Webinar and New Tools: Evidence-Based Communications Strategies Advance Juvenile Justice Reform

The Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion is mak­ing new resources avail­able that pro­vide evi­denced-based com­mu­ni­ca­tions strate­gies for the advance­ment of juve­nile jus­tice reform. The Foun­da­tion com­mis­sioned the Frame­Works Insti­tute to offer spe­cif­ic, test­ed rec­om­men­da­tions to build pub­lic under­stand­ing of pre­ven­tion, reha­bil­i­ta­tion and alter­na­tives to deten­tion along with devel­op­men­tal­ly appro­pri­ate care for young people.

The new resources com­ple­ment one anoth­er and are avail­able free of charge.

• The Frame­Works’ Institute’s rec­om­men­da­tions are dis­tilled in a new pub­li­ca­tion: Talk­ing Juve­nile Jus­tice Reform.
• A com­mu­ni­ca­tions toolk­it explains how to imple­ment the refram­ing rec­om­men­da­tions using exam­ples from the juve­nile jus­tice field.

In addi­tion, a webi­nar, Shift­ing Gears on Juve­nile Jus­tice Com­mu­ni­ca­tions, guides lis­ten­ers through Frame­Works’ key find­ings and impli­ca­tions. View it below:

A theme run­ning through all three resources is that sup­port­ers of reform — both those inside and out­side of pub­lic sys­tems — should talk about how the juve­nile jus­tice sys­tem could be more effec­tive for all of our com­mu­ni­ties. Julie Sweet­land, Ph.D., vice pres­i­dent for strat­e­gy and inno­va­tion at Frame­Works, pre­sent­ed evi­dence that the best way to attract allies to juve­nile jus­tice reform is to empha­size that we have alter­na­tives that hold youth account­able and put them on the right track, enhance pub­lic safe­ty and make respon­si­ble use of our resources. Juve­nile jus­tice reform is a com­mon sense solu­tion to what is not work­ing in our cur­rent system.

“Think of juve­nile jus­tice reform as a move­ment,” said Sweet­land. ​“Suc­cess­ful move­ments are able to dri­ve changes in pub­lic think­ing, shift the pol­i­cy cli­mate and cul­ti­vate the kind of pub­lic sup­port they need to pre­serve their hard-won wins.”

“Frames gain pow­er through rep­e­ti­tion, and build­ing a more effec­tive frame for juve­nile jus­tice reform will require strength in num­bers,” said Sweet­land. ​“We hope you’ll explore these resources and look for ways that they might inform your work.”