January | February 2018

New Publications

All OJJDP publications may be viewed and downloaded on the publications section of the OJJDP website. Print publications may be ordered online at the National Criminal Justice Reference Service website.

Juvenile Residential Facility  Census, 2014: Selected Findings Prediction and Prevention of Premature Closures of Mentoring Relationships: The Study To Analyze Relationships (STAR Project)
NCJ 251484

OJJDP has released a Research in Brief on predicting and preventing premature closures of mentoring relationships. The brief summarizes findings and policy implications from the Study To Analyze Relationships project.

The OJJDP-funded study examined how multiple program participants (mentor, mentee, parent/guardian, and program staff) individually and collectively contribute to the development and duration of a new mentoring relationship. The researchers found that mismatched expectations among the parties are linked to early match closures, which are more likely to result in negative outcomes for youth. About 30 percent of the new matches in the study ended before reaching the 12-month commitment period specified in the program model; 67 percent closed during the extended study period. The majority of the closures (64 percent) were attributed to mentors, most often because they moved residences or experienced time constraints.

Findings from this study, along with other research findings, have contributed to the design of several National Mentoring Resource Center tools. The tools include a resource for aligning participant expectations, a staffing calculator for match support, a framework and questionnaire to help program staff assess the health of a mentoring relationship, and tools to properly close the match relationship.

Read and download Prediction and Prevention of Premature Closures of Mentoring Relationships: The Study To Analyze Relationships (STAR Project). Read the article “Improving Outcomes in Youth Mentoring” in this issue to learn about additional mentoring research that the Office is funding.

Coming Soon—

Delinquency Cases in Juvenile Court, 2014 (Fact Sheet)
National Report Series

This fact sheet presents statistics on delinquency cases handled in U.S. juvenile courts between 2005 and 2014. In 2014, juvenile courts in the United States handled nearly 975,000 delinquency cases that involved juveniles charged with criminal law violations. The delinquency caseload fell to fewer than 1 million cases for the first time since the mid-1970s. From 2005 through 2014, the number of delinquency cases declined 42 percent across all four offense categories: property offenses (down 46 percent), public order offenses (down 44 percent), person offenses (down 40 percent), and drug law violations (down 30 percent).

Juveniles in Residential Placement, 2015 (Bulletin)
National Report Series

The OJJDP-sponsored Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement details the characteristics of youth held for delinquency and status offenses in public and private residential facilities in every state. The 2015 data show the number of youth in placement continues to decline. Between 2006 and 2015, nearly 9 in 10 states cut their rates by half or more. From 1997 to 2015, the overall number of youth in residential placement decreased 54 percent to 48,043, its lowest level since the data collection began in 1997 when 105,055 youth were held in out-of-home placement. Of the juveniles held in residential placement in 2015, 95 percent were held for a delinquency offense and 5 percent were held for a status offense. Less than 40 percent were held for a person offense.