Best Practices
The tools below are intended to help interested members of the public learn more about juvenile justice programs that have been implemented successfully in jurisdications across the country. Check back often for updates as we learn of new and exciting programs and tools!
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s Model Programs Guide is designed to aid practitioners, lawmakers, and community leaders in implementing evidence-based prevention and intervention programs that reduce recidivism while promoting public safety.
Know of a juvenile justice program in Texas or elsewhere that you think JJI should highlight? Email us at igutierrez@criminaljusticecoalition.org to let us know.
The Center for Court Innovation (CCI), a non-profit thinktank based out of New York, helps criminal justice agencies and courts aid victims, reduce crime, and put public trust back into our justice system nationwide. Among their great ideas, CCI advocates for (1) youth courts that compel young people who have engaged in wrongdoing to repay the community, (2) youthful offender domestic violence courts that address relationship abuse among teenagers, and (3) juvenile drug courts that work with young people arrested for drug offenses and other low-level delinquency charges. Read more about CCI’s juvenile court innovations. Also look through their suggestions on juvenile re-entry courts.
The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) compiled a reference list of publications to provide resources on best and promising practices in juvenile justice, including prevention and intervention, detention, probation, mental health, juvenile court, and juvenile justice education. This document is a useful resource which can help practitioners and lawmakers decide which programs best fit their communities.