Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention through outreach and mental health direct services

Nevada is committed to the core concepts of the Juvenile Justice Reform Act (JJRA) and the Title II Formula Grant and uses the funds made available from the Formula Grant to improve the juvenile justice system statewide through compliance monitoring and funding programs and services through sub grantees.   

With the support of the Governor and the assistance of the State Advisory Group, which in Nevada is called the Juvenile Justice Oversight Commission (JJOC), Nevada will continue to make juvenile justice a priority.  The Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS) is working to create a comprehensive reporting process for all projects funded with the Title II/Formula grant funds as well as standardized reporting for the four core requirements and the top four Formula Program Areas (mental health services, community based programs, and alternatives to detention).  The four core requirements are:  

Racial and Ethnic Disparities (RED) within the juvenile justice system.
Deinstitutionalization of status offenders (DSO).
Separation of juveniles from adults in secure facilities (sight and sound separation).
Removal of juveniles from adult jails and lockups (jail removal).

In addition to compliance with the four core requirements and evidence based programming through sub grants, the state is committed to juvenile justice reform by promoting the following goals and objectives.  

Growing the state’s Juvenile Justice Evidence Based Resource Center inventory or evidence-based programs and trainings;
Defining data sets and measures to measure system performance and youth outcomes; and
Increasing data reporting from the data management system through a comprehensive enhancement project with the vendor.  

DCFS, in conjunction with the JJOC, will provide funding to maintain compliance with the four core requirements and fund much-needed programming to youth involved or at risk of involvement in the juvenile justice system.   The state evaluates the performance of sub grants by utilizing the “OJJDP Title II Formula Grants Program Performance Measure Grid” by program area.  The state develops a quarterly report for each sub grantee by Formula Program Area which includes all mandatory indicators and two voluntary measures to be selected by the sub grantee.  The referenced document is shared with all sub grantees to enhance their understating of the identified performance measures by program area. 

The DCFS and JJOC will:

Maintain Compliance with the JJRA;
Fund sub grants; and
Implement juvenile justice reform projects such as data reporting enhancements. 
Work towards removing juveniles from the adult criminal system to the juvenile system.