Department of Youth Services Community Supervision Planning Project to reduce recidivism and increase public safety.

As many as 100,000 youth younger than 18 years old are released from juvenile correctional facilities every year. These young people often return to their communities with complex needs, such as physical and behavioral health issues and barriers to education and employment. The FY 2015 Second Chance Act Smart on Juvenile Justice: Community Supervision Program will provide planning grants to state and local government agencies and federally recognized Native American/Alaskan Native tribes to support their efforts to develop and finalize a comprehensive juvenile community supervision reform strategic plan that will implement evidence-based supervision strategies to reduce recidivism and improve outcomes for juveniles under community supervision.

The Massachusetts (MA) Department of Youth Services’ (DYS) strategic plan is to reduce recidivism and increase public safety through improving community supervision for youth that are medium to high-risk for reoffending. During the first 12-month planning phase, DYS will develop: (1) collaborative cross-disciplinary teams of state or local stakeholders engaged in providing community supervision services; (2) a plan to assess current policies, practices, and training for juvenile community supervision; (3) strategies to strengthen systematic continuity of care throughout the phases of the reentry continuum; and (4) strategies to develop quality oversight and improvement in data collection methods to achieve a reduction in the jurisdiction’s historical baseline juvenile recidivism rate. The goals of the planning grant will be realized through an integrated juvenile justice system response. Stakeholders in this project include: the MA DYS, the MA Juvenile Court, the MA Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, the MA Probation Department, the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the MA Behavioral Health Partnership, and key provider agencies.

CA/NCF