Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative to Decrease DMC and Detention of Status Offenders

OJJDP is releasing this solicitation to fund studies of promising and effective strategies, programs, and methods to assist states and local communities in achieving and maintaining compliance with the four core requirements of OJJDP's authorizing legislation, the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (JJDP) Act of 2002. With this solicitation, OJJDP is encouraging researchers to propose studies and evaluations to identify successful programs and strategies that will enable states and local communities to improve their compliance with one or more of the core requirements of the JJDP Act. The legislative authority for this initiative can be found in the Department of Justice Appropriations Act, 2009, Pub. L. 111-8.

The National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) proposes a research project aimed at identifying programs and strategies that have effectively addressed the detention of status offenders and disproportionate minority contact. The goal of the proposed research is to identify programs and strategies that have effectively implemented two of the four Core Requirements of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDP Act) and to provide states and local jurisdictions out of compliance with one or more of the JJDP Act's requirements with relevant and practical information about how effective interventions can be successfully implemented in their jurisdiction.

NCCD will partner with the Annie E. Casey Foundation to perform a comprehensive process and outcome evaluation of 10 of the more than 100 counties which have implemented the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI). Results of the evaluation will be used to analyze which program elements work best to reduce unnecessary detention and to lessen racial and ethnic disparities in detention and other stages of the juvenile justice system. Further, the organizational characteristics and activities of jurisdictions with successful model replication will be presented to assist jurisdictions in their compliance efforts.

CA/NCF