OJJDP Annual Report 1998: Strengthening the Juvenile Justice System

The juvenile justice system remains hampered by limited resources and heavy caseloads and is often unable to provide full attention to every case. Many policymakers and jurisdictions, however, are attempting to strengthen the system in a variety of ways. A strengthened juvenile justice system must hold youth accountable for their behavior and at the same time provide appropriate rehabilitation services for youth—services that involve both social control and treatment.

OJJDP's program plan for FY 1998 supported a balanced approach to aggressively address juvenile delinquency and violence by establishing graduated sanctions, improving the juvenile justice system's ability to respond to juvenile offending, and preventing the onset of delinquency. The program plan recognized the need to ensure public safety and support children's development into healthy, productive citizens through a range of prevention, early intervention, and graduated sanctions programs.

In addition to the Balanced and Restorative Justice (BARJ) project and the Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants (JAIBG) program discussed in chapter 1, OJJDP supported a number of other programs during FY 1998 to help improve the juvenile justice system and its response to juvenile delinquents, status offenders, and dependent, neglected, and abused children. A new program funded in FY 1998 is helping communities implement proven prevention and intervention programs. OJJDP awarded a cooperative agreement to the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV) at the University of Colorado at Boulder to provide intensive training and technical assistance for community organizations and units of local government to replicate 10 "Blueprint" model programs. CSPV identified the models as meeting rigorous scientific standards of effectiveness and replicability for reducing violence, crime, and substance abuse among youth. Two examples of the models are multisystemic therapy (MST) and treatment foster care (TFC). MST is a nonresidential, short-term, intensive therapy program that targets specific factors (family, peers, school, etc.) that contribute to antisocial behavior by youth. MST has been proved effective for decreasing antisocial behavior of violent and chronic juvenile offenders. TFC is an alternative to residential and group care placement for serious and chronic juvenile offenders. Youth in the program are placed in well-supervised foster families for 6 to 9 months and undergo weekly individualized therapy. Studies indicate that, compared with alternative residential treatment models, TFC is cost effective and leads to better outcomes for children and families.

OJJDP also continued to support an Intensive Aftercare Program in three pilot States: Colorado, Nevada, and Virginia. The program emphasizes the importance of helping reintegrate youth released from confinement into their communities. The model program includes community-based controls over the juveniles, effective case management, and services that help the youth develop social, educational, and employment capabilities. The National Council on Crime and Delinquency of San Francisco, CA, under a separate grant, is using an experimental design to evaluate the project.

Recognizing the need for gender-specific programming for female juvenile offenders, OJJDP supported development of specialized programs ranging from prevention to detention. The Office continued to fund such program development at the Cook County Bureau of Public Safety and Judicial Coordination of Chicago and began providing development funds to the State of Connecticut. In conjunction with the Bureau of Justice Assistance, OJJDP initiated a unique collaborative effort between Connecticut and Illinois. OJJDP will use lessons learned from the Girls Link Juvenile Female Offender Project in Cook County (Chicago), IL, which the Office funded, to develop specialized delinquency prevention and detention programs for Connecticut girls. The project will target females up to age 18 and will include the development of a plan for statewide change in the way the juvenile justice system deals with female juvenile offenders, a hierarchy of sanctions that include specific provisions for pregnant girls and girls who are mothers, development of a range of sanctions in Connecticut's juvenile justice system, and effective use of Medicaid/Medicare reimbursements. The Office also published Guiding Principles for Promising Female Programming: An Inventory of Best Practices, which highlights exemplary and effective gender-specific program practices that States and local jurisdictions can use immediately. The document was prepared by Greene, Peters, and Associates of Nashville, TN, under an OJJDP grant.

Since 1996, OJJDP has supported a program to explore the potential value of the Community Assessment Center (CAC) concept. CAC's provide a 24-hour centralized point of intake and assessment for juveniles who either have come into contact with the juvenile justice system or are likely to do so. The program is designed to facilitate careful assessment and efficient prevention and intervention service delivery at the front end of the juvenile justice system. OJJDP funding is supporting CAC development at four sites: Denver and Jefferson County, CO, and Fort Myers and Orlando, FL. The Denver and Orlando CAC's received additional JAIBG awards based on their proposals to develop centers that address four key elements OJJDP identified as having the potential to have a positive impact on the lives of youth and prevent them from becoming serious, violent, and chronic juvenile offenders. These four elements are a single point of entry, immediate and comprehensive assessments, integrated case management, and a comprehensive and integrated management information system. The Denver CAC is focusing on implementing a family strengths-based model. Orlando CAC activities include working with a local nonprofit agency that provides mental health and case management services to dependent youth to serve juveniles in the center; the Orlando CAC is working to integrate its information systems with those of the nonprofit agency. In addition, OJJDP awarded additional funds to the existing evaluator, the National Council on Crime and Delinquency of San Francisco, CA, to expand its existing process evaluation to include both process and outcome measures.

OJJDP also continued to support training and technical assistance to help jurisdictions address critical issues and improve their juvenile justice systems. The National Juvenile Detention Association of Richmond, KY, for example, is providing training and technical assistance in the development of procedures for reducing overcrowding in detention facilities. Three jurisdictions (Camden, NJ; Oklahoma City, OK; and the Rhode Island Juvenile Corrections System) are involved in developing, implementing, and testing procedures. Cygnus Corporation of Rockville, MD, is providing training and technical assistance to help States and local jurisdictions design and implement innovations to reduce disproportionate confinement of minority juveniles. OJJDP also continued to fund the American Correctional Association of Lanham, MD, to provide specialized technical assistance to juvenile corrections, detention, and community residential service providers.

A continuum of activity occurs at OJJDP. Using what has been learned through our research, evaluation, and statistical efforts, OJJDP divisions are implementing model demonstration programs, replicating successful programs, providing comprehensive and targeted training and technical assistance to States and local communities, and informing the public about the extent and nature of juvenile crime and what works to prevent and stop it.

Shay Bilchik
OJJDP Administrator

OJJDP continued to provide technical assistance to help American Indians develop comprehensive, systemwide responses to youth crime, delinquency, violence, and victimization. In 1997, the Office awarded a 3-year cooperative agreement to American Indian Development Associates (AIDA) of Albuquerque, NM, to provide training and technical assistance. AIDA recognizes the complex and varying relationships that Indian nations have with local and State governments and the Federal Government and designs its training and technical assistance accordingly.

OJJDP funds a national Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Training and Technical Assistance Center. The center serves as a clearinghouse, inventories and coordinates training and technical assistance resources, and maintains a database of these resources for OJJDP. The center also produced a Training and Technical Assistance Resources Catalog (1998-99 Edition), which presents organizational profiles of all of OJJDP's training and technical assistance providers and a brief synopsis of each of the more than 50 such projects funded by OJJDP. The catalog is available from the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse (see "How To Access Information From JJC").