Easily Overstated

Policymakers, advocates, and even some researchers claim that youth confinement rates across the United States dropped in recent years due to changes in policy and practice. Such claims remain unproven, but voters and elected officials are inclined to accept them as factual because they are offered by reputable agencies and repeated in news media sources. Without reliable evidence, however, the notion that state-level youth confinement rates fall primarily in response to progressive policy reforms is merely appealing rhetoric. Continue reading Easily Overstated

NY ACS: Advising the New York City Administration for Children’s Services on Positive Youth Outcomes

With funding provided by the City of New York through its Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), the Research and Evaluation Center reviewed and compiled recent research and practice innovations focused on adolescent development and the youth justice system. Researchers considered the appropriate role of youth justice in enhancing essential assets for adolescents, including prosocial relationships with peers, families, and communities. Using the most recent insights … Continue reading NY ACS: Advising the New York City Administration for Children’s Services on Positive Youth Outcomes

Current Practice in the Juvenile Justice System

Butts, Jeffrey [committee member] with Simon Singer (2013).  Current Practice in the Juvenile Justice System (Chapter 3, pp. 49-88). In Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach. Richard J. Bonnie, Robert L. Johnson, Betty M. Chemers, and Julie A. Schuck (Editors). Washington, DC: National Research Council of the National Academies. Report in Brief Juvenile justice is a highly varied process that is shaped by law and driven … Continue reading Current Practice in the Juvenile Justice System

Juvenile Justice Information Exchange

Are We Too Quick to Claim Credit for Falling Juvenile Incarceration Rates? by Jeffrey A. Butts, March 7, 2013 Juvenile Justice Information Exchange The youth justice field is in a celebratory mood. Last month, the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Justice Policy Institute released major reports on the declining rate of juvenile incarceration in the United States. On a per capita basis, juvenile confinement … Continue reading Juvenile Justice Information Exchange