OJJDP FY 11 Second Chance Plan

The Second Chance Act of 2007 (Pub. L. 110-199) provides a comprehensive response to the increasing number of incarcerated adults and juveniles who are released from prison, jail, and juvenile residential facilities and are returning to their communities. Approximately 100,000 youthful offenders are confined in juvenile residential facilities on any given day. The FY 2011 Second Chance Act Juvenile Offender Reentry Program helps ensure that the transition the youth make from secure confinement facilities to the community is successful and promotes public safety. A secure confinement facility may include a juvenile detention center, juvenile correctional facility, or staff-secure facility. Eligible juveniles must have been confined under juvenile court jurisdiction. This program is authorized by the Second Chance Act, Pub. L. 110-199, (42 U.S.C. § 3797w). The Second Chance Act authorizes grants to states, territories, units of local government and federally-recognized Indian tribal governments for demonstration projects to promote the safe and successful reintegration into the community of individuals who have been incarcerated or detained.

In an effort to develop comprehensive and collaborative strategies to address the challenges confronting juveniles returning from detention to high crime communities in Brooklyn and Staten Island, the New York State Unified Court System, together with the Center for Court Innovation, proposes to establish a Juvenile Reentry Task Force. The task force will be the primary vehicle for the development of a comprehensive strategic plan addressing barriers to successful reintegration that confront young people returning home from local detention. The Juvenile Reentry task force will include New York City Family Court, local juvenile justice and social service government agencies, community-based service providers, and other key stakeholders. It will be charged with developing a far-ranging strategic plan to address the needs of high-risk young people who are released from the Crossroads Juvenile Center (a secure detention facility in Brooklyn) and return to high-crime communities in Brooklyn and Staten Island. The task force will examine ways to share and maximize resources and funding streams, collect and analyze data, infuse best practices in juvenile offender reentry into the work of stakeholder agencies and organizations, and forge seamless collaboration among corrections, community corrections, the courts, non-profit organizations, schools, and families. The proposed project will result in a strategic plan for young people that relies upon an evidence-based approach to the delivery of services in both pre- and post-release settings to ensure that young people safely and successfully transition back into the community.

CA/NCF