Juvenile Justice Professionals Research Articles

Beyond recidivism: reconceptualizing success through relational health for trauma-exposed youth experiencing juvenile justice involvement.

Youth who have histories of trauma exposure face unique barriers and needs in navigating the juvenile justice system. Accordingly, reliance on recidivism as the primary "success" metric falls short for trauma-impacted youth and may actually prolong their justice involvement. Caregivers and juvenile justice professionals (i.e., judges, attorneys, detention and probation staff, case managers, and mental health clinicians) often struggle to identify and adequately address these challenges and pitfalls. This policy brief provides an overview of specialized considerations for traumatized youth with respect to common policies and practices, namely mandated placement, treatment, and timelines. Specific examples and actionable recommendations are provided to assist juvenile justice professionals and treatment providers with systemic efforts to more appropriately and effectively customize juvenile justice policies and programs for these extremely vulnerable youth.

Training on brain injury for juvenile justice professionals: Findings from pre- and post-training surveys and focus groups

Despite the need for improved knowledge and skill, little peer-reviewed research evidence exists to support the design, implementation, and effectiveness of brain injury training specifically in the justice system. The present study sought to build upon the findings from Riccardi et al. (2022) to design, conduct, and evaluate a pilot training on brain injury for juvenile justice professionals. Juvenile court professionals completed pre- and post-training focus group interviews (n = 5) and surveys (N = 28). Focus group participants’ responses were grouped into various themes related to perspectives on brain injury and training preferences, including current challenges, content needs, methods desired, most helpful content and methods, professional changes since training, and suggested modifications to the training. Average knowledge and confidence scores improved significantly from pre- to post- training with large effect sizes. The preliminary findings of this research study may be used to support change in training practices and administrative procedures, as well as support the need for continued research in brain injury in JIYs.

The role of trauma-informed practices and individual factors on perceptions of safety among staff in secure juvenile detention settings

ABSTRACT Despite an increased focus on trauma-informed care within the juvenile justice system, we still know very little about the impact of trauma on juvenile justice professionals or their perceptions of trauma-informed interventions. To fill this gap, this study used an organizational assessment to examine perceptions of trauma-informed care among juvenile professionals in a juvenile detention setting. Participants included 204 staff members in two secure juvenile detention facilities. Staff who reported greater availability of trauma-informed practices were more likely to perceive that youth and families felt safe and those who reported that the facility was taking steps to address secondary trauma were more likely to report a sense of staff safety. Regarding individual factors, only age and gender were related to perceptions of youth and family safety. Frontline staff were more likely than supervisory staff to feel they had received adequate training in trauma and had the skills necessary to deescalate youth. These findings suggest that staff are open to trauma-informed practices in juvenile detention, but a greater focus on supervisory staff is needed. Shifting from individual-level strategies to facility-level improvements could have a greater impact on enhancing staff members’ perceptions of safety, which improves their ability to care for youth.

Juvenile Justice, Technology and Family Separation: A Call to Prioritize Access to Family-Based Telehealth Treatment for Justice-Involved Adolescents' Mental Health and Well-Being.

Separating children from families has deleterious effects on children's mental health and well-being, which is highly relevant for youth in juvenile detention and other out-of-home residential placements. Despite growth in the evidence of family-based interventions in mitigating adverse behavioral health outcomes for justice involved adolescents (JIA), gaps remain in intervention dissemination for JIA; this particularly true for those leveraging digital health technologies, a need that has intensified with the COVID-19 pandemic. Use of digital health technologies for JIAs is pressing to address structural barriers in maintaining JIA-family connections, but also to improve treatment access for detained JIAs. Court systems' capacity to support use of digital health tools, such as telehealth, appear promising. Data on the use of tele-conferencing in U.S. juvenile and family courts were collected from 456 juvenile justice professionals as part of a larger study on judicial decision making. Results suggest overwhelming adoption of video-conferencing for court hearings with only 40% of respondents reporting family court use prior to the onset of COVID-19, but majority (91%) now reporting its routine use. Youth participate from a range of settings, including detention, other residential placement, community-based behavioral health and in-home settings. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a shift in the uptake of video-conferencing platforms that could hold promise for future larger scale use across the juvenile justice system. Findings underscore feasibility and acceptability of technology requirements in key settings that should be leveraged for broad scale implementation of empirically supported family-based interventions to advance behavioral health equity for JIA.

Technology for assessment and treatment of justice-involved youth: A systematic literature review.

We conducted a systematic literature review of e-mental health technologies in juvenile justice contexts. Our exploratory research questions were as follows: First, what types of e-mental health exist for justice-involved youth, their caregivers, and juvenile justice professionals? Second, what are the characteristics of studies that have examined these technologies? Third, what have studies found about the effectiveness, reliability, or validity of e-mental health in treating and assessing juvenile justice populations? And fourth, what advantages and disadvantages exist for e-mental health use in juvenile justice? We screened 759 articles and retained 36 for review. We included articles that investigated e-mental health for the assessment or treatment of justice-involved youth and their caregivers. We excluded technologies not directly related to assessment or treatment as well as samples of at-risk youth with no justice involvement. We identified four types of e-mental health technologies: Interventions with technology-facilitated interpersonal communication (e.g., telehealth and mHealth), digitized intervention programs, simulation games, and computerized assessments. Most study designs were experimental/quasi-experimental or qualitative/descriptive, followed closely by repeated measures/pretest-posttest. A majority of evidence suggested that e-mental health technologies were potentially effective or valid for treatment and assessment, especially telehealth. Advantages included positive opinions of users, increased access to care, and efficiency; disadvantages included barriers to accessing technology, privacy concerns, and lack of clear effectiveness, reliability, or validity data. Although the available evidence for e-mental health for juvenile justice is promising, the current literature base appears generally underdeveloped and nuanced. Worthwhile future directions include continued development of technologies and more rigorously conducted studies to support further implementation of e-mental health for juvenile justice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Collaboration as Process: The Making of a Partnership to Serve At‐Risk Youths of Haitian Descent

AbstractThe increasingly intractable nature of many social problems has given rise to cross‐institutional and interdisciplinary collaborations in order to respond to social problems that no single entity can resolve on its own. One value of anthropology lies in its capacity to provide culturally tailored strategies for successful collaboration between different stakeholders in communities, across disciplinary fields, among public policymakers and practitioners. In this article, we revisit the emergence of a collaborative initiative to support at‐risk youths of Haitian descent and their families. This work was undertaken by university researchers, juvenile justice professionals in Miami‐Dade County, and community‐based practitioners. Guided by a holistic anthropological perspective and a multidimensional approach to collaboration, we provide a processual analysis of almost two decades of opportunities and challenges posed by our collaboration and illuminate the importance of collaboration in identifying evidence‐based solutions to social problems. While not all collaborative teams experience the same processes or operate within the same sociocultural contexts, we argue that there are some fundamental principles to establishing effective collaboration: a shared common goal, shared objectives, and time.

Pragmatic justice in juvenile sentencing: agreeing what to do but not why

The work of the juvenile justice system is marked by profound moral ambiguity and practical uncertainty, yet that work is also thoroughly bureaucratized. Rules and routines circumscribe the work’s ambiguity and uncertainty. So what does it mean to do justice under such conditions? Drawing on field notes from the observation of 33 different sentencing meetings in one state’s juvenile justice system, this article presents a grounded view of this problem, focusing on seemingly contradictory routine and creativity observed in the sentencing meetings. To explain this apparent contradiction, this article offers an original theoretical contribution, tying together a pragmatist theory of action, research from the practice theory tradition in organizational studies, as well as research on ritual, to develop an account of the ways in which structured actions allow people to navigate ambiguity and uncertainty. The article then examines one particularly difficult case that causes the organizational routine to break down. This breakdown forces the juvenile justice professionals to get creative with their bureaucratically available options. While they deviate from the typical organizational routine, they return to established ritual of the sentencing process. The article concludes with an initial attempt to develop a broader pragmatist account of ritual, focusing on the ways in which ritualized action make concrete our abstract and often contradictory ideals.

“A Bad Combination”: Lived Experiences of Youth Involved in the Foster Care and Juvenile Justice Systems

Youth with involvement in foster care and the juvenile justice system, often called dual-status youth, are at increased risk for negative outcomes as they transition into adulthood, including homelessness, and involvement in the adult criminal justice system. Increase of interest in the phenomenon of youth dual involvement within the last decade, reveals focus on challenges associated with the dual-status population, the importance of multi-system collaboration, and foster care factors contributing to juvenile delinquency. This study aims to build on the current literature, through exploration of how dually-involved youth make sense of their experiences in the juvenile justice and foster care systems; and what youth believe are their unique challenges of being in two systems? This phenomenological study engaged ten individuals in Houston, Texas, between the ages of 18 and 24 years old, and previously involved in the juvenile justice and foster care systems. Research subjects participated in-depth, semi-structured, and audio-recorded interviews, disclosing their experiences in two systems. Interviews were transcribed and entered in the qualitative analytical program, Atlas.ti, where common themes of participant responses were extracted. Accounts from participants highlighted three key experiences: (1) experiences of and leading to dual involvement, (2) traumatic experiences, and (3) absence of normalcy. Study results are categorized based on their pathways to dual-involvement. This current study offers rich insights into how dually-involved youth make sense of their experiences in the foster care and juvenile justice systems. Implications for enhanced service provision among child welfare and juvenile justice professionals are offered.

The experiences of transgender and gender expansive youth in Juvenile justice systems

PurposeRecent research finds that youth who identify as transgender or gender-expansive are disproportionately incarcerated in juvenile justice systems and are treated differently from their non-trans peers (Himmelstein and Brückner, 2011; Hunt and Moodie-Mills, 2012; Irvine, 2010; Mitchum and Moodie-Mills, 2014). Juvenile justice systems have paid little attention to this group of young people in terms of their unique service needs and risk factors. Using qualitative methods, the researchers analyze in-depth interviews and focus group findings from formerly incarcerated trans youth in juvenile justice settings to better understand their experiences. This paper aims to examine the challenges for young people, and, as well as considered recommendations for juvenile justice professionals to study toward making changes in policies, practices and programs that are needed to support young people who are transgender or gender expansive.Design/methodology/approachUsing qualitative, case examples and descriptive analysis, this paper describes the experiences of trans youth in juvenile justice settings and studies toward developing models of promoting trans-affirming approaches to enhance juvenile justice institutions for trans and gender-expansive youth placed in them. The paper describes the evolution of an approach used by the authors, in New York state juvenile justice settings to increase a trans-affirming perspective as a central role in the organization’s strategy and design, and the methods it is using to institutionalize this critical change. Findings culled from the focus groups and in-depth interviews with 15 former residents of juvenile justice settings and several (3) key staff members from the juvenile justice system, focusing on policies, practices and training models are useful tools for assessing progress and recommending actions to increase the affirming nature of such systems. At its conclusion, this chapter will provide clear outcomes and implications for the development of policies, practices and programs with trans and gender expansive youth in juvenile justice systems.FindingsFinding are conceptualized in six thematic categories, namely, privacy, access to health and mental health care, the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity, name and pronoun use, clothing, appearance and mannerism, and housing issues.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is limited as it focuses on formerly incarcerated youth in the New York City area.Practical implicationsThe following implications for practice stemming from this study are as follows: juvenile justice professionals (including judges, defense attorneys, prosecutors, probation officers and detention staff) must treat – and ensure others treat – all trans and gender-expansive youth with fairness, dignity and respect, including prohibiting any attempts to ridicule or change a youth’s gender identity or expression. Having written nondiscrimination and anti-harassment policy is also essential. These policies can address issues such as prohibiting harassment of youth or staff who are trans or gender expansive, requiring the use of respectful and inclusive language and determining how gender rules (e.g. usage of “male or “female” bathrooms, gender-based room assignments) will be addressed for transgender and gender-nonconforming youth. Programs should also provide clients and staff with training and helpful written materials. Juvenile justice professionals must promote the well-being of transgender youth by allowing them to express their gender identity through choice of clothing, name, hair-style and other means of expression and by ensuring that they have access to appropriate medical care if necessary. Juvenile justice professionals must receive training and resources regarding the unique societal, familial and developmental challenges confronting trans youth and the relevance of these issues to court proceedings. Training must be designed to address the specific professional responsibilities of the audience (i.e. judges, defense attorneys, prosecutors, probation officers and detention staff). Juvenile justice professionals must develop individualized, developmentally appropriate responses to the behavior of each trans youth, tailored to address the specific circumstances of his or her or their life.Social implicationsProviding trans-affirming services to youth in juvenile justice settings is a matter of equity and should be the goal strived for by all systems that care for these young people. Helping trans and gender-expansive youth reenter and reintegrate into society should be a primary goal. There are many organizations and systems that stand ready to assist juvenile justice systems and facilities in supporting trans and gender expansive youth in their custody and helping them to rehabilitate, heal and reenter a society that welcomes their participation and where they can thrive and not just survive.Originality/valueThe paper is original in that it examines the lived experiences of trans and gender-expansive youth in juvenile justice systems. An area, which has not been fully explored in the professional literature.

Applying the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges' Resolution to Juvenile Probation Reform.

In 2017, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) passed a resolution advocating for empirically supported juvenile probation reform nationwide. Here, we review the adolescent development and behavioral decision-making research underlying the principles enumerated in the NCJFCJ resolution and describe several of its critical elements. Then, to provide guidance to jurisdictions seeking to revise local policy and practice, we suggest a series of steps that would help juvenile justice professionals translate NCJFCJ resolution principles into innovative probation reform. Finally, we describe how two jurisdictions-Pierce County, Washington and Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania-have engaged in ongoing juvenile probation reform efforts to provide real-world models of how this translational work can be carried out successfully.

Why Children Obey the Law: Rethinking Juvenile Justice and Children’s Rights in Europe through Procedural Justice

This article explores how the idea of procedural justice can help us to rethink juvenile justice and research children’s rights in Europe differently. To frame the following argument, we will question four implications of the procedural justice perspective: 1) the need to implement rights and not just proclaim them, 2) the need to investigate a ‘double perspective’ on children’s rights implying both juvenile justice professionals and children in conflict with the law, 3) the child’s right to effectively participate and be involved in the process and 4) the idea that age matters in the judicial reaction to crime. The resulting conclusions and discussions revolve around the scientific consequences and challenges we must face when we take procedural justice perspective seriously.

She's Nobody's Child/the Law Can't Touch Her at Alll: Seeking to Bring Dignity to Legal Proceedings Involving Juveniles

Recent Supreme Court decisions declaring unconstitutional both capital punishment (Roper v. Simmons, 2005) and life without parole (Graham v. Florida, 2010) in cases involving juveniles might lead a casual observer to think that we are now in an era in which dignity of juveniles is privileged in the legal system and in which humiliation and shame are subordinated. This observation, sadly, would be wrong. Inquiries into a range of issues involving juveniles – commitment to psychiatric institutions; trials in juvenile courts; aspects of criminal procedure that, in many jurisdictions, bar juveniles from raising the incompetency status or the insanity defense; waivers that allow juveniles (some younger than 14) to be tried as adults; caselaw that has developed on the question of the validity of Miranda waivers in juvenile cases; conditions in juvenile punishment facilities – reveal that, regularly, juveniles are subject to shame and humiliation in all aspects of the legal system that relate to arrest, trial, conviction and institutionalization, shame and humiliation that are often exacerbated in cases involving racial minorities and those who are economically impoverished. First, we discuss the meanings of shame and humiliation, and contextualize them into the juvenile justice system that we discuss in this paper. Next, we look specifically at how this is reflected in caselaw involving psychiatric institutionalization and the criminal process (including, but not limited to, juvenile delinquency prosecutions, matters involving mental status defenses, and the correctional system. We then consider these findings through the filters of therapeutic jurisprudence and international human rights laws, urging that these approaches be relied upon so as to best remediate the current state of affairs and infuse this system with some badly-needed dignity. Although scholarship by judges concludes that “Juvenile justice professionals should treat family members with dignity and respect” (Burkemper, Balsam & Yeh, 2007), it is clear that this is, more often than not, not the case. Remarkably, there is a paucity of recent legal scholarship available on much of what is discussed in this paper. We hope that this paper encourages others – judges, scholars, policymakers – to think carefully about the questions we seek to address, and to weigh equally carefully the ultimate impact that out current policies – drenched in shame and humiliation – have on the population in question.

The Latina penalty: Juvenile correctional attitudes toward the Latina juvenile offender

ABSTRACTThis study investigates perceptions of Latina juvenile offenders among juvenile probation officers, judges, psychologists, and other juvenile correctional decision makers. Using in-depth interviews with 62 juvenile justice professionals, this article examines how gender and culture are constructed and how such constructions can lead correctional decision makers to stereotypical and oftentimes punitive recommendations and responses. Overall, the article finds that (a) the majority of professionals felt that Latina offenders engaged more often in sexual promiscuity, gang membership, and violence in comparison to their non-Latina counterparts; (b) the majority of professionals felt frustration or antipathy toward working with Latina offenders; and (c) few interviewees could articulate an understanding of what gender-specific or culturally specific programming might entail for Latina girls, nor could they identify such options in their districts. We conclude with recommendations for improving juvenile justice services directed at Latina offenders.

Latina and African‐American Girls in the Juvenile Justice System: Needs, Problems, and Solutions

AbstractThis review focuses on Latina and African‐American girls in the juvenile justice system with a special emphasis on their mental health, substance abuse, and treatment needs. Like many young women in the juvenile justice system, Latina and African‐American girls often have histories of neglect, abuse, and trauma, which contribute to later mental health and substance abuse issues. Despite these histories, juvenile justice professionals sometimes rely on stereotypes rooted in cultural deficit thinking to explain Latina and African‐American girls' delinquency. Relying on gendered, racialized, and classed stereotypes and assumptions can result in decisions that negatively impact Latina and African‐American girls' access to mental health, substance abuse, and other types of treatment. Policy and practice implications for better addressing the needs of Latina and African‐American girls are discussed.

Sexual orientation-based disparities in school and juvenile justice discipline: A multiple group comparison of contributing factors.

There is little data on whether school discipline or juvenile justice sanctions are directed disproportionately toward sexual minority youth (e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual, or questioning; LGBQ) compared with heterosexual youth and even less on factors that may relate to such disparities. We tested for sexual orientation-based disparities in school suspension and juvenile justice system involvement, and tested a model linking students’ sexual orientation to victimization, punishable infractions (substance use, truancy, weapon carriage on school property), and disciplinary actions. Using cross-sectional data from the 2012 Dane County Youth Assessment, we compared 869 LGBQ youth to 869 heterosexual youth (a comparison sample selected through propensity score matching) in Grades 9 to 12 (60.6% female; 74.7% White). LGBQ youth were more likely to report school suspension and juvenile justice system involvement than heterosexual youth. We documented minimal support for a differential behavior explanation: sexual orientation-based differences on discipline were only weakly mediated through victimization and punishable infractions. Instead, a multiple group comparison showed that the paths from infraction engagement to discipline sanctions were not invariant for LGBQ and heterosexual youth: With higher rates of infractions, the odds were greater for LGBQ youth to have experienced punitive discipline than for heterosexual youth. Our findings underscore the need for psychologists, educators, and juvenile justice professionals to give attention to discipline disparities faced by sexual minority youth. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative (JDAI): the New Jersey case

The article aims to describe the rationale and the impact of the Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative (JDAI) programs in decreasing the inmate juvenile population in New Jersey, which is considered a Model State in implementing this government initiative. Through the words of some juvenile justice professionals, this article intends to analyze the results achieved and to assess the next steps that need to be implemented in order to ensure every juvenile a fair and rehabilitationoriented process

Murder and the Making of Man‐Subjects in a Brazilian Juvenile Prison

ABSTRACTInside a juvenile detention center in northeastern Brazil, inmates discussed and performed their manhood in compliance with a stereotyped local model of masculinity that equated manliness with aggression, fearlessness, and virility. But unlike the male subjects portrayed in recent anthropological studies of masculinity, these youths did not understand their manhood to be primarily configured in opposition to femininity. In fact, when adolescent detainees pronounced themselves to be men—or to be, as was more often the case, sujeito‐homens (man‐subjects)—they did so without reference to women, sexual activity, or sexual organs. Instead, they asserted their manhood by committing (or attempting to commit) murder: an act deliberately intended to deny the perpetrator's belonging to either the social or the legal category of the child. While juvenile justice professionals often interpreted such acts of aggression as expressions of innate criminal character, I argue that the murders and violent attacks that occurred in the juvenile detention center can be better understood as performative acts through which inmates sought to shore up and affirm their autonomy, accomplishments, and manhood in the face of juvenile justice laws and policies that refused to recognize them as anything but children. [violence, gender performativity, children, crime, masculinity]

Use of Research Evidence by Juvenile Justice and Youth Service Professionals

The current study utilized focus group interviews to examine use of research evidence by juvenile justice and youth service professionals. It was undertaken to help explain why social research is underutilized in determining policy and practice. Through focus group interviews, the current study explored research use among professionals providing various local services to troubled youth in a one-county area. A total of 35 professionals participated in four focus groups. Results suggest that participants have limited knowledge and awareness of research evidence, though they were very familiar with evidence-based programming itself. The need continues for strategies to bring research and the field closer together in an effort to develop more effective policies and practices. For example, public policy and research/evaluation firms should be given a major role in pursuing this mission.

Realizing Resilience in Trauma Exposed Juvenile Offenders: A Promising New Intervention for Juvenile Justice and Prevention Professionals

Considerable evidence suggests that untreated childhood trauma is a contributing factor to delinquency and juvenile justice system involvement. This paper describes a promising new intervention for at-risk youth and juvenile offenders with traumatic histories grounded in a model commonly referred to as the three principles. This intervention attempts to draw out the inner mental health and resilience in trauma exposed young offenders and provide them with a new perspective on their past traumas that can prevent them from infecting the present. First, the origin, nature, and logic of the three principles are described. Next, the three principles intervention is described and compared to cognitive and other trauma interventions. Then, several guideposts followed by effective three principles practitioners are described. Finally, empirical evidence is presented in support of the efficacy of this intervention with at-risk youth, juvenile offenders and adults with traumatic histories.

Implementing the Crossover Youth Practice Model in diverse contexts: Child welfare and juvenile justice professionals' experiences of multisystem collaborations

This study takes advantage of a unique opportunity to observe structural and psychosocial processes of multisystem collaborations primarily from the perspectives of professionals attempting to bring about change in practice with crossover youth. The involvement of maltreated youth in the juvenile justice system is a persistent problem that can compound vulnerable youths' risks for problematic developmental outcomes. Youth outcomes may be improved when professionals in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems communicate and collaborate more effectively in case assessment, planning and management. The Crossover Youth Practice Model (CYPM) is an attempt to translate these and other research findings into practice largely through multisystem collaborations. This study presents an approximately two year-long, ethnographic inquiry into professionals' experiences of CYPM implementation in five diverse counties in a Midwestern state. During individual interviews, participants consistently described structural changes involving improved service provision to youth and families, and procedures and legal mandates for sharing information across departments. They also discussed psychosocial changes including improved professional support, strengthened relationships with other professionals and positive shifts in their ways of thinking and feeling about youth and their families. Participants also experienced implementation challenges including inadequate support and training of front line workers, distinguishing core features of the multifaceted model, and some issues in engaging families and key community stakeholders. Comparative case analyses across five counties suggest that systems change processes vary across and within local contexts. Implications for the implementation of systems change practice models in diverse contexts with professionals serving in various roles are discussed.