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

Juvenile justice reform is a top priority here at OJJDP and I want to tell you about our most recent program to promote comprehensive statewide reform and end racial and ethnic disparities.

Under the Smart on Juvenile Justice Initiative, we’re leveraging public-private partnerships to facilitate the adoption—by states—of a data-driven, evidence-based, developmentally appropriate, and trauma-informed approach to juvenile justice reform.

Launched in 2014, Smart on Juvenile Justice is part of a complement of federal initiatives—including My Brother’s Keeper, Smart on Crime, and the Justice Reinvestment Initiative—with a common goal to reform criminal and juvenile justice policies nationwide to reduce reoffending to ensure positive outcomes for youth and end racial and ethnic disparities.

There are four key aspects of this initiative: first, the leadership of governors, judges, legislators and juvenile justice stakeholders throughout the states involved to ensure success; second, the use of assessment tools to ensure that youth are assessed early in the process so that they are matched with the right services and treatments at the right time; third, the reduction of detention and out-of-home placement which is expected to produce substantial savings; and finally, the reinvestment of a sizeable portion of these savings into the juvenile justice reform process to help the states sustain their reform agenda.

Together with the Pew Foundation and our grantee, Crime and Justice Institute, we are currently supporting three states—Georgia, Hawaii, and Kentucky—as they implement their reform legislation. These states, and many others, have taken the lead in implementing juvenile justice reform and we are seeing encouraging results.

Our Office is supporting a range of activities under the Smart on Juvenile Justice Initiative:

• We are supporting the training, technical assistance, and resources for the most promising systemic and programmatic approaches to help end racial and ethnic disparities.
• We are sponsoring research on the extent and impact of disparities affecting Hispanic and Latino youth who come into contact with the juvenile justice system.
• We are supporting the training of juvenile prosecutors in adolescent development, forensic science, and the neurosciences to equip them with the knowledge to improve public safety while achieving more positive outcomes for youth.
• And, we are undertaking efforts to improve access to counsel and the quality of representation to ensure that all children receive the guarantees of due process and equal protection and that their constitutional rights are protected.

Like Georgia, Hawaii, and Kentucky, many states are initiating reforms that focus less on detention and out-of-home placement and more on early intervention, diversion, and community based programs.

The Smart on Juvenile Justice Initiative will help guide states across the nation toward effective models that maximize savings, improve public safety, and serve the needs of our nation’s justice-involved youth.

I invite you to stay tuned to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention website (ojjdp.gov) and subscribe to our news services for more information about this initiative and other efforts our Office has underway to advance juvenile justice reform.

Thank you.