This project used a case study methodology to examine proposed solutions and opinions of various stakeholders in juvenile justice following a 2010 announcement that the Department of Juvenile Corrections would be closed in Arizona.
As States face shrinking budgets, new options for correctional supervision are being sought. One solution has been to shift the responsibility for custody from the State to county level through a process of realignment. The findings of the Arizona case study show that the manner in which the realignment was proposed would have been a difficult model to adopt but that a well-planned and adequately funded reform would benefit juveniles and counties across Arizona. (Publisher abstract modified)