Community Solutions Toolkit

The 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.

 

America’s longstanding youth prison model, which emphasizes confinement and control, exacerbates youth trauma and inhibits positive growth while failing to address public safety.  This report delivers a clear and compelling call to close these youth prisons. It also introduces readers to an alternate model — rooted in a continuum of community-based programs — that aims to set all children on a pathway to success. 

 

Safely Home: Reducing youth incarceration and achieving positive youth outcomes for high and complex need youth through effective community-based programs.

Fazal, S. (2014, June). Youth Advocate Programs Policy & Advocacy Center.

 

This draws upon a series of briefs by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice Research and Evaluation Center on the public safety and permanency outcomes of thousands of youth served by Youth Advocate Programs (YAP), and a survey of 300 young people served by community-based programs instead of incarceration. The findings highlight how high-need youth have been safely and successfully supported in their homes with the help of intensive community-based programs like YAP.

 

Community-Based Supervision: Increased Public Safety, Decreased Expenditures

National Juvenile Justice Network, Safely Home Campaign (2014).

 

This tip sheet discusses the fundamental characteristics of effective community-based supervision programs, including being evidence-based, using a strength-based/positive youth development approach, having court accountability and family engagement elements, using follow-up services and aftercare, and focusing services on youth who need them most. The tip sheet also provides examples of community-based supervision programs and information about the average cost of such programs.

 

Sticker Shock: Calculating the Full Price Tag for Youth Incarceration

Petteruti, A., Schindler, M., & Ziedenberg, J. (2014, December). Justice Policy Institute.

 

This report provides estimates of the overall costs resulting from the negative outcomes associated with incarceration. The report finds that these long-term consequences of incarcerating young people could cost taxpayers $8 billion to $21 billion each year.

 

No Place Like Home: The Case for Wise Investment in Juvenile Justice 

Staley, K. & Weemhoff, M. (2013). Michigan Council on Crime and Delinquency.

 

This report highlights the successful movement toward community-based programs in Michigan counties and reviews the strengths and barriers of the state’s current juvenile justice system and provides recommendations for improvements.

 

Pathways to Desistance Study and Pathways to Desistance Update

Shubert, C. (2012). Models for Change, MacArthur Foundation.

 

The Pathways to Desistance Study is the longest multi-site, longitudinal study of over 1,300 serious adolescent offenders from Arizona and Pennsylvania as they transition from adolescence into early adulthood. The Update documents the initial findings of the study and provides recommendations for effective intervention.

 

Positive Youth Development—Framing Justice Interventions Using the Concepts of Positive Youth Development

Butts, J. A., Bazemore, G., & Meroe, A. S. (2010). Coalition for Juvenile Justice.

 

PYD is an effective framework for designing general interventions for young offenders, focusing on protective factors and risk factors, strengths as well as problems, and broader efforts when facilitating successful transitions to adulthood.

 

No Place for Kids: The Case for Reducing Juvenile Incarceration

Mendel, R. A. (2011). The Annie E. Casey Foundation.

 

No Place for Kids assembles decades of research as well as persuasive new data to demonstrate that America’s heavy reliance on juvenile incarceration has not paid off, and in fact, is a failed strategy for combating youth crime.

 

The Dangers of Detention: The Impact of Incarcerating Youth in Detention and Other Secure Facilities 

Holman, B. & Ziedenberg, J. (2006). Justice Policy Institute.

 

This policy brief reviews the existing literature on the efficacy of detention and looks at the consequences of detention on young people, their families, and communities

 

Family Involvement Resource Inventory: An overview of resources for family, youth, and staff

The National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice (2012, September 5). Models for Change, MacArthur Foundation.

 

This manuscript addresses the barriers that families and caretakers may face when a youth is involved in the juvenile justice system and provides advocacy tips and information on how best to navigate the intricacies of the justice system.