NCJ Number
245615
Date Published
April 2011
Length
50 pages
Annotation
This report presents the results of an evaluation of the City of Chicago's Juvenile Intervention and Support Center (JISC).
Abstract
The JISC uses a collaborative approach to provide services and support for youth from several of the City's South Side neighborhoods. Youth sent to the JISC by police are placed in one of three situations: diverted and sent home, "station adjusted" and referred to case management services, or moved on for juvenile justice processing. The evaluation of the JISC focused on program funding, design and target population, agency partnerships, governance and staffing, and data systems and policies. Based on the findings from the evaluation, the research team concluded that 1) by the third year of operation the JISC was seen as a successful program; 2) the success of the center was due to the fact that the Chicago JISC was built around the concepts of restorative justice and positive youth development and it therefore did not lapse in its core objective, unlike JISCs in other cities; 3) the success of the JISC depended on the City's continued management of the incompatibilities between police and social services; 4) the administrative structure and information management capacity of the JISC appeared to sufficient for the program to participate in a future outcome evaluation; and 5) the primary challenge facing the JISC was the lack of depth and diversity in the resources it was able to offer youth and their families. Recommendations for future evaluations are discussed. References