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July | August 2014

Message From the Administrator

Hello. I’m Bob Listenbee, Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Today I want to share with you my thoughts on one of the issues of greatest concern to the juvenile justice field: How to make sure that all youth in the juvenile justice system can successfully transition out of system supervision to a crime-free, healthy, and productive adulthood.

Before I go any further, its important to acknowledge that state and county governments have made extraordinary progress in keeping young people out of correctional facilities.

The confinement rate for youth has declined dramatically.

At the same time, the juvenile crime rate is at its lowest level in decades.

But reducing confinement rates is not enough.

We must ensure that all youth in the juvenile justice system not only do not reoffend, but that they receive the support they need from the system, from their families, and from their communities to achieve academic and workforce success.

These young people need educational services, employment training, mental health and substance abuse treatment, life skills training, mentoring, and housing support.

Reentry planning must begin from the moment youth come into contact with the system.

The reentry process should begin in the juvenile facility with appropriate risk and needs assessments, services, and release planning.

Services and supervision must then follow youth on their return to their families and communities.

And, the reentry process should only be considered to be complete when the young person is successfully reintegrated into their communities.

Our Office is working vigorously to ensure that state and local governments are positioned to achieve all of these goals. Through our new 6-point strategy, we are working to:

  • Highlight what research says works.
  • Provide state and local governments with tools to assess whether policies and practices support improved outcomes.
  • Promote efforts by states to track youth outcomes.
  • Assist state and local governments in transforming their approach to youth transitions to focus on broad systems reform as well as discrete programs or practices.
  • Examine what services and supervision youth are receiving—and what difference these investments are making in states that have dramatically reduced the number of youth in confinement.
  • And, finally, address gaps in knowledge about what works.

We have forged strong partnerships with the Council of State Governments and many other organizations to support efforts to improve outcomes for young people, returning them to their families and communities after confinement.

Our Office is also working closely with members of the Attorney Generals Federal Interagency Reentry Council and its subcommittee addressing juvenile reentry.

Through these and a multitude of other efforts, we are working to improve the coordination of federal reentry initiatives, increase the fields capacity to measure recidivism and other youth outcomes, and to close the gap between the research on what works and existing policy and practice.

We have every reason to be hopeful. But it will take the determination and commitment of all of us at the federal, state, and local levels.

I’m excited about our momentum and look forward to the progress ahead.

Thank you for listening.