Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative

Provide training and technical assistance to JDAI sites in participating jurisdictions.

Publish and distribute a wide range of analyses and tools with information and how-to advice on detention reform, including: practice guides, “Pathways to Detention Reform” reports, issue briefs, start-up materials and assessment tools.

Fund four local model sites — Bernalillo County, N.M.; Cook County, Ill.; Multnomah County, Ore.; and Santa Cruz County, Calif. — and one state-level model site, New Jersey, to serve as learning laboratories for new sites.

Host the online JDAI Helpdesk, which serves as a depository for documents related to detention reform and other juvenile justice issues, in addition to information on work being undertaken in state and local replication sites.

Convene annual national JDAI conferences that serve to strengthen both detention reform strategies and the network of sites and practitioners active in the detention reform movement.

Visit the JDAI Helpdesk

We expanded from five pilot sites to nearly 300 jurisdictions in 39 states and the District of Columbia. As of the end of 2013, more than 30 percent of U.S. youth reside in jurisdictions where JDAI is active.

Participating JDAI sites have reduced their average daily population in detention by 44 percent since launching their JDAI efforts.

JDAI sites have reduced the number of youth of color in detention by 40 percent, despite the fact that youth of color comprise an ever-increasing share of the U.S. youth population. 

JDAI is reducing detention in ways that protect or even enhance public safety.

In 2009, the New York Times lauded JDAI’s “astonishing” results.

The JDAI model is built around the following eight core strategies:

• Promoting collaboration between juvenile court officials, probation agencies, prosecutors, defense attorneys, schools, community organizations and advocates;
• Using rigorous data collection and analysis to guide decision making;
• Utilizing objective admissions criteria and risk-assessment instruments to replace subjective decision-making processes to determine whether youth should be placed into secure detention facilities;
• Implementing new or expanded alternatives to detention programs — such as day and evening reporting centers, home confinement and shelter care — that can be used in lieu of locked detention;
• Instituting case processing reforms to expedite the flow of cases through the system;
• Reducing the number of youth detained for probation rule violations or failing to appear in court, and the number held in detention awaiting transfer to a residential facility;
• Combatting racial and ethnic disparities by examining data to identify policies and practices that may disadvantage youth of color at various stages of the process, and pursuing strategies to ensure a more level playing field for youth regardless of race or ethnicity;
• Monitoring and improving conditions of confinement in detention facilities.

To help participating sites implement the JDAI model effectively and achieve success, the Casey Foundation employs a number of inter-connected strategies.  They include: direct technical assistance from Casey staff and consultants; opportunities to visit and learn from four local model JDAI sites; a vast array of publications on all aspects of detention reform, plus a dedicated online JDAI Help Desk; detailed materials and planning tools to guide local site teams, including an elaborate Starter Kit; and opportunity to participate in the annual JDAI Inter-Site Conference.

Increasingly in recent years, as the number of participating jurisdictions has mushroomed – straining the Foundation’s ability to provide needed assistance – Casey has been working with leaders in state government to enhance states’ capacity to promote and support JDAI local replication efforts.  In 2008, the Foundation named New Jersey as the first state-level model site, and since then a number of additional states have been building capacity and playing an ever-more central role in spreading the JDAI model.

View the Pathways to Juvenile Detention Reform Series

Juvenile Detention Risk Assessment: A Practice Guide to Juvenile Detention Reform #1
Detention risk screening is a fundamental strategy used to evaluate youth and determine the need for secure, locked confinement. This is a practical guide for juvenile justice decision makers and includes specific recommendations on how to design, test and implement detention risk-screening instruments. 

Detention Facility Self-Assessment: A Practice Guide to Juvenile Detention Reform #2
This practice guide provides instructions on conducting a secure detention facility self-inspection as well as comprehensive detention standards and an assessment instrument. 

State-Level Detention Reform: A Practice Guide to Juvenile Detention Reform #3
This is a “how-to” leadership guide designed for a highly specialized and specific audience: State juvenile justice advisory group members who advise and guide the implementation of the federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA). 

Using Media Advocacy to Promote Detention Reform: A Guide to Juvenile Detention Reform #4
This guide provides the tools for developing a well-timed and proactive media strategy, including tips and techniques for building relationships and pitching stories to reporters; strategies for developing compelling messages; and how to respond to the media in the context of a crisis. 

Making Detention Reform Work for Girls: A Guide to Juvenile Detention Reform #5
Serving as a practical, how-to guide for jurisdictions, this report follows up on previous JDAI reports documenting the scope and nature of the different challenges and needs facing girls in the detention system.

Bernalillo County Mental Health Clinic Case Study: A Guide to Juvenile Detention Reform #6
This report examines how one jurisdiction, Bernalillo County, N.M., has taken extraordinary steps to provide mental health treatment by ensuring Medicaid eligibility for detained youth and establishing a licensed, freestanding community mental health clinic adjacent to it detention facility.

Noncitizen Youth in the Juvenile Justice System: A Guide to Juvenile Detention Reform #7
Readers will learn how to help ensure the safe and fair treatment of noncitizen youth in detention by adopting policies and procedures that are consistent with the goals of the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI).

Embedding Detention Reform in State Statutes, Rules and Regulations: A Guide to Juvenile Detention Reform #8
True to its title, this report aims to help jurisdictions embed the goals of the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) into state law. It does this by pairing an expansive collection of policy excerpts with helpful tips and a tool for assessing existing strategies—allows sites to create a customized game plan for advancing the tenets of JDAI reform.

JDAI in New Jersey: A Guide to Juvenile Detention Reform #9
This report documents New Jersey’s success in replicating the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative model and highlights the importance of state leadership to progress. 

The JDAI 2014 Progress report reviews JDAI’s history, key elements and progress to date. 

JDAI in New Jersey identifies successful parts of the state's approach and draws lessons from which other jurisdictions may benefit. The 2013 Annual Results Report highlights data from all JDAI sites.

View all JDAI-related publications