Juvenile Justice Agencies Research Articles

Children dually involved with statutory child protection and juvenile justice in Australia: A developmental cascade framework

Children who experience dual involvement by child protection and juvenile justice statutory systems have poorer life outcomes attributable to higher levels of disadvantage and more complex needs compared to single system involved children. Literature regarding dual involved children in high income, western, and democratic nations are largely based on US studies. Whilst child protection and juvenile justice systems across the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia have somewhat similar legislative systems, cohort outcomes and relationships between risk factors and offending trajectories for dual involved children are influenced by differing legislative, geographic, and demographic contexts. Compared to international literature, significant gaps exist regarding the Australian context. Further, within Australia, there are no evaluated specific responses and/or strategies directed towards supporting this highly vulnerable cohort towards increased long-term positive outcomes. This is the first comprehensive review of Australian studies that examines the characteristics of children who have had dual involvement with juvenile justice and child protection agencies within Australia. Using a thematic analysis twenty-five studies with dual involved samples were analysed, examining the individual, familial, environmental, and systemic factors that contribute to the likelihood of children becoming involved in both child protection and juvenile justice systems within Australia. Six thematic factors emerged that characterised the trajectories of dual involved children: cumulative and destabilising adversity; maltreatment timing and type; offending onset and context; educational disadvantage and disengagement; co-occurring challenges; and First Nations overrepresentation. Our findings are applied to Developmental Systems Theory, extending on previous literature to depict an Australian first developmental cascade framework illustrating the context specific pathways of dual involved children and opportunities for intervention in Australia. The discussion highlights and compares differences between Australian and international contexts with the intention of emphasising key areas for future research, and policy and practice reform. This is important because of the nuanced differences between dual involved characteristics across different legislative and geographic contexts, with particular relevance to the experiences of First Nations children and families. Future research, policy and practice would benefit from continued reforms that focus resources on co-ordinated system responses and cohort specific services; namely, culturally appropriate diversion strategies that promote behavioural de-escalation and educational engagement.

A mixed methods evaluation of family-driven care implementation in juvenile justice agencies in Georgia

Background Improving family engagement in juvenile justice (JJ) system behavioral health services is a high priority for JJ systems, reform organizations, and family advocacy groups across the United States. Family-driven care (FDC) is a family engagement framework used by youth-serving systems to elevate family voice and decision-making power at all levels of the organization. Key domains of a family-driven system of care include: 1) identifying and involving families in all processes, 2) informing families with accurate, understandable, and transparent information, 3) collaborating with families to make decisions and plan treatments, 4) responding to family diversity and inclusion, 5) partnering with families to make organizational decisions and policy changes, 6) providing opportunities for family peer support, 7) providing logistical support to help families overcome barriers to participation, and 8) addressing family health and functioning. FDC enhances family participation, empowerment, and decision-making power in youth services; ultimately, improving youth and family behavioral health outcomes, enhancing family-child connectedness, and reducing youth recidivism in the JJ setting.MethodsWe evaluated staff-perceived adoption of the eight domains of FDC across detention and community services agencies in the state of Georgia. We collected mixed methods data involving surveys and in-depth qualitative interviews with JJ system administrators, staff, and practitioners between November 2021- July 2022. In total, 140 individuals from 61 unique JJ agencies participated in surveys; and 16 JJ key informants participated in qualitative interviews.ResultsFDC domains with the highest perceived adoption across agencies included identifying and involving families, informing families, collaborative decision-making and treatment planning, and family diversity and inclusion. Other domains that had mixed or lower perceived adoption included involving families in organizational feedback and policy making, family peer support, logistical support, and family health and functioning. Adoption of FDC domains differed across staff and organizational characteristics.ConclusionsFindings from this mixed methods assessment will inform strategic planning for the scale-up of FDC strategies across JJ agencies in the state, and serve as a template for assessing strengths and weaknesses in the application of family engagement practices in systems nationally.

Longitudinal Cohort Study: Predictive Validity of the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth Individual/Clinical Risk Factor on Recidivism Among Mississippi Justice-Involved Youth

Many juvenile justice agencies have moved toward risk-need-responsivity and risk-need-assessment approaches to manage youth and reduce future risk of recidivism. The Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY) instrument is a popular tool to assess risk and protective factors among justice-involved youth. The present study explored the consistency of the Individual/Clinical Risk measure, comprised of eight items (e.g., anger, negative attitudes, empathy), as a single latent factor across five years (2017–2021) of juvenile court data in Mississippi. Further, this study examined gender (male vs. female) and race (Black vs. non-Black) invariance in this risk factor and the predictive validity of the risk factor for one-year recidivism. Findings support the existence of a single factor of Individual/Clinical Risk and consistency across time. The risk factor was invariant across gender and race. Further, the risk factor significantly predicted recidivism in years 2019–2021, and near significantly predicted recidivism for 2017. These findings recommend the continued use of the SAVRY as an evidence-based measure of risk.

Subgroups of Persistent Juvenile Offenders: Latent Class Analysis of Repeated Juvenile Assessment Center Entries

ABSTRACT Many juvenile justice agencies rely on risk assessments to inform administrative decisions about youth placement. While many studies within recent years have explored patterns in criminal offending over time, little research has explored the heterogeneity in youth placement decisions by the juvenile justice system. There is a need to document the patterns, levels, and trends in offense risk among youth entering and reentering the justice system. This study used latent class analysis to identify subgroups of n = 388 male juveniles repeatedly entering a U.S. juvenile justice system based on youth placement decisions. The persistent juvenile offenders were best classified into either a moderately increasing risk placement group or a severely increasing risk placement group. The moderately increasing group experienced more bullying involvement, while the severely increasing group was older and experienced more sexual assault, sexual partners, treatment for drug use problems, and elevated depression. Policy recommendations are made.

Results of a national survey of substance use treatment services for youth under community supervision

BackgroundDespite the heightened risk for substance use (SU) among youth in the juvenile justice system, many do not receive the treatment that they need.ObjectivesThe purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which youth under community supervision by juvenile justice agencies receive community-based SU services and the factors associated with access to such services.MethodsData are from a nationally representative sample of Community Supervision (CS) agencies and their primary behavioral health (BH) partners. Surveys were completed by 192 CS and 271 BH agencies.ResultsSU services are more often available through BH than CS for all treatment modalities. EBPs are more likely to be used by BH than by CS. Co-location of services occurs most often in communities with fewer treatment options and is associated with higher interagency collaboration. Youth are more likely to receive services in communities with higher EBP use, which mediates the relationship between the availability of SU treatment modalities and the proportion of youth served.ConclusionFindings identify opportunities to strengthen community systems and improve linkage to care.

Impact of implementation interventions to improve substance use service delivery on recidivism among justice-involved youth

Substance use disorders (SUD) are prevalent among justice-involved youth (JIY) and are a robust predictor of re-offending. Only a fraction of JIY with substance use problems receive treatment. This paper describes the impacts of system-level efforts to improve identification and referral to treatment on recidivism of JIY. A cluster randomized trial involving 20 county juvenile justice agency sites across 5 states was used to implement an organizational intervention (Core vs Enhanced) to juvenile justice staff and community-based treatment providers, working with 18,698 JIY from March 2014 to August 2017. Recidivism rates over four study time periods were examined. Logistic regression was used to predict recidivism as a function of site, need for SUD services, level of supervision, time, organizational intervention, and time x intervention interaction terms. Results indicated that Enhanced sites showed decreased levels of recidivism compared to Core-only sites, where it increased over time. Additionally, need for SU services, level of supervision, and site were significant predictors of reoffending. Findings suggest the potential value of facilitation of juvenile justice agency efforts to increasing identification of and referral to SUD services of JIY in need of such services for reducing further contact with the legal system.

The comparative effectiveness of Core versus Core+Enhanced implementation strategies in a randomized controlled trial to improve substance use treatment receipt among justice-involved youth

BackgroundMost justice-involved youth are supervised in community settings, where assessment and linkage to substance use (SU) treatment services are inconsistent and fragmented. Only 1/3 of youth with an identified SU need receive a treatment referral and even fewer initiate services. Thus, improving identification and linkage to treatment requires coordination across juvenile justice (JJ) and behavioral health (BH) agencies. The current study examines the comparative effectiveness of two bundled implementation intervention strategies for improving SU treatment initiation, engagement, and continuing care among justice-involved youth supervised in community settings. Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, Sustainment (EPIS) served as the conceptual framework for study design and selection/timing of implementation intervention components, and the BH Services Cascade served as the conceptual and measurement framework for identifying and addressing gaps in service receipt.MethodsPart of a larger Juvenile-Justice Translational Research on Interventions for Adolescents in the Legal System (JJ-TRIALS) Cooperative, this study involved a multisite, cluster-randomized control trial where sites were paired then randomly assigned to receive Core (training teams on the BH Services Cascade and data-driven decision making; supporting goal selection) or Core+Enhanced (external facilitation of implementation teams) intervention components. Youth service records were collected from 20 JJ community supervision agencies (in five states) across five study phases (baseline, pre-randomization, early experiment, late experiment, maintenance). Implementation teams comprised of JJ and BH staff collaboratively identified goals along the BH Cascade and used data-driven decision-making to implement change.ResultsResults suggest that Core intervention components were effective at increasing service receipt over time relative to baseline, but differences between Core and Core+Enhanced conditions were non-significant. Time to service initiation was shorter among Core+Enhanced sites, and deeper Cascade penetration occurred when external facilitation (of implementation teams) was provided. Wide variation existed in the degree and nature of change across service systems.ConclusionsFindings demonstrate the criticality of early EPIS phases, demonstrating that strategies provided during the formative exploration and preparation phases produced some improvement in service receipt, whereas implementation-focused activities produced incremental improvement in moving youth farther along the Cascade.

Impacts of Healthy U: A cluster-randomized control trial of a sexual health education app developed for justice-involved male youth

PurposeDespite overall declines in teen pregnancy rates, teen pregnancies remain high among justice-involved youth. Justice-involved youth are disproportionately likely to engage in riskier sexual health behavior and simultaneously lack access to sexual health education programs. The study investigated the impact of Healthy U, a program specifically designed for male justice-involved youth. Healthy U is an app-based, self-paced fatherhood prevention program. MethodsThe study employed a cluster-randomized control trial among four, male-serving residential facilities operated by a state juvenile justice agency. Within the facilities, living units were randomly assigned to either receive Healthy U or participate in business-as-usual conditions. Male youth, ages 14–19, participated in baseline surveys prior to treatment group participation in Healthy U, and completed surveys six months post-baseline. ResultsResults indicated participation in Healthy U significantly and meaningfully increased positive attitudes toward condom use and negative attitudes toward sexual health behavior, as well as increased intentions to use condoms and birth control. No significant differences were found for knowledge about condom use. ConclusionsResults from this study indicate Healthy U, an app-based, self-paced program developed with and for male justice-involved youth, increased important non-behavioral sexual health-related outcomes. Currently, there is a noteworthy lack of sexual health programs developed specifically for justice-involved youth, regardless of gender. Thus, it is notable that Healthy U not only fills this gap but does so in an effective way.

Examining Housing Instability Among Females Who Are System-Involved: Comparing Females With and Without Histories of Commercial Sexual Exploitation.

Females involved in child welfare (CW) or juvenile justice (JJ) systems are at-risk for commercial sexual exploitation (CSE). This study used administrative data from CW and JJ agencies in Los Angeles County to examine out-of-home care experiences and identify the types of homes that were associated with housing instability for females who experienced CSE. Demographic and case characteristics of females with a history of CSE and a matched sample without a reported history of CSE were compared using χ2 analyses and t-tests. Females with a history of CSE experienced significantly more housing instability compared to their matched counterparts. Housing instability was associated with leaving care without permission (LCWOP), and females were most likely to move because of LCWOP from group homes. These findings highlight the extremely unstable living situations for females with histories of CSE. Recommendations align with new federal policy, which aims to reduce reliance on group homes.

Using Multidisciplinary Partnerships to Advance Juvenile Justice Reform: Experiences in 10 Communities

The Annie E. Casey Foundation created its national deep-end initiative to support local jurisdictions to develop and implement practices, policies, and programs that prevent youth involved in the juvenile justice system—especially for youth of color—from being sent to out-of-home placements. This article presents findings about the role that partnerships played across 10 communities in the initiative, leveraging data collected through interviews and a web-based stakeholder survey. As part of the deep-end initiative, stakeholders developed partnerships with multiple entities, though they reported partnering with community organizations, youth, and families less than with juvenile justice agencies. Family engagement emerged broadly and consistently as a priority, but stakeholders infrequently mentioned youth engagement. Sites with more collaboration typically had stronger implementation, suggesting that successful collaboration goes hand in hand with implementing broader reform activities. Developing diverse partnerships to engage in juvenile justice reform is an achievable goal that can advance reform efforts.

Implementing a Sexual Risk Avoidance Intervention in a Juvenile Justice Setting: What We Learned, and How it Can Help Others

Despite relatively high rates of teen pregnancy and sexual risk-taking among justice-involved youth, there is a scarcity of programming to help these youth become better informed about sexual health and decision making. The lack of adequate programming may in part be due to challenges that exist when trying to develop and implement programs in juvenile justice settings. Project With is a sexual risk avoidance intervention that includes storytelling and mentoring components and is currently being implemented within a large juvenile justice agency in California. This paper shares the lessons learned through implementation of the Project With program at five juvenile justice facilities. These lessons focus on the relationships, processes, and logistics that facilitated and impeded implementation, as well as aspects of the Project With design that promoted youth engagement. In particular, insights about the importance of leveraging relationships, gathering buy-in at multiple levels, understanding the system, and allowing for flexibility are highlighted. A checklist is included to support other program developers and researchers who seek to create, implement, and study teen pregnancy prevention programming for justice-involved youth.

Alliances to disseminate addiction prevention and treatment (ADAPT): A statewide learning health system to reduce substance use among justice-involved youth in rural communities

BackgroundYouth in the justice system (YJS) are more likely than youth who have never been arrested to have mental health and substance use problems. However, a low percentage of YJS receive SUD services during their justice system involvement. The SUD care cascade can identify potential missed opportunities for treatment for YJS. Steps along the continuum of the cascade include identification of treatment need, referral to services, and treatment engagement. To address gaps in care for YJS, we will (1) implement a learning health system (LHS) to develop, or improve upon, alliances between juvenile justice (JJ) agencies and community mental health centers (CMHC) and (2) present local cascade data during continuous quality improvement cycles within the LHS alliances. Methods/designADAPT is a hybrid Type II effectiveness implementation trial. We will collaborate with JJ and CMHCs in eight Indiana counties. Application of the EPIS (exploration, preparation, implementation, and sustainment) framework will guide the implementation of the LHS alliances. The study team will review local cascade data quarterly with the alliances to identify gaps along the continuum. The study will collect self-report survey measures longitudinally at each site regarding readiness for change, implementation climate, organizational leadership, and program sustainability. The study will use the Stages of Implementation Completion (SIC) tool to assess the process of implementation across interventions. Additionally, the study team will conduct focus groups and qualitative interviews with JJ and CMHC personnel across the intervention period to assess for impact. DiscussionFindings have the potential to increase SUD need identification, referral to services, and treatment for YJS.

Effect of Juvenile Justice Fee Repeal on Financial Sanctions Borne by Families

Juvenile justice agencies often impose fees on parents and guardians to offset the cost of their child’s legal representation, detention, and supervision. Increasingly, advocates are calling for fee repeal, to mitigate the costs and harms of various monetary sanctions. But is removing fees likely to have an appreciable effect on the financial burden families carry? Applying a rigorous causal inference approach to data on 2,401 youth placed on probation before and after a fee repeal in Alameda County, we estimate that the likelihood of experiencing any financial sanction was 22.2% lower post-repeal compared to pre-repeal, and the total amount of sanctions was $1,583 (or 70%) lower. These benefits did not depend on families’ socioeconomic status. Our analysis indicates that fee repeal can be a powerful policy lever for doing less financial harm to families during their children’s terms of probation. This study provides empirical evidence that helps bolster a growing national effort to eliminate juvenile fees.

Structuring Evaluation Partnerships: Exploring Contrasts in Researcher–Practitioner Roles and Responsibilities When Implementing Randomized Experiments in Real-World Settings

Despite the increase in federal tiered evidence initiatives that require the use of rigorous evaluation designs, such as randomized experiments, there has been limited guidance in the evaluation literature on practical strategies to implement such studies successfully. This paper provides lessons learned in executing experiments in applied settings, such as schools, juvenile justice agencies, mental health clinics, reproductive health clinics, and job centers. To promote successful study implementation, evaluators must understand study roles, select suitable partners, and employ appropriate partnership models. In this article, we describe partner types and study roles, concretely illustrate how partnerships might be structured, discuss specific strategies to assess implementation partner capacity and maintain partner engagement, and consider how an evaluator can leverage the skills and resources of study partners to improve participant recruitment, enrollment, and retention. While the lessons are drawn from our experiences conducting 10 experimental studies, some may also apply to non-experimental evaluations.

Juvenile probation officers' perceptions on youth substance use varies from task-shifting to family-based contingency management

The majority of justice-involved youth have problems with substance use, but juvenile justice agencies face numerous barriers to providing evidence-based treatments for these youth. Task-shifting is one strategy for increasing access to such treatments. That is, training juvenile probation officers (JPOs) to deliver substance use treatments, such as contingency management (CM) could improve youths' motivation and behavioral outcomes. However, probation traditionally emphasizes sanctions over incentives, so JPOs must alter their perspectives to accept protocols such as CM for substance use. Using mixed focus group and survey methods at baseline and one year later, this randomized study examined heretofore unstudied JPO perceptions during a task-shifting experiment in which JPOs were asked to start delivering CM for youth substance use, compared to a control group of JPOs who did not change their practices. At baseline, JPOs expressed a perception of hopelessness about their work with substance-using youth and their parents, but they generally held positive views toward use of tangible incentives. One year after randomization to participate in CM training and delivery, JPO perceptions changed positively about working with youth and their parents, substance use programs and resources, and whether they believed tangible incentive programs were worthwhile. Over the same time, there was a perceptual stasis in hopelessness for JPOs randomized to deliver probation services as usual, and there was degradation in their previously positive perception toward tangible incentives. The study advances thinking regarding tools that JPOs can use for working with youth and families and the role that task-shifting can play in both increasing access to evidence-based treatments and improving attitudinal outcomes of JPOs.

Stakeholder awareness of reintegration practices for incarcerated youth: A cross-national comparison

This study offers a cross-national comparison of stakeholders’ awareness of the implementation of reintegration policies and practices for incarcerated youths by juvenile justice agencies. Similarities and differences in perceptions of 14 stakeholders from the US and 20 from Australia were collected and analyzed using a self-report measure. Stakeholders from both countries showed considerable awareness of the implementation of effective policies and practices in the domains of interagency collaboration, team planning, and supporting life skills, but were less aware of the implementation of policies and practices of education and supports during and after transition. A key finding was that communication across agencies is critical to increasing stakeholders’ awareness of the implementation of effective policies and practices to enhance the youths’ reentry success.

A System-Level Intervention to Encourage Collaboration Between Juvenile Justice and Public Health Agencies to Promote HIV/STI Testing.

Justice-involved youth are at high risk for HIV and STIs, and justice agencies are uniquely poised to offer HIV/STI testing. However, testing in these settings is not routine and represents a missed opportunity. This study describes a system-level implementation intervention designed to increase access to HIV/STI testing through juvenile justice (JJ) and public health agency collaboration across six counties in six states in the United States. Local change teams, active facilitation, and training were utilized to facilitate agency partnerships and development of HIV/STI practice change protocols. Five counties established health and JJ partnerships and four counties successfully implemented their protocols. Sites with HIV/STI education and testing protocols behaviorally screened 98.5% of youth and tested 41.2% of those youth; 0% were HIV+ and 43.2% had an STI. The intervention provides a feasible, scalable solution, through promoting partnerships between JJ and health agencies, to link youth to testing and treatment services.

Critical Factors Influencing Interorganizational Relationships Between Juvenile Probation and Behavioral Health Agencies.

Although interorganizational relationships (IORs) are essential to the effective delivery of human services, very little research has examined relationships between juvenile justice agencies and behavioral health providers, and few studies have identified the most critical organizational and individual-level characteristics influencing IORs. Across 36 sites, juvenile probation officials (n = 458) and community behavioral health providers (n = 91) were surveyed about characteristics of their agencies, themselves, and IORs with each other. Generalized Linear Mixed Models were used to analyze the data. The strongest predictors included Perceived Organizational Support and individual Adaptability. Implications for research, theory and practice are discussed.

범죄 소년교정을 위한 효행교육의 검토

Corrective treatment of delinquent children is achieved through environmental adjustment and correction of moral character and behaviour according to article1? of juvenile law. Environmental adjustment and correction of character and behaviour is a technical aspect of personality education and correction of inner mind(moral character) is a essential aspect of personality education. Therefore for corrective treatment for them moral character that promotes inner change needs to be done through recovery and development of morality, an essential personality education that conforms to their character after doing technical personality education first which forsters environmental adjustment, behaviour correction and psychological stability by scientific attribution assessment through diverse psychological therapy, counselling and social welfare practical technology. These essential personality education includes ethical values such as filial behaviour, etiquette, honesty, responsibility, cooperation and so on set forth in article Z of the personality education act. Juvenile justice agencies which is in charge of personality education for them has adopted only technical character education related to quantification, short-term performance, typology and accessibility. Therefore, moral personality education including filial behaviour, etc has been marginalized or formalized. The increasing recidivism rate despite the increased psychotherapy, budget, as a result of the immersion in technical personality education that is in bureaucratic interests disapproves the importance of moral personality education including filial behaviour, etc. Therefore, I asserted the revision of law to encourage filial behavior, etc and proposed improvement device of juvenile justice agency personality education related to filial behaviour, etc based on logic that moral education should be combined for corrective treatment for them beyond technical education.

HIV/STI Service Delivery Within Juvenile Community Supervision Agencies: A National Survey of Practices and Approaches to Moving High-Risk Youth Through the HIV Care Cascade.

Justice-involved youth (JIY) are at considerable risk for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), but are disconnected from treatment and prevention. Juvenile justice agencies providing community supervision (CS) are well positioned to provide HIV prevention, testing, and prompt referral to treatment for JIY. However, we lack an understanding of juvenile CS agency responses to HIV/sexually transmitted infection (STI) needs among JIY. We conducted a nationwide systematic assessment of how juvenile CS agencies identify, refer, and move youth through the HIV care cascade using a nationally representative sample of 195 juvenile CS agencies across 20 states. Two-thirds of CS agencies did not offer any HIV-/STI-related services, and 82% reported no collaboration with health agencies. Screening or referral for HIV risk behaviors was reported by 32% of the CS agencies and 12% for any intervention or prevention for HIV/STI risk behaviors. Between 21% and 30% of agencies were unaware of the location of local HIV/STI services. HIV/STI prevention training was not a priority for directors and was ranked second to last out of 16 training topics. Agencies where staff expressed need for HIV risk training and where specific court programming was available were more likely to provide or refer for HIV/STI screening and/or testing. Agencies were more likely to provide or refer for services if they provided pre-trial/pre-adjudication supervision, parole, or court programming. Considering the low provision of HIV/STI-related services and limited collaboration between health and justice agencies, interventions that promote cross-system collaboration designed to minimize barriers and facilitate identification, referral, and linkage to HIV services for JIY are necessary.