NCJ Number
162005
Date Published
1994
Length
37 pages
Annotation
This report discusses the establishment of the Hillsborough County Juvenile Assessment Center (Tampa, Fla.), its operations, problems identified among youths processed at the facility, and efforts to place troubled youths in needed services.
Abstract
The Hillsborough County Juvenile Assessment Center (JAC) is a 24-hour centralized adolescent receiving, processing, and intervention facility. As a multiagency collaborative approach to systematizing the processing of juveniles, the JAC is resulting in greater efficiency across the juvenile justice and treatment service systems, their increased coordination, enhanced responsiveness to public safety issues, and improved services for troubled youth and their families. The JAC permits the simultaneous achievement of required legal and social service intervention of juveniles taken into custody. The JAC performs preliminary screening and indepth assessment, followed by referral for additional evaluation or treatment. The JAC's comprehensive information system collects data on the prevalence of abuse and neglect; alcohol/other drug use; mental health problems; educational history and needs; delinquency; dependency; and Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services and DJJ service history, family and social functioning, human service needs, referral patterns, and HIV risk behavior. This paper discusses the problems experienced by youths who enter the juvenile justice system and the need to respond to the problems they and their families present. Following this review, it discusses the organization and operation of the JAC, together with its comprehensive information system, which is being established. Finally, the authors discuss the implications and usefulness of the JAC in serving as a prototype for implementation in various jurisdictions. 4 tables and 35 references