NCJ Number
249742
Date Published
February 2016
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Special features in this issue focus on the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's (OJJDP's) cosponsoring of the 2016 National Mentoring Summit, 20 years of the AMBER Alert System, a visit to Reentry Demonstration Sites by Justice Department officials, OJJDP Administrator's reflection on the legacy of the Models for Change Initiative, and upcoming events.
Abstract
The 3-day National Mentoring Summit featured just over 60 workshops attended by nearly 1,000 people. In her remarks at the Summit, the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) reported that OJP has funded local and national mentoring programs and mentoring-related research in the amount of $377 million. After a brief review of the history of the AMBER Alert System, which coordinates a public response in searches for missing children, milestones in AMBER Alert are briefly described from 2002 through 2015. A third feature article describes the format and activities of Justice Department officials' visits to demonstration sites involved in the Justice Department's extensive efforts to reduce recidivism and improve reentry services for persons transitioning into communities after release from incarceration. One of the sites was Connection Training Services, which received grants from OJJDP in 2014 and 2015 to provide technical assistance for reentry services to clients in the Philadelphia and New Jersey areas. In another feature article, OJJDP Administrator Listenbee's plenary remarks at the 2015 Models for Change National Working Conference are summarized. At this event, which marked the MacArthur Foundation's exit from the juvenile justice arena, administrator Listenbee hailed the MacArthur Foundation's Models for Chance Initiative as an important innovation in achieving juvenile justice reform. He called on States and communities to continue this reform effort. Upcoming events and recent news pertinent to juvenile justice are also included in this issue.