The Juvenile Justice Project (JJP)

What are the goals of the Juvenile Justice Project?:
The Juvenile Justice Project was established in July 1997 to improve the juvenile justice system by promoting fair and effective approaches to responding to juvenile crime. To this end, the Project has the following goals:

1. To maintain a Juvenile Justice Coalition to advocate for balanced and smart responses to juvenile crime by bringing together a diverse network of interested groups and individuals that will enable us to carry out an informed and effective advocacy effort;

2. To inspect and monitor juvenile placement and detention facilities;

3. To analyze legislative proposals and existing juvenile justice policies and explore alternatives;

4. To organize young people to get involved in the political process and publicly voice their positions on issues that affect them;

5. To gather case histories of youth who have successfully survived both contact with the juvenile justice system. This goal serves to counteract the prevailing attitude that 'nothing works'.

Why was the JJP created?:
In the past few years there has been increasing enthusiasm for more punitive and harsh responses to youth who become involved in the juvenile justice system. Legislation recently proposed in New York State and across the nation would (among other things):

1. Increase the number of offenses for which juveniles can be charged as adults;

2. Increase the length of time for which young people can be incarcerated;

3. Permit youth to be incarcerated with adults,

4. Create maximum security placement centers for juveniles in addition to existing secure facilities.

Strong evidence shows that comprehensive youth development, prevention and intervention programs, as well as alternatives to detention and incarceration are more effective for many children. These alternatives engage youth in positive activities and reduce recidivism (return to the prison system) rates by almost half in many cases.

They are also more cost efficient.

The JJP was created to debunk the myths about juvenile crime, i.e that it is on the rise and that we are living in a society of super youth predators. The project also seeks to promote the truth about ways in which we can effectively rehabilitate the thousands of children who enter the system. We know that many of these youth would benefit more from thoughtful, target responses to their criminal behaviour than by being locked up with criminals who reinforce it.

In short, the JJP was created to be the voice that advocates smart, rational effective policy in the juvenile justice arena.

The Case Histories project:

The Juvenile Justice Project is in the process of researching and writing case histories about young people who have made a successful transition back into the community after involvement in the juvenile justice system. This effort is an attempt to analyze and highlight the factors that helped them to turn their lives around.

The case histories report will also seek to give actual accounts of juvenile delinguents and juvenile offenders which reemphasize the fact that there are successful, innovative, and cost-effective youth programs that work. The report will also how that it is possible for a young person once involved in crime to go on to lead a crime-free life. The report should be released in the late Spring.

The Visiting Project

Goals:
The Juvenile Justice Visiting Project seeks to establish a presence in juvenile placement facilities. We will inspect juvenile facilities on a regular, ongoing basis to insure that the established standards (either existing or newly created ones) for the facilities are being met. In addition, the visits will enable us to interact with facility administrators and to incorporate their concerns into our policy assessment. We will focus on conditions of confinement and the quality of services offered (including mental health, substance abuse and education). We will also speak with institutional administrators to discuss their funding needs and the problems they face in providing services. This information will help us to develop a juvenile corrections reform platform.

Current Activities:
To date, members of the Visiting Committee have visited two privately operated placement facilities: Lincoln Hall, located in Westchester County, and Berkshire Farm Center and Services for Children, located in Columbia County. Both of these facilities are non-secure residential institutions for male adolescents who have committed low-level offenses. We also plan to visit state-operated placement institutions and are currently awaiting approval to visit these facilities.

For Additional Information please contact:
Frances Cudjoe Waters
Director
The Juvenile Justice Project
The Correctional Association of New York
135 East 15th Street
New York, NY 10003
Phone: 212.254.5700
Fax: 212.473.2807
Fcudjoewaters@corrassoc.org

The Juvenile Justice Coalition

What Is the Juvenile Justice Coalition?:
The Coalition consists of over 70 members, representing 32 different organizations and projects. Organizations represented in the Coalition include: The Legal Aid Society, Youth Force, The Center for Community Alternatives, Citizens Committee for Children and The Street Organization Project of John Jay College. Their monthly meetings provide a forum for members to voice their concerns and strategize timely responses to the key juvenile justice issues of the day. The Coalition utilizes the resources and expertise of all of its members to accomplish the goal of advocating for smart and effective responses to juvenile crime.

The Coalition has taken action on several issues since September of 1997 including:

1. Gathered information on youth housing and the justice system in order to plan a response to the problem of families being evicted from public housing because of a juvenile's involvement in the criminal justice system. In addition, we began to look at the problem of youths who are discharged into homelessness from correctional facilities, as well as homeless youths who get caught up in the justice system.

2. Conducted legislative analysis and policy maker education campaigns. These campaigns included five trips to Albany to meet with key legislators and their staff. Position papers were distributed, and a comprehensive analysis of the juvenile justice reform package was proposed by the Assembly and Senate.

3. Conducted a City-based youth services budget allocation campaign which resulted in the following budget additions by the City Council:
   • $75,000 to the Department of Juvenile Justice to increase the number of staff in the Agency's ombudsman's office

   • $377,000 to the Department of Probation to continue the Alternative to Court Program.

• 1998 Policy Positions Summary

• Opposition to Longer Incarceration Periods for Juvenile Delinquents and Offenders

• Opposition to Additional Designated Felony and Juvenile Offender Offenses

• Support the Implementation of, and Funding for, a True system of Graduated Sanctions

• Support Increased Funding for Aftercare for Juvenile Delinquents and Offenders

• Support Increased Funding for Community-Based Alternative to Incarceration Programs

• Support Youth (Peer/Teen) Court Diversion Programs

• Oppostion to Automatic Transfers to Adult Correctional Facilities

• Opposition to Maximum Secure Juvenile Corrections Facility