NCJ Number
187586
Date Published
2000
Length
44 pages
Annotation
This eleventh of 12 publications in a series entitled, "Pathways to Juvenile Detention Reform," considers why promoting and sustaining juvenile detention reform are important as well as what is involved in promoting and sustaining such reform.
Abstract
This publication, along with the rest of the publications in the series, is a product of the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The project's objectives were to eliminate the unnecessary use of secure detention for juveniles; minimize failures to appear and the incidence of delinquent behavior; redirect public finances from building new facility capacity to responsible alternative strategies; and to improve conditions in secure detention facilities. This booklet first addresses how leaders at the JDAI sites got others to recognize and embrace the need for change and organized a response to meet that need, including getting the right stakeholders involved. This is followed by a discussion of the ways that stakeholders clarified their agenda and presented it to others. Also considered is how data were used to make the case for change. The section on promoting reform concludes with a review of what the sites did and did not do in their communications strategies and how they built support both within and outside the system. The second part of this report describes the strategies that sites developed to sustain their reforms, including ways that they institutionalized policies, practices, staff positions, and funds. These sections examine how such simple steps as clear job descriptions or revised training curricula can help make reform an enduring component of the detention system. The final section discusses some of the key lessons the JDAI sites learned in their efforts to promote and sustain comprehensive detention system reform. 7 figures and a list of 3 resources