How to Overcome Staff, Stakeholder Resistance to Actuarial Tools in Juvenile Justice
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Over the last decade, jurisdictions across the country have increasingly implemented actuarial tools to aid decision making in the juvenile justice system.
Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (https://jjie.org/category/ideas-and-opinions/page/30/)
Over the last decade, jurisdictions across the country have increasingly implemented actuarial tools to aid decision making in the juvenile justice system.
The Trump administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) have instituted policymaking by erasure. These agencies are rolling back juvenile justice data collection, rescinding manuals on best practices and changing policy language.
Juvenile probation professionals know better than most the multitude and complexity of issues our justice-involved youth are facing, and what puts these young men and women at risk for violence. Get IN Chicago, as a youth violence prevention funder working to support the most effective and promising interventions in Chicago, wanted to better understand the youth probation population to inform quality service provision.
The plague of mass incarceration in the United States has captured national attention, with substantial bipartisan support to resolve this crisis. Even as we recognize the problem, however, it is important to think critically about proposed alternatives. There is a growing consensus among developmental researchers and juvenile justice decision-makers that incarceration is particularly damaging to youth.
In August, an 11-year-old African-American girl was tased by a Cincinnati police officer when he tried to apprehend her for shoplifting. The news was greeted, predictably, with dismay by officials there.
The Trump administration removed the “Girls at Risk” page from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention website, the Sunlight Foundation reported on Oct. 4. It included information about the work of the OJJDP-funded National Girls Initiative (NGI), which has been led in cooperation with OJJDP by the organization I direct, National Crittenton.
The intriguing thing about human nature is that there is no one way to exist. Just recently, I was speaking with a colleague who struggled to understand why some people cannot handle a heavy workload or stressful situations. Because she can.
Like it or not, cops in schools are here to stay. The question is: How do we do it right? An important principle for doing it right is driven by this key question: How can we help make sure that law enforcement actually works to keep youth in school and out of justice involvement?
Since I was released from prison, I’ve dedicated my life to equipping young leaders with training and tools to fight to end youth incarceration and close youth prisons. Because I’ve lived through it, I know that there is no better way to support my community than by helping end youth incarceration and helping convince our leaders to invest in young people’s futures instead of bars and cells. Many of my fellow leaders in this movement have similar lived experiences.
There is important new evidence that reducing out-of-home placements — while also reducing disparities for racial and ethnic minorities — is an achievable goal for the juvenile justice system. The removal of minors from their home, ostensibly for their rehabilitation, often results in additional difficulties in their schooling, future employment and overall well-being — especially if the placements exceed six months. When a youth is placed out of home, it can also be disruptive and detrimental to the entire family.