Landmark Study Offers Glimpse at Previously Ignored Youth Population
Landmark Study Offers Glimpse at Previously Ignored Youth Population
Youth with Both Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice History Studied
A study out of King County is the first of its kind in Washington state to bring together data sets from different agencies to address challenges facing youth in the juvenile justice system today.
Uniting for Youth, a King County-based multi-system collaboration, funded in part by Models for Change, worked with the National Center for Juvenile Justice (NCJJ) and the Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts to produce “Doorways to Delinquency: Multi-System Involvement of Delinquent Youth in King County, ” authored by Gregory Halemba and Gene Siegel of NCJJ. The study looks at cross-over youth, those who have had previous experience in the child-welfare system before their contact with the juvenile justice system. Researchers looked at data sets from 2006 to 2008 from both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.
“We wanted to get an idea of the kinds of challenges we were facing with cross-over youth,” said Marcus Stubblefield, King County’s Systems Integration Coordinator. “The numbers were shocking.”
While researchers expected that cross-over youth would experience worse outcomes, no one predicted the striking differences in rates of contact with the juvenile justice system. Some key findings include:
- Youth with multi-system involvement begin their delinquent activity earlier, around 13 years of age, and are detained more frequently for longer periods of time.
- There is a strong correlation between recidivism and a history of child welfare involvement.
- Cross-over youth experience frequent placement changes, which is expensive: over the study period, the preliminary estimate of placement costs for one cross over youth is $38,000.
- Female and minority youth who have contact with the juvenile justice system tend to have more extensive history with the child welfare system than white males.
This examination of data concerning cross-over youth is the first of its kind in Washington state. “Systems don’t talk to each other,” said Stubblefield. “The challenge was getting someone who could look at both child welfare and juvenile justice data sets and compare the two. NCJJ was there to support that.”
Uniting for Youth will be continuing conversations between the two systems and working to create prevention and early engagement programs to reduce recidivism, disproportionate minority contact and the costs of youth placement. Stubblefield hopes that regular and routine studies will help King County deliver the best interventions possible to the youth they serve.
The results of the study inspire reflection for Stubblefield and his colleagues. “This study allows us to take a look back and ask ourselves what we could have done differently,” Stubblefield said. “The information from the study is helping us to improve interventions for a better coordinated service delivery system.”