The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ), with funding from OJJDP, has been leading a high profile national project entitled Improving Juvenile and Family Court Handling of Juvenile Delinquency Cases: Guidelines for Improving Court Practice. This project was released in 2005 and is now implementing a national initiative to improve court practice in Juvenile Justice Systems across America. cases.
The goal of Phase I of the project is the development of a comprehensive publication detailing recommended responses to juvenile delinquency to be used by judges, prosecutors, defense counsel, child advocates, probation officers, law enforcement, and service providers nationwide as a tool for practice improvements and systems reform. This publication, the JUVENILE DELINQUENCY GUIDELINES, were released in 2005.
Phase II of the larger project, implementation of the GUIDELINES, envisions moving the JUVENILE DELINQUENCY GUIDELINES from policy to practice through the application and evaluation of the implementation of practice recommendations in the field via two Juvenile Delinquency Guidelines Model Court sites. Nine new Courts of Excellence will be implemented.
NCA/NCF
