NJJDPC Recommendations
In response to the National Rifle Assocaition (NRA) proposal to place armed personnel in each of our nation's schools as a path to improved school safety, the National Juvenile Justice and Deliquency Prevention Coalition (NJJDPC), comprising a broad array of youth safety experts, researchers, practitioners, and advocates regularly engaged in issues of school safety, has issued this statement asserting that this approach will not result in safer schools. Instead, schools should be encouraged and supported in their efforts to dedicate resources to qualified school-based counselors, social workers, and other mental health clinicians and providers who will strengthen school-wide positive behavioral interventions, identify and treat problems that often contribute to youth violence, and improve coordination with community mental health and prevention services.
NJJDPC Releases Promoting Safe Communities: Recommendations for the 113th Congress (March 2013)
Juvenile justice systems across the United States are in urgent need of reform, and federal leadership is necessary to advance the pace of change. Despite a steady drop in juvenile detention and out-of-home placements over the past decade, there are still far too many young people securely detained and placed away from home who could be handled more effectively in their own communities. Although the number of juvenile arrests accounts for a small portion of the nation’s crime and has been on the decline for the past decade, each year, police still make approximately 1 million juvenile arrests; juvenile courts handle roughly 1.5 million cases; and more than 250,000 youth are prosecuted in the adult criminal justice system. On any given night, approximately 70,000 youth are placed in secure confinement, and 10,000 children are held in adult jails and prisons.
Current juvenile justice policies and practices too often ignore children's age and amenability to rehabilitation, cause long-term collateral consequences, waste taxpayer dollars, and violate our deepest held principles about equal justice under the law and the role of the juvenile justice system. Many state systems exhibit racial and ethnic disparities, lack sound mental health and drug treatment services, and apply excessively harsh sanctions for minor and nonviolent adolescent misbehavior. Too often, community safety is jeopardized when states and localities adopt costly and overly punitive approaches that are shown repeatedly to produce the worst outcomes for children, their families, and public safety, including high rates of re-offense and higher severity of offending due to justice system contact.
With strong federal leadership, the pace of juvenile justice reforms can be accelerated. The 113th Congress has the opportunity and responsibility to support effective systems of justice for our youth and should begin by focusing on the following five priority areas:
1) Restore Federal Leadership in Juvenile Justice Policy
2) Support and Prioritize Prevention, Early Intervention, and Diversion Strategies
3) Ensure Safety and Fairness for Court-Involved Youth
4) Remove Youth from the Adult Criminal Justice System
5) Support Youth Reentry
NJJDPC Releases Promoting Safe Communities: Recommendations for the Administration (February 2013)
Juvenile justice systems across the United States are in urgent need of reform, and federal leadership is necessary to advance the pace of change. Despite a steady drop in juvenile detention and out-of-home placements over the past decade, there are still far too many young people securely detained and placed away from home who could be handled more effectively in their own communities.
Current juvenile justice policies and practices too often ignore children's age and amenability to rehabilitation, cause long-term collateral consequences, waste taxpayer dollars, and violate our deepest held principles about equal justice under the law and the role of the juvenile justice system. Too often, community safety is jeopardized when states and localities adopt costly and overly punitive approaches that are shown repeatedly to produce the worst outcomes for children, their families, and public safety, including high rates of re-offense and higher severity of offending due to justice system contact.
With strong federal leadership, the pace of juvenile justice reforms can be accelerated. Research over the past 20 years has increased our understanding of what works and how to best approach juvenile delinquency and system reform. The Obama Administration has the opportunity and responsibility to restore an effective system of juvenile justice for our youth.
Read NJJDPC's Recommendation Letter to the VP Task Force re: Newtown (January 2013)
The tragic December 14th shootings in Newtown, Connecticut shook our nation’s confidence in its ability to prevent violence and keep our children and our communities safe. It also strengthened our resolve to prevent future violence. The grief and anguish connected with the violence in Newtown cause us to remember that in far too many communities, violence is commonplace; an everyday occurrence. As lawmakers discuss potential solutions to keep our communities and our children safer, including limits to the widespread accessibility of firearms, both illegal and legal, in the United States, we offer the expertise of the National Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Coalition (NJJDPC) and provide recommendations for a comprehensive approach to reduce violence and keep children and communities safe.
Disclaimer
The opinions represented on this webpage do not represent the opinions of every organization in the NJJDPC. The webpage is designed as a clearinghouse for information related to effective strategies to keep kids safe. All content has been included to represent a broad spectrum of evidence-based strategies to protect kids and build safer communities. The NJJDPC does not endorse any specific content unless so stated in the document.