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Addressing the Intersections of Juvenile Justice Involvement and Youth Homelessness: Working with Girls

March 1, 2017

Juvenile justice agencies, youth homelessness service providers, and other related stakeholders play an important role in addressing the unique needs of girls. Stakeholders can improve the outcomes for girls experiencing trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder through gender-responsive practices, and by implementing policies that are specific to the needs of girls who have experienced abuse and homelessness.

Addressing the Intersection of Juvenile Justice Involvement and Youth Homelessness: Serving LGBTQ Youth

March 1, 2017

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, and gender non-conforming (LGBTQ/GNC) youth experience increased levels of homelessness when compared to other peers and are also disproportionally more likely to be involved with the juvenile justice system. An estimated 20-40% of youth experiencing homeless are LGBTQ/GNC, as compared to 7-10% of the general youth population.

Addressing the Intersections of Juvenile Justice Involvement and Youth Homelessness: Principles for Change

February 28, 2017

A young person's involvement with the justice system can increase their likelihood of later experiencing homelessness for many reasons, including the fact that educational disruptions and juvenile delinquency records can make it harder to obtain employment. Youth experiencing homelessness may also be swept into the juvenile justice system through laws that prohibit simply being in public spaces, such as juvenile curfews, or anti-sitting or sleeping ordinances. Both juvenile justice involvement and youth homelessness have long-term negative consequences. The Principles in Part I of this document provide a roadmap for communities to help young people avoid experiencing juvenile justice system involvement and/or youth homelessness.

Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

November 1, 2015

Columbia University's Center for Justice, with Release Aging People in Prison/ RAPP, the Correctional Association of New York, the Osborne Association, the Be the Evidence Project/Fordham University, and the Florence V. Burden Foundation, coordinated a symposium in Spring of 2014 to discuss the rapidly growing population of elderly and aging people in prison. In attendance at the symposium were researchers, policy advocates, current and former policy makers and administrators, elected and appointed officials, and those who have directly experienced incarceration.All agreed that while the overall prison population of New York State has declined in the past decade, the number of people aged 50 and older has increased at an alarming rate. The symposium provided the time and space for key stakeholders and actors to think critically about how best to address the phenomenon of New York's aging prison population without compromising public safety.

New York State Juvenile Justice: Progress Towards System Excellence

January 22, 2014

This case study describes why the complex juvenile justice system was ripe for a collective impact approach to reform, how the process unfolded, and the key elements for the initiative's success. It also discusses the significant results that have been achieved to date.

Juvenile Justice Reform In Connecticut: How Collaboration and Commitment Have Improved Public Safety and Outcomes for Youth

February 25, 2013

This report will describe, dissect, and draw lessons from Connecticut's striking success in juvenile justice reform for other states and communities seeking similar progress. The first section details the timeline and dimensions of change in Connecticut's juvenile justice system over the past two decades. In 1992, Connecticut routinely locked up hundreds of youths -- many of them never convicted or even accused of serious crimes -- in decrepit and unsafe facilities while offering little or no treatment or rehabilitation. The state was one of only three in the nation whose justice system treated all 16- and 17-year-olds as adults -- trying them in criminal courts, with open records, and sentencing many to adult prisons without education or rehabilitative services designed for adolescents. By 2002 there was a growing awareness that these problems could no longer be ignored. Over the decade that followed, a movement for sweeping reforms began to build momentum and take root. And by 2012, Connecticut had a strong commitment to invest in alternatives to detention and incarceration, improve conditions of confinement, examine the research, and focus on treatment strategies with evidence of effectiveness. Most impressively, these changes have been accomplished in Connecticut without any added financial cost, and without any increase in juvenile crime or violence. To the contrary, the costs of new programs and services for Connecticut's court-involved youth have been fully offset in the short-term by reduced expenditures for detention and confinement, and promise additional savings down the road as more youth desist from delinquency and crime. Arrests of youth have fallen substantially throughout the reform period, both for serious violent crimes and for virtually all other offense categories as well.The report then looks under the hood of Connecticut's reform efforts and explores the critical factors underlying these accomplishments. The discussion begins by detailing the main elements and key champions of progress and by identifying the turning points that built momentum toward reform. The report's final section explores what other states or local jurisdictions can learn from Connecticut's experience. The most important lesson, it finds, is that a new and vastly improved juvenile justice system is within reach for any jurisdiction that summons the energy and commitment, the creativity and cooperative spirit to do what's best for their children, their families, and their communities.

State Trends: Legislative Victories From 2005 to 2010 Removing Youth From the Adult Criminal Justice System

March 24, 2011

Explains the costs to youth, public safety, community prosperity, and states of prosecuting children as adults. Outlines trends in state laws aimed at removing youth from the adult criminal justice system and restructuring the juvenile justice system.