NCJ Number
189342
Date Published
2000
Length
68 pages
Annotation
This report identifies eight challenges facing juvenile justice in America and highlights for each challenge how one or more existing programs, policies, or initiatives are being used successfully to meet the challenge at the State and local levels.
Abstract
One challenge is to reduce overreliance on incarceration for non-dangerous youthful offenders, and a second challenge is to develop a continuum of community-based sanctions and interventions for delinquent but non-dangerous youth. A third challenge is to use research-proven program strategies to reduce delinquency. Another challenge is to identify and intervene intensively with youth who are at extreme risk for chronic delinquency. A fifth challenge is to provide comprehensive support to youth with behavioral disturbance, and a sixth challenge is to ensure quality treatment and youth development services for incarcerated youth. The seventh challenge is to provide quality education and career development services to help youth outgrow delinquency and assume productive roles in society. The final challenge is to reduce inappropriate detention for youth who are awaiting trial or pending placement. The programs profiled under these challenges not only produce far better outcomes than are now common in juvenile justice systems nationwide, they also yield vast savings for taxpayers. Even those programs that are costly prove cost-effective, because they often solve problems the first time, rather than failing repeatedly to stem juvenile recidivism. 64 notes