Probation engages and partners with youth, families and communities, relying on community-based organizations as the primary vehicle for the delivery of services, support and interventions for young people.
This practice guide helps juvenile justice agencies implement family-engaged case planning in youth probation. In this approach to case planning, juvenile probation officers formulate case plans by collaborating with young people and their families.
Take this free online course to explore what authentic family engagement looks like, why it is a necessary part of probation transformation and what steps individuals and agencies — in partnership with families themselves — can take to bring it to life
Take this free online course to explore the core principles and practices of Positive Youth Justice, a strengths-based, relationship-focused approach to working with youth in the justice system.
The department’s policies and practices help ensure all young people can reach their potential.
Review a checklist offering 15 concrete steps that juvenile probation agencies can take to promote racial and ethnic equity and inclsuion. This checklist is excerpted from the Casey Foundation's 2018 publication on transforming juvenile probation.
Learn how juvenile justice systems across the country made progress in safely and significantly reducing youth confinement — especially for young people of color.
Take this free online course to explore what it means to expand opportunity for all, including following data disaggregated by race and ethnicity to identify, understand and propose strategies to correct disparities.
Probation leadership aligns training, budgeting and planning with continuous improvement in transforming juvenile probation, repeatedly asking “how are we doing?” and “could we do it better?”
This tool is a starting point with deliberate questions that convey the depth and breadth of transforming juvenile probation. The tool also prompts frank discussions that should precede any formal efforts.
Take this free online course to learn how a department’s values and other aspects of organizational culture — including the broader system in which the department operates — can support probation transformation.
Watch videos and download tools that describe Results Count, the Annie E. Casey Foundation's approach to leadership development.
Probation leadership engages and supports staff as key actors in probation transformation.
Take this free online course to learn how a department’s values and other aspects of organizational culture — including the broader system in which the department operates — can support probation transformation.
Use the Casey Foundation's free Juvenile Probation Practice Survey and secure dashboard to gather information from probation officers, supervisors and leadership in 10 domains, including staff engagement, court conditions and family-centered practice. To date, more than 1,000 probation practitioners have taken the survey.
Fostering staff buy-in is important for any successful implementation effort. This fact sheet from the Urban Institute describes a range of research-based strategies for generating and sustaining staff enthusiasm in transformation.
Probation policy, practice and structure aim to minimize out-of-home placement and conserve probation resources for youth with serious charges who pose a significant risk to public safety.
Read an analysis and recommendations from the National Council on Juvenile and Family Court Judges summarizing why and how to target probation for youth with serious offenses.
Learn how Roca, a community-based organization, pursues its mission to relentlessly disrupt violence by engaging young people, police and systems to heal trauma, find hope and drive change. Roca serves young people in three Northeastern jurisdictions and provides technical assistance and training throughout the country.
Learn how probation leaders in Tacoma, Washington, have demonstrated that most youth who get in trouble with the law can get back on track without incarceration.
Law enforcement, prosecutors and the probation department partner with and direct adequate resources to local community-based organizations to steer young people away from the formal system and toward an array of community-led diversion options and services.
Explore an in-depth tool kit that offers principles and strategies for developing community-led diversion.
Read an "explainer" blog post about juvenile diversion, including resources, examples and frequently asked questions.
Watch a five-minute video explaining a collaboration between the Los Angeles Police Department and Centinela Youth Services, a community-based organization, to rely on restorative justice as an alternative to arrest. The video describes how restorative justice prioritizes victims' needs and safety.
Probation is a time-limited, relationship-based intervention, with probation officers serving more as coaches than referees.
This practice guide helps juvenile justice agencies implement family-engaged case planning in youth probation. In this approach to case planning, juvenile probation officers formulate case plans by collaborating with young people and their families.
Watch a two-minute video presenting juvenile probation officer as coaches and catalysts for youth to succeed on probation and beyond. The coaching role aligns youth probation with powerful evidence on adolescent brain development, adolescent behavior and what works in addressing delinquent conduct.
Watch a five-minute video about ten core principles for youth probation, featuring Veronica Ballard Cunningham with the American Probation and Parole Association and Opal West with the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Probation orders with standardized terms of probation have five or fewer conditions of probation.
View a sample probation orderfrom the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. Annotations explain each provision.
Browse a 50-state study and accompanying tool kit from the Council on State Governments, focused on how state laws and court rules can can shape the policies, culture and practices of juvenile probation condition setting and enforcement. Policymakers and system leaders can draw upon the findings to consider how their own state laws can best support effective probation practices.
Watch a three-minute video that describes the vision for transforming juvenile probation. Viewers learn what works with young people to set them up for success as adults and effective ways to promote personal growth and positive behavior change in young people while still holding them accountable.
Detention is never used to respond to technical violations of probation.
Read an analysis and recommendations from the National Council on Juvenile and Family Court Judges on alternatives to confinement in response to technical violations of probation.
Review ten core probation principles identified by the American Probation and Parole Association that help young people desist from delinquent behavior and achieve long-term success.
Learn about six alternatives to youth incarceration that consistently produce better public safety outcomes than incarceration, with far less disruption to young people’s healthy adolescent development at a fraction of the cost.
The probation department relies on data for accountability and transparency, using data to continually assess practice and make improvements that enhance and promote probation transformation.
Start using Pro-DATA, a free resource created by the Annie E. Casey Foundation to support data-driven decision-making and data transparency in youth justice at the local and state levels. This secure, online tool makes it easy to collect and analyze your department's data, while also allowing comparisons to similar jurisdictions.
Use the Casey Foundation's free Juvenile Probation Practice Survey and secure dashboard to gather information from probation officers, supervisors and leadership in 10 domains, including staff engagement, court conditions and family-centered practice. To date, more than 1,000 probation practitioners have taken the survey.
Explore a how-to guide about conducting focus groups with young people and their families. This guide was produced by Justice for Families, a family-led organization, and includes a facilitator's manual and other resources.
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