NCJ Number
198981
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 65 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2003 Pages: 40-43
Date Published
February 2003
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the impact that juvenile probation and parole practitioners make in prevention, accountability, and outcomes in community corrections.
Abstract
Focusing on the successes that various jurisdictions have had with juvenile offenders, the author highlights the challenges that faced the juvenile justice system in the 1990’s. Because the public’s perception was that the juvenile system has been too lenient in dealing with past crimes and not aggressive enough in deterring future crimes, several statutory changes in many juvenile systems were made throughout the 1990’s. All of the various juvenile justice system models emphasize placing public safety first, providing for strong enforcement of probation conditions, supervising probationers in the neighborhoods, and developing community partners. The Community Outreach Project in the 23rd Judicial Circuit in Hillsboro, Missouri is a good example of the ways that juvenile probation places public safety first. The Utah Juvenile Court shows how the juvenile system may effectively subscribe to the balanced and restorative justice models for probation supervision. Addressing the Juvenile Probation Department in Maricopa County, Arizona, illustrates how community corrections agencies servicing juvenile offenders have supervised probationers in the neighborhoods rather than from an office. And, focusing on the juvenile division of Ohio’s Court of Common Pleas in Lucas County, the author details the effectiveness of developing partners within a community. The author concludes that the juvenile justice system has been effectively transformed so that it now resembles the adult correctional system. 4 Endnotes