Found 259 matches.
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How to Use Mapping Transformative Schools: Tip Sheet
Tags: General System Reform | Positive Youth Development and Strengths-Based Programming | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Restorative Justice | Advocacy | NJJN Publications
Tips for using NJJN's Policy Platform Mapping Transformative Schools: From Punishment to Promise. Includes communications messaging guide.
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Mapping Transformative Schools: From Punishment to Promise
Tags: General System Reform | Positive Youth Development and Strengths-Based Programming | Prevention | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Restorative Justice | Advocacy | NJJN Publications
Mapping Transformative Schools: From Punishment to Promise. In this latest policy platform from NJJN, we outline the importance of transforming schools into cultures of opportunity and away from cultures of surveillance and punishment.
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2021 Youth Policy Advances
Tags: General System Reform | NJJN Publications
Digest of youth justice policy advances passed across the country in 2021.
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2021 NJJN Policy Platform - Keep Children with Mental Health Challenges out of the Youth Legal System
Tags: Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | General System Reform | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Advocacy | NJJN Publications
NJJN's 2021 Policy Platform provides recommendations to keep children with mental health challenges out of the youth legal system.
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NJJN's Vision of Justice
Tags: General System Reform | Advocacy | Anti-Racism | NJJN Publications | Fact Sheets and Briefs
One-page look at the vision of justice for young people the National Juvenile Justice Network is committed to bringing to life, including fully resourcing communities, investing in youth, dismantling racism, implementing accountability for youth that relies on helping youth learn from their mistakes not carceral punishment.
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End Kindergarten Courts - Raising the Minimum Age Infographic PDF
Tags: Brain and Adolescent Development | General System Reform | International and Human Rights | NJJN Publications
In 28 states 4, 5, and 6 year olds can be arrested and sent to court because states don't have age limits on when a child can be arrested or prosecuted in court for misbehavior. In 2019, 36,691 10 to 12 year- olds were arrested and 2,550 youth under 10 were arrested. Research shows this is a failed approach. NJJN urges states to pass laws to ensure no child under 14 can be sent to court.
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End Kindergarten Courts - Raising the Minimum Age Infographic PNG
Tags: Brain and Adolescent Development | General System Reform | International and Human Rights | NJJN Publications
In 28 states 4, 5, and 6 year olds can be arrested and sent to court because states don't have age limits on when a child can be arrested or prosecuted in court for misbehavior. In 2019, 36,691 10 to 12 year- olds were arrested and 2,550 youth under 10 were arrested. Research shows this is a failed approach. NJJN urges states to pass laws to ensure no child under 14 can be sent to court.
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Sign-on Letter Coalition for Smart Safety
Tags: General System Reform | Risk Assessment and Screening | Advocacy | Legislation
Letter by the Coalition for Smart Safety and allies in strong opposition to the Luke and Alex School Safety Act of 2021 (S.111/H.R. 750) which focuses on measures such as threat mitigation, incident response, SROs, and hardening schools to make schools safe rather than restorative justice and other positive behavior practices.
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Police-Free Schools
Tags: General System Reform | Advocacy | Anti-Racism
In "Police-Free Schools," we profile of several jurisdictions that recently removed police from their schools and detail how communities were able to wage successful campaigns and the types of resources schools have implemented in place of law enforcement.
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Federal Reform Package Press Release 4-28
Tags: Federal | General System Reform | Advocacy
Washington, DC – Congressmembers Bruce Westerman (R- AR), Karen Bass (D- CA), and Tony Cárdenas (D- CA) have introduced a bipartisan package of legislation supported by research and brain science with a clear message: Children are different from adults and must be treated differently in the criminal justice system.
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NJJDPC Policy Platform for the 2020 Election
Tags: Federal | General System Reform | Partner Publications
The National Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Coalition (NJJDPC), released “The Future for Youth Justice 2020: A Policy Platform for the 2020 Election,” on August 12th, 2019 as a roadmap for transforming our justice system in a way that increases public safety, achieves better outcomes for our children and families, and brings us closer to a legal system that is just and fair for all. NJJN is on the steering committee of NJJDPC and signed onto this platform, which will be shared with all the presidential candidates.
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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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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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New Zealand's Youth Justice Transformation -- Lessons for the United States
Tags: Federal | International | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Restorative Justice | NJJN Publications
NJJN analyzes New Zealand's justice transformation process -- including their successes and challenges -- and have translated these findings into important lessons for the U.S.
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New Zealand's Youth Justice Transformation Executive Summary
Tags: Federal | International | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Restorative Justice | NJJN Publications
NJJN analyzes New Zealand's justice transformation process -- including their successes and challenges -- and have translated these findings into important lessons for the U.S.
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Ready to Launch: A Campaign Starter Toolkit to Close Youth Prisons
Tags: Federal | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Youth in the Adult System | Advocacy | Member Publications | Partner Publications
This toolkit created by Youth First Initiative can guide you on how to create a strategic plan to run a campaign to promote different initiatives and movement to close youth prisons. Presented to you is step-by-step guidelines to start a campaign from start to finish. It starts with researching and gathering information. Then it’s time to get your voice heard, create workplan and strategic approach, reach out to those of power, develop concrete planes, organize plan, develop campaign, get resources and support you need, use power of public opinion and media, recruit necessary staff, plan and execute post-launch activities.
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CFYJ Youth Transfer Brief
Tags: General System Reform | Youth in the Adult System | Partner Publications
The Importance of Individualized Factor Review.
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2017 Youth Justice Advances Snapshot
Tags: General System Reform | NJJN Publications
A summary of legislative advances made by NJJN members in 2017.
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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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Letter to urge continued funding of federal innocence forensic science programs Nov 9, 2017
Tags: Federal | Crime Data and Statistics | General System Reform | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Risk Assessment and Screening | Evidence-Based Practices | Administrative/Regulatory Policies | Member Publications | Partner Publications
The letter to urge leaders of the Appropriations Committees to continue funding of federal innocence and forensic science programs at the Department of Justice and the National Institute of Standards and Technology at the Department of Commerce in the final FY 2018 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies appropriations bill. Innocence Project.
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Conference Proceedings: Youth Justice in Maine
Tags: Maine | General System Reform | Presentations
The Youth Justice in Maine: Imagine a New Future summit was a convening of national and local experts, juvenile justice practitioners and youth voices committed to improving youth justice in Maine. The day-long gathering on November 17, 2017, featured: speakers with first-hand experience reforming youth justice and building a continuum of care, interactive presentations by members of Maine Inside Out and Portland Outright, a data walk, and table talk discussions to facilitate the exchange of ideas and community dialogue.
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NJJN In-District Toolkit
Tags: General System Reform | Advocacy
Resources to help you connect with your Congressional member.
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MERCY Act Letter of Support 2 6 17
Tags: Federal | Detention | General System Reform | International and Human Rights | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Youth in the Adult System | Advocacy | Administrative/Regulatory Policies | Court Decisions and Related Documents | Legislation | Member Publications | Partner Publications
Letter of support for the MERCY Act. Sponsored by Sen. Cory Booker to protect young people from solitary confinement. Juvenile Law Center.
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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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HOW SHOULD JUSTICE POLICY TREAT YOUNG OFFENDERS?
Tags: National | Brain and Adolescent Development | General System Reform | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Physical Health | Evidence-Based Practices | Administrative/Regulatory Policies | Research | Partner Publications
Research findings show that adolescents differ from adults in brain development and function, as well as behaviors. Current research identify differences in the brains of young adults, aged 18 to 21, indicating that they too may be immature in ways that are relevant to justice policy.
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Making Numbers Count: Mapping Data
Tags: Crime Data and Statistics | General System Reform | Public Opinion and Messaging | Presentations | NJJN Publications
A brief overview of why using numbers persuasively is difficult, the advantages of using maps to convey some kinds of data, examples, mistakes to avoid, and some tips for creating your own data map.
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California Alliance for Youth and Community Justice---Three Years of Legislative Victories: 2014 - 2016
Tags: California | Collateral Consequences | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Confidentiality | Crime Data and Statistics | Detention | General System Reform | Girls | Institutional Conditions | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Member Publications
Capsule summary of youth justice reform legislation NJJN member CAYCJ worked to pass 2014-2016.
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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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Bring Our Children Home: Ain't I A Child? (full report)
Tags: New Jersey | Brain and Adolescent Development | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Youth in the Adult System | Member Publications
Extreme racial inequalities persist within New Jersey's juvenile justice system, according to a report from the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. Includes policy solutions.
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Bring Our Children Home: Ain't I A Child? (policy brief)
Tags: New Jersey | Brain and Adolescent Development | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Youth in the Adult System | Member Publications
Extreme racial inequalities persist within New Jersey's juvenile justice system, according to a report from the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. Includes policy solutions.
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Utah Juvenile Justice Working Group Releases Recommendations to Improve Juvenile Justice System and Promote Better Public Safety Outcomes
Tags: Utah | General System Reform
The Utah Juvenile Justice Working Group submitted to state leaders a comprehensive set of data-driven policy recommendations designed to increase public safety, effectively hold juvenile offenders accountable, and focus juvenile justice system resources on youth who pose the greatest risk to public safety.
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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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ACLU FINDS PAROLE NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR PRISONERS WHO COMMITTED SERIOUS CRIMES AS YOUTH
Tags: National | General System Reform | Life Without Parole and Parole Issues | Youth in the Adult System | Partner Publications | Fact Sheets and Briefs
REPORT SHOWS PAROLE BOARDS FAILING TO RELEASE THESE PRISONERS, DESPITE YEARS OF REHABILITATION AND EVIDENCE THAT THEY POSE NO RISK TO SOCIETY
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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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Indiana Child Re-sentenced for Murder: A sign of Juvenile Justice Reform?
Tags: Federal | Indiana | General System Reform | Youth in the Adult System | Restorative Justice | Media
An article about the shift in American juvenile Justices systems as child advocates calls for restorative justice to better keep children out of the adult system. This includes the passage of Paul's Law.
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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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Kids in Prison: Getting Tried as An Adult Depends on Skin Color
Tags: New Jersey | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Youth in the Adult System | Media
Black teenagers in New Jersey are being tried as adults more than any other racial or ethnic group, resulting in harsher treatment and longer sentences. However, as of March 1st, 2016 minors in can not be sent to adult prisons and must at least start their sentences in juvenile facilities, though they may still be prosecuted as an adult.
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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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For One Memphis Baker, Juvenile Justice Is Part of the Recipe
Tags: Tennessee | Aftercare/Reentry | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | General System Reform | Positive Youth Development and Strengths-Based Programming | Media
Profile of Lauren Wilson Young, recipient of the 2016 Award for Leadership in Juvenile Justice Reform from NJJN and JustCity.
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Criminal Justice Reform Tops the Agenda of This Memphis Legislator
Tags: Tennessee | General System Reform | Media
Profile of TN State Rep. Raumesh Akbari, who will receive a 2016 Award for Leadership in Juvenile Justice Reform from NJJN on July 26, 2016.
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ISE for Youth: What Stakeholders Can Do to Transform Virginia' s Juvenile Justice System
Tags: Virginia | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | General System Reform | Partner Publications
The report makes recommendations for how the Department of Juvenile Justice, the Task Force on Juvenile Correctional Centers, and the community can re-invest in supportive environments for youth.
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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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Vermont - Act 153 (H. 95) - Re: jurisdiction over delinquency proceedings
Tags: Vermont | Brain and Adolescent Development | General System Reform | Institutional Conditions | Youth in the Adult System | Legislation
Act 153 of 2016 relates to jurisdiction over delinquency proceedings by the Family Division of the Superior Court. Among other things, it requires DOC to house offenders under 25 in a separate facility, sets a timetable for raising the age eventually to 18 for all initial filings including felonies (except the "Big 12") into family court, and expands "youthful offender" status available to youth 12-21.
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Vermont - Act 153 (H. 95) - Summary
Tags: Vermont | Brain and Adolescent Development | General System Reform | Institutional Conditions | Youth in the Adult System | Legislation
Act 153 requires DOC to house offenders under 25 in a separate facility, sets a timetable for raising the age eventually to 18 for initial filings including most felonies and moving them into family court; expands "youthful offender" status available to youth 12-21.
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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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Metropolitan Congregations for St. Louis, Break the Pipeline press packet, May 2016
Tags: Missouri | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Media
Press packet for launch of campaign to end the criminalization of youth of color.
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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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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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Moving Beyond Juvenile "Super-Predator" Rhetoric
Tags: Washington | General System Reform | Youth in the Adult System | Member Publications
Editorial from NJJN member TeamChild refutes "super predator" concept, calls for moving beyond its devastating consequences.
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Disparate Impact under Title VI and the School-to-Prison Pipeline
Tags: National | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Court Decisions and Related Documents
This memorandum is intended to provide a general practice guide on the disparate impact doctrine under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d, et seq.3 This overview focuses on how traditional public school and public charter school discipline policies and programs disproportionately impact students of color, a pattern known as the “school-to-prison pipeline” (“STPP”) .
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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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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 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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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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The Irrelevance of Reform: Maturation in the Department of Corrections
Tags: National | General System Reform | Life Without Parole and Parole Issues | Research
This article addresses retribution, incapacitation, deterrence, and rehabilitation from the perspective of a thirty-six year old prisoner who has been serving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole since he was fourteen years old.
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YTFG Blueprint for Youth Justice Reform - 2016
Tags: National | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Crossover and Dual Jurisdiction Youth | Deinstitutionalization | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Family and Youth Involvement | General System Reform | Girls | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Youth in the Adult System | Partner Publications
The Youth Justice Work Group (YJWG) of the Youth Transition Funders Group (YTFG) envisions a youth justice system that fosters the healthy development and well-being of all children and youth by building upon their strengths, cultivating their relationships with caring adults, supporting their families and communities, and offering them age-appropriate opportunities for future success. We are committed to partnering with the broader community to promote restorative justice, safety, opportunity and positive outcomes for all young people. In order to achieve our vision, and in alignment with YTFG’s Youth Well-Being Framework, we recommend the following 10 Tenets for Youth Justice Reform.
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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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Los Angeles County Can Better Invest in Families and Communities with Flexible Federal Funds
Tags: California | General System Reform | Member Publications
Research has clearly shown that removing LA County youth from their families and placing them in a foster care or group home setting as a solution to their developmental challenges is ineffective and imposes significant fiscal costs to the county. The educational, emotional and social costs to our youth and their families are even greater. By creating financial incentives to reduce the number of youth placed in out-of-home placement facilities by probation or child welfare in LA County, the Title IV-E Waiver program presents a tremendous opportunity for LA County to invest significantly in improving relationships between youth and their families, and their communities.
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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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Bring Youth Home: Building on Ohio's Deincarceration Leadership
Tags: Ohio | National | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | General System Reform | Member Publications
Since 1992, Ohio’s youth prison population topped 2,500 and was projected to rise to 4,000. In 1994, Ohio began implementing programs to incentivize local courts to keep youth closer to home. Today admissions to Ohio juvenile correctional facilities are lower than 500 youth and Ohio makes significant investments in redirecting youth to community-based alternatives that are less expensive and more effective than locked facilities. The report is designed to give other jurisdictions insights into lessons learned in Ohio as they create new or reevaluate existing deincarceration programs as well as to continue to encourage innovate within Ohio.
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Executive Summary | Bring Youth Home: Building on Ohio's Deincarceration Leadership
Tags: Ohio | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | General System Reform | Member Publications
Since 1992, Ohio’s youth prison population topped 2,500 and was projected to rise to 4,000. In 1994, Ohio began implementing programs to incentivize local courts to keep youth closer to home. Today admissions to Ohio juvenile correctional facilities are lower than 500 youth and Ohio makes significant investments in redirecting youth to community-based alternatives that are less expensive and more effective than locked facilities. The report is designed to give other jurisdictions insights into lessons learned in Ohio as they create new or reevaluate existing deincarceration programs as well as to continue to encourage innovate within Ohio.
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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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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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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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Engaging Law Enforcement on Youth Justice Reform: a Policy Update
Tags: National | Brain and Adolescent Development | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | NJJN Publications
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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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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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In-District Toolkit for NJJN Members: Resources to Help You Connect with Your Member of Congress in their Home District
Tags: Federal | National | General System Reform | NJJN Publications
Toolkit to guide NJJN members in connecting with their Congresspeople in support of the JJDPA.
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Virginia: 2015 Guidelines for Determining the Length of Stay of Juveniles Indeterminately Committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice
Tags: Virginia | Deinstitutionalization | General System Reform | Evidence-Based Practices | Administrative/Regulatory Policies
2015 guidelines for determining length of stay for youth in the juvenile justice system in Virginia.
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Snapshot: Using Re-Entry Thinking to Guide Placement Decisions
Tags: National | Aftercare/Reentry | General System Reform | NJJN Publications
It's never too early to begin thinking about re-entry. Focusing on helping youth to successfully re-enter the community starting from the time they first become involved in the juvenile justice system, or a "think exit at entry" philosophy, can help to positively guide juvenile justice decisions every step of the way. This snapshot shares some examples of how re-entry thinking can benefit youth.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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Act-4-JJ Press Release: Bipartisan consensus on strengthening federal law to reduce incarceration, make state juvenile justice systems more fair, improve public safety
Tags: National | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Status Offenses | Youth in the Adult System | Legislation | Media | Partner Publications
Act-4-JJ's press statement regarding the bill introduced on December 11, 2014 by Sens. Whitehouse and Grassley that would reauthorize the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA).
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Bill: Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act Reauthorization, December 11, 2014
Tags: National | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Status Offenses | Youth in the Adult System | Legislation
The content of the bill introduced on December 11, 2014 by Sens. Whitehouse and Grassley that would reauthorize the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA).
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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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Press Release: JJDPA Reathorization Bill, December 2014
Tags: Iowa | Rhode Island | National | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Status Offenses | Youth in the Adult System | Legislation | Media | NJJN Publications
A joint press release from the National Juvenile Justice Network and the Coalition for Juvenile Justice regarding the December 11, 2014 re-introduction of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) by Sens. Whitehouse and Grassley.
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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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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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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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CPLI Decriminalization of Youth Workgroup Summary of Issues and Recommendations
Tags: Indiana | General System Reform | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Member Publications
The Children's Policy and Law Initiative of Indiana's Decriminalization of Youth Workgroup penned this document highlighting key issues and recommendations to reform the youth justice system in Indiana.
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Equitable School Discipline Workgroup Summary of Issues and Recommendations
Tags: Indiana | General System Reform | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Member Publications
The Children's Policy and Law Initiative of Indiana's School Discipline Workgroup summarized central issues and recommendations for reforming school discipline policy in Indiana.
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Juvenile Justice Initiative of Illinois' Fall Newsletter, 2014
Tags: Illinois | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Member Publications
The Juvenile Justice Initiative of Illinois' (an NJJN member) quarterly newsletter for the fall of 2014 explores racial disparities in automatic provisions, gives an update on proposed legislation to reform Illinois' transfer code, and an update on Redeploy Illinois' progress.
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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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Open letter to Mayor of Ferguson: Amnesty would make amends
Tags: Missouri | General System Reform | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Media
Letter to Mayor of Ferguson, MO re: reforming municipal court systems and their ongoing cycle of prosecution, financial penalty, warrant, arrest and jail with specific reference to impact on youth of color.
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Don't Shoot to Kill - Infographic (Deaths Resulting from Law Enforcement Use of Force in LA County)
Tags: California | General System Reform | Member Publications
This infographic visually depicts data compiled by the Youth Justice Coalition regarding deaths resulting from law enforcement use of force in LA County from 2010-2014.
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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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Unchain the Children: Policy Opportunities to End the Shackling of Youth in Court
Tags: National | Brain and Adolescent Development | General System Reform | Shackling | NJJN Publications
Children in far too many states are forced to appear in court shackled -- often wearing handcuffs, leg irons, and belly chains connecting ankle and hand restraints. This policy update reviews strategies to end indiscriminate shackling of youth in court developed with the support of Models for Change. (Photo by Victor Keegan: http://bit.ly/1uGjF6P.) HTML version here: http://bit.ly/1taMkBi
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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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Kentucky S.B. 200, 2014 (Juvenile Justice System Reform)
Tags: Kentucky | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | General System Reform | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Status Offenses | Legislation
The full text of Kentucky's 2014 S.B. 200, an omnibus bill that requires sweeping changes to the state's juvenile justice system.
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Op-ed: Reflections on Justice After Ferguson, MO: When Will Youth of Color Receive the Same Due Process as Officer Darren Wilson?
Tags: Missouri | National | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Media
Marsha Levick and Mae Quinn: If you had to choose between the protections afforded Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson and the treatment provided to most young black males in America, which would you demand for your child?
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Slow to Act: State Responses to 2012 Supreme Court Mandate on Life Without Parole
Tags: National | General System Reform | Legislation
In 2012, Miller v. Alabama ruled that juveniles can't be automatically sentenced to life in prison without parole. Resulting in several states revising their juvenile sentencing laws, however not all states have adopted this view. Miller v. Alabama serves as a good reminder that kids aren't adults, and should be treated accordingly.
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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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A House Divided No More: Common Cause for Juvenile Justice Advocates, Victim Advocates, and Communities
Tags: National | General System Reform | Victims | Restorative Justice | NJJN Publications
This policy paper argues for ending the divide between youth justice reformers and crime victims' advocates; explores the false divide between "offenders" and "victims" and other misperceptions about who is most often harmed by crime, and how to hold youth accountable in age-appropriate ways while doing a better job of serving the people they have harmed.
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Nevada S.B. 107, 2013
Tags: Nevada | General System Reform | Institutional Conditions | Legislation
Nevada's S.B. 107, 2013, restricting the use of solitary confinement for youth.
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OJJDP Bulletin: Delays in Youth Justice
Tags: National | General System Reform | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Research
This bulletin from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention summarizes Jeffrey Butts' thorough research analyzing the causes of court processing delays in the juvenile justice system, and drawing on examples of successful models to reduce these delays.
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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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Toward Abolishing the Use of Disciplinary Isolation in Juvenile Justice Institutions: Some Initial Ideas
Tags: National | General System Reform | Positive Youth Development and Strengths-Based Programming | Evidence-Based Practices | Research
This paper makes the case for the abolition of isolation as a disciplinary practice in youth institutions. It outlines clear steps and practices that staff can take to reduce or outright abolish the practice, relying instead on more effective and humane disciplinary strategies.
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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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Georgia H.B. 242
Tags: Georgia | General System Reform | Legislation
Georgia legislation reforming the state's juvenile code. 2013-14 legislative session.
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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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Law Enforcement’s Leadership Role in the Advancement of Promising Practices in Juvenile Justice
Tags: National | General System Reform | Research
The goal of this project is to increase the leadership role of state and local law enforcement executives to effectively address systemic juvenile justice issues as well as improve local responses to juvenile offenders. The initiative focuses on the potential for police leaders to have a stronger role in juvenile justice system issues and is providing information and training to the field of law enforcement, accelerating progress towards more successful outcomes for youth, families, and communities.
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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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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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Nebraska Legislative Bill 561
Tags: Nebraska | Aftercare/Reentry | Crossover and Dual Jurisdiction Youth | Deinstitutionalization | General System Reform | Status Offenses | Legislation
Nebraska's L.B. 561, a comprehensive youth justice reform bill.
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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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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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Illinois Raises the Age for Youth Charged with Felonies, H.B. 2404
Tags: Illinois | General System Reform | Legislation
Seventeen-year-olds charged with felonies in Illinois now come under the original jurisdiction of the juvenile court. Illinois raised the age of juvenile jurisdiction for youth charged with misdemeanors in 2009, and in 2010 the Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission studied whether to raise the age for felonies as well. Finding that the policy change for misdemeanors was a success—public safety did not suffer, juvenile facility populations decreased, and 17-year-olds benefited from the programs and services offered by the juvenile system—the commission recommended raising the age for felonies. The raise-the-age legislation also amended custody restrictions and confidentiality and expungement provisions to align with the jurisdictional change. H.B. 2404/Act No. 98-0061, signed into law July 8, 2013; effective January 1, 2014.
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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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Louisiana Designates Primary Researcher and Advisor to Legislature on Juvenile Justice Issues
Tags: Louisiana | General System Reform | Evidence-Based Practices | Legislation
The Louisiana legislature designated the Institute for Public Health and Justice of the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans as the primary researcher and advisor to the legislature on issues related to youth involved with the criminal justice system and youth with behavioral needs. The institute is to provide reliable and current information about best practices and successful local models, prepare annual reports for the legislature, offer technical assistance to the Juvenile Justice Reform Act Implementation Commission, and monitor juvenile justice reforms. H.B. 177/Act No. 3, signed into law May 23, 2013; effective August 1, 2013.
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Minnesota Establishes Work Group to Address Juvenile Justice System Goals, S.F. 671
Tags: Minnesota | General System Reform | Evidence-Based Practices | Legislation
The Minnesota Legislature passed a law establishing a work group to discuss statewide goals for youth in the juvenile justice system, necessary services for youth in the juvenile justice system and their families, strategies for identifying and responding to the needs of youth in the system or at risk of entering it, and system changes needed in order to better respond to these needs. The legislation also instructs the work group to develop an implementation plan to achieve service delivery and meet outcome goals. The work group submitted its report in March 2014, calling for funding for evidence-based early intervention programs, improved mental health screenings in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems, and the creation of a state Office of Juvenile Justice to help implement the work group’s recommendations. S.F. 671/Act. No.86, signed into law May 23, 2013; effective August 1, 2013.
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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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Pennsylvania and MacArthur’s Models for Change: The Story of a Successful Public-Private Partnership
Tags: Pennsylvania | General System Reform
Concise, inspiring summary from 2013 of the partnership between Models for Change and the state of Pennsylvania on reforming the state's juvenile justice system.
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Georgia Passes Sweeping Juvenile Justice Reform Bill, H.B. 242
Tags: Georgia | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Detention | General System Reform | Risk Assessment and Screening | Status Offenses | Legislation
Georgia passed a comprehensive reform of the state’s juvenile code, aimed at reducing the number of youth in confinement and ensuring the juvenile justice system is focused on rehabilitation. The 248-page law prohibits detention of youth who commit status offenses, and instead designates them as “children in need of services.” The new code increases use of alternatives to detention for youth who are classified as low-to-medium risk and includes an increased emphasis on risk and behavioral health assessments. Additionally, the code ensures representation for youth at every stage of the legal process. In FY 2014, the law invested five million new dollars ($4 million state/$1 million federal) in community-based programs and in the second year, FY 2015, the law invested $8.85 million ($7.85 million state/$1 million federal) into such services. The changes stemming from the law are expected to save the state $88 billion over five years. H.B. 242/Act No. 127, signed into law May 2, 2013; effective January 1, 2014.
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Colorado Reduces Juvenile Detention Bed Cap, S.B. 177/Act No. 88
Tags: Colorado | Detention | General System Reform | Legislation
Colorado passed legislation to reduce youth incarceration by reducing the juvenile detention bed cap from 422 to 382 beds. A local committee decides which youth to release when the bed cap for a juvenile detention facility is exceeded. The bed cap number is reviewed regularly by the Joint Budget Committee of the Legislature and was designed to limit the number of youth in detention. S.B. 177/Act No. 88, signed into law and effective March 29, 2013.
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Toolkit: How to Calculate the Cost of a Youth Arrest
Tags: Fiscal Issues and Funding | General System Reform | NJJN Publications
This toolkit from the National Juvenile Justice Network's Fiscal Policy Center, revised in April 2013, focuses on calculating what it costs to arrest a youth. First in a series, the toolkit is intended to help reformers help policymakers craft cost-effective policies for youth in trouble with the law.
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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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Juvenile Justice Reform in Connecticut: How Collaboration and Commitment Improved Outcomes for Youth Justice Policy Institute [Exec. Summ]
Tags: Connecticut | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Detention | Racial and Ethnic Disparities | General System Reform | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Status Offenses | 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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Raising the Age of Juvenile Court Jurisdiction: the Future of 17-year-olds in Illinois' Justice System
Tags: Illinois | Fiscal Issues and Funding | General System Reform | Youth in the Adult System
In this report, the Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission documents how Illinois ended the automatic prosecution of all 17-year-olds charged with misdemeanors, improving public safety and decreasing long-term costs. The Commission recommends doing the same with 17-year-olds charged with felonies.
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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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Diverting Youth from the Justice System: Why and How
Tags: Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | General System Reform | Research | NJJN Publications | Partner Publications
This policy update from NJJN briefly summarizes the research on the effectiveness of juvenile diversion programs and summarizes the contents of *The Juvenile Diversion Guidebook,* a resource from Models for Change that offers users practical insight, advice, and direction in developing and improving diversion programs.
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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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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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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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Using Adolescent Brain Research to Inform Policy: A Guide for Juvenile Justice Advocates, NJJN Policy Paper Update
Tags: Brain and Adolescent Development | General System Reform | NJJN Publications
This National Juvenile Justice Network Policy Paper highlights the primary areas of overlap between adolescent brain research and the field of juvenile justice, and suggests how advocates can better equip themselves to use the research sensibly and effectively.
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Families Unlocking Futures: Solutions to the Crisis in Juvenile Justice (Executive Summary)
Tags: Racial and Ethnic Disparities | Family and Youth Involvement | General System Reform | Institutional Conditions | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Youth in the Adult System | Partner Publications
Executive summary of report from Justice for Families and DataCenter, based on more than 1,000 surveys and 24 focus groups with families of youth who have been in the justice system. The report shows the many ways justice systems have failed youth, families and communities and proposes solutions for transforming youth justice to help our youth succeed and keep our communities safe.
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Families Unlocking Futures: Solutions to the Crisis in Juvenile Justice (full)
Tags: Family and Youth Involvement | General System Reform | Institutional Conditions | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | School-to-Prison Pipeline | Youth in the Adult System | Partner Publications
Report from Justice for Families and DataCenter, based on more than 1,000 surveys and 24 focus groups with families of youth who have been in the justice system. The report shows the many ways justice systems have failed youth, families and communities and proposes solutions for transforming youth justice to help our youth succeed and keep our communities safe.
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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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Advances in Juvenile Justice Reform, 2009-2011
Tags: General System Reform | NJJN Publications
Published by the National Juvenile Justice Network (NJJN) in July 2012, the document includes a wide array of youth justice reforms from across the country.
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Mississippi Passes Juvenile Detention Reform Act, S.B. 2598
Tags: Mississippi | Detention | General System Reform | Legislation
The Mississippi Legislature passed a comprehensive juvenile detention reform law, a collaborative initiative with the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI). The legislation addresses both placement of youth in detention (e.g., youth court judges are now required to issue a written order before a child may be taken into custody) and conditions (e.g., facilities must develop policies that limit the circumstances when a youth can be confined to a cell). Additionally, the legislation established the Juvenile Detention and Alternatives Task Force to support the expansion of detention alternatives and recommend licensing standards for detention facilities throughout Mississippi. S.B. 2598/Act No. 564, signed into law May 23, 2012; effective July 1, 2012.
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What's Really Up Doc?: A Call for Reform of the Office of Juvenile Justice
Tags: Louisiana | General System Reform | Member Publications
Families and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children and the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, NJJN members, present a report on the current state of Louisiana's juvenile justice system and recommendations for its improvement.
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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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Arizona's Juvenile Court Counts: Statewide Statistical Information FY2011
Tags: Arizona | General System Reform | Reports
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Working for a Better Future: How Expanding Employment Opportunities for D.C's Youth Creates Public Safety Benefits for All Residents
Tags: District of Columbia | General System Reform | Partner Publications
The Justice Policy Institute's report finds that youth employment is correlated to fewer referrals to the juvenile court.
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Kentucky - Concurrent Resolution to study Juvenile Code, HCR 129
Tags: Kentucky | Brain and Adolescent Development | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | General System Reform | Risk Assessment and Screening | Status Offenses | Legislation
Establish a task force to study the Unified Juvenile Code; establish membership of task force; provide that the task force is to study issues related to status offenders, the use of community resources, alternatives to detention, reinvestment of savings to create community based treatment programs, feasibility of establishing an age of criminal responsibility, issues related to domestic violence and its impact on children exposed to domestic violence, issues related to special needs children, and use of validated risk and needs assessments; require the task force to submit a report to the Legislative Research Commission by November 1, 2012.
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Nebraska Establishes Commission to Study Juvenile Justice Facilities and Services, L.B. 821
Tags: Nebraska | General System Reform | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Legislation
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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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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Arkansas Youth Justice: The Architecture of Reform
Tags: Arkansas | General System Reform | Reports
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The Truth About Consequences: Studies Point toward Sparing Use of Formal Juvenile Justice System Processing and Incarceration
Tags: Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | General System Reform | NJJN Publications
Recent research shows that incarcerating young people and formally processing them through the juvenile justice system is harmful and counter-productive in most cases.
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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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An Executive Summary: Rethinking Juvenile Justice
Tags: General System Reform | Reports
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Knowledge Brief: Harnessing the Capacity for Change
Tags: General System Reform | Reports
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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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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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Show Us the Money: Calculating the Cost of Juvenile Justice
Tags: Fiscal Issues and Funding | General System Reform | Presentations
How much does it cost to send a young person through your juvenile justice system? This PowerPoint from NJJN's Fiscal Policy Center provides a starting point for finding out the answer, with tips for mapping your system and ideas for getting the answer to this crucial question.
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Almost Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Budgets, but Were Afraid to Ask - Lori Albin, National Juvenile Justice Network, July 2011 (PowerPoint)
Tags: Fiscal Issues and Funding | General System Reform | Presentations
Your introduction to state budgets and the budget process - a key part of understanding how to use the budget process to advance juvenile justice reform. A presentation given by Lori Albin, National Juvenile Justice Network, July 2011 (PowerPoint).
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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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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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Ohio Passes Juvenile Sentencing Reform Bill, H.B. 86
Tags: Ohio | General System Reform | Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Youth in the Adult System | Legislation
Ohio’s new juvenile sentencing reform bill explicitly supports research-informed, outcome-based programs and services; allows judges to consider early release opportunities throughout a youth’s commitment, including youth serving mandatory sentences; revises mandatory sentencing guidelines for youth to allow for judicial discretion in instances where the youth was not the main actor; adopts uniform competency standards for all delinquency proceedings; establishes a reverse waiver provision that makes it possible for young people automatically transferred to adult court to return to juvenile court at the discretion of the judge; and creates a temporary interagency task force to make recommendations to the legislature for addressing the needs of delinquent youth with significant mental health issues.
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Louisiana House Resolves to Assess Juvenile Justice System and Develop Recommendations for Reform, H.C.R. 120
Tags: Louisiana | General System Reform | Legislation
Recognizing the deficiencies of juvenile facilities in Louisiana, past violations of civil rights, dramatic downsizing since 2003, and the positive influence of the MacArthur Foundation’s Louisiana Models for Change initiative, a House Concurrent Resolution urged the Juvenile Justice Reform Act Implementation Commission to assess the current state of the juvenile justice system, evaluate improvements made over the preceding five years, and issue recommendations for a five-year plan for reform. The Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center’s Institute for Public Health and Justice will conduct the study; its report is expected in January 2013.
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Local and Statewide Collaborations Working to Reform the Juvenile Justice System Presentation, Lael Chester (MA), Betsy Clarke (IL), and Liz Kooy (IL)
Tags: Illinois | Massachusetts | General System Reform | Presentations
Presentation by NJJN's Massachusetts and Illinois members on general reform considerations.
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WBEZ Chicago "Inside and Out" Series
Tags: Illinois | General System Reform | Media
Web site of WBEZ Chicago's "Inside and Out" series, profiling young people and the juvenile justice system in Illinois.
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Texas Youth Commission Merges with Texas Juvenile Probation Commission, S.B. 653
Tags: Texas | General System Reform | Legislation
The Texas Legislature merged the Texas Youth Commission and the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission to form the new Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD). According to the legislation, TJJD’s purpose is to create a unified juvenile justice system that provides a full continuum of effective services, prioritizing community- and family-based programs over commitment to secure facilities. The specific goals of the merger are to support a county-based system that reduces the need for out-of-home placement; locate facilities close to youths’ families and facility employees; encourage regional cooperation; enhance continuity of care; and use secure facilities, when necessary, that are sized for effective rehabilitation.
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Oklahoma Creates Juvenile Justice Reform Committee, H.J.R. 1065
Tags: Oklahoma | Confidentiality | General System Reform | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Prevention | Legislation
The Oklahoma Legislature created the Oklahoma Juvenile Justice Reform Committee in order to thoroughly and systematically study the efficiency and effectiveness of the state’s juvenile justice system and provide recommendations for revision to the Oklahoma Juvenile Code. Topics covered by the committee include prevention, confidentiality, “youthful offender” certification/reverse certification, and due process.
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Oklahoma Creates Juvenile Justice Reform Committee, S.B. 674
Tags: Oklahoma | Confidentiality | General System Reform | Juvenile Defense and Court Process | Prevention | Legislation
The Oklahoma Legislature created the Oklahoma Juvenile Justice Reform Committee in order to thoroughly and systematically study the efficiency and effectiveness of the state’s juvenile justice system and provide recommendations for revision to the Oklahoma Juvenile Code. Topics covered by the committee include prevention, confidentiality, “youthful offender” certification/reverse certification, and due process.
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Maryland Commits to Gathering Data on Outcomes of Juvenile Justice Services, S.B. 200
Tags: Maryland | General System Reform | Legislation
The law requires the Secretary of DJS to report to the General Assembly on January 1 of each year on the recidivism rates of children committed to DJS for placement in any type of residential care. Prior to the bill’s passage, DJS did not report data by program; the law will now require breakdowns by each program and placement.
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Arkansas Juvenile Court Fees to Be Used for Youth Programs, H.B. 1812
Tags: Arkansas | General System Reform | Legislation
The fees collected from participants in juvenile court are now used to fund and support youth and court programs. The law provides that the funds in each county may be used to support juvenile drug courts, teen courts, volunteer probation programs, court-appointed special advocates, and after-school and community-based programs. Prior to the law, only limited types of funds collected could be spent on juvenile court programs. The new law broadens the categories of fees that can be used to support youth programs and clarifies which types of juvenile court programs may be supported by the fees.
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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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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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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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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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Pennsylvania Juvenile Justice System Enhancement Strategy, November 6, 2010
Tags: Pennsylvania | General System Reform | Presentations
In November 2010, the Juvenile Court Judges’ Commission, Pennsylvania Council of Chief Juvenile Probation Officers and Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Committee of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency adopted a new statewide plan to employ evidence-based practices, with fidelity, at every stage of the juvenile justice process; increase collection and analysis of data; and improve the quality of decisions, services, and programs.
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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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Louisiana Senate Passes Resolution to Move State Closer to “Missouri Model” of Juvenile Justice, S.C.R. 131
Tags: Louisiana | General System Reform | Legislation
The Louisiana State Legislature passed a resolution to further Louisiana’s efforts to implement the “Missouri Model” of juvenile justice. The resolution establishes a task force, which includes local advocacy organizations, to evaluate Louisiana’s progress towards implementing the Missouri Model and determine what further steps should be taken. Task force meetings are ongoing. S.C.R. 131, adopted June 21, 2010 and H.C.R. 245, adopted on June 16, 2010.
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Louisiana House Passes Resolution to Move State Closer to “Missouri Model” of Juvenile Justice, H.C.R. 245
Tags: Louisiana | General System Reform | Legislation
The Louisiana State Legislature passed a resolution to further Louisiana’s efforts to implement the “Missouri Model” of juvenile justice. The resolution establishes a task force, which includes local advocacy organizations, to evaluate Louisiana’s progress towards implementing the Missouri Model and determine what further steps should be taken. Task force meetings are ongoing. S.C.R. 131, adopted June 21, 2010 and H.C.R. 245, adopted on June 16, 2010.
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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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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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Nebraska Moves Toward More Positive Treatment of At-Risk and Court-Involved Youth, L.B. 800
Tags: Nebraska | Confidentiality | General System Reform | Status Offenses | Legislation
The main provisions of the law include phase-out by January 1, 2013 of the detention of status offenders who violate a valid court order; codification of a program of graduated sanctions for youth who violate probation; provision of a clear and comprehensive process for sealing many juvenile court records; prioritization of certain grant money for programs that reduce the detention population; the establishment of a pilot project allowing law enforcement to issue civil citations to youth in place of making an arrest; and a shortened timeline for completion of post-adjudication evaluations.
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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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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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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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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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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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In Re: Expungement of Juvenile Records and Vacatur of Luzerne County Juvenile Court Consent Decrees or Adjudications from 2003-2008, October 29, 2010
Tags: Pennsylvania | General System Reform | Court Decisions and Related Documents
In an unprecedented decision, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court vacated as many as 6,500 adjudications of delinquency of youth who appeared before former judge Mark Ciavarella between 2003 and 2008. The far-reaching order is an exceptional response to the judicial scandal in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, through which Ciavarella and fellow judge Michael T. Conahan allegedly received more than $2.6 million in kickbacks from the owner of two private youth detention centers in exchange for sending youth there.
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Pennsylvania Establishes Commission to Investigate Luzerne County Corruption, H.B. 1648
Tags: Pennsylvania | General System Reform | Legislation
The General Assembly established an Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice to investigate the circumstances that led to the corruption in Luzerne County, restore public confidence in the administration of justice, and prevent the occurrence of similar events.
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Pennsylvania Establishes Joint Commission on Juvenile Justice System, Pennsylvania, H.B. 1648
Tags: Pennsylvania | General System Reform | Legislation
Creates a commission to study the juvenile justice scandal in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.
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Texas Creates Task Force for Children with Special Needs in Order to Address Service Delivery in Juvenile Justice System, S.B. 1824
Tags: Texas | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | General System Reform | Risk Assessment and Screening | Legislation
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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Redeploy Illinois Becomes Permanent Initiative and Expands Across State, S.B. 1013
Tags: Illinois | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | Deinstitutionalization | Fiscal Issues and Funding | General System Reform | Legislation
In April 2009, the Illinois General Assembly passed a law to convert Redeploy Illinois from a pilot program to a permanent initiative that will be accessible to approximately 70 counties that were previously excluded because of their low numbers of delinquent youth. Redeploy Illinois reallocates state funds from juvenile correctional confinement to local jurisdictions in order to establish a continuum of local, community-based sanctions and treatment alternatives for youth offenders.
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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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Nevada Committee to Evaluate and Review Juvenile Justice Issues, S.B. 3
Tags: Nevada | General System Reform | Legislation
Nevada’s Legislative Committee on Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice is charged with evaluating and reviewing issues relating to juvenile justice, including community-based programs and services within and outside of the state; programs for aftercare and reintegration; overrepresentation and disparate treatment of minorities; gender-specific services; quality of care in state facilities; and the feasibility and necessity of independent monitoring of state facilities.
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These Are Our Children, Sojourners Magazine, Liane Rozzell
Tags: Virginia | General System Reform | Media
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Non-Identifying Washington Juvenile Court Records to Be Available for Research Purposes, H.B. 1238
Tags: Washington | General System Reform | Legislation
For the purpose of research only, the Administrative Office of the Courts in Washington must maintain an electronic research copy of all records in the judicial information system related to youth. Access is restricted to the Washington State Center for Court Research, which must protect all confidential records and preserve the anonymity of any people identified in them.
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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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Advances in Juvenile Justice Reform, 2007-2008 Press Release, National Juvenile Justice Network
Tags: General System Reform | NJJN Publications
Highlights publication of 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.
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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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Advances in Juvenile Justice Reform, 2007-2008, National Juvenile Justice Network
Tags: National | General System Reform | Administrative/Regulatory Policies | Court Decisions and Related Documents | Legislation | 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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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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Iatrogenic Effect of Juvenile Justice, Uberto Gatti, et al., The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
Tags: International | General System Reform | International and Human Rights | Research
Study using data from a community sample of 779 low-SES boys to investigate whether intervention by the juvenile justice system is determined, at least in part, by particular individual, familial and social conditions, and whether intervention by the juvenile courts during adolescence increases involvement in adult crime. The results show that youth who are poor, impulsive, poorly supervised by their parents, and exposed to deviant friends are more likely, for the same degree of antisocial behavior, to undergo intervention by the juvenile court, and that this intervention greatly increases the likelihood of involvement with the penal system in adulthood. The results also show that the various measures recommended by the juvenile court exert a differential criminogenic effect; those that involve placement have the most negative impact.
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Vermont Creates Juvenile Jurisdiction Policy and Operations Coordinating Council, Vermont, H. 615
Tags: Vermont | General System Reform | Legislation
Creates a council to plan and develop steps to better address age-appropriate responses to older youth within the juvenile justice system. The council must develop implementation plans for three options: 1) maintaining the current jurisdiction statute, 2) changing the initial court of jurisdiction to the family court in all misdemeanor proceedings, and 3) changing the initial court of jurisdiction to the family court in all juvenile proceedings. Each option must also include a plan for continuing jurisdiction of the family court in delinquency proceedings until age 22.
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Illinois Creates Comprehensive Strategy for Services to Youth through Commission on Children and Youth, Illinois, H.B. 4456/Public Act 95-0781
Tags: Illinois | General System Reform | Legislation
The Commission on Children and Youth will explore how the state can most effectively support children and youth.
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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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Alabama Passes Juvenile Justice Act of 2008, Alabama, H.B. 28 and 29/S.B. 33 and 34
Tags: Alabama | General System Reform | Legislation
Lays the foundations for improvements in children's defense. The Act also reduces reliance on incarceration and expands community-based alternatives.
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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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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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Colorado Includes Restorative Justice in Children's Code, Colorado, H.B. 08-1117
Tags: Colorado | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | General System Reform | Legislation
Amends Children's Code to include a provision for restorative justice for most offenses.
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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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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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Massachusetts Governor Creates Independent Office of the Child Advocate, Massachusetts, Executive Order 494
Tags: Massachusetts | General System Reform | Administrative/Regulatory Policies
The Office of the Child Advocate is an independent office that has oversight authority with respect to services provided to any children involved in an executive agency, including those served by the juvenile justice system.
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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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California Passes Bill of Rights for Youth, California, S.B. 518
Tags: California | General System Reform | Institutional Conditions | Legislation
Requires all facilities of the Division of Juvenile Facilities to provide care, placement and services to youth without discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or HIV status.
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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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Colorado Creates Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, Colorado, H.B. 07-1358
Tags: Colorado | General System Reform | Legislation
Commission is to address prevention and recidivism, among other issues.
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Summary of Arizona's Youthful Sex Offenders Treatment Act: S.B. 1628, Children's Action Alliance
Tags: Arizona | General System Reform | Legislation
Summary of Act that improves treatment and adjudication of juvenile sex offenders.
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West Virginia Establishes Multidisciplinary Treatment Process for Committed Youth, West Virginia, S.B. 626/Chapter 31
Tags: West Virginia | General System Reform | Legislation
Requires that juvenile services engage in a multidisciplinary treatment planning process for committed juveniles.
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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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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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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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Oklahoma Creates Office of Juvenile Affairs, Oklahoma, H.B. 2999
Tags: Oklahoma | General System Reform | Legislation
Creates an Office of Juvenile Affairs to coordinate and oversee programs for juveniles alleged to be delinquent.
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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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Mississippi Passes Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Act, Mississippi, H.B. 199
Tags: Mississippi | General System Reform | Prevention | Legislation
Provides for a number of system reforms. Some reforms include training requirements for juvenile defenders, the prohibition of detention for status offenses, and transitional planning for youth leaving training schools and detention centers.
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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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Illinois Creates Department of Juvenile Justice, Illinois, S.B. 92
Tags: Illinois | General System Reform | Legislation
The department has the authority to provide for appropriate rehabilitative and transitional programs. Previously all youth in custody were under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections.
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Mississippi Engages in Widespread Reforms of Juvenile Justice System, Mississippi, Juvenile Justice Reform Act, S.B. 2894
Tags: Mississippi | General System Reform | Legislation
Creates a broad range of improvements in the system including improved institutional conditions, improved treatment of status offenders, and support for community-based alternatives.
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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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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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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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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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Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 2002, as amended, Pub. L. No. 93-415 (1974)
Tags: Federal | General System Reform | Legislation
The Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA), first authorized in 1974 and last authorized in 2002, provides states with concrete guidance on how to treat youth who come into conflict with the law. It outlines four core state mandates and creates federal funding streams to assist states in achieving compliance with the Act. The JJDPA was due for reauthorization in 2007.
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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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Improving Outcomes for Youth with Disabilities in Juvenile Corrections
Tags: Federal | Aftercare/Reentry | Community-Based Alternatives and Supervision | General System Reform | Institutional Conditions | Fact Sheets and Briefs
A toolkit that speaks to how to better support and improve the long-term outcomes for youth with disabilities in juvenile correctional facilities.
