Community Solutions Toolkit
Implementation
Resource Guide
Graduated Responses Toolkit: New Resources and Insights to Help Youth Succeed on Probation.
Szanyi, J., & Shoenberg, D. (2016, February 5). Center for Children’s Law and Policy.
This Toolkit is designed to help jurisdictions create an effective graduated response system or improve an existing system.
Alternatives to Detention and Confinement
Development Services Group, Inc. (2014, August). Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
This white paper focuses on diversion alternatives to formal court adjudication for youth involved in the juvenile justice system.
Youth Problem Behaviors 8 Years After Implementing the Communities That Care Prevention System
Hawkins JD, Oesterle S, Brown EC, Abbott RD, Catalano RF. Youth Problem Behaviors 8 Years After Implementing the Communities That Care Prevention System. A Community-Randomized Trial. JAMA Pediatr. 2014
The objective of this study was to test whether the Communities That Care (CTC) prevention system reduced levels of risk and adolescent problem behaviors community wide 8 years after implementation of CTC. Results indicated that students in CTC communities were more likely than students in control communities to have abstained from any drug use and were less likely to have committed a violent act.
Community Engagement in Youth Violence Prevention: Crafting Methods to Context
Morrel-Samuels, S., Bacallao, M., Brown, S., Bower, M., & Zimmerman, M. (2016, March 11). Community Engagement in Youth Violence Prevention: Crafting Methods to Context. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 37, 189–207. doi: 10.1007/s10935-016-0428-5
This study examined community involvement in youth violence prevention in a rural, suburban, and urban areas focusing on implementation challenges of sustaining and achieving youth participation. Case examples of community engagement, barriers, and facilitating factors are discussed through geographies, histories and racial and ethnic components of community engagement strategies.
Future of Youth Justice: A Community-Based Alternative to the Youth Prison Model
McCarthy, P., Schiraldi, V., & Shark, M. (2016). New Thinking in Community Corrections Bulletin. U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice.
The National Research Council, a nonpartisan research institute on juvenile justice in the United States concluded that well-designed community programs are more likely to reduce recidivism and contribute to positive youth-development than imprisonment.
Farrell, A. D., Henry, D., Bradshaw, C., & Reischl, T. (2016, March 9). Designs for Evaluating the Community-Level Impact of Comprehensive Prevention Programs: Examples from the CDC Centers of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 37, 165-188. doi: 10.1007/s10935-016-0425-8
Lipsey, M. W., Howell, J. C., Kelly, M. R., Chapman, G., & Carver, D. (2010, December). Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University.
Based on a meta-analysis of more than 500 controlled studies conducted by Dr. Mark Lipsey, this paper introduces a framework for major juvenile justice system reform that integrates evidence-based programs and structured decision-making tools with a forward-looking, sustainable administrative model.
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's (OJJDP) Model Programs Guide
This website provides a searchable on-line database of over 200 evidence-based programs covering the entire continuum of youth services from prevention through sanctions to reentry.
Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI)
Annie E. Casey Foundation.
JDAI works with public agencies to implement innovative and effective reforms that improve the outcomes of children and youth who experience or are at risk of entering juvenile justice systems.
Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development
Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, at the University of Colorado Boulder.
This website provides a comprehensive review of more than 800 programs particularly giving specific attention to evidence of deterrent effect with a strong research design, sustained effect, and multiple site replications. To date, Blueprints has identified 11 model programs and 19 promising programs.
Adolescent-Based Treatment Database
National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.
The NCJFCJ’s Adolescent-Based Treatment Database is a “one-stop-shop” for juvenile drug courts researching adolescent-focused treatment and assessment instruments. It includes intervention basics; special considerations for juvenile drug courts; and engagement strategies for treatment providers, allied agencies, youth, and families.
Evidence-Based Juvenile Offender Programs: Program Description, Quality Assurance, and Cost
Drake, E. (2007, June). Washington Institute of Public Policy.
This report profiles six evidence-based juvenile offender programs, including program descriptions, quality assurance information, and cost-benefit figures.
Return on Investment: Evidence-Based Options to Improve Statewide Outcomes April 2012 Update
Lee, S., Aos, S., Drake, E., Pennucci, A., Miller, M., & Anderson, L. (2012, April). Washington Institute of Public Policy.
This document calculates the return on investment to taxpayers from evidence-based prevention and intervention programs and policies in the state of Washington as well as provides a comprehensive list of programs and policies that improve outcomes for children and adults.
De Arellano, M. A., Ko, S. J., Danielson, C. K., & Sprague, C. M. (2008). National Center for Child Traumatic Stress.
A collaboration between the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center at the Medical University of South Carolina and the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, this project identifies trauma-focused interventions that have been developed and utilized with trauma-affected youth populations of various cultural backgrounds and to describe their level of cultural competence.
Workgroup for Community Health and Development, University of Kansas.
The Community Toolbox provides 46 Chapters through which you can reach practical, step-by-step guidance in community-building skills, including Chapter 19: Choosing and Adapting Community Interventions and Chapter 37: Evaluating Community Interventions.
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Diversion Programs
Practice Profile: Juvenile Diversion Programs
Wilson, H. (n.d.). Practice Profile: Juvenile Diversion Programs. Retrieved from National Institute of Justice website: http://www.crimesolutions.gov/PracticeDetails.aspx?ID=37
This article explains the various components of diversion programs and at what points in the juvenile justice system they can be used. Diversion is generally introduced pre- or post-charging of formal court procedures. Diversion programs include but are not limited to: restorative justice programs, community service, treatment or skills-building programs, family treatment, drug courts, and youth courts.
The Effect of Youth Diversion Programs on Recidivism
Wilson, H. A., & Hoge, R. D. (2013). The Effect of Youth Diversion Programs on Recidivism. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 40, 497-518.
This meta-analysis was conducted to examine whether diversion reduces recidivism at a greater rate than traditional justice system processing. Thirty-five diversion evaluation studies were included in the meta-analysis and the results indicated that diversion is more effective in reducing recidivism than conventional judicial interventions.
Seigle, E., Walsh, N., & Weber, J. (2014). Core Principles for Reducing Recidivism and Improving Other Outcomes for Youth in the Juvenile Justice System. Council of State Governments Justice Center, 1-94. Retrieved from https://csgjusticecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Core-Principles-for-Reducing-Recidivism-and-Improving-Other-Outcomes-for-Youth-in-the-Juvenile-Justice-System.pdf
This white paper guides community and municipal leaders on how to leverage existing research and resources that reduce recidivism and improve outcomes for youth involved in the juvenile justice system.
Alternatives to Arrest for Young People
National League of Cities. (2015). Alternatives to Arrest for Young People. Retrieved from http://www.nlc.org/sites/default/files/2017-03/YEF_JuvenileJusticeIB_2015_WebV2.pdf
This brief highlights city's that use clear, objective protocols that influence police officers to engage with youth through evidence-based and developmentally-appropriate decisions.
Implementation of Diversion Pilot Programs across the State of Michigan
Kubiak, s.P., Tillander, E. Comartin, e., Rabaut, C. & Milanovic, E. (2016). Implementation of Diversion Pilot Programs across the State of Michigan. Report produced for the Governor’s Diversion council, March 2016.
Application of Pre-charge Diversion Programs
Hoge, R. D. (2016). Application of Pre-charge Diversion Programs. Criminology & Public Policy, 15(3), 991-999.
Although referrals normally occur before a criminal charge is laid, this article indicates the wide variability that diversion programs have in procedures, format, and formalities.
The OJJDP Deinstitutionalization of Status Offenders (DSO) Best Practices Database
The DSO Best Practice Database is designed to assist jurisdictions in identifying and implementing evidence-based initiatives that lead to the removal of status offenders from secure detention or correctional facilities, in accordance with the deinstitutionalization of status offenders (DSO) requirement of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) of 2002.
Models for Change: Guidebook for Diversion
Models for Change Juvenile Diversion Workgroup. (2011, March 1). Retrieved from http://www.modelsforchange.net/publications/301
The focus of this document is on diversion programs designed to reduce the likelihood that youth will encounter formal processing prior to formal adjudication.
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Reducing Racial Disproportionality
Racial Disparities and the Juvenile Justice System: A Legacy of Trauma
Lacey, C. (2013). Racial Disparities and the Juvenile Justice System: A Legacy of Trauma. Retrieved from The National
Like many institutional ills that traumatize and otherwise adversely impact youth of color in America, the problem of racial and ethnic disparity in the juvenile justice system has deep roots in this nation’s history. Therefore any viable attempt to reduce and prevent such disparity must be informed by the historical processes that serve as the foundation of today’s juvenile justice system.
Báez, J. C., & Garza, D. R. (2017). The Mi Hermana’s Keeper Toolkit: Promising Practices for Juvenile Justice Prevention Programs Supporting Latina Youth.
The Mi Hermana’s Keeper Toolkit is for service providers, program administrators, researchers, policy analysts, and key stakeholders who are supporting Latina youth in prevention programs that aim to decrease the number of youth being referred to or placed in the juvenile justice system.
Disproportionate Minority Contact In The Juvenile Justice System: An Investigation of Ethnic Disparity in Program Referral At Disposition
Campbell, N. A., Barnes, A.R., Mandalari, A., Onifade, E., Campbell, C.A., Anderson, V.R., Kashy, D.A., & Davidson, W.S (2017). Disproportionate Minority Contact in the Juvenile Justice System: An Investigation of Ethnic Disparity in Program Referral At Disposition. Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice.
Historically, minority youth have experienced harsher punishments and more negative outcomes than White youth even when risk assessment is used. The current study investigated the role of ethnicity in an understudied dispositional decision-program referral-and the outcomes associated with said referral using a sample of juvenile offenders.
Sentencing Transferred Juveniles in the Adult Criminal Court: The Direct and Interactive Effects of Race and Ethnicity
Lehmann, P.S., Chiricos, T., & Bales, W.D (2016). Sentencing Transferred Juveniles in the Adult Criminal Court: The Direct and Interactive Effects of Race and Ethnicity. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 15(2), 172-190.
Instructions and Guidelines for Collecting and Recording Race and Ethnicity of Juveniles
Torbert, P., Hurst, H., & Soler, M. (2006). Instructions and Guidelines for Collecting and Recording Race and Ethnicity of Juveniles. Retrieved from Models for Change website: http://www.modelsforchange.net/publications/138
Provides instruction and guidance to local juvenile courts and probation departments on racial coding of youth involved in Pennsylvania's juvenile justice system in conjunction with reporting juvenile delinquency dispositions to the Juvenile Court Judges' Commission.
The OJJDP DMC Reduction Best Practices Database
This database is designed to assist jurisdictions in the development of initiatives to reduce Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC).
Overcoming Language and Cultural Barriers Using Evidence-Based Practices,
The National Council of La Raza. (2008). Overcoming Language and Cultural Barriers Using Evidence-Based Practices. Retrieved from: http://www.modelsforchange.net/publications/112
Experts discuss the importance and effectiveness of culturally and linguistically competent services for Latino youth who are at risk or are already involved with the juvenile justice system.