Transforming Juvenile Probation 2024 Certificate Program

George­town University’s Cen­ter for Juve­nile Jus­tice Reform (CJJR) is now accept­ing appli­ca­tions for the Trans­form­ing Juve­nile Pro­ba­tion Cer­tifi­cate Pro­gram. The week­long cer­tifi­cate pro­gram, offered with sup­port from the Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion, aids state and local juris­dic­tions in adopt­ing a safer, youth-cen­tered approach to juve­nile probation.

Apply by Feb. 28

What Is the Trans­form­ing Juve­nile Pro­ba­tion Cer­tifi­cate Program?

The cur­ricu­lum is root­ed in the prin­ci­ples and prac­tices described in Casey’s Trans­form­ing Juve­nile Pro­ba­tion and Trans­form­ing Juve­nile Jus­tice Sys­tems to Improve Pub­lic Safe­ty and Youth Out­comes from the CJJR and Coun­cil of State Gov­ern­ments Jus­tice Center.

“This is an oppor­tu­ni­ty for juris­dic­tions to ful­ly shift the role of pro­ba­tion away from sur­veil­lance and com­pli­ance and toward pro­mot­ing per­son­al growth, pos­i­tive behav­ior change and long-term suc­cess for youth,” says Steve Bish­op, asso­ciate direc­tor of pro­ba­tion and sys­tem trans­for­ma­tion in the Foundation’s Juve­nile Jus­tice Strat­e­gy Group.

Pro­gram Expectations

The 2024 Trans­form­ing Juve­nile Pro­ba­tion Cer­tifi­cate Pro­gram will run from June 10–14 in Wash­ing­ton, D.C. Prac­ti­tion­ers, researchers and pol­i­cy­mak­ers will present on an array of top­ics, such as: 

• incor­po­rat­ing prac­tices for fair­ness and equity;
• youth, fam­i­ly and com­mu­ni­ty part­ner­ship and empowerment;
• diver­sion as an off-ramp from the for­mal jus­tice system;
• deci­sion mak­ing about the length and inten­si­ty of pro­ba­tion terms;
• roles of pro­ba­tion offi­cers; and
• lead­ing trans­for­ma­tion­al change.

The pro­gram can accom­mo­date up to five teams. Each team will devel­op and imple­ment a cap­stone project to trans­form their jurisdiction’s work. All teams will receive tech­ni­cal assis­tance on a vari­ety of fronts, including:

• devel­op­ing and imple­ment­ing new poli­cies and practices;
• train­ing staff and stake­hold­ers to pro­mote buy-in and col­lab­o­ra­tion; and
• assess­ing, eval­u­at­ing and sus­tain­ing progress.

Upon approval of a team’s cap­stone project, its mem­bers will earn an exec­u­tive cer­tifi­cate from George­town Uni­ver­si­ty and join CJJR’s net­work of more than 1,900 fel­lows. The uni­ver­si­ty will also pro­vide teams with exten­sive tech­ni­cal assis­tance to sup­port plan­ning and imple­men­ta­tion at home.

Who Should Apply?

Each team may have up to 10 mem­bers and must include:

• A core pro­ba­tion team con­sist­ing of:
  • a chief pro­ba­tion officer;
  • a field pro­ba­tion supervisor/​deputy; and
  • a line staff member.
• a judge (the pre­sid­ing juve­nile or fam­i­ly court judge or their designee);
• a pros­e­cu­tor (e.g., dis­trict attor­ney, coun­ty attorney);
• a youth or fam­i­ly rep­re­sen­ta­tive who has per­son­al expe­ri­ence with the youth jus­tice system;
• a leader of a com­mu­ni­ty-based orga­ni­za­tion com­mit­ted to pos­i­tive youth devel­op­ment and cross-sys­tem col­lab­o­ra­tion on behalf of young peo­ple with jus­tice-sys­tem involve­ment; and
• a defense attor­ney (e.g., pub­lic defend­er or youth defender).

See the appli­ca­tion for more on who should apply

What Do Past Par­tic­i­pants Say?

Rosie Med­i­na, a chief pro­ba­tion offi­cer who led a team from El Paso Coun­ty, Texas, not­ed the ​“unequiv­o­cal val­ue” of par­tic­i­pat­ing in the 2022 cer­tifi­cate pro­gram. Med­i­na cit­ed the tech­ni­cal assis­tance and train­ing as crit­i­cal to the ​“imple­men­ta­tion of strate­gies that will be sus­tain­able and will yield improved pos­i­tive out­comes for youth involved in our sys­tem as we look into the future.”

Hen­ry Gon­za­les, Medina’s coun­ter­part in Har­ris Coun­ty, Texas, appre­ci­at­ed the oppor­tu­ni­ty to learn from the expe­ri­ences and insights of oth­ers in the field. ​“Active engage­ment in the pro­gram cre­ates space for con­ver­sa­tion that pro­motes curios­i­ty about doing things dif­fer­ent­ly,” he said.

How Do Teams Apply?

• Down­load the appli­ca­tion pack­et to learn more about the cur­ricu­lum, appli­ca­tion process, selec­tion cri­te­ria and cost of participating.
• Sub­mit an appli­ca­tion by Fri­day, Feb. 28, 2024.

Watch a Short Video on Casey’s Vision for Pro­ba­tion Transformation