NCCD Now: Juvenile Justice That Works

July 7, 2015 | National Council on Crime and Delinquency

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The juvenile justice system was founded more than 100 years ago to keep young people out of the adult criminal justice system. Those who created this new system understood that young people’s needs were different from those of adults: Youth needed supports for positive development rather than simple punishment.

The juvenile justice system was founded more than 100 years ago to keep young people out of the adult criminal justice system. Those who created this new system understood that young people’s needs were different from those of adults: Youth needed supports for positive development rather than simple punishment.

However, what began as a response to a small number of cases has become a very large and complex system with its own unique issues. Punitive legal responses to typical developmental behavior, structural racism in society, lack of agency resources, and other challenges persist, which means that all of those in the field must continue working every day for a juvenile justice system that sees young people, even those who have harmed, as people. The question is this: What approaches can we take to achieve that kind of system?

NCCD, which was founded in 1907 to study and improve the juvenile justice system, brings a lens of research and evidence to its work. In the juvenile justice system, we aim to create better outcomes for youth—and safer communities—by helping systems make the right decisions for all young people, whether that means connecting them with services or simply knowing that they should stay in their home and community rather than enter a detention facility.

Good decisions in juvenile justice are equitable across genders, races/ethnicities, and other subgroups. They are based on valid risk assessments and other evidence-based tools. They are reliable, meaning that the same decision is made for a young person no matter who gets to make it.

The Structured Decision Making® (SDM) system in juvenile justice represents NCCD’s commitment to a juvenile justice system that works—for communities, for juvenile justice workers, and most importantly, for the young people with whom it intersects.

This month, NCCD’s blog posts will share information about the potential decision points in a young person’s juvenile justice system involvement and the ways NCCD is working to ensure equity, validity, and reliability in all of them. We also will hear from guest bloggers who will share how these assessments and tools, and the data that are gleaned from using them in practice, are assisting them in working with young people to achieve positive outcomes.

Blog posts will be linked here as they go live:

The Structured Decision Making® System for Juvenile Justice

Keeping Justice-Involved Youth in the Community: A Win-Win Situation

The Right Way to Think About Juvenile Justice by Erin Manske, Researcher

Divest From Incarcerating Youth, Reinvest in Our Youth by Liz Ryan, Youth First! Initiative

Use Data to Create Consensus by Chris Scharenbroch, Senior Research Associate

Traditional Risk Assessments vs. Detention Screening Instruments

Detention Screening Instruments: Structure

Detention Screening Instruments: Aggravating and Mitigating Factors

Detention Screening Instruments: Automatic and Mandatory Detentions

The Real Narrator in the Lucas County Story: Data by Rachael Gardner, Lucas County (OH) Juvenile Court

Disposition Matrices: Purpose

Disposition Matrices: Design, Development, and Use

I Need Help Making Decisions. So Do You. by Jesse Russell, PhD, Director of Research 

Risk Assessment for Targeting Resources and Interventions

Understanding Validity of Risk Assessment Instruments

Pre-Dispositional Risk Assessment 

Evaluating a Risk Assessment