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Innovation Brief: Using Community Truancy Boards to Tackle Truancy

Dec 12, 2013, Bonnie Bush, Juvenile Court Administrator, Spokane County Juvenile Court

In 2007, after a coalition of community stakeholders expressed concern with the high dropout rates and high occurrence of truancy in their Eastern Washington community, the Spokane County Juvenile…

Innovation Brief: Avoiding and Mitigating the Collateral Consequences of a Juvenile Adjudication

Dec 12, 2013, National Juvenile Defender Center

The majority of youth who come into contact with the juvenile court system have one court contact and never return. And even among those youth who do return to juvenile court, most do not become…

Innovation Brief: Early Appointment of Counsel

Dec 12, 2013, National Juvenile Defender Center

The timing of the appointment of counsel can have as much of an impact on the outcome of a case as whether an attorney is appointed at all. Having a qualified juvenile defender present, at the…

Innovation Brief: The Cultural Enhancement Model for Evidence-Based Practice

Dec 12, 2013, Sarah Walker, Research Assistant Professor, University of Washington Division of Public Behavioral Health & Justice Policy

Interest in developing and testing cultural adaptations has grown in proportion to the widespread adoption of policies to support the implementation of evidence-based practice (EBPs). One significant…

Innovation Brief: Facilitating Health Care Coverage for Juvenile Justice-Involved Youth

Dec 12, 2013, Sarabeth Zemel, Kimm Mooney, Diane Justice, National Academy for State Health Policy

As states and juvenile justice stakeholders work to facilitate health coverage and access for system-involved youth, they can draw upon the experiences of their counterparts across the country to…

Innovation Brief: Illinois’ JWatch Probation Data & Case Management System

Dec 12, 2013, Lisa Jacobs and Susan Witkin, Loyola University Chicago School of Law

Illinois’ 64 probation departments use a wide variety of commercial and “homegrown” data systems to gather and manage information on youth on juvenile probation caseloads and to…

Innovation Brief: Ogle County’s Juvenile Justice Council

Dec 12, 2013, Lisa Jacobs and Jim Bray, Illinois Models for Change

Ogle County in northwestern Illinois looks like many rural communities, with a relatively small population (53,497) spread across a large geographic area (758 square miles). But Ogle County has…

Innovation Brief: Judicial Colloquies: Communicating with Kids in Court

Dec 12, 2013, Rosa Peralta and George Yeannakis

Juvenile offenders are customarily required to comply with a lengthy list of rules imposed by a judge or juvenile probation counselor. Failures to comply, even those of a technical nature that result…

Innovation Brief: Professional Development for Key Decision Makers in Juvenile Court: Strengthening the Juvenile-Specific Knowledge and Capabilities of Prosecutors, Defenders, and Judges

Dec 12, 2013, Barry Mahoney – The Justice Management Institute & Stephen Phillippi, PhD-Louisiana State University School of Public Health: Institute for Public Health & Justice

When Louisiana began to address long-standing problems in its juvenile justice system, leaders of the reform movement recognized that engaging key juvenile court decision makers—prosecutors,…

Innovation Brief: Local Detention Reform Leading to State Adoption of Best Practice Detention Standards

Dec 12, 2013, Dana Kaplan, Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana & Stephen Phillippi, PhD, Louisiana State University School of Public Health: Institute for Public Health & Justice

Statewide standards for juvenile detention facilities were produced through a collaborative effort utilizing and accelerating local reforms from Models for Change sites in Louisiana. These standards…

Innovation Brief: Model for Effective Implementation of Evidence-Based Practices

Dec 12, 2013, Stephen Phillippi, PhD & Debra DePrato, MD, LSU School of Public Health, Institute for Public Health and Justice

In current literature, there is a general agreement concerning what works and what does not work in reducing delinquent behavior with juvenile offenders in communities; however, this knowledge has…

Innovation Brief: University Partnerships as a Strategy for Promoting Data-Driven Decision Making in Juvenile Justice

Dec 12, 2013, Kristina Childs, PhD,Consultant for the Institute for Public Health and Justice & Paul Frick, PhD, University of New Orleans

A critical piece of juvenile justice reform is the use of data to objectively identify areas in need of reform, select the types of reforms that match a jurisdiction’s needs, and to evaluate…

Innovation Brief: Model Juvenile Court Colloquies

Dec 12, 2013, National Juvenile Defender Center

Despite the rehabilitative nature we ascribe to the juvenile justice system, research indicates that when young people are in court, surrounded by authority figures, they are often frightened or…

Innovation Brief: Addressing the Legal Needs of Youth After Disposition

Dec 12, 2013, National Juvenile Defender Center

In most instances, legal representation for a youth ends at disposition, leaving youth on their own to navigate continuing legal obligations while on probation and even while incarcerated. This often…

Innovation Brief: Eliminating the Practice of Indiscriminate Shackling of Youth

Dec 12, 2013, National Juvenile Defender Center

Many youth in custody are forced to appear in court shackled with leg irons, belly chains, and handcuffs. The practice of restraining youth who pose no safety threat unnecessarily humiliates,…

Innovation Brief: Beyond Anecdote: New Resources in Washington State for Data-Informed Policy Reform

Dec 12, 2013, WSCCR and NCJJ

A growing demand exists in juvenile justice for quality information to support a range of policy planning, program research and evaluation efforts. Challenged with system reform, the states require…

Innovation Brief: Schools Turn to Treatment, Not Punishment, for Children with Mental Health Needs

Dec 12, 2013, Giudi Weiss, Kathleen Skowyra

In 2008, the new Mental Health/Juvenile Justice Action Network selected “early diversion” as its first area of focus. Its goal was to create opportunities for youth with mental health…

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