JDAI Site Updates
New Hampshire Adopts RAI Statewide
Each juvenile detention decision in New Hampshire is now guided and determined by a risk assessment instrument the state formally adopted after completing several years of training for law enforcement, attorneys, judges, and prosecutors.
According to the administrative order by Edwin W. Kelly, administrative judge, New Hampshire Judicial Branch, Family Division and District Courts:
“Effective October 6, 2008, the New Hampshire Detention Assessment Screening Instrument is hereby adopted by the District and Family Courts in all New Hampshire counties. This instrument shall be used in all juvenile delinquency detention determination matters.”
In a letter to law enforcement, county prosecutors and the attorney’s general’s office, Judge Kelly outlined state policy:
“JDAI is now implemented in all counties, therefore the Risk Assessment Instrument must be completed each time secure detention of a child in a delinquency case is contemplated or requested. The bottom line is, secure detention may not be ordered unless the Risk Assessment Instrument has been completed and the score reaches the 12-point threshold, or there is a judicial override of the assessment score. This is also true in cases where detention is considered or requested when a minor is alleged to have violated conditions of release.”
Paul Lawrence, presiding judge of Goffstown County District Court and one of the state’s leading JDAI advocates, said the instrument represents eight years of effort by many dedicated people.
“I believe that now-at-risk juveniles in New Hampshire will have a better chance of positive outcomes when they come into contact with our juvenile justice system,” he said.
New Hampshire is in its eighth year as a JDAI site. Population at the state’s one detention center, which has a capacity of 24, has an average daily population of about 12 youth.
The New Hampshire administrative order and risk-assessment instrument are available on the JDAI Help Desk.
For more information contact Douglas Beaton, JDAI state coordinator, at dbeaton@dhhs.state.nh.us.
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