Resources

• ABA Policy and Report on Crossover and Dual Jurisdiction Youth
  This document from the American Bar Association includes recommendations and a report on policies and practices related to "dual jurisdiction" youth, abused and neglected youth with juvenile dependency cases who are charged with acts of delinquency.

• Understanding Child Maltreatment and Juvenile Delinquency: From Research to Effective Program, Practice, and Systemic Solutions
  This report by the Child Welfare League of America examines the connections between child abuse and juvenile delinquency as well as the impact of foster care on youth development. It presents research and data as well as effective strategies for child abuse and neglect prevention; intervention for early onset of delinquency; juvenile justice system responses; and child welfare and juvenile justice system integration and reform efforts.

• The Causes and Correlates Studies: Findings and Policy Implications
  This article in the September 2004 issue of Juvenile Justice looks at studies on the causes of juvenile delinquency. In particular, the effect of maltreatment in childhood only, adolescence only, and persistent maltreatment are examined, with important implications for appropriate interventions and treatment at various stages of development.

• Guidebook for Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare System Coordination and Integration: Framework for Improved Outcomes
  This Guidebook from Child Welfare League of America will help state and local jurisdictions achieve greater system coordination and integration. The population of so many of our nation's youth and families who have been victims of maltreatment subsequently enter the juvenile justice system and require multisystem interventions. The Guidebook addresses the plethora of issues that affect improved provision of services and programs across multiple youth-serving systems for those children, youth, and families, and provides a framework to strategically confront and overcome the barriers to multisystem coordination and integration and its impact on improved outcomes.

• Placement Instability and Juvenile Delinquency
  According to the Child and Family Research Center at the University of Chicago at Urbana-Champaign, victims of child abuse and neglect are more likely to engage in juvenile delinquency relative to children in the general population. Using two birth cohorts of children with substantiated reports of maltreatment and official delinquency petitions, they found that placement increases the risk of delinquency for boys and girls, and placement instability increases the risk of delinquency for boys.

• Guidelines for Juvenile Information Sharing
  This report from the Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention outlines a course of action for States and local jurisdictions involved in efforts to improve information sharing among key agencies that work with at-risk youth and juvenile offenders. The guidelines integrate the three critical components of juvenile information sharing - collaboration, confidentiality, and technology - into an effective developmental framework.

• Treatment Foster Care
  This issue of the Juvenile Justice Bulletin describes an alternative to corrections—and group care—facilities. The program places juvenile offenders who require residential treatment with foster families who are trained to provide close supervision, fair limits, consistent consequences, and a supportive relationship, instead of with other delinquents. In short, it is an approach that promotes both rehabilitation of juvenile offenders and public safety.

• Blueprints Model Programs: Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC)
  An overview and cost-benefit analysis of MTFC.

• Arizona
  Arizona Dual Jurisdiction Study
  For this study of cases in Arizona in which children were involved with the court system both as a result of maltreatment and through juvenile delinquency, the National Center for Juvenile Justice was asked to examine barriers to effective court handling of dual jurisdiction cases. The final report provides a number of recommendations to address the challenges posed by this population.

• Kentucky
  The Special Needs of Youth in the Juvenile Justice System: Implications for Effective Practice
  This manual was put together by the Children's Law Center of Covington, Kentucky to assist judges, attorneys, and other practitioners in their work with youth in the juvenile justice system who have mental health and/or other disabling conditions.

• New Mexico
  Juvenile Delinquency Among Children Involved in a Child Maltreatment Investigation: A Longitudinal Study
  New Mexico's Children, Youth and Families Department removed the division between its protective services (PS) and juvenile justice services (JJS) agencies in an effort to facilitate an improved and more coordinated delivery of services to families. CYFD contracted with the Children's Research Center, a division of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, to conduct a longitudinal study of children involved with PS and then subsequently involved with JJS. The purpose of this study was to identify children in the PS system who were likely to become JJS clients. The goal was to better focus PS efforts to prevent subsequent maltreatment of children, reduce juvenile crime, and better support families. The household characteristics with a strong relationship to subsequent delinquency included caretaker substance abuse, prior arrest of a caretaker, sharing a household with a developmentally disabled child or a child with a mental health concern, and multiple PS investigations.

• Ohio
  Federal Placement Assistance Funding for Delinquency Services
  This 2003 bulletin from the National Center for Juvenile Justice in conjunction with the Supreme Court of Ohio and the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services examines securing Title IV-E funding for administrative and training costs incurred in servicing AFDC-eligible delinquent and unruly youth who have been removed from their homes. It walks courts through the process and discusses the experiences of some local courts that have demonstrated success.

  
  

• Center for Juvenile Justice Reform
  The website of the CJJR at Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute will serve as a resource for practitioners and advocates from juvenile justice and related fields as well as providing educational materials to the public. The Center staff will compile comprehensive lists of research sources relating to critical areas in the juvenile justice field, as well as provide links to related professional and academic organizations.

• Child Welfare League of America Juvenile Justice Division
  CWLA established the Juvenile Justice Division in July 2000, through a grant award from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The objective of the award included supporting the education of CWLA members [and other public and private youth serving agencies and organizations] on the connections between the child welfare and juvenile justice systems and the need for an integrated approach to programs and services. With credible research increasingly confirming the undeniable connection between child maltreatment, juvenile delinquency, and a variety of other associated negative outcomes, this work is of critical importance.

• Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
  Juveniles in crisis—from serious, violent, and chronic offenders to victims of abuse and neglect—pose a challenge to the nation. Charged by Congress to meet this challenge, OJJDP collaborates with professionals from diverse disciplines to improve juvenile justice policies and practices. OJJDP, a component of the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, accomplishes its mission by supporting states, local communities, and tribal jurisdictions in their efforts to develop and implement effective programs for juveniles. The Office also strives to enable the juvenile justice system to better protect public safety, hold offenders accountable, and provide services tailored to the needs of youth and their families.

• National Center for Juvenile Justice
  This private, non-profit organization is the the research division of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. It offers a variety of resources, including State Profiles, an array of information about each state's laws, policies, and practices, with links to individuals and agencies in the field.

• Models for Change: Building Momentum for Juvenile Justice Reform
  The Models for Change initiative, funded by the MacArthur Foundation, is an effort to create successful and replicable models of juvenile justice reform through targeted investments in key states. This report from the Justice Policy Institute describes a framework for a model juvenile justice system.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
Last update 04/14/08