This is the Final Report and Recommendations of a project with the goal of improving the federal government’s ability to interpret and report the national- and state-level characteristics of and trends for youth charged with or adjudicated for a delinquency or status offense that led to out-of-home placement, as well as the features of facilities in which they are held.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) conducts the Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement (CJRP) and the Juvenile Residential Facility Census (JRFC). These surveys provide the most comprehensive information available on national- and state-level trends and characteristics of juveniles in residential placement. Every 2 years, the CJRP asks facilities to submit a detailed record on each youth in their custody. In the intervening years, the JRFC asks such facilities about their physical characteristics, policies, and practices; however, despite changes in juvenile justice populations and juvenile residential facilities’ practices and procedures, the CJRP and JRFC have not changed, with minor exceptions, over the past 20 years. The DOJ’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) collaborated with RTI International (RTI) to develop recommendations for improving the federal government’s ability to interpret and report the national- and state-level characteristics of and trends for youth charged with or adjudicated for a delinquency or status offense resulting in out-of-home placement, as well as the facilities in which they are held. The recommendations in the current report are based on a review of the strengths and limitations of prior waves of the CRJP and JRFC. This included a combination of expert and methodological reviews and the pilot testing of new instrumentation and enhanced methodologies. Recommendations address the sample frame, data collection process, the questionnaires, and the imputation process. 15 exhibits and 22 tables