US Juvenile Justice Research Articles

US Juvenile Justice Purpose Clauses: Themes and Evaluation Opportunities

Juvenile justice systems across the United States have a common history of rehabilitative ideals and federally required due process protections; however, each state maintains goals for its juvenile justice system specific to that state. The goals stated in the purpose clauses of the states’ juvenile justice codes offer an evaluative opportunity to determine whether the policies, programs, and practices within the juvenile justice system are congruent with the statutory goals. The qualitative thematic analysis of state purpose clauses presented in this study reveals goals beyond the traditional conceptualizations of a rehabilitative juvenile justice system and constitutional due process protections. The multiple, overlapping goals of each state’s juvenile justice system invites stakeholders to conduct evaluations to determine the alignment of each state’s goals with the structure of its juvenile justice system.

A descriptive study of sleep patterns and knowledge among department of juvenile services staff

Abstract Study Objectives Little is known about sleep health among staff in the US juvenile justice system. Poor sleep health is associated with negative mental and physical health, which may impact daily interactions and treatment of detained youth. The current study explored sleep–wake patterns and sleep health knowledge of Department of Juvenile Services (DJS) staff in Maryland (MD). Methods DJS Staff (N = 218) were invited to complete a survey that queried staff on their own sleep–wake patterns, job role and schedule, and knowledge of youth sleep needs. Descriptive analyses and multivariate analyses of variance (MANCOVA) were conducted to summarize workers’ sleep–wake patterns and examine differences by staff position and schedule. Results Fifty-one percent of staff served as RAs who directly supervise the youth. Just over half (55%) worked in detention and 45% in treatment facilities. Staff reported sleeping 7.24 hours (SD = 4.10) on workdays and 8.59 hours (SD = 2.69) on non-workdays. RA staff working night/rotating versus day shifts reported the most sleep irregularity with larger weekend oversleep times. A little more than half of the staff (53.9%) were knowledgeable regarding youth sleep health with differences by position type. Conclusions Findings show that DJS staff are meeting recommended sleep duration guidelines but are still experiencing sleep schedule and time in bed irregularity. Knowledge variability of youth sleep health across staff may necessitate focused educational programming. Overall, this study may inform future development and prioritization of sleep and circadian health interventions and educational campaigns for staff who work with detained juveniles. This paper is part of the Sleep and Circadian Health in the Justice System Collection.

Inconsistent and inadequate health care for incarcerated youth in the USA

Young people in the US juvenile justice system have increased rates of health problems, which are often inadequately addressed during and even after incarceration, clinicians and researchers told The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. The health of children deprived of liberty: a human rights issueThe UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty launched its final report on Nov 19, 2019, in Geneva, estimating that between 3·5 and 5·5 million children worldwide are living in institutions for reasons related to care, administration of justice, migration, armed conflict, or national security.1 As part of the Global Study, we reviewed literature on the health of children in each of these settings. We found that children deprived of liberty are distinguished by a high prevalence of physical and mental health problems. Full-Text PDF Health determinants of adolescent criminalisationSeveral conditions related to health and development in adolescence can increase the risk that a young person will be exposed to the criminal justice system. Such determinants include neurodevelopmental disability, poor mental health, trauma, and experiences of maltreatment. Furthermore, the risk of exposure to the criminal justice system seems to be amplified by social marginalisation and inequality, such that young people are made susceptible to criminal behaviour and criminalisation by a combination of health difficulties and social disadvantages. Full-Text PDF Youth without freedomThe 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child ( UNCRC ) on Nov 20, 2019, is a chance to reflect on the global status of children's rights. A report by UNICEF addresses the progress made in the past three decades, including reduced child mortality rates and increased global access to education, but notes many outstanding challenges such as increasing poverty, dangers posed by climate change, and declining vaccination rates. A Viewpoint by Jeff Goldhagen and colleagues discusses these threats to children's health through a rights, justice, and equity lens. Full-Text PDF

14.2 TRANSGENDER YOUTH IN JUVENILE JUSTICE

Transgender youth are overrepresented in the US juvenile justice system. They are entitled to certain legal rights and protections while in state custody, as are all youth in the juvenile justice system. Unfortunately, they are at greater risk for physical, sexual, and emotional abuse than other youth.

Child Savers and Unchildlike Youth: Class, Race, and Juvenile Justice in the Early Twentieth Century

This essay analyzes inequality and the construction of childhood in the early US juvenile justice system. Although the juvenile justice movement’s best intentions focused on protecting children from neglect and the criminal justice system, historians have argued that protective juvenile justice was unequal and ephemeral. I critically summarize three histories of juvenile justice: Anthony Platt’sThe Child Savers: The Invention of Delinquency(1969),Geoff Ward’s The Black Child-Savers: Racial Democracy and Juvenile Justice(2012), and Tera Agyepong’sThe Criminalization of Black Children: Race, Gender, and Delinquency in Chicago’s Juvenile Justice System, 1899–1945(2018). I argue that the common thread in these studies is the construction of poor and black youth as unchildlike. Because the juvenile court arose in a context where not all youth were considered children, it never treated all youth as innocent or in need of protection.

Conducting Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) Through a Healing-Informed Approach with System-Involved Latinas

Latina girls are disproportionately represented in the US juvenile justice system (Freiburger and Burke 2011). Almost all girls involved with juvenile justice report some form of emotional, physical or sexual abuse prior to interactions with the juvenile justice system; with over 60% of girls reporting trauma before the age of 5 (Dierkhising et al. 2013). For Latina girls, juvenile detention is associated with early death as Latina girls who have been detained are nine times more likely to die by the age of 29 than the general non-detained population (Teplin et al. 2014). The stark reality faced by system-involved Latinas calls for innovative solutions. In 2015, the National Compadres Network (NCN), with over 30 years of work embedded in the Chicano/Latino and Indigenous communities in California, developed a project to respond to the disparities in the juvenile justice system faced by Latina girls. Through this project, the NCN used a healing-informed curriculum (Xinachtli) and Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) to engage Latina system-involved girls as equal partners to inform detention alternatives and reform. This paper will describe these efforts, provide insights from the YPAR facilitators and youth researchers, and provide recommendations for other community-based facilitators who are considering utilizing YPAR through a healing-informed approach within their own work with Latina girls.

Judges' Perceptions of Screening, Assessment, Prevention, and Treatment for Substance Use, Mental Health, and HIV among Juveniles on Community Supervision: Results of a National Survey.

Juvenile Justice-Translational Research on Interventions for Adolescents in the Legal System (JJ-TRIALS) National Survey was funded in part to describe the current status of screening, assessment, prevention and treatment for substance use, mental health, and HIV for youth on community supervision within the US juvenile justice system. Surveys were administered to community supervision agencies and their primary behavioral healthcare providers, as well as the juvenile or family court judge with the largest caseload of youth on community supervision. This article presents the findings from the judges' survey. Survey results indicated juvenile and family court judges were open to innovations for improving the court's performance, rated their relationships with collaborators highly, and appreciated the impact of screening, assessment, prevention, and treatment on judicial practices.

Comparative/International Research on Juvenile Justice Issues: A Review of Juvenile Justice Specialty Journals

In recent years, leaders in the field of criminology and criminal justice have advocated for comparative/international and collaborative research; however, there is uncertainty regarding how much comparative/international research on the topic of juvenile justice is being conducted and how well information on juvenile justice issues with a cross-cultural or international focus is being disseminated. This study analyzed the number and focus of studies on international/comparative juvenile justice papers in the four major US juvenile justice specialty journals (Juvenile & Family Court Journal, Journal of Juvenile Justice, UC Davis Journal of Juvenile Law & Policy, and Youth Violence & Juvenile Justice). Data came from 567 papers published during the period of 2000–2013. The authors discuss the roles of the juvenile justice specialty journals to encourage the study of juvenile justice internationally.

Risks, Outcomes, and Evidence-Based Interventions for Girls in the US Juvenile Justice System.

The proportion of the juvenile justice population that comprises females is increasing, yet few evidence-based models have been evaluated and implemented with girls in the juvenile justice system. Although much is known about the risk and protective factors for girls who participate in serious delinquency, significant gaps in the research base hamper the development and implementation of theoretically based intervention approaches. In this review, we first summarize the extant empirical work about the predictors and sequelae of juvenile justice involvement for girls. Identified risk and protective factors that correspond to girls' involvement in the juvenile justice system have been shown to largely parallel those of boys, although exposure rates and magnitudes of association sometimes differ by sex. Second, we summarize findings from empirically validated, evidence-based interventions for juvenile justice-involved youths that have been tested with girls. The interventions include Functional Family Therapy, Multisystemic Therapy, Multidimensional Family Therapy, and Treatment Foster Care Oregon (formerly known as Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care). We conclude that existing evidence-based practices appear to be effective for girls. However, few studies have been sufficiently designed to permit conclusions about whether sex-specific interventions would yield any better outcomes for girls than would interventions that already exist for both sexes and that have a strong base of evidence to support them. Third, we propose recommendations for feasible, cost-efficient next steps to advance the research and intervention agendas for this under-researched and underserved population of highly vulnerable youths.

Moving Beyond the Punitive Legacy: Taking Stock of Persistent Problems in Juvenile Justice

As the US reins in the punitive excesses in juvenile justice with encouraging changes, it may be tempting to herald a new era of progressive reform. This article contends that such optimism may be premature, and identifies three persistent problems within the US juvenile justice system, which left unexamined, promise to perpetuate a ‘punitive legacy’ that will impede progressive change. The ideology of ‘callous self-sufficiency’, ongoing neglect of youth welfare and human rights, and the logic of risk management and cost-effectiveness each encourage harmful practices, and they work individually and collectively to create a climate inhospitable to lasting progressive transformation.

Juvenile Justice Education For At-risk High School Youth: A Pilot Program

Research has shown that current legal policies of transfer of juveniles to adult court, harsh sentences, and intimidating educational programs do not deter youthful crime. This study reports on a nonconfrontational pilot education program in the US juvenile justice system. In three urban high schools, an eight-week researcher-designed curriculum was delivered to three intervention classes totaling 125 at-risk students and three control classes totaling 100 at-risk students. Teachers in both groups administered pretest and posttest surveys. Descriptive statistics showed substantial knowledge gains for the intervention group, from 14.2 to 35.7% in all subdomains, and −7.2 to 21.4% gains for the control group. Chi-square analysis showed that the intervention group significantly increased knowledge and understanding of the US juvenile justice system in two of the six curriculum subdomains. The intervention group also significantly increased perceptions of fairness of the juvenile justice system. This program can serve as a model curriculum for at-risk high school youth.

Limited Disproportionate Minority Contact Discourse may Explain Limited Progress in Reducing Minority Over-representation in the US Juvenile Justice System

This article provides a review of the development of the US federal government disproportionate minority contact (DMC) mandate for the juvenile justice system. Research assessing the reduction of disproportionate minority contact and demonstrating an overall lack of progress is examined. The connection between the lack of progress in reducing disproportionate minority contact and the lack of focus on the front end of the system is established. The impact on the juvenile justice system and, more importantly, on minority youth are discussed and recommendations in terms of expanding the discourse, policy and practice to more fully include police are made. Finally, the US experience and limitations are put into a global perspective, underscoring commonality across nations in addressing race, ethnic and age discrimination among police.

Implementing and Sustaining Evidence-Based Practice in Juvenile Justice

US juvenile justice is at the forefront of experimentation with the evidence-based paradigm, whereby the best available research is utilized to help inform more rational and effective practice. Increasingly, state governments are playing a major role in this endeavor. Maine is one of these states and is the focus of this article. Using a case-study design, we set out to develop a fuller understanding of the events and processes that have contributed to the development, implementation, and sustainment of evidence-based practice in juvenile justice in the state. Four major themes emerged. First, Maine has benefited from strong and lasting leadership within its corrections department. These leaders paved the way for the implementation and sustainment of programs, including finding innovative ways to use existing resources. Second, the adoption of the Risk-Need-Responsivity model was important in laying the groundwork for the use of evidence-based programming. Third, collaborations within and among state agencies and public and private groups were essential. Finally, buy-in and support from multiple stakeholders was and continues to be essential to Maine's work. Ongoing problems remain with respect to ensuring agencies prioritize fidelity to the model and locating increasingly scarce funding. Implications for other states are discussed.

Lead poisoning: the epidemic hitting the US juvenile justice system

Not all behavioural issues that lead to juvenile delinquency are hereditary. In fact, there are behavioural issues that can be prevented, such as lead poisoning, that affect the likelihood of juvenile delinquency. This article focuses on the relationship between elevated juvenile lead exposures leading to lead poisoning, specifically its effects on a child’s body, and juvenile delinquency. The author explains how only a small amount of lead is needed to elevate lead levels in juveniles, including a discussion of several nationwide reports conducted to inform the public of this once trending epidemic and since its known existence, whether there have been sufficient changes to drastically lower levels amongst families. The article concludes with a public service message of ways to prevent lead poisoning in one’s home.

Disability and juvenile delinquency: issues and trends

The US juvenile justice system has gone through many changes since its inception in the late 1890s. Even with these changes and more than 100 years of empirical research, there is a paucity of literature published on juvenile delinquents with disabilities. The present article focuses on juvenile delinquents with disabilities, addressing definitional issues, prevalence and incidence data, types of educational and mental health services available, and future directions for research.

The Young Offenders Act and Juvenile Justice in the United States: Perspectives on Recent Reform Proposals

AbstractRecent proposals to reform the Young Offenders Act have sought to address the difficult question of the proper response to youth who commit especially serious offences. This article evaluates these proposals from the perspective or recent developments in US juvenile justice policy that have also been designed to meet serious and chronic youth criminality. The article suggests that a series of US state legislative reforms, in which individual responsibility and system accountability replace rehabilitation as the dominant objective of juvenile justice policy, offers a comprehensive, if imperfect, model for reform.