Reno-Sparks Indian Colony Juvenile Accountability Program

Under the authority bestowed by 42 U.S.C. Section 3796ee-1, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) made under its Tribal Juvenile Accountability Discretionary Grants (Tribal JADG) Program to federally recognized tribal communities to develop and implement programs that hold AI/AN youth accountable for delinquent behavior and strengthen tribal juvenile justice systems. For the purposes of this program, 'juvenile' refers to youth ages 17 and younger. Federally recognized tribes may use program funds to address 1 or more of the 17 Tribal JADG Program's purpose areas.

The Reno-Sparks Indian Colony (RSIC) is a federally recognized Indian Tribe located in Hungry Valley, Nevada. The Reno Sparks Tribal Council has passed Resolution # 2008-41 in support of this application. The RSIC Tribal Court will pursue purpose area #15 thereby, seeking to establish and maintain programs to enable juvenile courts and juvenile probation officers to be more effective and efficient in holding juveniles accountable and reducing recidivism; purpose area #11, Establishing and maintaining accountability-based programs designed to reduce recidivism among juveniles who are referred by law enforcement personnel or agencies. It is anticipated that through juvenile court peer review, active involvement by Tribal youth in the community and the guidance of Juvenile Probation Officers, adjudicated juvenile offenders can take part in positive community building with non-offending youth activity. The Tribal Court will target 50 youth (under 17 years of age) out of a possible 305 who are eligible. The primary goal of this project will be to develop a comprehensive Juvenile Justice system for the Reno Sparks Indian Colony in order to hold youth accountable for their truant and delinquent behavior and strengthen the tribal justice system, thereby reducing the number of juvenile incidents.

Outcomes evaluation findings will be central to a pro-active effort to improve the quality and integrity of the RSIC Tribal Court program. This will be accomplished by assessing participant outcomes throughout the term of program participation (at intake, at completion and at six months follow-up). The outcome evaluation will focus on the degree to which intended change in at-risk behaviors has been achieved and can be attributed to program services. Outcome evaluation will consist of collecting baseline information/intake measures of participant functioning and comparing baseline data with functioning at program completion and at six months after service provision.

CA/NCF