By Liz Ryan, OJJDP Administrator
As we welcome 2025, many of us are grateful for time spent with our families. It’s important to remember that some families can’t be together at this—or any other—time of year. I think especially about families with children in detention centers, youth correctional facilities, or adult jails or prisons. These children will not be home to share family time and make the memories that many of us take for granted.
In the vast majority of cases, these children would be better served at home. Research has consistently shown that youth involved in the justice system have better outcomes and are less likely to reoffend when they receive services and supervision in their home communities, not in institutions.
We know that young people are vulnerable to engaging in impulsive and risky behavior. Studies also indicate that most young people outgrow delinquent behavior over time. Thus, it is important to support evidence-informed interventions rather than solely punitive measures. We need to double down on what works with young people, focusing on approaches that are rooted in research and community collaboration.
As more jurisdictions divert youth from the justice system, it is essential that communities provide these young people with community-based resources and treatment. OJJDP's Continuum of Care for Communities framework supports these efforts. It emphasizes evidence-based and promising programs and practices, so that young people can access needed resources and services where they live and at every point in the juvenile justice system. Taking a holistic approach, the continuum of care spans prevention, intervention, treatment, and reentry strategies.
OJJDP's continuum of care grant program emphasizes prevention and early intervention services for the majority of young people, supporting those at risk for both delinquency and victimization. Many children who have fallen through the cracks of our system could have—and should have—been served much earlier in the continuum of care. For young people at high risk of moving deeper into the juvenile justice system, the framework emphasizes intensive, targeted, evidence‐based programming.
We developed our framework after holding numerous listening sessions and town halls around the country. Scores of youth justice stakeholders attended, including many young people and families with firsthand experience of the juvenile justice system. We listened as they told us what works, what doesn’t, and why.
One especially vulnerable population is dual-system youth—young people who are navigating both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Earlier this year, I was honored to join my colleague Commissioner Rebecca Jones Gaston from the Administration for Children and Families' Children's Bureau in issuing a joint letter to highlight the challenges faced by dual-system youth. The letter addresses the complex needs of young people who navigate both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. We encourage investing in prevention strategies to assist families in crisis and diminish the likelihood that youth will enter either system. Experience shows that young people flourish when they have the support of caring adults in their community and minimal system involvement.
By centering our work on young people and families with lived experience and supporting initiatives that address disparities, we contribute to a brighter future for our youth. Overwhelmingly, young people belong at home—in their communities, with their families—where they can grow, learn, and find positive paths forward.