Effective Framing
Effective framing builds people’s understanding of the causes of failures in our justice system and the potential solutions needed to help young people.
If advocates are to engage the public as allies in juvenile justice reform, they must promote a new narrative that is sufficiently coherent and persuasive to dislodge current thinking and reshape dominant understandings about the juvenile justice system. In this report, the FrameWorks Institute describes how this can be accomplished by explaining both adolescent development and the justice system in more accessible, more compelling terms. An accompanying communications toolkit — Shifting Gears on Juvenile Justice — explains how to implement the reframing recommendations using examples from the juvenile justice field.
Begin communications by reminding people of the practical goals that a justice system should serve for society: prevent crimes, protect society from criminal society and successfully rehabilitate people back into society so that they can make a better contribution. Underscore that systems require oversight and periodic reform to make sure they are meeting their societal goals. Remind the public that these systems are created by us, for us and that they can and should be re-examined and remodeled to do better.