ Juvenile Justice System, Truth of Youth Toolkit
General description of Arkansas DYS and juvenile justice system processing.
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Harms of Detention, Truth of Youth Toolkit
Tags: Arkansas | Deinstitutionalization | Detention | Reports
Fact sheet from Arkansas on the negative effects of detention of youth.
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Los Angeles Department of Homeland Security, 1980-2005: Coordinating Local, State and Federal Laws and Law Enforcement Tactics to Intensify the War on Gangs Youth Justice Coalition
Tags: California | Gangs | Reports
Chart describing the state and local gang laws, law enforcement tactics with respect to these laws and Youth Justice Coalition's stance on these laws.
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Mississippi Juvenile Justice Reform Briefing Book, Mississippi Coalition for the Prevention of Schoolhouse to Jailhouse
Tags: Mississippi | General System Reform | Reports
Briefing book summarizing the need for reform in Mississippi's juvenile justice system. Brief makes four policy recommendations: (1) ending reliance on paramilitary training schools, (2) investing in community-based sanctions, (3) creating the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Commission and (4) protecting the rights of court-involved youth.
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Programs that Work for Everyone, Truth of Youth Toolkit
Tags: Arkansas | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Reports
Fact sheet from Arkansas on benefits of community-based programs.
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Snapshot of Youth Involved in the Juvenile Justice System, Truth of Youth Toolkit
Tags: Arkansas | Crime Data and Statistics | Reports
Fact sheet including national and Arkansas-specific data on youth in the justice system.
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Stopping the Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Pipeline by Enforcing Federal Special Education Law, Jim Comstock-Galagan, Southern Disability Law Center and Rhonda Brownstein, Southern Poverty Law Center
Tags: Louisiana | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Article discussing a promising strategy to address the schoolhouse to jailhouse pipeline, which has led to positive results in Louisiana.
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Talking Points: Trying Kids as Adults, Campaign for Youth Justice
Tags: Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Document including sample talking points for juvenile justice advocates who are fighting to restrict the circumstances under which children can be prosecuted as adults. The talking points, prepared by the Campaign for Youth Justice in collaboration with NJJN, incorporate research conducted by the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice.
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The Changing Borders of Juvenile Justice, MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice
Tags: Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Summary of book examining transfer legislation and practices as a window into the theory and principles underlying the juvenile justice system. It demonstrates the need for continuity and coherence between the juvenile and criminal courts and policies. And it shows how important it is for youth advocates to think about what happens after transfer, as young offenders make their way in the adult criminal justice system.
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Why Does Arkansas' Juvenile Justice System Need Reform?, Truth of Youth Toolkit
Tags: Arkansas | General System Reform | Reports
Fact sheet detailing the reasons reform is needed in Arkansas, including high expenses, negative impacts on public safety, and poor outcomes for youth.
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Zero Tolerance in Philadelphia: Denying Educational Opportunities and Creating a Pathway to Prison, Youth United for Change and the Advancement Project
Tags: Pennsylvania | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Report criticizing zero tolerance in Philadelphia schools as a failed policy that makes city schools less safe, criminalizes or pushes out of school tens of thousands of students every year, and creates a school-to-prison pipeline. Philadelphia schools are punishing the same behavior far more harshly than they did just a few years ago, and also appear to be criminalizing its students far more often than other Pennsylvania school districts for the same behaviors.
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Re-entry Project for Offenders with Special Needs: Annual Report Fiscal Year 2011, Michigan Prisoner ReEntry Initiative
Tags: Michigan | Aftercare/Reentry | Reports
The Michigan Youth Reentry Initiative provides a multi-dimensional framework designed to stop the cycle of crime among Michigan's youngest offenders and prepare them for successful transitions into adulthood. The model is based on the successful Michigan Prisoner Reentry Initiative, which serves adults. The three-phase, seven-point youth model describes how stakeholders can collaborate to deliver an evidence-based risk-reduction framework in courts, residential facilities, and communities.
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Improving Public Safety by Keeping Youth Out of the Adult Criminal Justice System
Tags: Arizona | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Thousands of Arizona children have been prosecuted in the adult system in the name of public safety, however research shows that treating youth as adults increases recidivism and criminal behavior. In this report, the Children's Action Alliance offers ten recommendations to keep Arizona's youth and communities safer.
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Reducing the Use of Incarceration for Status Offenders in Kentucky, Kentucky Youth Advocates
Tags: Kentucky | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Status Offenses | Reports | Member Publications
Updated issue brief including statistics on youth charged with status offenses in Kentucky and criticizing the use of incarceration for youth who commit status offenses because of its ineffectiveness and expense. The brief also includes examples of effective approaches being used in Kentucky.
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The Missouri Model: Reinventing the Process of Rehabilitating Youthful Offenders, Richard A. Mendel, Annie E. Casey Foundation
Tags: Missouri | Deinstitutionalization | General System Reform | Reports
Report profiling the key tenets and practices of the "Missouri Model," specifically: (1) small and non-prisonlike facilities, close to home; (2) individual care within a group treatment model; (3) safety through relationships and supervision, not correctional coercion; (4) building skills for success; (5) families as partners; and (6) focus on aftercare.
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Suspended Education: Urban Middle Schools in Crisis
Tags: School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
After reviewing over 30 years of data from nearly 10,000 middle schools nationwide, this report concludes that suspension is over-used as a disciplinary tool, and that youth of color -- black males especially -- are suspended far out of proportion to their numbers.
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Youth Justice Coalition Statement on Extreme Sentencing
Tags: California | Life Without Parole and Parole Issues | Reports
Statement calling for an end to extreme sentences in California that send youth to prison until they die and rob them of any chance of rehabilitation.
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When Your Attorney Is Your Enemy: Preliminary Thoughts on Ensuring Effective Representation for Queer Youth, Sarah Valentine, Columbia Journal of Gender and Law, Vol. 19, No.3
Tags: Juvenile Defense and Court Process | LGBTQ Youth | Reports
Article discussing the bias and prejudice in the judicial and child welfare systems that affect queer youth; the role continuum that allows attorneys representing children to provide less than traditional advocacy; the effect an attorney can have on a queer child; and four mechanisms by which a queer child harmed by an attorney who provides less than traditional advocacy can seek redress.
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Substantive and Tactical Strategies from "The Real Costs and Benefits of Change", National Juvenile Justice Network
Tags: Fiscal Issues and Funding | Reports | NJJN Publications
Summary of the substantive and tactical strategies highlighted in NJJN's policy paper, "The Real Costs and Benefits of Change: Finding Opportunities for Reform During Difficult Fiscal Times."
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Healing Invisible Wounds: Why Investing in Trauma-Informed Care for Children Makes Sense, Justice Policy Institute
Tags: Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Physical Health | Prevention | Reports
Policy brief discussing the importance of research into the factors contributing to children becoming involved in the criminal justice system in order to help end the trend.
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Locked Up and Out: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth in Louisiana's Juvenile Justice System, Wesley Ware, Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana
Tags: Louisiana | LGBTQ Youth | Reports
Report addressing how LGBT youth are funneled into the deep end of the juvenile justice system, the particular challenges that they face once there, and the lack of resources available specific to their needs. Report also addresses policy, administrative, and programming solutions that Louisiana can employ in order to ensure a safe environment for all youth in the state's care, and in particular those that are the most vulnerable. Finally, report proposes that advocates for racial justice, juvenile justice, and LGBT rights come together more effectively and collaboratively in the future, to ensure justice and equitable treatment for all of Louisiana's youth.
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Youth Reentry/Aftercare
Tags: Aftercare/Reentry | Reports
Offers recommendations on how to better approach reentry and aftercare for youth placed out of the home.
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Educating Juveniles in Adult Jails: A Program Guide, Washington, July 2010
Tags: Washington | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Law requires that all youth held in adult jails in Washington be provided with educational programming. The legislation mandates that the educational programs adhere to educational standards for the district, and the programs must offer credits that are transferable to community schools. The state developed regulations and a program guide written by educational professionals in order to implement the statute.
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Report on the Behavioral Health Program for Youth Committed to Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice
Tags: Illinois | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Risk Assessment and Screening | Reports
In response to a request for technical assistance from the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), the Illinois Models for Change initiative assembled a team of mental health and corrections experts to evaluate the department’s behavioral health policies, practices and programming.
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Youth Reentry/Aftercare, National Juvenile Justice Network Policy Platform
Tags: Aftercare/Reentry | Reports | NJJN Publications
In this policy platform, the National Juvenile Justice Network offers recommendations on how to better approach reentry and aftercare for youth placed out of the home.
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An Advocate's Guide to Meaningful Family Partnerships: Tips from the Field, NJJN
Tags: California | Louisiana | Family and Youth Involvement | Reports | NJJN Publications
Offers strategies for forming and sustaining meaningful partnerships with family members. Case examples from California and Louisiana.
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The Real Costs and Benefits of Change: Finding Opportunities for Reform During Difficult Fiscal Times, National Juvenile Justice Network
Tags: Fiscal Issues and Funding | Reports | NJJN Publications
Policy paper offering guidance for juvenile justice advocates whose states are facing budget shortfalls. The paper details two core recommendations to encourage wise and effective juvenile justice spending: realigning/reducing spending without sacrificing effective programs, and using the current budget crisis as a means to leverage deinstitutionalization.
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A Call to Stop Child Prosecutions in Wyoming Adult Courts, Pat Arthur and Mikaela Rabinowitz, National Center for Youth Law and Jennifer Horvath, American Civil Liberties Union - Wyoming Chapter
Tags: Wyoming | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Report condemning Wyoming for commonly prosecuting children in adult courts, often for minor infractions such as smoking at school or stealing a pack of gum.
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The Maine Juvenile Justice Task Force: An Integrated Approach to Transforming Maine's Juvenile Justice System
Tags: Maine | Crime Data and Statistics | General System Reform | Reports
The Task Force Report presents the services and treatment provided to juveniles currently in Maine, the national trends and model programs that signify improvement in those areas, and suggestions for Maine to ameliorate its own situation in locally-controlled and cost-effective ways.
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Indiana Department of Corrections Announces Closure of Northeast Juvenile Correctional Facility, Press Release, May 29, 2010
Tags: Indiana | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Reports
The Indiana Department of Correction (IDOC) shut down the Northeast Indiana Juvenile Correctional Facility on May 29, 2010 due to dramatic reductions in commitments to the facility—from a peak of over 100 youth in 2008/2009 to approximately 45 youth in May 2010. IDOC has worked closely with the juvenile courts to establish appropriate community-based diversion programs aimed at reducing commitments to secure confinement. Through these efforts, the overall juvenile population in IDOC facilities has been reduced from over 1,400 youth in July 2004 to approximately 750 youth in May 2010. IDOC estimates that it will realize approximately $4 million in annual savings from the closure of the Northeast Indiana Juvenile Correctional Facility.
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Santa Clara County, California Probation Report on Detention of Young Children, May 11, 2010
Tags: California | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Detention | Reports
On May 11, 2010, the Board of Supervisors in Santa Clara County, California unanimously approved a new policy discouraging the detention of children under the age of 13. The Board hopes that the policy will encourage judges to send children to alternative settings, such as home-based supervision, intensive foster care, and community-based treatment centers.
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Treatment, Not Punishment: Untangling the Mental Health-Juvenile Justice Knot, Josette Saxton, Texans Care for Children
Tags: Texas | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
Report discussing how too little focus on the promotion of children's social and emotional health, inappropriate or missed identification of mental health issues, and lack of access to appropriate treatment and supports has led to the Texas juvenile justice system being the de facto provider of mental health services. Report also identifies as an alternative the early recognition and treatment of mental health disorders in a community setting.
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Promising Practices from the Healthy Returns Initiative: Building Connections to Health, Mental Health, and Family Support Services in Juvenile Justice, The California Endowment
Tags: California | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
Report highlighting the results of a four year initiative by the Endowment to strengthen the capacity of county juvenile justice systems to provide mental health and other needed services for youth while in custody and in the community.
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The Officer Will See You Now: Reversing the Trend Toward the Juvenile Justice System as Default Mental Health Provider for Texas Kids, Texans Care for Children
Tags: Texas | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
Report discussing how in Texas, the juvenile justice system acts as a de facto provider of mental health services. Report discusses how juvenile justice systems are not made for treating mental illness, and putting mentally ill youth into these systems does not work at preventing later delinquency and offers alternatives for mentally ill youth
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Addressing the Unmet Educational Needs of Children and Youth in the Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare Systems, Peter Leone and Lois Weinberg, Georgetown Public Policy Institute's Center for Juvenile Justice Reform
Tags: Crossover and Dual Jurisdiction Youth | Correctional Education | Reports
Report reviewing educational barriers encountered by youth involved in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems.
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Collateral Consequences Checklist
Tags: Pennsylvania | Collateral Consequences | Reports
The Pennsylvania Juvenile Defenders Association, in collaboration with Models for Change, published a Collateral Consequences Checklist. The Checklist is intended to provide attorneys, judges, and others who work with youth a summary of the short- and long-term consequences of juvenile adjudications of delinquency.
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Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice Report, May 2010
Tags: Pennsylvania | General System Reform | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Reports
Final report from the Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice, which was charged with investigating the circumstances that led to the corruption in Luzerne County, restoring public confidence in the administration of justice, and preventing the occurrence of similar events.
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Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Juvenile Justice Systems, National Juvenile Justice Network Policy Platform
Tags: Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports | NJJN Publications
In this policy platform, the National Juvenile Justice Network offers recommendations on how to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system.
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Solutions Storytelling: Messaging to Mobilize Support for Children's Issues, Topos Partnership for Douglas Gould & Co. and Child Advocacy 360 Foundation
Tags: Public Opinion and Messaging | Reports
Summary of research dedicated to (1) interviewing key child advocacy experts and foundation allies and creating an advisory panel for children's issues; (2) reviewing existing research and gathering input from experts about currently used messages and strategies; (3) undertaking qualitative and quantitative research to test alternative messages, frames and stories; (4) creating communications strategies and advising advocates about effective messages; and (5) recruiting, training, and deploying a wide range of spokespeople with the knowledge of children's issues and skills to present the message effectively.
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The Convention on the Rights of the Child: The National Juvenile Justice Network Responds to Opposition
Tags: International | International and Human Rights | Reports | NJJN Publications
Brief outlining the arguments against ratification of the CRC and refuting their validity.
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Performance Guidelines for Quality and Effective Juvenile Delinquency Representation
Tags: Pennsylvania | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Reports
In consultation with juvenile defenders and national experts, the Juvenile Defenders Association of Pennsylvania developed these guidelines for quality and effective representation of youth in juvenile proceedings.
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Submission to the United Nations Human Rights Council, Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, Drug Policy Alliance, Justice Now, and The Sentencing Project
Tags: International | International and Human Rights | Reports
Paper discussing the changes to the American juvenile justice system that need to be undertaken in order for the U.S. to be in compliance with U.N. human rights standards. These changes include: (1) ending racially disparate sentencing, juvenile life without parole sentencing, and the collateral consequences of felony convictions; (2) ending violations of incarcerated women's reproductive rights, ending inhumane treatment of mentally ill prisoners, and limiting confinement in supermax facilities; and (3) eliminating the barriers imposed by the Prison Litigation Reform Act.
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Understanding the BJS Study of Sexual Victimization in Juvenile Facilities, Center for Children's Law and Policy
Tags: Institutional Conditions | Reports
Outlines the key findings and methodology of the January 2010 federal Bureau of Justice Statistics special report entitled, “Sexual Victimization in Juvenile Facilities Reported by Youth, 2008-09.”
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Independent Monitoring Systems for Juvenile Facilities, Center for Children's Law and Policy
Tags: Privatization | Reports
Fact sheet outlining best practices common to effective independent monitoring systems for juvenile facilities and providing examples of systems currently serving youth in facilities.
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Santa Clara County, California Juvenile Justice Commission Report on Detention of Young Children, April 8, 2010
Tags: California | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Detention | Reports
On May 11, 2010, the Board of Supervisors in Santa Clara County, California unanimously approved a new policy discouraging the detention of children under the age of 13. The Board hopes that the policy will encourage judges to send children to alternative settings, such as home-based supervision, intensive foster care, and community-based treatment centers.
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Getting Beyond Failure: Promising Approaches to Reducing DMC, Ashley Nellis and Brad Richardson, Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice
Tags: Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
Article presenting promising approaches that have resulted from investments by private foundations (Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative and the W. Haywood Burns Institute) and suggesting steps that should be taken from here (coordinating different bodies to reduce DMC, identifying key decision points, creating systems to collect data, developing and implementing plans to address disparities, and publicly reporting findings and progress).
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Never too Late: Public Optimism About Juvenile Rehabilitation, Alex R. Piquero et al., Punishment and Society
Tags: Public Opinion and Messaging | Reports | Research
Study found a broad public consensus in support of juvenile rehabilitation and an abiding optimism that youthful offenders could be reformed deep into their teenage years, if not beyond.
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Positive Youth Justice: Framing Justice Interventions Using the Concepts of Positive Youth Development, Jeffrey A. Butts, Gordon Bazemore and Aundra Saa Meroe, Coalition for Juvenile Justice
Tags: Positive Youth Development and Strengths-Based Programming | Reports
Report providing a framework for redesigning juvenile justice systems and programs in a way that could dramatically improve outcomes for youth.
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Youth’s Needs and Services: Findings from the Survey of Youth in Residential Placement, Andrea J. Sedlak and Karla S. McPherson, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Tags: Institutional Conditions | Reports
Key findings from the first Survey of Youth in Residential Placement (SYRP) about the needs and service experiences of over 7,000 youth in custody.
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How to End the Criminalization of Students of Color: Lessons from Louisiana, Annie Balck and Gina Womack, National Juvenile Justice Network, March 2010; Originally published in the Race Equity E-Newsletter
Tags: Louisiana | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports | NJJN Publications
Article describing the nature of the school to prison pipeline and how reform in Louisiana should serve as a lesson for school districts around the country.
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Cost-benefit Analysis of Reclaiming Futures
Tags: Fiscal Issues and Funding | Reports
A 2010 report on the costs and benefits of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Reclaiming Futures national juvenile justice initiative.
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A Just Alternative to Sentencing Youth to Life in Prison Without the Possibility of Parole, Jody Kent and Beth Colgan, American Constitution Society
Tags: Life Without Parole and Parole Issues | Reports
Issue brief explaining why the practice of sentencing youth to life in prison without the possibility of parole is deeply flawed public policy; addressing the long-recognized principle that youth are different from adults, reinforced in recent years by adolescent development brain science, as well as by examples of youth who were successfully rehabilitated; critiquing the frequently argued notion that harsh sentencing is necessary to protect public safety, a premise undermined by both the inconsistent and arbitrary application and by the resulting diversion of taxpayer dollars that could be used to increase public safety through prevention programs; and discussing how the sentencing of youth to life in prison without the possibility of parole undermines America’s moral standing in the world, as the only nation in the world that imposes this irrevocable sentence on people under the age of eighteen.
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Connected by 25: Effective Policy Solutions for Vulnerable Youth, Youth Transition Funders Group
Tags: General System Reform | Reports
Issue brief offering a summary of recommendations for policy changes that will correct juvenile justice issues that often threaten the ability for youth to be connected by age 25 to the institutions and support systems that help them succeed throughout life. These recommendations target three main groups: (1) struggling students, (2) pregnant and parenting teens, and (3) youth in foster care.
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Families in Power: Family Guide to Networking, Coalition Building, Organizing and Campaign Planning, Campaign for Youth Justice
Tags: Family and Youth Involvement | Reports
Guide to how families of incarcerated youth can help impact changes in the juvenile justice system.
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First, Do No Harm: How Educators and Police Can Work Together More Effectively to Preserve School Safety and Protect Vulnerable Students, Johanna Wald and Lisa Thurau, Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice
Tags: Massachusetts | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Report examining the impact of school resource officers on the alarming increases in arrests and juvenile referrals in Massachusetts.
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Getting More for Less in Juvenile Justice: Innovative and Cost-Effective Programs to Reduce Crime, Restore Victims, and Preserve Families, Marc Levin, Texas Public Policy Foundation
Tags: Texas | General System Reform | Reports
Report including a comprehensive review of juvenile justice programs across Texas and the country, measuring their effectiveness based on a range of factors - including cost, recidivism rates, and education and vocational outcomes. The report also makes recommendations for improvements in data collection and analysis.
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Just the Facts: A Snapshot of Incarcerated Hispanic Youth, Jose D. Saarvedra, National Council of La Raza
Tags: Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
Fact sheet including statistics that highlight the overrepresentation of Latino youth in juvenile justice systems and adult facilities.
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Juvenile Court Statistics 2006-07, National Center for Juvenile Justice
Tags: Crime Data and Statistics | Reports
Drawing on data from the National Juvenile Court Data Archive, this report profiles the nearly 1.7 million delinquency cases handled each year by U.S. courts with juvenile jurisdiction in 2006 and 2007. The report also describes trends in delinquency cases processed by juvenile courts between 1985 and 2007 and status offense cases handled between 1995 and 2007.
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Pushed Out: Harsh Discipline in Louisiana Schools Denies the Right to Education, Families and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children and the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
Tags: Louisiana | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Report recommending utilizing more positive disciplinary approaches and reversing zero tolerance policies to reduce expulsions in Louisiana schools.
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The Convention on the Rights of the Child: Implications for Juvenile Justice Reform, National Juvenile Justice Network
Tags: International | International and Human Rights | Reports | NJJN Publications
Fact sheet summarizing the Convention on the Rights of the Child's (CRC) guidelines for youth in conflict with the law and highlighting the four core principles of the CRC: 1) non-discrimination; 2) child's best interests; 3) child's right to life, survival and development; and 4) consideration of the child's individual opinions.
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Evidence-Based Programs for Juvenile Justice Reform in Louisiana, White Paper Summary, Models for Change
Tags: Louisiana | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Reports
Brief summary outlining the role of evidence-based programs in juvenile justice, the benefit of these programs and what Louisiana can do to adopt and utilize these programs.
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Juveniles in Residential Placement, 1997-2008, Melissa Sickmund, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Tags: Institutional Conditions | Reports
Fact sheet on numbers of youth held in residential facilities across the country.
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Update on State Compliance with the Adam Walsh Act, NJJN Fact Sheet
Tags: Federal | Sex Offender Registries | Reports | NJJN Publications
NJJN advisory on the federal government's apparent willingness to pay heed to states' concerns about the Adam Walsh Act's mandates for youth.
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Juvenile Justice System Decision Points Study, Minnesota Department of Public Safety, February 2010
Tags: Minnesota | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
A Minnesota law aims to address racial and ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system and mandates that a study group produce a plan to determine how to best collect data on race, ethnicity, gender, geography, and offenses in the juvenile justice system. The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Office of Justice Programs submitted a report on behalf of the study group in February 2010 on strategies to improve Minnesota’s juvenile justice data collection and analysis.
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Juvenile Life Without Parole Chart - National Conference of State Legislatures
Tags: Institutional Conditions | Life Without Parole and Parole Issues | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
The National Conference of State Legislatures summarizes the state of life without parole laws, as applied to youth across the country.
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NJJN's Comments on OJJDP's Proposed Plan for FY 2010
Tags: Federal | General System Reform | Reports | NJJN Publications
NJJN responded to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Proposed Plan for FY 2010 by outlining seven principles of reform that should guide all programming emerging from this federal office.
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Caging Children in Crisis: An Adult Jail Is No Place for a Child, Colorado Juvenile Defender Coalition
Tags: Colorado | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Document describing the conditions in adult prisons and asserting that juvenile offenders should not be sentenced to serve time in such prisons.
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Representing Juvenile Status Offenders, Hannah Benton, et al., American Bar Association
Tags: Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Status Offenses | Reports
Advice for individual attorneys on day-to-day advocacy and representation of status offenders.
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Sex Offender Management Policy in the States: Strengthening Policy and Practice, Council of State Governments
Tags: Sex Offender Registries | Reports
Report including a discussion of the basic provisions of the Adam Walsh Act, debunking myths regarding the sex offender population, particularly juvenile offenders, and discussing the costs of implementation and problems with residency requirements.
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Sexual Victimization in Juvenile Facilities Reported by Youth, 2008-09, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice
Tags: Institutional Conditions | Reports
Report finding that youth in juvenile corrections facilities are sexually abused at alarming rates and are victimized significantly more often than adult inmates.
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Test, Punish and Push Out: How Zero Tolerance and High-Stakes Testing Funnel Youth into the School-to-Prison Pipeline, The Advancement Project
Tags: School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Report showing that together, zero tolerance and high-stakes testing have turned schools into hostile and alienating environments for many youth, effectively treating them as dropouts-in-waiting.
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Approaching Juvenile Justice with a Focus on Positive Youth Development, National Juvenile Justice Network Policy Platform
Tags: Positive Youth Development and Strengths-Based Programming | Reports | NJJN Publications
In this policy platform, the National Juvenile Justice Network offers recommendations on how to incorporate the principles of positive youth development into juvenile justice practices, programs and policies.
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Baltimore County Juvenile Drug Court Outcome and Cost Evaluation
Tags: Maryland | Fiscal Issues and Funding | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
This study examines outcomes over a 2-year period for program participants and a matched comparison group.
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Delaware School Discipline Task Force Final Report, January 2010
Tags: Delaware | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
The legislature established a school discipline task force in June of 2009 to investigate the state’s zero tolerance policy on school infractions and make recommendations on how to improve laws, regulations, and school district policies. The task force’s January 2010 report recommends that the Department of Education develop common legal definitions of student offenses leading to alternative placement, and common due process procedures for alternative placement meetings and expulsion hearings. The report also recommends that school districts develop plans to reduce discipline referrals and suspensions, and implement professional development training for teachers and school staff.
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Texas Task Force for Children with Special Needs, 2011-2016 Five-Year Plan
Tags: Texas | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | General System Reform | Risk Assessment and Screening | Reports
The Texas Legislature created the Interagency Task Force for Children with Special Needs in order to improve the coordination and quality of services for children and youth with special needs. The report includes several objectives related to juvenile justice, including diversion and minimization of youth involvement in the juvenile justice system; improved assessment of youth entering the system; and improved services for youth with special needs, both within the system and upon reentry to their communities.
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Juvenile Justice Excerpt from 2009 Kentucky KIDS COUNT, Kentucky Youth Advocates
Tags: Kentucky | Crime Data and Statistics | General System Reform | Reports | Member Publications
Excerpt from the Annie E. Casey Foundations annual Kentucky KIDS COUNT Data Book with statistics of youth charged with offenses, youth in the juvenile justice system, and youth under Department of Juvenile Justice supervision in Kentucky.
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Strengthening Collaborations in Overlapping Systems for Our Most Vulnerable Youth, Kentucky KIDS COUNT Data Book
Essay on the need to strengthen collaborations between Kentucky's child welfare and juvenile justice systems to better serve "crossover" youth and prevent dual involvement.
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Charting a New Course: A Blueprint for Transforming Juvenile Justice in New York State, Jeremy Travis,
Tags: New York | General System Reform | Institutional Conditions | Reports
A Report of Governor David Paterson's Task Force on Transforming Juvenile Justice. Report finds New York State's system of juvenile prisons to be seriously flawed. The governor-appointed task force found the facilities to have dangerous and abusive conditions as well as inadequate programming and education.
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Juveniles Who Commit Sex Offenses Against Minors, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Bulletin
Tags: Crime Data and Statistics | Sex Offender Registries | Reports
Bulletin drawing on data from the FBI's National Incident-Based Reporting System to provide population-based epidemiological information on juvenile sex offending. The findings reported and their implications should help inform the policy and practice of those committed to addressing the sexual victimization of youth and strengthening its prevention and deterrence -- considerations that are critical to success.
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National Resolution for Ending School Pushout, Dignity in School Campaign,
Tags: School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Press release describing a call to action for school systems to end harsh discipline policies and law enforcement tactics that push too many young people out of school each year. The resolution calls for schools to implement positive alternatives that protect the human rights of young people and keep students in school.
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Don't Throw Away the Key: Reevaluating Adult Time for Youth Crime in Virginia, JustChildren
Tags: Virginia | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Report criticizing policy changes made by the Virginia legislature in the 1990s that have unnecessarily swept too many youth into the adult system.
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Toolkit for the Adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by City Councils and State Legislatures, Children and Family Justice Center, Northwestern University School of Law
Tags: International | Illinois | International and Human Rights | Reports
Reference guide outlining the CRC resolution in Chicago and documenting how individuals may be effective in working towards this goal in their own communities. Toolkit includes a step-by-step guide to passing a CRC resolution in your municipality or state, with information about writing a background paper, building a coalition, engaging in outreach with local government officials, and drafting a resolution to passage.
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Toolkit for the Adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by City Councils and State Legislatures, Children and Family Justice Center, November 2009
Tags: Illinois | International and Human Rights | Reports
On February 11, 2009, the Chicago City Council passed a resolution in support of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), agreeing to "advance policies and practices that are in harmony with the principles of the [CRC] in all city agencies and organizations that address issues directly affecting the City's children."
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Improving School Climate: Findings From Schools Implementing Restorative Practices
Tags: International | Pennsylvania | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Restorative Justice | Reports | Research | Fact Sheets and Briefs
Restorative justice has the potential to transform the way schools, communities, and the criminal justice system respond to disruptive student behavior and violence.These findings are composed of excerpts from articles, as well as disciplinary data from individual schools and school districts, that give a snapshot of how restorative practices are being implemented and its effects.
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Poly-victimization Among Girls in the Juvenile Justice System: Manifestations & Associations to Delinquency, National Institute of Justice, Dana D. DeHart
Report finding that there is considerable evidence that poly-victimization—simultaneously experiencing several different kinds of victimization in separate incidents—is pervasive in the backgrounds of delinquent girls.
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Suitability of Assessment Instruments for Delinquent Girls, Susan Brumbaugh, Jennifer L. Hardison Walters, and Laura A. Winterfield, Girls Study Group
Tags: Girls | Risk Assessment and Screening | Reports
Bulletin examining the extent to which standardized risk and need assessment instruments are valid for girls.
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The Consequences of Dropping Out of High School: Joblessness and Jailing for High School Dropouts and the High Cost for Taxpayers, Andrew Sum, et al., Northeastern University
Tags: School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
A new study from Northeastern University finds that on any given day, about one in every 10 young male high school dropouts is in jail or juvenile detention, compared with one in 35 young male high school graduates.
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Equity in Kansas Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice System, Fall 2009
Tags: Kansas | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
Kansas’ former governor launched an effort to promote racial and ethnic equity across all Kansas child welfare and juvenile justice programs. The effort brought together 10 communities to examine disparities and generate recommendations for reform. Each community detailed its recommendations in a final report submitted to the governor.
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Hidden Injustice: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth in Juvenile court
Tags: National | LGBTQ Youth | Reports
The Equity Project examines issues that impact LGBT youth throughout the duration of the juvenile court process, ranging from arrest through post-disposition. The goals of the Equity Project are to (1) Understand the needs, strengths, and experiences of LGBT youth involved in thejuvenile justice system; (2) Identify obstacles to the equitable treatment of LGBT youth in the juvenile justice system;(3) Recommend concrete strategies for promoting the equitable treatment of LGBT youth in the juvenile justice system; and (4) Educate juvenile justice system professionals through dissemination of policy andpractice recommendations and tools.
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Until They Die a Natural Death: Youth Sentenced to Life Without Parole in Massachusetts, Children's Law Center of Massachusetts
Tags: Massachusetts | Life Without Parole and Parole Issues | Reports
Report on Massachusetts youth sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
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Rapides Parish, Louisiana Service Referral Matrix, September 23, 2009
Tags: Louisiana | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Risk Assessment and Screening | Reports
In May 2009, Rapides Parish juvenile justice officials, in collaboration with the MacArthur Foundation’s Models for Change initiative, developed a service referral matrix based on the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY) with a goal of reducing disproportionate probation revocations. The matrix outlines all of the options available to address a youth’s needs in various domains, including mental health, family relationships, and peers.
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Juvenile Justice: Life Without Parole Sentences, Alison M. Smith, Congressional Research Service
Tags: Life Without Parole and Parole Issues | Reports
Report examining Eighth Amendment jurisprudence and the legal issues involved with juvenile life without parole sentences.
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Convention on the Rights of the Child, United Nations
Tags: International | International and Human Rights | Reports
Constitution-like document outlining the rights of children.
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Hidden Injustice: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth in Juvenile Courts, K. Majd, National Juvenile Defender Center; J. Marksamer, National Center for Lesbian Rights; C. Reyes, Legal Services for Children
Tags: LGBTQ Youth | Reports
The first comprehensive report to examine the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth in juvenile courts nationwide.
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Megan's Law: Termination of Registration Requirement (2009 Update), Linda A. Szymanski, National Center for Juvenile Justice Snapshot, Vol. 14, No. 9
Tags: Sex Offender Registries | Reports
Snapshot covering the extent to which states allow for termination of registration requirements for juveniles convicted under Megan's Law registration requirements.
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Opportunities Lost: Racial Disparities in Juvenile Justice in Kentucky and Identified Needs for System Change, Kentucky Youth Advocates
Tags: Kentucky | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports | Member Publications
Issue brief reviewing Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) in Kentucky at various stages of the juvenile justice process, discussing current efforts to reduce DMC, and offering recommendations to reduce disparities.
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Reducing Disproportionate Minority Contact: Preparation at the Local Level, Mark Soler and Lisa M. Garry, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Tags: Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
Manual describing strategies that states and communities can use to reduce disproportionate minority contact with the juvenile justice system.
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Back on Track: Supporting Youth Reentry from Out-of-Home Placement, Youth Reentry Task Force of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Coalition
Tags: Federal | Aftercare/Reentry | Correctional Education | Reports
Brief outlining the concept of reentry services in theory and practice, offering a review of federal policy previously enacted to support reentry, suggesting opportunities for improvements in public policy, and reviewing promising initiatives.
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Megan's Law: Juvenile Sex Offender Lower Age Limits (2009 Update), Linda A. Szymanski, National Center for Juvenile Justice Snapshot, Vol. 14, No. 8
Tags: Sex Offender Registries | Reports
Snapshot discussing lower age limits set by the states, as well as the Adam Walsh Act’s set lower age of jurisdiction of 14.
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Policing in Schools: Developing a Governance Document for School Resource Officers in K-12 Schools, Catherine Y. Kim and I. India Geronimo, American Civil Liberties Union
Tags: School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
ACLU report outlining guidelines for police officers deployed on school campuses.
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Report on Investigation of the Lansing Residential Center, Louis Gossett, Jr. Residential Center, Tryon Residential Center, and Tryon Girls Center, United States Department of Justice
Tags: New York | Institutional Conditions | Reports
Department of Justice exposes abuse in four youth prison facilities in New York.
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Conditions of Confinement, National Juvenile Justice Network Policy Platform
Tags: Institutional Conditions | Reports | NJJN Publications
In this policy platform, the National Juvenile Justice Network offers recommendations on how to improve conditions of confinement for youth involved in the justice system.
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Girls in the Juvenile Justice System, National Juvenile Justice Network Policy Platform
Tags: Girls | Reports | NJJN Publications
In this policy platform, the National Juvenile Justice Network offers recommendations on how to better address the needs of justice-involved girls.
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2009 Youth Delinquency Prevention Report Card, Action for Children North Carolina
Tags: North Carolina | Prevention | Reports
Report card examining North Carolina data on adolescents - those with healthy development, those who are at risk and those who are already involved in the criminal justice system.
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Megan's Law: Juvenile Sex Offender Registration (2009 Update), Linda A. Szymanski, National Center for Juvenile Justice Snapshot, Vol. 14, No. 7
Tags: Sex Offender Registries | Reports
Snapshot detailing the current status of juvenile registration requirements in each state’s version of Megan's Law, which requires convicted criminal sex offenders to register with police, and allows the community to receive offender information.
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No Exit: The Expanding Use of Life Sentences in America, Ashley Nellis and Ryan S. King, The Sentencing Project
Tags: Life Without Parole and Parole Issues | Reports
Report assessing the dramatic increase in the imposition of life sentences in the context of incapacitation and public safety, fiscal costs, goals of punishment, and the appropriateness of life sentences for juveniles. The report also discusses trends in the life-sentenced population. The findings in this report demonstrate that the life-sentenced population has expanded dramatically in recent decades, along with the explosion of the prison population overall.
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Reclaiming Michigan's Throwaway Kids: Students Trapped in the School-to-Prison Pipeline, ACLU of Michigan
Tags: Michigan | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Report documenting a trend amongst school districts to enforce severe disciplinary policies and practices that push children permanently out of the classroom without regard for the long-term impact.
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Safety with Dignity: Alternatives to the Over-Policing of Schools, New York Civil Liberties Union
Tags: New York | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Report documenting the successes of six New York City public high schools in maintaining safe, nurturing educational environments without using metal detectors, aggressive policing and harsh disciplinary policies.
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Status Offenses and the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act: The Exception that Swallowed the Rule, Patricia J. Arthur and Regina Waugh, Seattle Journal for Social Justice, Vol. 7, Issue 2, Spring/Summer
Tags: Federal | Status Offenses | Reports
Article discussing a major loophole in the JJDPA that allows judges to lock up status offenders if they violate a valid court order (VCO).
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The Adam Walsh Act and Wisconsin: One-Size-Fits-All Registration Does Not Fit Everyone, Wisconsin Council on Children and Families
Tags: Wisconsin | Sex Offender Registries | Reports
Brief about the potential impact of the Adam Walsh Act in Wisconsin.
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The Adam Walsh Act : A False Sense of Security or an Effective Public Policy Initiative?
Tags: Sex Offender Registries | Reports
This article explores the effectiveness of the three-tiered Sex Offender Registration Notification Act (SORNA).
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Turning It Around: Successes and Opportunities in Juvenile Justice, National Juvenile Justice Network and Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance
Tags: Connecticut | General System Reform | Reports
Summary of changes to Connecticut's juvenile justice system and how to build on success.
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Is There a New Juvenile Crime Wave on the Horizon?: Overview of Recent Reports and Responses, National Juvenile Justice Network
Tags: Crime Data and Statistics | Reports | NJJN Publications
Report drawing on data from the National Juvenile Court Data Archive to profile more than 1.6 million delinquency cases handled in 2005 by U.S. courts with juvenile jurisdiction. The report also tracks trends in delinquency cases between 1985 and 2005 and status offense cases processed between 1995 and 2005.
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Mapping and Analyzing the Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track: An Action Kit for Understanding How Harsh School Discipline Policies and Practices Are Impacting Your Community, Advancement Project
Tags: School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Compilation of model discipline policies and programs from Denver Public Schools and the Los Angeles Unified School District.
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National Prison Rape Elimination Commission Report
Tags: Institutional Conditions | Reports
Report on the status of youth in adult jails and prisons as part of a nationwide examination of sexual assault in the juvenile and criminal justice systems.
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OJJDP Juvenile Court Statistics 2005, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Tags: Crime Data and Statistics | Reports
Report drawing on data from the National Juvenile Court Data Archive to profile more than 1.6 million delinquency cases handled in 2005 by U.S. courts with juvenile jurisdiction. The report also tracks trends in delinquency cases between 1985 and 2005 and status offense cases processed between 1995 and 2005.
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Reduction in Recidivism in a Juvenile Mental Health Court: A Pre- and Post- Treatment Outcome Study, Monic P. Behnken, David E. Arredondo, and Wendy L. Packman, Juvenile and Family Court Journal, 60, No. 3
Tags: Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
Study reviewing an evaluation of the Court for the Individualized Treatment of Adolescents (a prototype Juvenile Mental Health Court in Santa Clara, California), presented along with admission criteria.
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Oregon Portland Public School Board Policy, Student Conduct and Discipline, June 2009
Tags: Oregon | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
In June 2009, Oregon’s largest urban school district, Portland Public Schools, established a new policy and committed to pilot projects in 10 schools to reduce the use of suspension and expulsion and, in particular, to reduce racial disparities in school discipline. The policy acknowledges the link between student achievement and discipline practices and states its interest in eliminating disparities in applying discipline.
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A Second Reassessment of DMC in Connecticut’s Juvenile Justice System, May 15, 2009
Tags: Connecticut | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
In May 2009, Connecticut's Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee completed its third in-depth research study of disproportionate minority contact at nearly all decision points across the system. The report includes several recommendations for policy and practice changes, such as improved, more frequent data collection and reporting, and making a judge's order a requirement for every detention admission.
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America's Invisible Children: Latino Youth and the Failure of Justice, National Council of La Raza and Campaign for Youth Justice
Tags: Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
Report examining the experiences of Latino youth in the justice system.
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Costs of Confinement: Why Good Juvenile Justice Policies Make Good Fiscal Sense, Justice Policy Institute
Tags: Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Fiscal Issues and Funding | Reports
Report showing that states could save money, preserve public safety, and improve life outcomes for youth by redirecting the money to community-based alternatives.
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Keeping Our Kids at Home: Expanding Community-Based Facilities for Adjudicated Youth, Texas Public Policy Foundation
Tags: Texas | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Reports
Report examines existing barriers to the establishment of community-based options for system-involved youth.
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2007 Juvenile Arrests Report, OJJDP
Tags: Crime Data and Statistics | Reports
Report detailing arrest and crime statistics by offense, gender and race.
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Crime & Delinquency, Volume 55, Number 2
April 2009 issue focuses on girls in the juvenile justice system.
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Highlights of the 2004 National Youth Gang Survey, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Fact sheet summarizing OJJDP’s findings that an estimated 3,550 jurisdictions served by city (population of 2,500 or more) and county law enforcement agencies experienced gang problems in 2007. These survey results also indicate that an estimated 788,000 gang members and 27,000 gangs were active in the United States in 2007.
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Supporting Youth in Transition to Adulthood, Center for Juvenile Justice Reform and Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative
Tags: Crossover and Dual Jurisdiction Youth | Reports
Report discussing youth who transition out of the juvenile justice and child welfare systems and lessons learned from juvenile justice and child welfare agencies.
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Teen Prisoner's Mom: Raise the Age, Melinda Tuhus, New Haven Independent
Tags: Connecticut | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Article about rally in Hartford, Connecticut organized by the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance to press for implementation of the Raise the Age law. The law ends automatic transfer of 16- and 17-year-olds to the adult system. It was passed in 2007, but now faces delay due to the state's budget deficit.
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Best Practices in Juvenile Justice Reform, The Future of Children
Tags: Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | General System Reform | Reports
Summary of best practices in juvenile justice reform, including a focus on evidence-based programs, community interventions, and improved institutional conditions.
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Family Involvement in Pennsylvania's Juvenile Justice System
Tags: Pennsylvania | Family and Youth Involvement | Reports
The report, with contributions from NJJN member Pennsylvania Models for Change Community Partnership, aims to identify and develop strategies and models that will support family involvement in the juvenile justice system in effective and measurable ways and that are rooted within balanced and restorative justice practice.
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Role of Juvenile Defense Counsel in Delinquency Court, National Juvenile Defender Center
Tags: Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Reports
Report emphasizing the important role of the defense attorney in delinquency proceedings.
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Incarcerated Juveniles Belong in Juvenile Facilities, American Psychiatric Association News Release
Tags: Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Release highlighting some of the challenges that young juvenile offenders face and why the adult criminal system is incapable of adequately responding to these challenges.
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Fact Sheet on Girls and Women in Custody, National Council on Crime and Delinquency
Fact sheet reporting the latest state and national data available for women and girls involved in local and state corrections systems across the nation.
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Breaking the Cycle of Abuse in Juvenile Facilities, Barry Krisberg, National Council on Crime and Delinquency
Tags: California | Florida | Indiana | Texas | Institutional Conditions | Reports
Report focusing on abuse of youth in custody in California, Texas, Florida, and Indiana. Reviews data on abuse of youth in juvenile facilities and calls attention to areas where data is lacking.
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Parents Bill of Rights, Texas Youth Commission
Tags: Texas | Family and Youth Involvement | Reports
Bill of rights for parents of youth involved in the system.
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Returning 17-Year-Olds to the Juvenile Justice System: A Smart Choice for Our Communities and Our Youth, Wisconsin Council on Children and Families
Tags: Wisconsin | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Report detailing a measure to return 17-year-olds to the original jurisdiction of the juvenile court
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Understanding the Texas Youth Commission and the Parents' Bill of Rights: The TYC Family Handbook, Texas Youth Commission
Tags: Texas | Family and Youth Involvement | Reports
Guidebook explaining the Parents' Bill of Rights and the resources related to dealing with the Texas Youth Commission.
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Advances in Juvenile Justice Reform, 2007-2008, National Juvenile Justice Network
Tags: General System Reform | Reports | NJJN Publications
Compilation of legislative, judicial and administrative advances and new funding allocations that have led to the closure of large, harmful juvenile prisons; increases in programs that offer community-based alternatives to confinement; strengthened practice standards for juvenile defenders; and additional procedural and substantive protections for youth in and out of court. The booklet includes advances from states across the country sorted into substantive issue categories. Each advance is briefly summarized with a citation. Advances cited in the booklet may be found on NJJN’s Web site.
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Part II, The TYC Era: Between Rehabilitation and Punishment, 1949-2008, Protecting Texas' Most Precious Resource: A History of Juvenile Justice Policy in Texas, William S. Bush for the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition
Tags: Texas | General System Reform | Reports
Report discussing the Texas Youth Council's struggle over time with the proposal to decrease the role of the state's large, remotely located institutions in favor of smaller, community-based programs.
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A Reexamination of Youth Involvment in the Adult Criminal Justice System in Washington: Implications of New Findings About Juvenile Recidivism and Adolescent Brain Development, Washington Coalition for the Just Treatment of Youth
Tags: Washington | Brain and Adolescent Development | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Report pointing specifically to brain development research that bears on juveniles' culpability and indicating that youth are more amenable to rehabilitation. The report also cites recent studies that show that subjecting adolescents to the adult criminal justice system may actually increase future criminal behavior due to reduced access to treatment and rehabilitative services and increased exposure to adult criminal culture. Section IV of the report focuses on an examination of the cases of the 28 youth in Washington who are serving life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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Charged With A Crime? Don't Go it Alone...Talk to a Lawyer, Southern Juvenile Defender Center
Tags: Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Reports
Pamphlet designed to convince youth not to waive counsel.
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Cost-Benefit Brochure, Tow Foundation
Tags: Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Reports
Brochure showing the increased expenses associated with the criminal justice system as opposed to community-based initiatives.
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Delays in Youth Justice, Jeffrey A. Butts, Gretchen Ruth Cusick and Benjamin Adams, National Institute of Justice
Tags: General System Reform | Reports
Report from reviewing the literature on the types of court processing delays that most often occur in delinquency cases and probing the larger context of delays through an examination of twenty years of case-level delinquency data from the National Juvenile Court Data Archive.
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Racial and Ethnic Disparity and Disproportionality in Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice: A Compendium, Center for Juvenile Justice Reform and Chapin Hall
Tags: Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
Compendium discussing the problem of disproportionate minority contact (DMC) and describing ongoing initiatives to address DMC.
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King County Resource Guide: Information Sharing (2nd Edition) - Uniting for Youth
Tags: Washington | Confidentiality | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
Resource guide from Models for Change providing direction on information-sharing between staff from the following agencies: probation, detention child welfare, juvenile rehabilitation, law enforcement, schools, mental health treatment and substance abuse treatment, court appointed special advocates.
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Resolution in Opposition of the Sex Offender and Registration Notification Act as it Applies to Juvenile Offenders, Council of State Governments
Tags: Sex Offender Registries | Reports
Resolution against juvenile offenders having to join sex offender registry because of the implications of joining the registry.
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A Multi-Agency Approach to Using Medicaid to Meet the Health Needs of Juvenile Justice-Involved Youth, Carrie Hanlon, Jennifer May, and Neva Kaye, National Academy for State Health Policy
Tags: Fiscal Issues and Funding | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Physical Health | Reports
Report focusing on evidence that improving coordination among state agencies is crucial to improving access to quality health services for juvenile justice-involved youth.
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Adoration of the Question: Reflections on the Failure to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Juvenile Justice System, James Bell and Laura John Ridolfi, W. Haywood Burns Institute
Tags: Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
Report examining the antecedents that continue to influence the juvenile justice system. The report begins by outlining the early system and its approach toward youth of color, and then examines DMC and its perceived causes. It next analyzes the well-intentioned federal mandates that have largely failed to reduce entrenched disparities in the system.
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Megan's Law: Assessing the Practical and Monetary Efficacy, Kristen Zgoba, et al., National Criminal Justice Reference Service
Tags: New Jersey | Sex Offender Registries | Reports
Report concerning the various impacts of community notification and registration laws (Megan's Law) in New Jersey. Report was embarked upon in general to investigate: (1) the effect of Megan's Law on the overall rate of sexual offending over time; (2) its specific deterrence effect on re-offending, including the level of general and sexual offense recidivism, the nature of sexual re-offenses, and time to first re-arrest for sexual and non-sexual re-offenses (i.e., community tenure); and (3) the costs of implementation and annual expenditures of Megan's Law.
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Resilient Girls: Factors that Protect Against Delinquency, Girls Study Group Report, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Report describing how four factors—presence of a caring adult, school connectedness, school success, and religiosity—affect girls’ propensity towards delinquency. The Girls Study Group was created to provide a comprehensive research foundation for understanding and responding to girls’ involvement in delinquency.
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Statement Related to Wisconsin's Age of Adult Criminal Responsibility, Governor's Juvenile Justice Commission
Tags: Wisconsin | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Wisconsin Governor's Juvenile Justice Commission unanimously endorsed returning 17-year-olds to the juvenile justice system. In its statement, the Commission cites research on brain development, evidence-based practices, and lower recidivism rates for 17-year-olds kept in the juvenile justice system.
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The Girls Study Group: Charting the Way to Delinquency Prevention for Girls, Margaret A. Zahn, et al., Girls Study Group, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Report providing an overview of the Girls Study Group’s research on female juvenile delinquency. The bulletin, part of the Girls Study Group series, summarizes the findings presented in each of the other six bulletins in the series. The Girls Study Group was created to provide a comprehensive research foundation for understanding and responding to girls’ involvement in delinquency.
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Making Court the Last Resort: A New Focus for Supporting Families in Crisis, Sara Mogulescu and Gaspar Caro, Vera Institute of Justice
Tags: Connecticut | Florida | New York | Status Offenses | Reports
Highlights a new paradigm for status offender services in which at-risk youth and their families are referred to social service programs in their communities, and the juvenile justice system is used only as a last resort. The report offers case studies of successful reforms in Florida, New York, and Connecticut.
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Registering Harm Briefing Book, Justice Policy Institute
Tags: Sex Offender Registries | Reports
Briefing book providing guidance to juvenile justice advocates, policymakers, and the media on issues concerning compliance with the Adam Walsh Act.
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Registering Harm: How Sex Offense Registries Fail Youth and Communities, Justice Policy Institute
Tags: Sex Offender Registries | Reports
Report documenting the issues related to public safety and fiscal accountability that states should consider as they determine whether to comply with the Adam Walsh Act or otherwise expand the reach of their existing registries. The report finds that sex offender registries often divert resources from positive and effective public safety strategies and that the consequences of registration are likely to undermine any rehabilitative programming available for children. The cost to states to comply with the Adam Walsh Act could reach millions of dollars while leading to a false sense of security and further alienating youth.
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Investigating Racial Disparity at the Detention Decision: The Role of Respectability, Don L. Kurtz, Travis Linnemann, and Ryan Spohn, Southwest Journal of Criminal Justice
Tags: Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
Reports on racial disparity in pre-trial detention. The researchers believe that negative stereotypes about minority youth play a part in detention decisions.
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Different from Adults: An Updated Analysis of Juvenile Transfer and Blended Sentencing Laws, with Recommendations for Reform, Patrick Griffin, National Center for Juvenile Justice
Tags: Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Report mapping the current landscape of laws governing the trial, sentencing, and sanctioning of juveniles as adults. The report summarizes the transfer laws of all 50 states and the District of Columbia as of the beginning of 2008 and includes data on the volume and characteristics of youth who are being transferred under these laws. Finally, it suggests some simple measures that states can take to make implementation of these laws more fair, flexible, and consistent.
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Dignity Denied: The Effect of "Zero Tolerance" Policies on Students' Human Rights, A Case Study of New Haven, Connecticut, Public Schools, American Civil Liberties Union
Tags: Connecticut | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Report analyzing the impact on students' human rights of involving the criminal justice system in school discipline policies in the New Haven Unified School District. It finds that subjecting students to the criminal justice system as a means of school discipline deprives them of the human right to education, the right to be free from discrimination, the right to proportionality in punishment, and the right to freedom of expression.
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Redeploy Illinois Annual Report: Implementation and Impact, Legislative Report
Tags: Illinois | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Fiscal Issues and Funding | Reports
Report summarizing Redeploy Illinois study in which four sites were provided with financial support to deliver comprehensive services in their home communities to youth who might otherwise have been sent to the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (IDJJ) with a goal of reducing juvenile commitments by twenty five percent. In its first three years of providing services, approximately 400 youth residing in the pilot site communities were diverted from commitment to the IDJJ.
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Redeploy Illinois Summary Sheet
Tags: Illinois | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Fiscal Issues and Funding | Reports
Summary of Redeploy Illinois program whose purpose is to create financial incentives to keep youth in the local community rather than commit them to the Department of Juvenile Justice through community-based alternatives. In the first two years of implementation, the Redeploy Illinois pilot sites, on average, reduced commitments to the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (IDJJ) by forty four percent within their communities, or 226 fewer youth equivalent to gross savings of over $11 million in the four sites.
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Schools for All Campaign: The School Bias and Pushout Problem, ACLU of Northern California
Tags: California | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Report on school bias and the effects of harassment on vulnerable student populations. The report recommends a collaborative approach to solving these problems.
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Commission on Disproportionality in Youth Services Recommendations, Indiana, Commission on Disproportionality in Youth Services
Tags: Indiana | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
Report to the governor and general assembly on juvenile justice, mental health, education, and child welfare services. The report contains 74 recommendations, including a call to amend the Indiana Code to have a non-discrimination principle.
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Virginia's Juvenile Justice System, HJR 113, Virginia State Crime Commission Presentation
Tags: Virginia | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
The commission found that recidivism rates increase significantly when juveniles are tried in adult court and that youth are often required to plead guilty in order to avoid transfer to adult court. The commission recommends that judges be given sole discretion to transfer youth and that the state should limit the number of crimes eligible for transfer. The study also reports that African American youth are twice as likely as white youth to be committed to juvenile correctional facilities.
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First Report to the Nation on Youth Courts: The 15 Year Update, 1993-2008, Scott B. Peterson and Jill Beres
Tags: Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Reports
Report chronicling the history and progress of youth courts and teen courts from 1993-2008.
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Raise the Age CT: A Success Story, Web site profile of Connecticut's Raise the Age Campaign
Tags: Connecticut | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Web site chronicling successful efforts in Connecticut to raise the age of juvenile jurisdiction to 17.
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Mental Health Courts: A Primer for Policymakers and Practitioners, Bureau of Justice Assistance and Council of State Governments Justice Center
Tags: Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
Report describing mental health courts’ goals, structure, research and planning. Report includes a brief section on mental health courts for juveniles.
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Part I, The Path to the Texas Youth Council: Creating a Protective Umbrella for Juvenile Offenders, Protecting Texas' Most Precious Resource: A History of Juvenile Justice Policy in Texas, William S. Bush for the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition
Tags: Texas | General System Reform | Reports
Report showing that the early years of the Texas juvenile justice system were characterized by a cycle of scandal and reform, in which public outrage over the abuse and neglect of incarcerated juveniles spurred officials and policy-makers into passing reform-minded legislation. Repeatedly, however, funding and oversight diminished after problems were believed to be "fixed" and the latest scandal had passed into memory.
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District of Columbia Final Evaluation of the Effect of Juvenile Speedy Trial Emergency Legislation, The Council for Court Excellence
Tags: Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Administrative/Regulatory Policies | Reports
An emergency resolution passed in D.C. aims to resolve the issue of juveniles placed in non-secure detention or shelters beyond the 30 day deadline in place for youth in secure detention.
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Missouri Division of Youth Services Wins Innovations in American Government Award, Press Release
Tags: Missouri | Institutional Conditions | Reports
The Missouri Division of Youth Services serves youth offenders in small, dormitory settings and takes a therapeutic approach, viewing youth as a direct product of their experiences and capable of turning their lives around through a step by step change process. Through ongoing group therapy, dedicated staff, relationships with the court system, and strong community support in the form of liaison councils and neighborhood advisory boards, the program cites measurable results in halting the cycle of juvenile crime. Not only does the program note significant reductions in violence while youth are enrolled in DYS, over 90 percent of youth avoid further incarceration for three years or more after graduating from the program.
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Achieving Excellence in Detention Advocacy: A Checklist to Evaluate Defense Representation at Detention Hearings, National Juvenile Defender Center for the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative
Tags: Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Reports
Diagnostic tool designed to assist juvenile defense practitioners and juvenile policy advocates in determining the effectiveness of defense counsel at arraignment, the probable cause determination and the detention hearing.
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Achieving Excellence in Detention Advocacy: Guidelines for Juvenile Defenders to Provide Zealous Advocacy at Initial Detention Hearings, National Juvenile Defender Center for the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative
Tags: Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Reports
Guidelines designed to assist defenders in assessing their advocacy at the traditional, three-part initial hearings held in most jurisdictions: arraignment, the probable cause determination and the detention hearing.
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Critical Condition: African American Youth in the Justice System, Neelum Arya and Ian Augarten, Campaign for Youth Justice
Tags: Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
Report shedding light on the lack of progress in reducing the vast disparities in treatment between African American and white youth over the past 20 years. The report highlights the fact that black youth continue to be overrepresented at most stages in the justice system. Data show that African American youth receive harsher treatment than whites from arrest through prosecution. Additionally, the overwhelming majority (83%) of cases that were filed in adult courts involved youth of color.
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Ten Principles for Providing Effective Defense Advocacy at Juvenile Detention Hearings, National Juvenile Defender Center for the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative
Tags: Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Reports
Principles recognizing the distinct disadvantages of defenders at the detention determination hearing due to lack of information at the beginning of the case and a creeping presumption to detain at the end of the case. The principles are a resource to help defenders and other juvenile court professionals understand the elements of effective detention advocacy on behalf of indigent juvenile clients.
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RAI 4 Implementation Fact Sheet, First Ten Months, Multnomah County, Oregon
Tags: Oregon | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Risk Assessment and Screening | Reports
New validated detention risk instrument has decreased the detention rate for African American youth in Multnomah County by 15%.
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Family Meeting and Advocacy Day Summary, Voices for Ohio's Children
Tags: Ohio | Family and Youth Involvement | Reports
Summary of advocacy day during which families talked with the Ohio Department of Youth Services leadership team about their concerns: lack of transportation; need for local advocacy for juvenile court issues; poor communication with personnel; too few and too limited educational opportunities; and medical care.
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Juvenile Transfer Laws: An Effective Deterrent to Delinquency?, Richard E. Redding, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Tags: Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Report concluding that laws making it easier to transfer youth to the adult system have little or no general deterrent effect. The report also finds that transferring youth to the adult criminal system substantially increases recidivism, particularly for violent offenders.
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The Declining Number of Youth in Custody in the Juvenile Justice System, National Council on Crime and Delinquency
Tags: Deinstitutionalization | Reports
Report reviewing data from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention from the Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement and showing that overall numbers and rates of custody for youth have declined nationwide since 1997. Custody trends by individual states, gender, race/ethnicity, and offense type are available in the report as well.
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The Negative Impact of Registries on Youth: Why Are Youth Different from Adults?, Justice Policy Institute
Tags: Sex Offender Registries | Reports
Discusses the key differences between youth and adults who commit sex offenses, including differences in brain development, the fact that youth are not sexual predators, and the low recidivism rates for youth who commit sex offenses.
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Youth Who Commit Sex Offenses: Facts and Fiction, Justice Policy Institute
Tags: Sex Offender Registries | Reports
Paper debunking some of the most common misconceptions about young people convicted of sex offenses.
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A Sensible Model for Juvenile Justice, Jeffrey A. Butts, Briefing Paper for Youth Transition Funders Group
Tags: Positive Youth Development and Strengths-Based Programming | Reports
Paper calling for youth development as a response to and way to limit the prevalence of youth crime and juvenile offenders.
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A Tangled Web of Justice: American Indian and Alaska Native Youth in Federal, State, and Tribal Justice Systems, Neelum Arya and Addie C. Rolnick, Campaign for Youth Justice
Tags: Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Policy brief intended to serve as resource for tribes, juvenile justice professionals, and other stakeholders interested in improving outcomes for Native youth by presenting the current state of knowledge on Native youth and their involvement in justice systems across the country,
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Convention on the Rights of the Child and Juvenile Justice, The Link, Child Welfare League of America
Tags: International | International and Human Rights | Reports
The article discussing the status and history of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and how the Convention can and should guide juvenile justice policy and practice in the United States. The United States has not ratified the Convention, and many of the country's juvenile justice policies are in conflict with the principles of the Convention. The Convention can be used as an effective advocacy tool on a wide array of juvenile justice issues.
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D.C. Poll on Juvenile Justice, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner
Tags: District of Columbia | Public Opinion and Messaging | Youth in the Adult System | Reports | Research
D.C. poll found that 77 percent of those polled believe youth who are arrested and awaiting trial should be placed in a juvenile facility, not in the D.C. jail, an adult facility. The poll also found that the public overwhelmingly believes that youth should be rehabilitated and not merely incarcerated.
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From Trauma to Tragedy: Connecticut Girls in Adult Prison, Connecticut Office of the Child Advocate
Tags: Connecticut | Girls | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Accounts how Connecticut has failed to meet the needs of girls in the adult system.
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Improving Access to Health Coverage for Transitional Youth, Sonya Schwartz and Melanie Glascock, National Academy for State Health Policy
Tags: Crossover and Dual Jurisdiction Youth | Fiscal Issues and Funding | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Physical Health | Reports
Report discussing strategies for ensuring that transitional youth (i.e., all youth who are entering, leaving or moving within the juvenile justice and foster care systems) have access to health care. The report focuses on opportunities to screen youth for Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) eligibility. It describes key transition points for youth in both systems, ways for states to extend Medicaid and SCHIP to them, and opportunities to better enroll and retain the population.
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Juvenile Justice Reform: Realigning Responsibilities, Little Hoover Commission, California
Tags: California | Fiscal Issues and Funding | Reports
Study focusing on two key areas of California's juvenile justice system: (1) implementation of the realignment legislation and what it will take to be successful and efficient and (2) effective management of the small number of youth offenders who, under the realignment legislation, will remain at the state level.
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Model Policies for Juvenile Justice and Substance Abuse Treatment, Reclaiming Futures
Tags: Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
Report detailing new model for substance abuse treatment in the juvenile justice system. The Reclaiming Futures Model combined system reforms, treatment improvement and community engagement and is now being replicated across the country.
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Ohio's Family and Youth Guide: The Family Guide to the Juvenile Justice System in Ohio, Voices for Ohio's Children
Tags: Ohio | Family and Youth Involvement | Reports
Guide reviewing juvenile court process, transfer to adult court, enhanced sentences, juvenile sex offenders, juvenile correctional facilities, and parole.
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Risking Their Futures: Why Trying Nonviolent 17-Year-Olds as Adults Is Bad Policy for Wisconsin, Wendy Henderson, Wisconsin Council on Children and Families
Tags: Wisconsin | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Report analyzing the results of a Wisconsin Council on Children and Families study of 1,000 17-year-old offenders in the adult criminal justice system in the state. The results strongly suggest a policy change.
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Sexual Violence Reported by Juvenile Correctional Authorities, 2005-06, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice
Tags: Institutional Conditions | Reports
State, local and private juvenile correctional authorities reported an estimated 4,072 allegations of sexual violence involving youth held in juvenile facilities during 2005 and 2006, about one in five of which were confirmed after an investigation. About 32 percent of the allegations involved staff sexual misconduct and 11 percent involved staff sexual harassment. The report is part of the data collection required under the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 and is prepared annually.
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State of Arizona Systems Integration Initiative Information Sharing Guide, Arizona Juvenile Justice Commission and Governor's Office for Children, Youth and Families
Tags: Crossover and Dual Jurisdiction Youth | Reports
Information sharing guide for those agencies that work with youth who are involved in both the juvenile justice and child welfare systems.
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Ten Core Principles for Providing Quality Delinquency Representation Through Public Defense Delivery Systems, National Juvenile Defender Center & National Legal Aid and Defender Association
Tags: Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Reports
Principles offering guidance to public defense leaders and policymakers regarding the role of public defenders, contract attorneys or assigned counsel in delivering zealous, comprehensive and quality legal representation on behalf of children facing both delinquency and criminal proceedings.
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Assessing Consistency and Fairness in Sentencing: A Comparative Study in Three States, National Center for State Courts
Tags: Michigan | Minnesota | Virginia | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
Report examining significantly different sentencing guidelines in three states: Virginia, where the guidelines are mandatory; Michigan, which offers some judicial discretion; and Minnesota, which has the most mandatory system of the three. The study concludes that regardless of the amount of judicial discretion, the guidelines result in consistent sentences that generally are not influenced by race and economic status. The study also notes the marked contrast of its findings to the inconsistent and discriminatory sentencing practices that were documented in each state before the implementation of the sentencing guidelines.
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Adam Walsh Act and Ohio Senate Bill 10: Effects on Children Adjudicated for Sex Offenses, Office of the Ohio Public Defender
Tags: Ohio | Sex Offender Registries | Reports
Brief explaining act in which juvenile sex offenders aged 14-17 will be classified as sex offenders and required to register this sex offender status.
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Changing Course: A Review of the First Two Years of Drug Transfer Reform in Illinois, Illinois Juvenile Justice Initiative
Tags: Illinois | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Report documenting the positive effects of the rollback of Illinois' drug transfer law. In the 1980s, Illinois adopted legislation that required 15- and 16-year-olds to be tried as adults for drug offenses within 1,000 feet of a school or public housing. Twenty years later, the Illinois General Assembly reversed the law, mandating that such cases originate in juvenile rather than adult court. The report finds that while the numbers of youth automatically transferred to adult court declined by two-thirds after the new law was passed in 2005, there was no corresponding increase in juvenile caseloads, thus indicating that the new law did not have a detrimental effect on public safety. The report bolsters the case for further reform of transfer laws to introduce more flexibility, individualization and developmentally appropriate handling.
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Getting the Facts Straight: NCCD Questions "The Impending Crime Wave" Report by Third Way, National Council on Crime and Delinquency
Tags: Crime Data and Statistics | Reports
Critical analysis of the Third Way “Impending Crime Wave” report. NCCD’s paper provides evidence from published studies and national data that counters Third Way’s assumptions, and highlights the inaccuracies of the Third Way’s reasoning.
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Stopping the School to Jail Pipeline, National Council on Crime and Delinquency
Tags: School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Brief discussing alternatives to the school to prison pipeline and suggesting ways to eliminate it.
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Mayor Bloomberg Announces New Weekend Court Processing So Youth Who Present Low Risk to the Community Can Be Returned Home Swiftly, Press Release, City of New York, Office of the Mayor
Tags: Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Administrative/Regulatory Policies | Reports
Youth aged seven to fifteen now have the right to an arraignment on weekends.
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Juvenile Justice in Arkansas: A Long Road to a Promising Future, Paul Kelly, Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families
Tags: Arkansas | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Reports
Report urging Arkansas to take advantage of a drop in juvenile crime rates to move from an institution-based system to one that allows youth to be treated for underlying problems in their communities. The report calls on the state to move from incarcerating youth in far-away prisons where their problems may be exacerbated, to treating and preventing their conduct, behavior, and substance-abuse problems in community-based programs and facilities.
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Juvenile Justice Reform in Arkansas: Building a Better Future for Youth, Their Families, and the Community, Pat Arthur and Tim Roche, in Collaboration with the Arkansas Division of Youth Services
Tags: Arkansas | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Reports
Report calling for widespread reform of Arkansas' juvenile justice system. The report finds that many non-violent youthful offenders are being confined simply because there is not an adequate array of community-based interventions available for them and their families. The authors identify factors that lead to over-reliance on secure confinement and make specific recommendations to address each. Additionally, the report identifies specific steps that can be immediately taken to better serve youth and streamline the system.
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Locking Up Our Children: The Secure Detention of Massachusetts Youth After Arraignment and Before Detention, Robin L. Dahlberg, American Civil Liberties Union
Tags: Massachusetts | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
Report documenting the use of detention by Massachusetts judges to frighten youth never convicted of wrongdoing. The report also addresses the woeful lack of placement availability in the state's child welfare and mental health systems that leave detention as the only viable option for youth who cannot be safely returned to their homes.
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Overcoming Language and Cultural Barriers Using Evidence-Based Practices, National Council of La Raza
Tags: Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
Report focusing on the use of evidence-based practices (EBPs) within the Latino juvenile population. The report discusses the utility of EBPs, but also notes the limited evidence of successful outcomes for Latino youth. More research is necessary to improve the efficacy of EBPs for Latinos; an effective juvenile justice system must assess whether the responses utilized take into account the cultural and linguistic needs of the population under their care.
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The Connecticut Juvenile Justice Strategic Plan: Moving from Plan to Action, Department of Children and Families and Judicial Branch Court Support Services Division
Tags: Connecticut | General System Reform | Reports
Plan of action for Connecticut juvenile justice reform, focused on Results Based Accountability.
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Violence by Teenage Girls: Trends and Context, Girls Study Group Report, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Summary of new study finding that “there is no burgeoning national crisis of serious violence among adolescent girls.” While girls may be arrested more for simple assaults than previously, this is likely due to changes in enforcement policies, rather than changes in girls’ behavior.
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District of Columbia's Department of Youth Rehabilitative Services Among Top 50 Innovations in Government, Harvard's Kennedy School Ash Institute Press Release
Tags: District of Columbia | Institutional Conditions | Reports
Descriptions of the Top 50 Innovations in Government submissions.
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Redeploy Illinois: A Good Investment, Juvenile Justice Initiative of Illinois
Tags: Illinois | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Fiscal Issues and Funding | Reports
Summary of Redeploy Illinois program, whose purpose is to create financial incentives to keep youth in the local community rather than commit them to the Department of Juvenile Justice through community-based alternatives.
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Juvenile Justice Reform on Track in Ohio: Class Action Settlement Filed, Press Release, Ohio Department of Youth Services and Gerhardstein and Branch
Tags: Ohio | General System Reform | Institutional Conditions | Reports
Press release announcing settlement of S.H. v. Stickrath class action lawsuit in Ohio.
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Don't Wait Up: Issues in Juvenile Justice, Charisa A. Smith, New Jersey Family Lawyer
Tags: New Jersey | Brain and Adolescent Development | Reports
Article detailing how scientific studies have proven that teenagers are more likely to thrill-seek and engage in risky and impulsive behavior because of the developmental stage of their brains. Article includes a discussion of New Jersey's shift to more punitive treatment of youth offenders and how this punitive treatment policy fails to account for brain development issues in youth.
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Jailing Communities, Justice Policy Institute
Tags: Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Report summarizes recent research findings on jails, the changing nature of jail populations, and the known impact of jails on communities and individuals.
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New Registration Requirements for Juvenile Sex Offenders: The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, H.R. 4472, NJJN Fact Sheet
Tags: Federal | Sex Offender Registries | Reports | NJJN Publications
Fact sheet describing the Adam Walsh Act and the registration requirements for complying with the act.
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No More Children Left Behind Bars: A Briefing on Youth Gang Violence and Juvenile Crime Prevention, Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice
Brief on youth gang violence and prevention concluding that: (1) education-related and community programs create healthier communities by directing young people away from gangs; (2) prevention programs are more cost-effective than suppression programs; (3) American citizens are more likely to support gang prevention programs rather than more prosecutions; (4) suppression policies have not proven effective; (5) suppression programs likely target teens of color; (6) gang involvement is related to lack of opportunity in certain areas.
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Native American Youth and the Juvenile Justice System, National Council on Crime and Delinquency
Tags: Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
Research paper outlining rates of arrested, adjudicated, and incarcerated Native American youth and concluding that Native Americans are disproportionately represented in the juvenile justice system.
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Letter to New York State Assembly re: Facility Closures, New York Juvenile Justice Coalition
Tags: New York | Deinstitutionalization | Reports
Letter urging the State Assembly to close, merge and downsize juvenile facilities. The letter's reasoning includes a minimal impact on jobs, enhancement of public safety, benefits of keeping youth closer to their families, more equitable treatment of African American and Latino youth, and cost savings.
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Governor's Commission Recommends Returning 17-Year-Olds to Juvenile Jurisdiction, Commission on Reducing Racial Disparities in the Wisconsin Justice System
Tags: Wisconsin | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
The Commission links the overrepresentation of minority youth to current juvenile justice policies and recommends returning 17-year-olds to the original jurisdiction of the juvenile court.
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Legislative Audit Report Finds Higher Recidivism Rates for 17-Year-Olds in Adult System, Wisconsin, Legislative Audit Bureau Report
Tags: Wisconsin | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Report finding that 17-year-olds in the adult system have higher recidivism rates than both youth in the juvenile system and adults in the prison system.
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Official Policy on Crossover and Dual Jurisdiction Youth, American Bar Association
Tags: Crossover and Dual Jurisdiction Youth | Reports
Recommendations and a report on policies and practices related to "dual jurisdiction" youth (abused and neglected youth with juvenile dependency cases who are charged with acts of delinquency). The recommendations include diversion and intervention for minor acts of misbehavior committed while in foster care; the provision of a single judge for post-adjudication dispositional matters; continuity of legal representation; information-sharing among dependency and delinquency courts and agencies; prompt post-arrest involvement of providers, caseworkers or advocates for the child; and elimination of detention or prolonged incarceration of youth due to foster care status or lack of placement options.
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Official Policy on Sentencing Youthful Offenders, American Bar Association
Tags: Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Recommendations urging federal, state, and local governments to authorize and implement sentencing laws and procedures that both protect public safety and appropriately recognize the mitigating considerations of age and maturity of youthful offenders (i.e., those under age 18 at the time of their offense who are subject to adult penalties upon conviction) but not necessarily through trying juvenile offenders as adults.
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State Agrees to Close Four Juvenile Facilities: A Partial Yet Significant Victory for New York's Youth, Mishi Faruqee, Children's Defense Fund-New York
Tags: New York | Deinstitutionalization | Reports
Article reviewing facility closures in New York, including information on cost savings and advocacy efforts on behalf of the closures.
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Alabama Juvenile Justice Act of 2008 Annotated Guide, Alabama, Administrative Office of Courts
Tags: Alabama | General System Reform | Legislation | Reports
Annotated guide to the Alabama Juvenile Justice Act of 2008 that is intended to aid legislators and others in locating the more significant changes in Alabama juvenile law made by the bill. The text of the bill contained in the guide is identical to the "plain" version of the bill (H.B.29/S.B.33). The guide does not comprehensively list every change that would be made by the bill, but summarizes the most significant changes.
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A Medicaid Primer for Juvenile Justice Officials, National Academy for State Health Policy
Tags: Fiscal Issues and Funding | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Physical Health | Reports
Brief providing an overview and analysis of emerging issues and developments in state health policy as applied to juveniles in the justice system.
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Arresting Children: Trends in Preteen Crime, Jeffrey A. Butts and Howard N. Snyder, Chapin Hall Center for Children
Tags: Crime Data and Statistics | Reports
Report combating a common public belief that today's juvenile offenders are younger than those of 20-25 years ago. The report notes that arrest rates for preteens remain far lower than for older juveniles. It also emphasizes the many differences between crimes committed by preteens and those of older youth. Lastly, the report offers some hypotheses as to why many juvenile justice professionals assert that youth involved in crimes are getting younger and younger, including the effects of news media reporting.
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Building on Strength: Positive Youth Development in Juvenile Justice Programs, William H. Barton and Jeffrey A. Butts, Chapin Hall Center for Children
Tags: Positive Youth Development and Strengths-Based Programming | Reports
Report summarizing observations and conclusions from an exploratory study of six juvenile justice programs that are attempting to improve their intervention approaches by using a strength-based, positive youth development perspective. The study included a series of site visits to youth programs around the United States. Programs were selected because they described themselves as working within a strength-based positive youth development approach.
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Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination's Findings, United Nations
Tags: International | International and Human Rights | Reports
Findings and recommendations from the U.N.'s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. These recommendations include: (1) the State review the definition of racial discrimination used in the federal and state legislation and in court practice, so as to ensure that it prohibits racial discrimination in all its forms, including practices and legislation that may not be discriminatory in purpose, but in effect; (2) the State strengthen its efforts to combat racial profiling at the federal and state levels, inter alia by moving expeditiously towards the adoption of the End Racial Profiling Act, or similar federal legislation; and (3) the State undertake further studies to identify the underlying causes of de facto segregation and racial inequalities in education, with a view to elaborating effective strategies aimed at promoting school de-segregation and providing equal educational opportunity in integrated settings for all students.
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Framework for Transforming the Juvenile Justice System, Voices for Ohio's Children
Tags: Ohio | General System Reform | Reports
Report articulates the vision of the Ohio Juvenile Justice Initiative, including a proposed list of characteristics identified as essential to achieving an effective Ohio Department of Youth Services continuum of care: accountability; qualified staff; safe environment; overarching comprehensive system; smaller regional facilities; effective and consistent admissions and screening, and ongoing assessments; engagement of families; appropriate discipline and intervention strategies; and others.
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Juvenile Sexual Aggression Fact Sheet, Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence
Tags: Sex Offender Registries | Reports
Fact sheet discussing current research about aggression in youth who commit sex offenses.
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Making the Right Turn: A Guide About Improving Transition Outcomes for Youth Involved in the Juvenile Corrections System, National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth
Tags: Fiscal Issues and Funding | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Physical Health | Reports
Report that features information on the transition processes for youth with disabilities in the juvenile justice system.
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No Chance to Make it Right, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
Tags: Life Without Parole and Parole Issues | Reports
Report discussing the dangers of life without parole sentences for youth and recommending the elimination of the sentence of life without parole for juveniles.
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One in 100: Behind Bars in America, Pew Center on the States
Tags: Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Report discussing how gradually, some states are proving that deploying a broad range of sanctions can protect communities, punish lawbreakers and conserve tax dollars for other pressing public needs.
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Reducing Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice System: A Manual for Practioners and Policymakers, The Sentencing Project
Tags: Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
Comprehensive manual for practitioners and policymakers providing insight into how racial disparities develop in the criminal justice system, and workable solutions to address and reduce disparities at each stage of the system.
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Rethinking Juvenile Justice, Press Release of Book by Laurence Steinberg and Elizabeth Scott, Harvard University Press
Tags: Youth in the Adult System | Reports
The authors condemn the common practice of trying youth as adults and make two major recommendations: 1) set a national presumptive age of adult jurisdiction of 18; 2) never try any child under 15 as an adult. The proposals are based on the proven damaging effects of incarcerating youth in adult prisons, the high cost of incarceration, the success of community-based programs, and the amenability of youth to rehabilitation. The book notes also that the public generally supports rehabilitation for youth.
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What Will it Cost States to Comply with the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act?, Justice Policy Institute
Tags: Federal | Ohio | Virginia | Sex Offender Registries | Reports
Report providing a chart that shows that for all states, the first-year cost of implementing SORNA outweighs the cost of losing 10 percent of the state's Byrne Grant money (the consequence of not complying with SORNA by July 2009). The sheet also gives detailed information on the cost analyses performed by Ohio and Virginia.
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The Bridge Project Cost-Benefit Analysis
Tags: International | Fiscal Issues and Funding | Reports
This report analyzes the economic costs associated with juvenile offenses, to determine the cost-avoidance benefits associated with The Bridge Project of YMCA Victoria, in Victoria, Australia, which provides work placement and job training.
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The Illinois Juvenile Defender Practice Notebook
Tags: Illinois | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Reports | Partner Publications
Written by the Children and Family Justice Center of the Bluhm Legal Clinic at Northwestern University School of Law and the National Juvenile Defender Center, and funded by Models for Change, this notebook serves as a practical guide for juvenile defense attorneys in Illinois.
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Putting the Juvenile Back in Juvenile Justice, Action for Children North Carolina
Tags: North Carolina | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Issue brief exploring in three parts why transferring youth to the adult criminal system is not working and what can be done about it. First, the report looks at the latest scientific research on adolescent brain development, which shows that teenagers' brains are still developing adult reasoning capabilities and that environmental influences affect this development. Second, the report examines North Carolina and national data that show that transferring youth to the adult criminal system (versus treating them in a juvenile justice system) decreases public safety. Finally, the report puts forward policy recommendations for how North Carolina can bring state criminal law regarding older youth into line with current practices, research and data.
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Mental Health Screening Within Juvenile Justice: The Next Frontier, National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice, Models for Change
Tags: Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
Report detailing the current use of mental health screening, recommending policies and procedures, and discussing implementation of mental health screening.
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2007 State Spending on Children in DYS Custody, Alabama Youth Justice Coalition
Tags: Alabama | Deinstitutionalization | Fiscal Issues and Funding | Reports
Map of state spending by county of children incarcerated by the Alabama Department of Youth Services.
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Advances in Juvenile Justice Reform, 2006-2007, National Juvenile Justice Network
Tags: General System Reform | Reports | NJJN Publications
Compilation of legislative, judicial and administrative advances and new funding allocations that have led to the closure of large, harmful juvenile prisons; increases in programs that offer community-based alternatives to confinement; strengthened practice standards for juvenile defenders; and additional procedural and substantive protections for youth in and out of court. The booklet includes advances from states across the country sorted into substantive issue categories. Each advance is briefly summarized with a citation. Advances cited in the booklet may be found on NJJN’s Web site.
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Cruel and Unusual: Sentencing 13 and 14 Year Olds to Die in Prison, Equal Justice Initiative
Tags: Life Without Parole and Parole Issues | Reports
Report illuminating the cruel and unusual punishment of life sentences without parole inflicted on children, particularly for those who have been without legal help for so long that the procedural obstacles to winning relief in court will be formidable.
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Jailing Juveniles: The Dangers of Incarcerating Youth in Adult Jails in America, Campaign for Youth Justice
Tags: Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Paper describing and outlining the negative consequences of pushing juvenile offenders into the adult criminal justice system.
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Pepper Spray in the Texas Youth Commission: Research Review and Policy Recommendations, Texas Criminal Justice Coalition
Tags: Texas | Institutional Conditions | Reports
Report highlighting key findings from research on the use of pepper spray, and making recommendations for decreasing the use of pepper spray while improving safety.
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Sentencing Children to Die in Prison, University of San Francisco School of Law
Tags: Life Without Parole and Parole Issues | Reports
Report focusing on the sentencing of child offenders—those convicted of crimes committed when younger than 18 years of age—to a term of life imprisonment without the possibility of release or parole.
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Youth Who Commit Sex Offenses, NJJN Fact Sheet 2007
Tags: National | Sex Offender Registries | Reports | NJJN Publications
Fact sheet explaining differences between juvenile sex offenders and adult sex offenders.
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Residential Treatment Programs: Concerns Regarding Abuse and Death in Certain Program for Troubled Youth, Government Accountability Office
Tags: Institutional Conditions | Reports
Highlights of testimony from the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) testimony about abuse in certain programs for troubled youth. GAO found thousands of allegations of abuse, some of which involved death, at residential treatment programs across the country and in American-owned and American-operated facilities abroad between the years 1990 and 2007. Allegations included reports of abuse and death recorded by state agencies and the Department of Health and Human Services, allegations detailed in pending civil and criminal trials with hundreds of plaintiffs, and claims of abuse and death that were posted on the Internet.
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Report on Private Youth Prison, Office of the Independent Ombudsman for the Texas Youth Commission
Tags: Texas | Institutional Conditions | Privatization | Reports
Report of observations from site visit to a private youth facility in Texas. Overall report consensus is that the youth at this private facility did not have the proper programming or resources.
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Texas' School to Prison Pipeline, Dropout to Incarceration: The Impact of School Discipline and Zero Tolerance, Texas Appleseed
Tags: Texas | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Report examining disciplinary referrals for a five-year period (2001-06), disaggregated by seriousness of offense (mandatory versus discretionary referrals), race, ethnicity, participation in special education, and grade level for all Texas school districts. The findings underscore the importance of Texas school districts utilizing more effective, research-based strategies to improve student behavior, reduce school dropouts, and help stem the growth of Texas' prison system, the largest in the nation.
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American Psychological Association Report Challenges School Zero Tolerance Policies and Recommends Restorative Justice, Restorative Practices E-Forum
Tags: School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Brief summarizing a report issued by the American Psychological Association at their summer 2006 annual meeting that found that zero tolerance policies in use throughout U.S. school districts have not been effective in reducing violence or promoting learning in school. The report called for a change in these policies and indicated a need for alternatives, including restorative practices such as restorative justice conferences.
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No Easy Answers: Sex Offender Laws in the U.S., Human Rights Watch
Tags: Sex Offender Registries | Reports
Paper discussing the implications of Megan’s Laws and revealing that sex offender registration, community notification, and residency restriction laws are ill-considered, poorly crafted, and may cause more harm than good. Moreover, paper concludes that: (1) registration laws are overbroad in scope and overlong in duration, requiring people to register who pose no safety risk; (2) under community notification laws, anyone anywhere can access online sex offender registries for purposes that may have nothing to do with public safety (harassment of and violence against registrants have been the predictable result); and (3) in many cases, residency restrictions have the effect of banishing registrants from entire urban areas and forcing them to live far from their homes and families.
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Site Visit Report: Coke County Juvenile Justice Center, Office of the Independent Ombudsman for the Texas Youth Commission
Tags: Texas | Institutional Conditions | Reports
Report of observations from site visit to a private youth facility in Texas. Overall report consensus is that the youth at this private facility did not have the proper programming or resources.
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Education and Public Safety, Justice Policy Institute
Tags: General System Reform | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Research brief summarizing recent findings on what is known about educational attainment as it relates to crime trends and public safety. Brief compares state-level education data with crime rates and incarceration rates and finds that those states that have focused the most on education tend to have lower violent crime rates and lower incarceration rates. Other findings include: (1) graduation rates are associated with positive public safety outcomes; (2) states with higher levels of educational attainment also have lower crime rates than the national average; (3) states with higher college enrollment levels have lower violent crime rates than states with lower college enrollment levels; (4) states that make bigger investments in higher education see better public safety outcomes; and (5) the risk of incarceration, higher violent crime rates, and low educational attainment are concentrated among communities of color, who are more likely to suffer from barriers to educational opportunities.
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Gang Wars: The Failure of Enforcement Tactics and the Need for Effective Safety Strategies, Judith Greene and Kevin Pranis, Justice Policy Institute
Report on effective prevention and intervention for gang activity.
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Evidence-Based Juvenile Offender Programs, Washington State Institute for Public Policy
Tags: Washington | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Reports
List of six juvenile offender programs in Washington that have been identified by the Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP) as evidence-based. Each program listing contains a brief description, information regarding quality assurance, program cost per participant, and a list of the research citations used in WSIPP's analysis.
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Progress and Perils in the Juvenile Justice and Mental Health Movement, Thomas Grisso, Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 35:2:158-167
Tags: Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
Article describing the juvenile justice and mental health movement, discussing the circumstances that motivated it, and providing examples of its progress.
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Mental Health Needs of Juvenile Offenders
Tags: Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Risk Assessment and Screening | Reports
This report focuses on how multi-system partnerships can help address the mental health needs of youth in the juvenile justice system.
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H.B. 492, Raise Juvenile Jurisdiction from 16 to 18 Years Old Action for Children North Carolina Fact Sheet
Tags: North Carolina | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Fact sheet summarizing bill that would give the juvenile courts jurisdiction over 16- and 17-year-olds initially and allow the judge discretion to send felony cases to the adult system. The fact sheet highlights the benefits of the bill, including increased public safety, increased accountability of youth, more family involvement, and improved treatment of black youth.
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Age of Delinquency System Flow Chart, Action for Children North Carolina
Tags: North Carolina | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Chart presents three scenarios for how youth who have committed different offenses may be handled by the juvenile justice system versus the adult criminal justice system in North Carolina.
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Engaging Young People in Juvenile Justice Reform, National Collaboration for Youth and National Juvenile Justice Network
Tags: Family and Youth Involvement | Reports | NJJN Publications
Brief raising issues that can be considered when embarking on an effort to incorporate youth in juvenile justice reform efforts. It addresses the challenges involved in recruiting and retaining young people and highlights various community-based and governmental organizations that empower youth to advocate for, and provide significant input into, system reform.
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Redeploy Illinois: A Good Investment, Juvenile Justice Initiative of Illinois, FY 2009 Appropriations
Tags: Illinois | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Fiscal Issues and Funding | Reports
Report summarizing Redeploy Illinois study in which four sites were provided with financial support to deliver comprehensive services in their home communities to youth who might otherwise have been sent to the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (IDJJ) with a goal of reducing juvenile commitments by twenty five percent. In the first two years of implementation, the Redeploy Illinois pilot sites, on average, reduced commitments to IDJJ by forty four percent, or 226 fewer youth, thereby saving the state of Illinois millions of dollars.
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California Introduces New Gang Injunction Guidelines, California, Los Angeles City Attorney's Office
Tags: California | Gangs | Reports
Guidelines representing the internal policy of the Los Angeles Attorney's office in regards to their dealings with gangs and gang violence.
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Critical Needs of Maryland's Youth Facilities, Juvenile Justice Monitoring Unit, Office of the Attorney General, Second Quarter
Tags: Maryland | Institutional Conditions | Reports
Report summarizing major concerns in Department of Juvenile Services residential facilities identified this reporting period, as well as deficiencies or concerns reported in earlier periods that have not been corrected.
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U.S. Immigration Law, Including What to Do When Questioned or Detained by the Police, ICE or FBI, Youth Justice Coalition
Tags: Immigration | Reports
Guidebook describing (1) what immigrants should do when stopped by law enforcement officials, (2) what they should do when faced with deportation, (3) information for immigrant students, (4) summaries of immigration law and policy, (5) history of immigration policy, and (5) where immigrants can go for support.
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Why Do "Shadow Reporting"?, U.S. Human Rights Network
Tags: International | International and Human Rights | Reports
Brief describing the importance of juvenile justice "shadow reporting" the process by which information is submitted by non-governmental organizations to the treaty monitoring bodies that address omissions, deficiencies, or inaccuracies in the official government reports.
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What Wave?: The Evidence for a Recent National Rise in Crime is Murky - and Implementing Get-Tough Remedies to Address the Alleged Wave Would Be Misguided, Marc Mauer, American Prospect
Tags: Crime Data and Statistics | Reports
Article discussing the “murky evidence” of an impending increase in youth crime and concluding that taking punitive policy steps to curb this potential increase would be ill-advised.
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Report on Study of Youthful Offenders Pursuant to Session Law 2006-248, Sections 34.1 and 34.2, North Carolina Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission
Tags: North Carolina | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Report recommending that the state raise the age of adult jurisdiction from 16 to 18. The legislature did not pass the proposed legislation.
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The Consequences Aren't Minor, Campaign for Youth Justice
Tags: Youth in the Adult System | Reports | Partner Publications
Book highlighting the practice of trying youth as adults in the following states: California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Each chapter contains comprehensive information on the processes and policies that send youth to the adult criminal justice system, data on who is affected, and real-life examples of individual youth who have been personally affected by these laws.
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Protecting the Future of Oregon's Youth: The Justice for Youth Campaign, Partnership for Safety and Justice
Tags: Oregon | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Brief discussing the problems with transferring youth to the adult criminal court, the benefits of juvenile court, implications of adolescent brain development research and the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roper v. Simmons, public safety considerations, and public opinion polls.
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Connecticut Juvenile Jurisdiction Planning and Implementation Committee Final Report
Tags: Connecticut | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Report intended to help to bring Connecticut justice policy in line with national best practice by incorporating all youth under 18 years of age under the jurisdiction of the Superior Court for Juvenile Matters ("juvenile court").
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Attitudes of U.S. Voters Toward Youth Crime and the Justice System, Barry Krisberg and Susan Marchionna, National Council on Crime and Delinquency
Tags: Public Opinion and Messaging | Reports | Research
National public opinion poll about American attitudes toward the nation's response to youth crime. The results of this poll show that striking majorities favor rehabilitative services for young people and, despite a lack of confidence in the juvenile system, are largely opposed to prosecuting youth in the adult court and incarcerating youth in adult facilities.
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Back to School: Educational Guide for Youth Coming Back from Detention or Custodial Placements, New York Juvenile Justice Coalition
Tags: New York | Aftercare/Reentry | Reports
Hands-on brochure containing guidelines and suggestions for youth returning to New York City Public Schools from detention or custody.
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Advances in Juvenile Justice Reform, 2005-2006, National Juvenile Justice Network
Tags: General System Reform | Reports | NJJN Publications
Compilation of legislative, judicial and administrative advances and new funding allocations that have led to the closure of large, harmful juvenile prisons; increases in programs that offer community-based alternatives to confinement; strengthened practice standards for juvenile defenders; and additional procedural and substantive protections for youth in and out of court. The booklet includes advances from states across the country sorted into substantive issue categories. Each advance is briefly summarized with a citation. Advances cited in the booklet may be found on NJJN’s Web site.
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And Justice for Some: Differential Treatment of Youth of Color in the Justice System, National Council on Crime and Delinquency
Tags: Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
Report updating a 2000 report entitled "And Justice for Some: Differential Treatment of Minority Youth in the Justice System," published by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency in collaboration with Building Blocks for Youth. The report documents "cumulative disadvantage" at the national level.
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A Day in the Life of American Adolescents: Substance Use Facts, The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Tags: Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
Report presenting facts about adolescent substance use, including information on the initiation of substance use, past year substance use, and receipt of substance use treatment. The data presented in this report are from the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the 2005 Treatment Episode Data Set, and the 2005 National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services.
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Adolescent Offenders and the Line Between the Juvenile and Criminal Justice Systems, Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University
Tags: North Carolina | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Report consists of five briefs: (1) Brief 1 provides background and recent history on the handling of adolescent off enders in the United States and North Carolina; a description of how the current North Carolina juvenile justice system works; recent North Carolina juvenile justice statistics; and information on programs and facilities for adolescent offenders in North Carolina and other states; (2) Brief 2 discusses research on youth development pertaining to three issues central to policies for adolescent offenders: blameworthiness, competence to stand trial, and the potential for an adolescent's character to change; (3) Brief 3 details how other states treat adolescent offenders; (4) Brief 4 discusses research on how juvenile crime rates respond to changes in punishment laws; (5) Brief 5 presents three policy options and a series of further considerations.
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Blueprint for Change: A Comprehensive Model for the Identification and Treatment of Youth with Mental Health Needs in Contact with the Juvenile Justice System, National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice
Tags: Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
Report representing four years of work to develop a conceptual and practical framework for juvenile justice and mental health systems to use when developing strategies, policies, and services aimed at improving mental health services for youth involved with the juvenile justice system. The Model, which sets the highest goals for the system to work towards, summarizes what is known about the best way to identify and treat mental disorders among youth at key stages of juvenile justice processing and offers recommendations, guidelines, and examples for how best to do this.
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Effects on Violence of Laws and Policies Facilitating the Transfer of Juveniles from the Juvenile Justice System to the Adult Justice System: A Systematic Review, Angela McGowan, et al., American Journal of Preventive Medicine
Tags: Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Review of published scientific evidence concerning the effectiveness of laws and policies that facilitate the transfer of juveniles to the adult criminal justice system, on either preventing or reducing violence among those youth who experience the adult criminal system or in the juvenile population as a whole.
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Juvenile Justice and the Convention on the Rights of the Child - General Comment 10, Committee on the Rights of the Child
Tags: International | International and Human Rights | Reports
Comment on the objectives of the Convention. These objectives are: (1) to encourage States to develop and implement a comprehensive juvenile justice policy to prevent and address juvenile delinquency based on and in compliance with the CRC, and to seek in this regard advice and support from the Interagency Panel on Juvenile Justice; (2) to provide States with guidance and recommendations for the content of this comprehensive juvenile justice policy, with special attention for prevention of juvenile delinquency; and (3) to promote the integration in a national and comprehensive juvenile justice policy of other international standards.
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Overview of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, United Nations
Tags: International | International and Human Rights | Reports
Overview document describing the aim of the Convention and key issues addressed by the Convention. These issues include: (1) defining "child," (2) eliminating inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment, (3) framing detention as a measure of last resort, (4) treating children with humanity and in an age-appropriate manner, (5) providing legal assistance, and (6) discussing general legal safeguards.
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Public Opinion Favors Youth Tried in Juvenile System, Florida State University
Tags: Florida | Public Opinion and Messaging | Reports | Research
Press release about public opinions regarding the juvenile justice system in Florida. The main finding of the poll was that about 64 percent of survey respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that even violent juvenile offenders can be rehabilitated.
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Sexual Offense Adjudication and Sexual Recidivism Among Juvenile Offenders, Michael F. Caldwell
Tags: Sex Offender Registries | Reports
Study comparing the recidivism patterns of a cohort of 249 juvenile sexual offenders and 1,780 non-sexual offending delinquents who were released from secured custody over a two and one half year period. The prevalence of sex offenders with new sexual offense charges during the 5 year follow-up period was 6.8%, compared to 5.7% for the non-sexual offenders, a non-significant difference. Juvenile sex offenders were nearly ten times more likely to have been charged with a nonsexual offense than a sexual offense. Eighty-five percent of the new sexual offenses in the follow-up period were accounted for by the non-sex offending delinquents. None of the 54 homicides (including three sexual homicides) was committed by a juvenile sex offender. The implications of the results for recent public policy trends that impose restrictions that are triggered by a sexual offense adjudication are discussed.
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Shadow Report" to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Juvenile Justice Advocates
Tags: International | International and Human Rights | Reports
Report addressing racial and ethnic discrimination in the juvenile justice system, starting with the criminalization of children in school and through the sentencing of children to life without parole. Major points of the report: (1) the school system has become a significant entry point into the juvenile justice system through harsh disciplinary policies that mandate school suspension, expulsion, and arrest for an increasing array of minor student behaviors and typical adolescent rule infractions; (2) from 1985 to 1995, the number of youth held in secure, pre-trial detention in the U.S. increased by 72 percent; (3) the majority of children in the juvenile justice system are poor, children of color, and represented by ineffective counsel; (4) African American and Latino/a youth regularly receive more severe sentences than white youth across all types of crime categories adjudicated in juvenile courts; (5) the facts of racial discrimination in the incarceration of children who have been adjudicated in juvenile or adult criminal court are undisputed.
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What Are the Implications of Adolescent Brain Development for Juvenile Justice?, Part II - Applying Research to Practice, Coalition for Juvenile Justice
Tags: Brain and Adolescent Development | Reports
Discussion of the key differences in brain development between youth and adults and how the criminal justice system largely ignores these differences. Recommends a new juvenile justice framework that takes into account these differences.
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Public Opinion and the Foundation of the Juvenile Court, Daniel P. Mears, et al., Crimonology
Tags: Public Opinion and Messaging | Reports
Article discussing implications of study that addresses juvenile justice reform by examining public views about 1) abolishing juvenile justice and 2) the proper upper age of original juvenile court jurisdiction. The analyses suggest support for the lingering appeal of juvenile justice among the public and the idea that youth can be "saved," as well as arguments about the politicization and criminalization of juvenile justice. They also highlight that the public, like states, holds variable views about the appropriate age of juvenile court jurisdiction.
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Human Rights as a Catalyst for Juvenile Justice Reform, National Collaboration for Youth and National Juvenile Justice Network
Tags: International | International and Human Rights | Reports | NJJN Publications
Brief providing juvenile justice and youth advocates with a basic primer on international law as it relates to the treatment of youth in conflict with the law and including examples of how juvenile justice advocates have been using and can continue to use international law for reform efforts in the U.S.
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Models for Change: Building Momentum for Juvenile Justice Reform
Tags: General System Reform | Reports
Paper summarizing the Models for Change initiative and its success around the country. Models for Change is an effort to create successful and replicable models of juvenile justice reform through targeted investments in key states, and is funded by the MacArthur Foundation. Models for Change seeks to accelerate movement toward a more effective, fair, and developmentally sound juvenile justice system that holds young people accountable for their actions, provides for their rehabilitation, protects them from harm, increases their life chances, and manages the risk they pose to themselves and to the public.
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Report on Conditions at Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center, Vermont Protection and Advocacy, December 2006
Tags: Vermont | Detention | Institutional Conditions | Reports
Between 2007 and 2011, Vermont’s Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center’s Detention Unit improved its conditions of confinement and services to youth, including provision of adequate heat and air conditioning, cleaning services, special education services, mental health treatment, and case management coordination, as well as decreases in the use of seclusion and restraint. Additionally, Woodside currently shares copies of all use-of-force reports with Vermont’s federally authorized Protection and Advocacy organization. The facility implemented the changes after five years of advocacy efforts to improve conditions at the facility.
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Dangers of Detention: The Impact of Incarcerating Youth in Detention and Other Secure Facilities, Justice Policy Institute
Tags: Detention | Institutional Conditions | Reports
Policy brief looking at the impact of detention on young people, their families, and communities. Brief shows that, given the new findings that detaining youth may not make communities safer, the costs of needlessly detaining young people who do not need to be there are simply too high. Policymakers instead should look to detention reform as a means to reduce the number of young people needlessly detained, and reinvest the savings in juvenile interventions proven to reduce recidivism and crime, and that can help build healthy and safe communities.
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Reducing Disproportionate Minority Contact in the Juvenile Justice System: Promising Practices, Emily R. Cabaniss, et al., Aggression and Violent Behavior
Tags: Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports | NJJN Publications
Article reviewing and synthesizing national best practices for successfully reducing DMC in the juvenile justice system including: (a) data review and decision-point mapping; (b) cultural competency training; (c) increasing community-based detention alternatives; (d) removing decision-making subjectivity; (e) reducing barriers to family involvement; and (f) cultivating state leadership to legislate system-level change.
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Too Soon to Tell: Deciphering Recent Trends in Youth Violence, Issue Brief, Jeffrey A. Butts and Howard N. Snyder, Chapin Hall Center for Children
Tags: Crime Data and Statistics | Reports
Issue brief discussing concerns over the prediction of an increase in youth crime and concluding that those predictions are too premature.
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Undocumented Immigrant Youth: Guide for Advocates and Service Providers, National Collaboration for Youth and National Juvenile Justice Network
Tags: Immigration | Reports | NJJN Publications
Information on how the criminal and juvenile justice systems can affect undocumented immigrant youth.
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Do You Know Where the Children Are?, Barbara Fedders and Barbara Kaban
Tags: Massachusetts | Detention | Institutional Conditions | Reports
Report on youth held without bail in Massachusetts.
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Juvenile Prisons: Paying More for Less Safety, Alabama Youth Justice Coalition
Tags: Alabama | Deinstitutionalization | Fiscal Issues and Funding | Reports
Flyer highlighting the high cost of placing youth in juvenile prisons in Alabama.
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Are Zero Tolerance Policies Effective in the Schools?, American Psychological Association
Tags: School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Report denouncing use of zero tolerance policies and recommending a restorative justice approach.
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Medicaid for Youth in the Juvenile Justice System, Youth Law Center
Tags: Fiscal Issues and Funding | Physical Health | Reports
Document providing background information on how Medicaid applies to youth in the juvenile justice system.
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The Connecticut Juvenile Justice Strategic Plan: Building Toward a Better Future, Department of Children and Families and Judicial Branch Court Support Services Division
Tags: Connecticut | General System Reform | Reports
Strategic plan developed by multiple public and private stakeholders including goals and action strategies around resource development; coordination, collaboration and information sharing; data analysis; and workforce development and training.
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Title IV-E for Youth in the Juvenile Justice System, Youth Law Center
Tags: Fiscal Issues and Funding | Reports
Document providing background information on how Title IV-E of the Social Security Act applies to youth in the juvenile justice system.
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Teleconference on Three Paths to Reform, Jody Marksamer, Tamara Lange, and Mishi Faruqee
Tags: Hawaii | New York | LGBTQ Youth | Reports
Jody Marksamer from the National Center on Lesbian Rights, Tamara Lange from the ACLU, and Mishi Faruqee from the Juvenile Justice Project of New York, talk about best practice standards for the care LGBT youth in institutions, successful recent litigation in Hawaii, and model legislation in New York, respectively.
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Action Alert Against Legislation that Puts Youth on Sex Offender Registries, National Juvenile Defender Center
Tags: Federal | Sex Offender Registries | Reports
Action alert from campaign to keep youth off of sex offender registries.
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Common LGBT Terms, National Center for Lesbian Rights
Tags: LGBTQ Youth | Reports
Glossary of LGBT terms.
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Juvenile Residential Facility Census, 2002: Selected Findings, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Tags: Institutional Conditions | Reports
Census designed to collect information on such characteristics as type, size, structure, security arrangements, and ownership. Survey also examines a range of services provided to youth in residential facilities and reports on the number of deaths of juveniles in custody. Data indicate that the number of juvenile offenders in custody nationwide decreased seven percent between 2000 and 2002; decreases averaging 13 percent were seen in 36 states, while 12 states had increases averaging 11 percent. The number of youth who died in custody also declined between 2000 and 2002, from 30 to 26. Data suggest that crowding is a problem in a significant number of residential facilities, but there are signs of improvement.
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Legal Rights of LGBTQ Youth in the Juvenile Justice System, National Center for Lesbian Rights
Tags: LGBTQ Youth | Reports
Paper discussing civil rights of all those in the juvenile justice system and examining how these rights apply to LGBT youth.
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LGBTQ Youth in the Juvenile Justice System, National Center for Lesbian Rights
Tags: LGBTQ Youth | Reports
Paper discussing civil rights of all those in the juvenile justice system and examining how these rights apply to LGBT youth.
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Youth with Mental Health Disorders in the Juvenile Justice System: Results from a Multi-State Prevalence Study
Tags: General System Reform | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Risk Assessment and Screening | Reports
An in-depth study from the National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice, in collaboration with the Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators, focusing on the prevalence of mental health disorders. The study draws upon data from over 1,400 youth in 29 different programs and facilities across three states.
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An Overview of the JDAI Facility Site Assessment Process, Center for Children's Law and Policy
Tags: Detention | Institutional Conditions | Reports
Overview document providing (1) a summary of the entire facility site assessment process from start to finish, (2) an extensive set of standards contained in the JDAI Facility Site Assessment Instrument (3) a set of “How To” documents that provide suggestions for assessing each major issue area involved in a facility assessment (4) additional handouts and materials presented in conjunction with trainings on how to conduct an assessment.
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Service Coordination Strengthens Youth Reentry, National Collaboration for Youth and NJJN
Tags: Aftercare/Reentry | Reports | NJJN Publications
Policy brief focusing on the importance of service coordination among public and private agencies to provide an aftercare or reentry system that addresses the multiple needs of incarcerated youth. The brief explores federal and state policy initiatives to encourage coordination, addresses the issue of information sharing and juvenile confidentiality, and highlights local programs that are notable for their public and private partnerships.
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Treated Like Trash: Youth in Detention Before, During and After Hurricane Katrina, Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana
Tags: Louisiana | Institutional Conditions | Reports
Report following the journey taken by youth offenders in New Orleans post-Katrina. Report has three objectives: (1) to allow the children held at OPP to tell the story of what happened to them inside that prison before, during and after Hurricane Katrina; (2) to identify the institutional failures present long before the storm which allowed for these events to take place; and (3) to begin the discussion on how to reform the city's juvenile justice system.
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Psychiatric Disorders of Youth in Detention, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Tags: Illinois | Detention | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
Bulletin discussing psychiatric disorders prevalent in youth offenders. Bulletin draws on research conducted by the Northwestern Juvenile Project, which measured the prevalence of alcohol, drug, and mental disorders among youth detained at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in Illinois. The study examined the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among youth by gender, race and ethnicity, and age.
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Racial Disparities in Juvenile Justice: Disproportionate Minority Confinement in Wisconsin, Wisconsin Council on Children and Families
Tags: Wisconsin | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
Paper based on interview with Racine County Human Services revealing the efforts in Wisconsin to reduce DMC (only 21% of youth in Wisconsin are minorities, but they represent 63.5% of youth in juvenile justice facilities).
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Rethinking the Juvenile in Juvenile Justice, Wisconsin Council on Children and Families
Tags: Wisconsin | Brain and Adolescent Development | Reports
Report analyzing the most recent findings on adolescent brain development, along with the practical implications for the justice system. The report includes policy recommendations to address community safety while also taking into account the developmentally appropriate treatment of adolescents in legal trouble.
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What Deficit Reduction Means for People with Mental Disabilities, Bazelon Center Mental Health Policy Reporter
Tags: Fiscal Issues and Funding | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Physical Health | Reports
Report summarizing the changes to Medicaid coverage and eligibility made by the Deficit Reduction Act in 2006.
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Is There Justice in the Juvenile Justice System: Examining the Role of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, Justice Policy Journal
Tags: Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
Article explaining the importance of understanding the role of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) in adjudicating juvenile offenders. The author, Sharon J. Williams, notes a system-wide lack of critical knowledge of FASD, includes data on the prevalence of FASD in the juvenile justice system, and demonstrates how social adaptive behaviors, learning disabilities and behavior problems associated with FASD affect individuals in the juvenile justice system.
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The Deficit Reduction Act: A Review of Key Medicaid Provisions Affecting Children and Families
Tags: Fiscal Issues and Funding | Physical Health | Reports
Issue brief reviewing the Medicaid provisions in the Deficit Reduction Act that affect children and families.
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A Blueprint for Juvenile Justice Reform (Second Edition), Youth Transition Funders Group
Tags: General System Reform | Reports
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New National Report Reveals that Non-Criminal Offenses Send Girls into Detention Far More Often than Boys, Juvenile Justice Initiative
Tags: Illinois | Girls | Reports
Press release discussing a national report released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation indicating that girls are far more likely to be sent to detention for non-criminal offenses such as technical violations of probation and status offenses such as running away and truancy.
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A Rallying Cry for Change, Executive Summary of Report on Girls in Florida's Juvenile Justice System, National Council on Crime and Delinquency
Tags: Florida | Girls | Reports
Report presents research findings on the pathways of girls into the Florida juvenile justice system and identifies their treatment needs. Additionally, it furthers the discussion about an essential set of services and a system of care that meets the multiple needs of girls in the juvenile justice system. The research supports change in the response to girls, both in treatment services and in policy/system changes that are needed to increase success with the girls.
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Best Practice Guidelines for LGBT Youth in Out of Home Care, Child Welfare League of America
Tags: LGBTQ Youth | Reports
Guidelines on how to appropriately treat and care for LGBT youth in out of home care, including juvenile institutions.
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Creating Inclusive Systems for LGBT Youth in Out-of-Home Care, Shannan Wilber, Carolyn Reyes, and Jody Marksamer, The Model Standards Project
Tags: LGBTQ Youth | Reports
Paper describing the Model Standards Project, which was developed in response to numerous calls that staff members had received from across the country relating the experiences of LGBT youth in foster care and juvenile justice settings, and requesting guidance about appropriate responses. The goal of the MSP is to develop a practice tool to highlight the needs of LGBT youth in out-of-home care and to improve services and outcomes. Paper sets forth the following recommendations for LGBTQ youth in the system: (1) creating an inclusive organizational culture, (2) recruiting and supporting competent caregivers and staff, (3) respecting privacy and confidentiality, (4) providing appropriate placements, and (5) providing sensitive support services.
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Statement on Sex Offender Residency Restrictions, Iowa County Attorneys Association
Tags: Iowa | Sex Offender Registries | Reports
Paper discussing the negative consequences of juvenile sex offender residency restriction laws. Paper concludes that there is no correlation between residency restrictions and reducing sex offense against children or improving the safety of children.
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What Are the Implications of Adolescent Brain Development for Juvenile Justice?, Part I - Emerging Concepts, Coalition for Juvenile Justice
Tags: Brain and Adolescent Development | Reports
Brief outlining adolescent brain development resources and discussing how the distinction between youth and adults is not simply one of age, but one of motivation, impulse control, judgment, culpability and physiological maturation.
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Public Preferences for Rehabilitation Versus Incarceration of Juvenile Offenders: Evidence from a Contingent Valuation Survey, Daniel S. Nagin, et al.
Tags: Public Opinion and Messaging | Reports | Research
Study assessing public support for both punitively- and nonpunitively-oriented juvenile justice policies by measuring respondents' willingness to pay for various policy proposals. It employs methodology known as "contingent valuation" (CV) that permits the comparison of respondents' willingness to pay (WTP) for competing policy alternatives. Specifically, study compares CV-based estimates for the public's WTP for two distinctively different responses to serious juvenile crime: incarceration and rehabilitation. An additional focus of analysis is an examination of the public's WTP for an early childhood prevention program. The analysis indicates that the public is at least as willing to pay for rehabilitation as punishment for juvenile offenders and that WTP for early childhood prevention is also substantial.
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Co-Offending and Patterns of Juvenile Crime, National Institute of Justice
An examination of juvenile offenders in an urban center, which uncovered several patterns of crime related to co-offending. This report focuses on three of those patterns: how co-offending is related to (1) the age of offenders, (2) recidivism, and (3) violence. The report is particularly useful for advocates who are addressing issues of gang involvement and gang violence. The report helps synthesize research about youth development, group identification, and juvenile delinquency.
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The Relevance of Brain Research to Juvenile Defense, Robert E. Shepherd, Jr., American Bar Association, Criminal Justice
Tags: Brain and Adolescent Development | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Reports
Summary of adolescent brain research and the implications of this research, emphasizing the importance of lawyers understanding youth brain development.
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Fact Sheet on Crime, Race and Juvenile Justice Policy in Perspective, Justice Policy Institute
Tags: Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
Fact sheet dispelling the myth that youth of color commit more crime than white youth.
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Focusing Juvenile Justice on Positive Youth Development, Jeffrey Butts, Susan Mayer and Gretchen Ruth, Chapin Hall Center for Children Issue Brief
Tags: Positive Youth Development and Strengths-Based Programming | Reports
Paper arguing and presenting evidence that before another juvenile crime wave appears, policymakers and practitioners should do everything possible to ensure that the juvenile justice system has a clear plan of intervention and a menu of evidence-based programs for all types of youth, including offenders charged with property offenses, minor drug offenses, and various misdemeanors.
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Medicaid Insurance Policy for Youths Involved in the Criminal Justice System, American Journal of Public Health
Tags: Fiscal Issues and Funding | Physical Health | Reports
Article discussing gaps in Medicaid coverage for youth in the justice system, and suggesting policy interventions to enhance access to services for justice-involved youth.
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The Rest of Their Lives: Life Without Parole for Child Offenders in the United States, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International
Tags: Life Without Parole and Parole Issues | Reports
Report analyzing national life without parole sentences for children.
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Introduction to the National Girls Health Screen Project: The Findings from the Medical Case File Review of Girls Being Held in Detention and the Preliminary Analysis of Health/Mental Health Studies of Girls in the Juvenile Justice System, Leslie Acoca
Tags: Girls | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Physical Health | Reports
Brief discussing that girls are the fastest growing segment of the juvenile justice system across the United States, even as overall rates of juvenile offending are declining.
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One Out of Ten: The Growing Suspension Crisis in North Carolina, North Carolina Child Advocacy Institute
Tags: North Carolina | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Report discussing high rates of suspension in North Carolina schools, negative effects of suspension, and steps to reduce suspension, including involvement of caring adults and families, risk assessments of suspended fifth and sixth graders, and expansion and promotion of existing alternative learning programs.
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Transition: Building Better Lives For Youth Leaving Foster Care, Children's Action Alliance
Tags: Crossover and Dual Jurisdiction Youth | Reports
Report providing updated information on federal laws and funding, existing state support programs and services to support transitioning youth, findings from focus groups with youth in/from foster care, recent state actions taken to improve transitions for youth, and new and emerging issues since the 2003 report.
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A Telephone Survey of Likely Voters, State of Colorado, The Pendulum Foundation, Prepared by RBI Strategy & Research
Tags: Colorado | Public Opinion and Messaging | Reports
Results of survey in Colorado, with questions regarding treatment of youth in the justice system.
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Adolescents, Maturity, and the Law, Jeffrey Fagan, American Prospect Online
Tags: Brain and Adolescent Development | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Article discussing the adverse effects of treating adolescents as adults in the criminal justice system and advocating a move towards a more forgiving youth justice system.
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Juvenile Mental Health Courts - Program Descriptions: Processes and Procedures, National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice
Tags: Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
Overview of juvenile mental health court programs across the country, including contact information.
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Letter to Congress About Pending Sex Offender Registry Legislation: H.R.3132 and S.1086, Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers
Tags: Federal | Sex Offender Registries | Reports
Letter calling for Congress to revise the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) in the following ways: (1) Delete the requirement of lifetime registration for juvenile offenders, who are very different from adult sex offenders in both their development and their risk for reoffense; (2) Require or at least encourage states to adopt a tiered approach to identifying "high risk" offenders based on empirically-based risk factors, such that aggressive notification and internet disclosure would be reserved for high-risk sex offenders; (3) Allow a reasoned process for low-risk offenders to be removed from state and federal registries (4) Adopt a more accurate definition of the term "sexual predator" for the purposes of registration and notification.
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Planning Community-Based Facilities for Violent Juvenile Offenders as Part of a Systems of Graduated Sanctions, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Tags: Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Reports
Bulletin discussing the use of small, secure, community-based or regional facilities to house serious, violent, and/or chronic juvenile offenders. Bulletin presents basic information relevant to planning such facilities. After a brief review of juvenile arrest and incarceration trends, the bulletin discusses the advantages of small, secure, community-based or regional facilities and outlines a process for developing such facilities within a comprehensive juvenile justice system master plan. The bulletin also describes three sample programs and presents a list of related resources.
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The Economics of Juvenile Jurisdiction, Justice Policy Center at the Urban Institute
Tags: Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Analysis of the factors to consider when determining the costs of returning youth to the juvenile justice system from the adult system.
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Ganging up on Communities?: Putting Gang Crime in Context, Justice Policy Institute
Policy brief examining leading national indicators of crime in order to put the concern around gangs in the context of crime trends. The brief also discusses research on gangs, youth crime, and the potential the impact of proposed policy changes on youth and their communities, to evaluate the appropriateness and effectiveness of some proposed policies.
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Sexual Violence Reported by Correctional Authorities, 2004, Bureau of Justice Statistics
Tags: Institutional Conditions | Reports
First-ever national survey of administrative records on sexual violence in adult and juvenile correctional facilities. Although data are limited to incidents reported to correctional authorities during 2004, the survey provides an understanding of how administrators respond to sexual violence. The survey also collects basic counts of substantiated incidents, characteristics of victims and perpetrators, and sanctions imposed.
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Girls in the Massachusetts Juvenile Justice System, Citizens for Juvenile Justice
Tags: Massachusetts | Girls | Reports
Fact sheet describing that over the last decade, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of girls in the Massachusetts juvenile justice system. Despite an overall drop in juvenile crime, girls are the fastest growing segment of the juvenile justice population - nationally and locally.
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Testimony Against Wisconsin A.B. 99, Wisconsin Council on Children and Families
Tags: Wisconsin | Confidentiality | Sex Offender Registries | Reports
Testimony of Wendy Paget, calling for judicial review of any dissemination of juvenile records for sex offender registries.
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Action Alert on Wisconsin A.B. 99, Wisconsin Council on Children and Families
Tags: Wisconsin | Confidentiality | Sex Offender Registries | Reports
Action alert against a bill that would allow a sheriff or police to release information from the juvenile sex offender registry if they believe it is in the best interest of the public to receive this information. Alert states that juvenile records should remain sealed, with only judges able to determine the scope of dissemination of juvenile sex offender registry information.
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Childhood on Trial: The Failure of Trying and Sentencing Youth in Adult Criminal Court, Report Overview, Coalition for Juvenile Justice
Tags: Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Report overview of the prevalence and treatment of juvenile offenders in the adult criminal justice system.
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Education on Lockdown, Advancement Project
Tags: Colorado | Florida | Illinois | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Examination of the emergence of zero tolerance school discipline policies and how these policies have pushed students away from an academic track to a future in the juvenile justice system. Report specifically examines (1) how zero tolerance, a policy originally designed to address the most serious misconduct, morphed into a "take no prisoners" approach to school discipline issues and created a direct track into the juvenile and criminal justice systems; (2) the expanding role of law enforcement measures in schools; (3) the disparate impact of these practices on students of color; and (4) how the track is unfolding in Denver, Chicago, and Palm Beach County.
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National Resolution Regarding Trying and Sentencing Youth Offenders in Adult Criminal Court, Coalition for Juvenile Justice
Tags: Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Resolution discussing the negative consequences of trying juvenile offenders in the adult criminal justice system.
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Report on the Reform Initiative at the Connecticut Juvenile Training School, The Justice Education Center
Tags: Connecticut | Institutional Conditions | Reports
Report providing an historical context of the Connecticut Juvenile Training School reform initiative, describing the facility and clientele prior to and after the reform, and documenting and analyzing the activities of the first five months of the reform: the issues that were addressed; the planning of the reform initiative; and the changes that have been made thus far. The report also identifies internal and external factors that influenced change-those that presented obstacles to reform and those that enabled reform-and explores the challenges that lie ahead
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Some Example Alternative to Suspension Programs in North Carolina Sponsored by Public Schools and Community Initiatives, North Carolina Child Advocacy Institute
Tags: North Carolina | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
List including programs and descriptions.
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Thrown Away: Children Sentenced to Life Without Parole in Colorado, Human Rights Watch
Tags: Colorado | Life Without Parole and Parole Issues | Reports
Report challenging Colorado's sentence of life without parole for youth, and offering recommendations for reform.
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Brain Maturation in Juveniles: Some Implications of Behavior and Control, A Literature Review, Ruben C. Gur
Tags: Brain and Adolescent Development | Reports
Literature review summarizing current understanding of the process of maturation in human brains during the juvenile period and up to young adulthood. Review also describes the methods used in such investigations and outlines the main findings regarding the course of brain development.
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Defending LGBTQ Youth, The Model Standards Project
Tags: Juvenile Defense and Court Process | LGBTQ Youth | Reports
Brief describing the importance of recognizing if a juvenile offender is LGBTQ and the way their sexual orientation may impact their experiences in the juvenile justice system.
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Detention Reform and Girls: Challenges and Solutions, National Juvenile Justice Network Fact Sheet
Tags: Girls | Reports | NJJN Publications
Fact sheet discussing girls in the juvenile justice system, the reason for their incarceration rates, and the need for reform.
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Fact Sheet on Illinois Juvenile Justice Department, Illinois Juvenile Justice Initiative
Tags: Illinois | General System Reform | Reports
Fact sheet describing the need for and support of the creation of a Department of Juvenile Justice within the Illinois government.
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Indicators of School Crime and Safety, National Center for Education Statistics
Tags: School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Report examining crime occurring in school as well as on the way to and from school. It provides the most current detailed statistical information to inform the nation on the nature of crime in schools. Report also presents data on crime at school from the perspectives of students, teachers, principals, and the general population from an array of sources. Data on crime away from school are presented to place school crime in the context of crime in the larger society. Major findings include: (1) improvements have occurred in student safety; (2) the violent crime victimization rate at school declined from 48 violent victimizations per 1,000 students in 1992 to 28 such victimizations in 2003; and (3) even so, violence, theft, bullying, drugs, and weapons are still widespread.
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Keystones for Reform: Promising Juvenile Justice Policies and Practices in Pennsylvania, Youth Law Center
Tags: Pennsylvania | General System Reform | Reports
Report of Models for Change: Systems Reform in Juvenile Justice, an initiative of the MacArthur Foundation. Report describes a number of promising juvenile justice policies and practices in Pennsylvania that provide a solid base for further reform efforts.
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Know Your Rights: Understanding Juvenile and Criminal Records and Their Impact on Employment in New York State, Legal Action Center and National HIRE Network
Tags: New York | Collateral Consequences | Reports
Guidelines detailing how recently released youth can successfully enter and remain in the workforce in the state of New York.
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Poll Results: Kids in Adult Prisons, Pendulum Foundation
Tags: Colorado | Public Opinion and Messaging | Reports | Research
Survey results detailing public opinions about juvenile justice issues in Colorado.
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Reforming Juvenile Delinquency Treatment to Enhance Rehabilitation, Personal Accountability, and Public Safety, Douglas E. Abrams, Oregon Law Review
Tags: Institutional Conditions | Reports
Article describing the widespread violence, beatings, and abuse the U.S. Justice Department has found in the nation's juvenile prisons. Article discusses the Missouri's Division of Youth Services, which is considered the national model of sound practices, and concludes with recommendations for national reform.
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Stop the Revolving Door: Giving Communities and Youth the Tools to Overcome Recidivism, Recommendations on Juvenile Reentry in New York City, Youth Justice Board
Tags: New York | Aftercare/Reentry | Reports
Report detailing the principles that should guide reentry efforts in New York City (early planning, individual treatment, and coordination) and ideas to help prevent recidivism among reentry youth (motivation to succeed, getting in school and staying in school, stronger relationships between family and youth, and improvements in the reentry process).
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Talking Points on H.R. 3132 (the Children's Safety Act of 2005), National Juvenile Justice Network
Tags: Federal | Sex Offender Registries | Reports | NJJN Publications
Talking points asserting that the Act is too severe, bad for children, and harmful to public safety. Document offers recommendations to improve the Act.
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The Death Penalty and Life Imprisonment Without the Possibility of Release for Youth Offenders Who Were Under the Age of 18 at the Time of the Offense, Human Rights Advocates
Tags: International | International and Human Rights | Life Without Parole and Parole Issues | Reports
Report focusing on the imposition of the death penalty and life without parole sentences on juvenile offenders. Paper discusses the juvenile death penalty within the context of international law and the practice as it is implemented in those few remaining countries that still allow it and any positive developments in the effort to abolish it. Paper also looks at the imposition of life without parole sentences on juvenile offenders in the context of international standards, concluding that the ban on juvenile life without parole has reached the level of customary international law. Finally, paper sets forth recommendations to abolish the both the juvenile death penalty and life without parole sentences for juvenile offenders.
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Wisconsin's Legislature's Fiscal Estimate of Changing Adult Jurisdiction from 16 to 18, Wisconsin Department of Administration
Tags: Wisconsin | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Wisconsin legislature's fiscal estimate of raising the age of adult jurisdiction to 18 finds that there will be no state fiscal effect.
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Disproportionate Minority Contact Connecticut's Juvenile Justice System, Fernando J. Muniz, Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance
Tags: Connecticut | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
Presentation discussing the extent of overrepresentation, levels of disproportionality, and means to address disproportionate minority contact in Connecticut.
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Plan for a Continuum of Community Based Services for Adolescent Females Involved in the Juvenile Court System, Connecticut Department of Children and Families
Tags: Connecticut | Girls | Reports
Report responding to a legislative mandate (Special Act 04-5) requiring the Department of Children and Families to produce a plan for a continuum of community-based services designed to prevent incarceration of female status offenders and delinquent girls. Based on evolving research and programs introduced in other states, the report describes the need for gender-specific services to avoid incarceration of these girls through better support systems and a continuum of care. The report is the product of a collaborative effort of state agencies, the judicial branch, advocates and providers.
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Screening and Assessing Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders Among Youth in the Juvenile Justice System: A Resource Guide for Practitioners
Tags: Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Risk Assessment and Screening | Reports
This Resource Guide offers a comprehensive, user-friendly synthesis of current information on instruments that can be used to screen and assess youth for mental health- and substance use- related disorders at various stages of the juvenile justice process.
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A Summary of Best Practices in School Reentry of Incarcerated Youth Returning Home, JustChildren, Legal Aid Justice Center
Tags: Virginia | Aftercare/Reentry | Reports
Memorandum analyzing national school re-enrollment research and identifying four characteristics of best practices for school reentry: (1) clear roles and responsibilities between different agencies and the community; (2) youth and family involvement in the reentry process; (3) speedy placement into school immediately following release; and (4) appropriate placement individualized for each student.
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Assessing the Mental Health Status of Youth in Juvenile Justice Settings, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Tags: Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
Bulletin reporting the results of a study of the Voice DISC–IV, a version of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC) that is self-administered using a computer and headphones. The DISC is an extensively tested child and adolescent diagnostic interview that has been evaluated in clinical and community settings. The self-administered Voice DISC offers several advantages for use within the juvenile justice system—notably, minimal staff support requirements, immediate scoring that generates provisional DSM–IV diagnoses, and the assurance of privacy that can enhance the willingness of youth to disclose sensitive personal information. Based on their findings and those of other researchers, the authors recommend best practices in assessing the mental health of juvenile offenders.
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Using an Integrated Model to Implement Evidence-Based Practices in Corrections, International Community Corrections Association and American Correctional Association
Tags: Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Reports
Discussion of eight evidence-based principles for effective interventions: (1) assess actuarial risks/needs, (2) enhance intrinsic motivation, (3) target interventions, (4) skill train with directed practice, (5) increase positive reinforcement, (6) engage ongoing support in natural communities, (7) measure relevant processes/practices, and (8) provide measurement feedback.
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Desktop Guide to Reentry for Juvenile Confinement Facilities, National Partnership for Juvenile Services
Tags: Aftercare/Reentry | Reports
Paper offering an overview of the history, theory, and practice of juvenile reentry systems with each chapter addressing one or more aspects of reentry and how each applies to the challenges of the juvenile justice system. These guidelines are a bridge to practical implementations at the community, court, and family levels. The goal of the paper is to expand the juvenile justice discussion about juvenile reentry, particularly the need for confinement facilities to change the way they do business and include a reentry focus.
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Comparison of Colorado, Texas and Missouri Juvenile Rehabilitation Programs, Pendulum Foundation
Tags: Colorado | Missouri | Texas | General System Reform | Reports
Review of facilities and operations, transfer, sentencing procedures, recidivism rates, expenditures, and cost-effectiveness.
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Safety First! A Survival Guide for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Youth Under 18, Legal Services for Children
Tags: LGBTQ Youth | Reports
Basic guide for understanding and dealing with LBGTQ youth.
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An American Travesty: Legal Responses to Adolescent Sexual Offending, Executive Summary, Franklin E. Zimring, Adolescent Development and Legal Policy Monograph Series
Tags: Sex Offender Registries | Reports
Summary of book about how Megan’s Law and other responses to youth who commit sex offenses are based on certain assumptions about adult offenders that don’t apply to youth offenders. Zimring finds that there has been virtually no scholarship or literature on youth sex offenders and considers the implications for policy and further research.
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An Empirical Portrait of the Youth Reentry Population, Howard N. Snyder, National Center for Juvenile Justice
Tags: Aftercare/Reentry | Reports
Article adding an empirical foundation to the discussion of youth reentry by highlighting basic conceptual issues involved in defining the youth reentry population and presenting from available data estimates of the magnitude and characteristics of those youth who reenter society from secure confinement. The article also discusses the need to provide reentry services to more youth than those released from secure confinement (e.g., foster care) and concludes that the justice system cannot rely on others to provide the needed services.
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Second Chances: Juveniles Serving Life Without Parole in Michigan Prisons, ACLU of Michigan
Tags: Michigan | Life Without Parole and Parole Issues | Reports
Report examining juvenile life without parole sentences imposed in Michigan for offenses committed by individuals under eighteen, as they compare to the nation and the world. The report outlines the nature and extent of these sentences, their inequities and their toll on society, and presents recommendations for a rational and humane response to juvenile crime.
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The Dimensions, Pathways, and Consequences of Youth Reentry, Daniel P. Mears and Jeremy Travis, Urban Institute Justice Policy Center
Tags: Aftercare/Reentry | Reports
Paper defining youth reentry and the scope of the problem, and describing the implications of a youth development perspective for understanding and examining youth reentry. The paper also focuses on the experience of youth reentry, challenges to successful reintegration of youth into communities, and strategies for improving youth reentry in ways that address the diverse and unique developmental needs of young people. It concludes by sketching several policy and research recommendations.
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Celebrating 100 Years of Juvenile Justice in Missouri, 1903-2003, Missouri Juvenile Justice Association
Tags: Missouri | General System Reform | Reports
Report chronicling the history of the juvenile justice system in Missouri, profiling key juvenile code statutes, and summarizing a vision for the future.
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Juvenile Justice Reform Factbook for Louisiana's Leaders, Coalition for Effective Juvenile Justice Reform
Tags: Louisiana | General System Reform | Reports
Factbook about Louisiana's juvenile justice system. Includes a Platform for Effective Juvenile Justice Reform addressing the most critical steps needed to move the broken system toward reform.
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Aftercare Services, Juvenile Justice Practice Series, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Tags: Aftercare/Reentry | Reports
Bulletin describing how aftercare can address some of the problems that exist in the juvenile justice system, reviewing relevant research, examining aftercare as it relates to system change, and identifying promising aftercare programs.
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Adolescent Girls with Mental Health Disorders Involved with the Juvenile Justice System
Tags: Girls | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports | Research
Research shows that mental disorders are prevalent among girls in the juvenile justice system. This brief focuses on how mental health disorders affect girls in the juvenile justice system.
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Prosecuting Juveniles in the Adult Criminal Justice System, Arizona Children's Action Alliance
Tags: Arizona | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Report summarizing information regarding prosecuting juveniles as adults. Where applicable and available, the report cites relevant research and statistics to clarify pertinent issues. However, there are important gaps in national research and little to no research has been done in Arizona since the landmark reforms of 1996 and 1997.
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Derailed! The Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track, Advancement Project
Tags: School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Report looking at the use of law enforcement agencies and the juvenile justice system as a double jeopardy mechanism for students. It documents the derailing of students from an academic track in schools to a future in the juvenile justice system. The report finds that creation of the schoolhouse to jailhouse track has damaged a generation of children, particularly children of color, in three significant ways: (1) criminalizing trivial offenses pushes children out of the school system and into the juvenile justice system; (2) turning schools into "secure environments," replete with drug-sniffing dogs, metal detectors, and uniformed law enforcement personnel, lowers morale and makes learning more difficult; (3) the negative effects of zero tolerance fall disproportionately on children of color and children with special needs.
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Disproportionate Minority Contact in Massachusetts: Failures in Assessing and Addressing the Overrepresentation of Minorities in the Massachusetts Juvenile Justice System, Robin Dahlberg, American Civil Liberties Union
Tags: Massachusetts | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
Report revealing that, for at least the last ten years, Massachusetts' youth of color have been overrepresented at every decision-making point in the Commonwealth's juvenile justice system. In 1993, youth of color represented approximately 17% of the Commonwealth's juvenile population, 29% of youth arrested, 59% of youth arraigned, and 57% of juveniles committed to secure facilities. In 2002, youth of color represented 23% of the juvenile population, 25% of youth arrested and 63% of juveniles committed to secure facilities.
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Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice, Government Accountability Office
Tags: Fiscal Issues and Funding | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Reports
Report to Congressional Requesters discussing how federal agencies could play a stronger role in helping states reduce the number of children placed solely to obtain mental health services.
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Rethinking Juvenile Detention in New York City, Juvenile Justice Project of the Correctional Association of New York
Tags: New York | Detention | Fiscal Issues and Funding | Reports
Report challenging plans to increase juvenile detention beds in New York City based on high numbers of detained low-level offenders; racial, ethnic and economic disparities of detained youth; unnecessarily high lengths of stay; and high cost. The report includes recommendations for reform.
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Principles of a Model Juvenile Justice System, Maryland Juvenile Justice Coalition
Tags: General System Reform | Reports
Report outlining a vision for reform, with major components including: family support and involvement, interagency collaboration, fair treatment of minorities, diversion services, aftercare, and independent citizen oversight.
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Prosecuting Juveniles in Adult Court, The Sentencing Project
Tags: Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Paper discussing how the imposition of adult punishments, far from deterring crime, actually seems to produce an increase in criminal activity in comparison to the results obtained for children retained in the juvenile system. Reliance upon the criminal courts and punishment ignores evidence that more effective responses to the problems of crime and violence exist outside the criminal justice system in therapeutic programs. Because there is considerable racial disparity in the assignment of children to adult prosecution, the harshness, ineffectiveness, and punishing aspects of transfer from juvenile to adult court is doubly visited on children of color.
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The Comparative Costs and Benefits of Programs to Reduce Crime: Version 4.0
Tags: Washington | Fiscal Issues and Funding | Reports
The Washington State Institute of Public Policy’s (WSIPP) 2001 cost-benefit analysis of programs to reduce crime. Includes juvenile programming, beginning on page 17.
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Abandoned in the Back Row: New Lessons in Education and Delinquency Prevention, Coalition for Juvenile Justice
Tags: School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Brief summary reviewing educational issues that can lead to youth delinquency (academic frustration, scarce resources, school disciplinary policies) and offering potential solutions (increased funding, rejection of strict disciplinary policies, and parental involvement).
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Justice For All?, Urban Justice Center
Tags: New York | LGBTQ Youth | Reports
Report chronicling the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) youth in the New York juvenile justice system. Report combines existing social science research and personal interviews with juvenile justice professionals and LGBT youth and reveals that the system is plagued by discrimination and bias against LGBT youth.
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The Back-Door to Prison: Waiver Reform,
Tags: Minnesota | Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Article analyzing the implementation of Minnesota's Extended Jurisdiction Juvenile Prosecution (EJJ) blended sentencing law in Minneapolis. It describes the legal framework for judicial waiver and EJJ decisions and briefly summarizes prior research on waiver practices. It also analyzes the cases of youth against whom prosecutors filed waiver and EJJ motions between 1995 and 1997.
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Truancy Prevention Brief, National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention
Tags: School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Article discussing truancy and its relation to the school-to-prison pipeline.
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Opportunities Suspended, Advancement Project in Collaboration with the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University
Tags: School-to-Prison Pipeline | Reports
Report describing the negative impact of “zero-tolerance” disciplinary approaches on the learning environment and the school-to-prison pipeline. Report also notes how students of color are disparately negatively affected by harsh school policies.
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Constitutional Challenges to Blended Sentencing Statutes, National Center for Juvenile Justice
Tags: Youth in the Adult System | Reports
Brief snapshot of states that have challenged the constitutionality of blended sentencing statutes.
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From a Parent's Perspective: A Handbook for Parents of Children Committed to the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services, Linda Smelstor, Citizens for Juvenile Justice
Tags: Massachusetts | Family and Youth Involvement | Reports
Handbook providing an overview of the information parents may need as they support their child during incarceration with the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services.
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Understanding Juvenile Sexual Offending Behavior: Emerging Research, Treatment Approaches and Management Practices, Center for Sex Offender Management
Tags: Sex Offender Registries | Reports
Brief discussing the current state of research on sexually abusive youth, legislative trends, and promising approaches to the treatment and supervision of these youth.
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The Unique Circumstances of Native American Juveniles Under Federal Supervision, Brenda Donelan, Federal Probation
Tags: Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Reports
Article illustrating the uniqueness of Native American juveniles, specifically, the Sioux Indians of South Dakota, who fall under the jurisdiction of the federal court system and represent the majority of the court’s docket.
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Juvenile Aftercare Services, In Summary, National Center for Juvenile Justice
Tags: Aftercare/Reentry | Reports
Summary outlining juvenile reentry and aftercare research papers focused on the Intensive Aftercare Program (IAP) model, other juvenile aftercare models, aftercare program evaluations and aftercare program descriptions.
