Less Hype, More Help -This report by the American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) presents an analysis of the youth crime challenge at the turn of the millennium and an assessment of the effectiveness of juvenile crime policies nationwide. AYPF identifies new findings about the causes and cures for delinquency and youth violence that have been generated over the past two decades. They reexamine the ideas that have monopolized the public debate about juvenile justice, and they take a detailed look at our nation’s juvenile justice systems and our varied efforts to prevent delinquency and violence.  The report includes a series of recommendations to assist state and local juvenile justice and delinquency prevention systems implement practices policies that work.  (2000)

Principles of a Model Juvenile Justice System -Written after years of scandal had plagued the Maryland juvenile justice system, this report by the Maryland Juvenile Justice Coalition identifies the components of a model system. Each section includes guiding principles, background information, essential strategies, budget implications, and key performance measures. (2002)

Effective Intervention for Serious Juvenile Offenders -This bulletin from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) describes the intervention programs that showed the strongest consistent impact on recidivism for serious juvenile offenders.  Programs highlighted here include interpersonal skills training, individual counseling, and behavioral programs for non-institutionalized offenders, as well as interpersonal skills training and community-based, family-type group homes for institutionalized offenders.  The information provided by this bulletin, along with the final report of the OJJDP's Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders Study Group, Serious & Violent Juvenile Offenders: Risk Factors and Successful Interventions (1998), ought to guide state and local efforts to develop effective intervention programs for serious juvenile offenders.  (April, 2000)

Dealing With Violent Juvenile Offenders -While dealing with violent juvenile offenders is not a new issue, there have been many significant changes that policymakers should be aware of, including a change in the pattern and nature of juvenile crime and violence.  This issue brief by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices provides this necessary information to elected officials and interested members of the public. Research indicates that there is a need for more intermediate sanctions and options to incarceration. Fortunately, there have been positive developments in dealing with violent juvenile offenders.  Scientific advances in understanding what works are allowing policymakers and service providers to designing effective treatment systems that build on evidence based treatments.  While this body of research is still growing, its potential impact on improving the effectiveness of programs for violent juvenile offenders is significant.  (February, 2000)

Beyond the Walls -This report by the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention  (OJJDP) is a handbook is intended to stimulate discussion about the ways juvenile justice professionals can improve conditions of confinement for detained and incarcerated youth.  While some tools in Beyond the Walls will be familiar, many readers will recognize that there are lasting benefits to incremental, constructive change in juvenile offenders. They will also know the inherent risks of criminalizing, warehousing, and abandoning them. This (January, 1998)

Alternatives to the Secure Detention and Confinement of Juvenile Offenders -This bulletin is part of OJJDP’s Juvenile Justice Practices Series, designed to provide the field with updated research, promising practices, and tools for a variety of juvenile justice areas.  This bulletin in particular promotes a reduction in the court’s reliance on detention and confinement through administrative reforms, and an objective assessment of a youth’s risk level. When making decisions about which program to place a juvenile offender, court officials must balance the interests of public safety with the needs of youth. Juvenile offenders who commit serious or violent crimes may require confinement to protect public safety, and intensive supervision and intervention to become rehabilitated.  Many offenders can be effectively rehabilitated through community-based supervision and intervention. Community-based alternatives must exist to enable the judicious use of expensive detention and confinement programs to meet the needs of both the juvenile offender and the community. (September, 2005)

 

Beyond Detention: System Transformation Through Juvenile Detention Reform -The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) was not designed to resolve the deep and pervasive shortcomings in juvenile justice systems across the nation.  Yet, as its sponsors hoped, wherever JDAI has been successfully implemented, it has proven to be a powerful catalyst for broader reform efforts. This report documents how in three model sites — Cook County (Chicago), Illinois; Multnomah County (Portland), Oregon; and Santa Cruz County, California — JDAI has sparked a range of reforms and improvements throughout the local juvenile justice systems. (September, 2007)