This report documents how the justice system currently handles 16- and 17-year-old defendants in New York State and presents an evaluation of the Adolescent Diversion Program, a pilot program that links these defendants to age-appropriate services in nine counties.
The juvenile justice system can be stressful and confusing for young people and their families. This 13-minute video supports families by answering some common questions: Who are the key people I may meet? Am I expected to appear in court with my child? What's going to happen to my child? What can I do as a family member to help?
The Stopping Hate and Delinquency by Empowering Students (SHADES) program is a teen court focusing on bullying and bias incidents. The program is run as a partnership of the Los Angeles Superior Court, Department of Probation, and the Museum of Tolerance. In this episode of New Thinking, David S. Wesley, presiding judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court, and Camilo Cruz, director of community relations for the Los Angeles Superior Court, discuss the unique features of the SHADES program.
Originally published in the New York State Bar Association Journal in January 2011, this article describes how New York youth courts work to divert cases from criminal court.
QUEST Futures is a juvenile mental health initiative that seeks to establish a comprehensive, coordinated response to youth with mental illness involved in the juvenile justice system in Queens, New York. This factsheet gives an overview of the program and highlights the findings of an impact evaluation of the program.
QUEST Futures is a juvenile mental health initiative that seeks to establish a comprehensive, coordinated response to youth with mental illness involved in the juvenile justice system in Queens, New York. Here, researcher Josephine Hahn discusses the findings of an impact evaluation of the program. (February 2014)
This video, created by the Youth Justice Board with support from the Mayor’s Interagency Taskforce on Truancy, Chronic Absenteeism & School Engagement, features members of the Youth Justice Board and the Greenpoint Youth Court. These students share the reasons that they go to school every day, and why they think going to school is important.
This brief aims to inform school safety policy for the incoming mayoral administration of Bill de Blasio as well as other stakeholders in New York City. It describes changes in school safety practice, policy, and programs during the previous administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg (2002-2013). The brief was funded by the New York City Center for Economic Opportunity and the Mayor's Office in late 2013.
This report presents the results of an evaluation assessing the impact of a community-based mental health intervention known as QUEST Futures on recidivism and other juvenile delinquency outcomes among 392 justice-involved youth (15 years or younger) in New York City. Among other findings, results show that participation in QUEST Futures contributes to reduced felony level re-offending.
This report summarizes results of a mental health screen administered to 812 youths sentenced to community supervision in New York City. Half of the sample were identified as having a mental disorder and close to four in ten showed multiple disorders. The report identifies distinct clusters of disorders that tend to co-occur and examines the relationship between different disorders and recidivism. For example, depression and anxiety were associated with an increased likelihood of re-arrest, whereas suicidality was associated with a decreased likelihood of re-arrest.