Additional JDAI Resources
Special Education Advocacy For Children in the Juvenile Delinquency: System Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
A manual for defense attorneys who represent children in delinquency matters and in status offenses.
Dangers of Detention
A 2007 issue brief by the Justice Policy Institute confirms that detention is harmful and dangerous. This policy brief, funded through a grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, reviews the existing literature on the efficacy of detention and looks at the consequences of detention on young people, their families, and communities. To learn more, visit the JPI website.
Too Soon to Tell: Deciphering Recent Trends in Youth Violence
Researchers caution that predictions of a juvenile crime wave are premature, according to an issue brief by the Chapin Hall Center for Children. Violent crime in the United States increased slightly between 2004 and 2005, yet crime remains at a 30-year low. According to the report, it is too soon to predict a coming wave of serious violent crime after only a one year increase. Furthermore, it is inappropriate to describe the turnaround in violent crime as a problem of juvenile violence. Crime rates among young adults ages 18 to 24 show the same pattern as do those of juveniles. To learn more, visit the Chapin Hall website.
And Justice for Some
A 2007 report by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency documents that throughout the juvenile justice system, youth of color-especially African American youth-receive different and harsher treatment than white youth charged with similar offenses. The report offers the latest data available on the overrepresentation of youth of color. To learn more, visit the NCCD website.
Juvenile Defender Delinquency Notebook 2nd Edition
This National Juvenile Defender Center (NJDC) publication is a comprehensive guide that provides detailed explanations on how to effectively represent youth in delinquency cases. It is an invaluable tool for new juvenile defenders or attorneys looking to improve their advocacy in many areas of juvenile defense. To learn more, visit the NJDC website.
Legal Strategies to Reduce the Unnecessary Detention of Children
This guide to detention advocacy, published by the National Juvenile Defender Center with a grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, describes how best to keep juvenile clients out of detention at the early stages of delinquency proceedings. The guide presents specific strategies for representing youth at detention hearings as well as advocacy outside the courtroom. It also includes research explaining the harmful effects of detention. To learn more, visit the NJDC website.
Alternatives to the Secure Detention and Confinement of Juvenile Offenders
By James Austin, Kelly Dedel Johnson, and Ronald Weitzer. Published by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, this report describes model procedures for reducing the number of juvenile offenders in secure detention and confinement. The publication promotes reducing the court's reliance on detention through administrative reforms and special program initiatives informed by an objective assessment of a youth's risk level. Included are sample risk assessment instruments. NCR 208804. You may order this bulletin (NCJ208804) from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service.
Protecting Youth from Self-Incrimination
In an attempt to identify and secure appropriate treatment for youth with mental health disorders, states and localities have begun screening and assessing youth prior to adjudication. Although the potential benefit to the child is great, there are also numerous risks involved. This report reviews the potential risks and provides a comprehensive state-by-state analysis of existing legal provisions that protect youth from self-incrimination. To learn more, visit the Juvenile Law Center website.
Guidelines for Juvenile Information Sharing
Published by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, this online report (NCJ 215786) 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. To learn more, visit the OJJDP website.
Breaking Through: Juvenile Justice Reform
American Prospect magazine’s special report from September 2005 is comprised of eight feature articles demonstrating the depth and breadth of juvenile justice reform across the country, including three on JDAI. Read how JDAI has reduced minority overrepresentation in Cook and Multnomah counties, lowered the detention population in Santa Cruz County and improved mental health opportunities for juveniles in Bernalillo County.
No Turning Back: Promising Approaches to Reducing Racial and Ethnic Disparities Affecting Youth of Color in the Justice System
Two JDAI sites are highlighted in this Building Blocks for Youth report that features effective strategies successful in targeting and reducing racial disparities. The publication demonstrates that by reducing detention, jurisdictions were also able to reduce disproportionate minority confinement.
In 1994, in Multnomah County (Portland), Oregon, youth of color represented 73% of the youth in detention. By 2003, the average daily population of youth in detention declined from 96 to 33, the number of annual detention admissions fell from 2,915 to 348 (an 88% decline), and the percentage of youth of color in detention fell from 73% to 50%.
In 1997, in Santa Cruz County, California, youth of color comprised 72% of the youth in detention. By 2003, the average daily detention population fell from 47 to 27, the number of annual detention admissions fell from 1,591 to 972 (a 38% decline), and the proportion of detained youth who were youth of color also fell. To learn more, visit the BBY website.
Unlocking the Future: Detention Reform in the Juvenile Justice System
The Coalition for Juvenile Justice 2003 Annual Report demonstrates with strong evidence that juvenile court jurisdictions throughout the United States needlessly sweep into locked detention many young people with mental health, substance abuse and family problems—most of whom are 15 years or younger, nonviolent, and disproportionately youth of color. To learn more, visit the CJJ website