Seven Sites Selected for Juvenile Probation Certificate Program With Georgetown University

Updated on November 6, 2019, and originally posted May 24, 2019, by the Annie E. Casey Foundation

Georgetown University, site of a certificate program for juvenile justice professionals looking to transform juvenile probation.

In Novem­ber 2019, teams from sev­en sites gath­ered in Wash­ing­ton, D.C. to learn about trans­form­ing juve­nile pro­ba­tion cul­ture and prac­tice as part of the Trans­form­ing Juve­nile Pro­ba­tion Cer­tifi­cate Pro­gram.

The new pro­gram, sup­port­ed by the Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion, was devel­oped in part­ner­ship with George­town University’s Cen­ter for Juve­nile Jus­tice Reform and the Coun­cil of State Gov­ern­ments Jus­tice Cen­ter. It offers inten­sive instruc­tion, dis­cus­sion and plan­ning sup­port to select­ed juris­dic­tions that are ready to ques­tion the pur­pose and goals of probation.

The sev­en sites select­ed for the pro­gram rep­re­sent juve­nile jus­tice juris­dic­tions in:

  • Cado Parish, Louisiana
  • Char­lottesville, Virginia
  • Mar­i­on Coun­ty, Indiana
  • Mult­nom­ah Coun­ty, Oregon
  • The State of New Hampshire
  • San Diego Coun­ty, California
  • Stark Coun­ty, Ohio

This pro­gram is an oppor­tu­ni­ty for juris­dic­tions to ful­ly shift the role of pro­ba­tion offi­cers away from sur­veil­lance and sanc­tions and toward a focus on pro­mot­ing per­son­al growth, pos­i­tive behav­ior change and long-term suc­cess for youth,” says Steve Bish­op, a senior asso­ciate with the Casey Foundation’s Juve­nile Jus­tice Strat­e­gy Group.

At the Novem­ber 2019 ses­sion, teams lis­tened as prac­ti­tion­ers, researchers and pol­i­cy­mak­ers spoke on:

  • incor­po­rat­ing prac­tices for equity;
  • youth, fam­i­ly and com­mu­ni­ty engagement;
  • diver­sion and dis­po­si­tion decisions;
  • the role of the pro­ba­tion offi­cer; and
  • lead­ing trans­for­ma­tion­al change.

Watch a three-minute video on Casey’s vision for pro­ba­tion transformation

Each team, capped at eight mem­bers, was required to have a chief pro­ba­tion offi­cer, judge and pros­e­cu­tor on its ros­ter. Dur­ing the appli­ca­tion process, sites were also asked to demonstrate:

  • a com­mit­ment to com­pre­hen­sive pro­ba­tion transformation;
  • a his­to­ry of effec­tive imple­men­ta­tion of juve­nile jus­tice reforms;
  • a his­to­ry of suc­cess­ful col­lab­o­ra­tion among agen­cies, pub­lic sys­tems and stake­hold­ers; and
  • the orga­ni­za­tion­al and data capac­i­ty to sup­port pro­ba­tion transformation.

Over the course of the pro­gram, each team will receive tech­ni­cal assis­tance — vir­tu­al­ly and local­ly — as they devel­op a cap­stone project that iden­ti­fies a clear action for trans­form­ing juve­nile pro­ba­tion in their juris­dic­tion. Once the project is approved, par­tic­i­pants will earn an exec­u­tive cer­tifi­cate from George­town Uni­ver­si­ty and join CJJR’s net­work of more than 1,200 Fellows.

The Trans­form­ing Juve­nile Pro­ba­tion Cer­tifi­cate Pro­gram’s cur­ricu­lum is based on the prin­ci­ples and prac­tices out­lined in Casey’s Trans­form­ing Juve­nile Pro­ba­tion: A Vision for Get­ting it Right and a sec­ond pub­li­ca­tion, Trans­form­ing Juve­nile Jus­tice Sys­tems to Improve Pub­lic Safe­ty and Youth Out­comes, pro­duced by the Cen­ter for Juve­nile Jus­tice Reform and the Jus­tice Center.

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