A Primer for Mental Health Practitioners Working with Youth Involved in the Juvenile Justice System (pdf)
This paper provides an overview for mental health practitioners who provide professional services to youth who are involved with the juvenile justice system. This overview emphasizes emerging research and practices, the emerging conceptualization of trauma and its implications for youth involved with the juvenile justice system, and implications for policy and practice.
This handbook instructs youth workers to help them identify, address, and appropriately respond to incidents of sexual abuse by staff or between youth in juvenile justice settings.
Characteristics of Juvenile Suicide in Confinement (pdf)
"This bulletin provides the results of a survey on juvenile suicides occurring in confinement between 1995 and 1999. The study examined the demographic characteristics and social history of each victim, the characteristics of the incident, and the features of the juvenile facility in which the suicide took place. This OJJDP Bulletin provides suggestions for addressing the problem and recommendations for prevention planning."
Delinquency Cases in Juvenile Court, 2005 (pdf)
"This fact sheet, based on the Juvenile Court Statistics 2005 report, presents statistics on delinquency cases handled in U.S. juvenile courts between 1985 and 2005."
Detention Reform: An Effective Approach to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Juvenile Justice (pdf)
"By prioritizing the reduction of racial and ethnic disparities as a core detention reform strategy, Casey’s Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative has reduced the odds of detention typically faced by African-American and Latino teens. This Detention Reform Brief details JDAI’s efforts at reducing the over-representation of minorities in detention."
Human Rights Watch World Report 2010 (pdf)
"This 20th annual World Report summarizes human rights conditions in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide. It reflects extensive investigative work undertaken in 2009 by Human Rights Watch staff, usually in close partnership with human rights activists in the country in question."
Improving the juvenile justice system for girls: Lessons from states (pdf)
This report examines the challenges facing girls in the juvenile justice system and makes recommendations for gender-responsive reform at the local, state, and federal levels.
Juvenile Arrests 2007 (pdf)
"The Bulletin describes the extent and nature of juvenile crime that comes to the attention of the justice system. It summarizes 2007 juvenile crime and arrest data reported by local law enforcement agencies across the country and cited in the FBI report, Crime in the United States 2007."
Juvenile Arrests 2008 (pdf)
"The Bulletin describes the extent and nature of juvenile crime that comes to the attention of the justice system. It summarizes 2008 juvenile crime and arrest data reported by local law enforcement agencies across the country and cited in the FBI report, Crime in the United States 2008."
Juvenile Justice Reform: A Blueprint (pdf)
This report is an overview of issues related to juvenile justice systems in the US. It addresses the characteristics of incarcerated youth, racial and ethnic inequity, the overlap between child welfare and juvenile justice in managing juvenile problem behavior, the school to prison pipeline, the expense and ineffectiveness of incarceration, and the unsafe conditions of confinement. The Blueprint itself is explained through 10 tenets to improve outcomes for youth.
Juvenile Residential Facility Census, 2004: Selected Findings (pdf)
"A biannual census, developed to support the vital role of corrections in maintaining the safety of the community and providing essential services to confined youth. Facilities report on characteristics such as their size, structure, type, ownership, and security arrangements. Facilities also provide information on a range of services they provide to youth in their care. In addition, facilities report on the number of deaths of youth in custody during the prior 12 months."
Juvenile Suicide in Confinement: A National Survey (pdf)
"This report provides the results of a survey on juvenile suicides occurring in confinement between 1995 and 1999. The study examined the demographic characteristics and social history of each victim, the characteristics of the incident, and the features of the juvenile facility in which the suicide took place. The report provides suggestions for addressing the problem and recommendations for prevention planning."
This testimony was presented on February 23, 2010, before the U.S. House of Representative’s Committee on the Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security on efforts to keep youth safe while in custody and prevent the sexual assault of youth in adult and juvenile facilities. This report is noteworthy, as it provides an authoritative and detailed snapshot of the problem of sexual abuse in State juvenile facilities
No Place for Kids:The Case for Reducing Juvenile Incarceration (pdf)
This report details flaws in the United States heavy reliance on juvenile correctional institutions. After detailing how these institutions are ineffective and dangerous for our nations youth, the report concludes with recommendations for states on how to reduce juvenile incarceration and redesign their juvenile corrections systems.
Reducing Disproportionate Minority Contact: Preparation at the Local Level (pdf)
"Describes strategies that States and communities can use to reduce disproportionate minority contact with the juvenile justice system. This bulletin is a companion to the latest edition of OJJDP's Disproportionate Minority Contact Technical Assistance Manual. It includes useful 'how to' information drawn from the manual and presents important background on the context in which local preparation takes place—media coverage and public attitudes about crime, race, and youth."
Sexual Victimization in Juvenile Facilities Reported by Youth, 2008-09 (pdf)
"The report provides national-level and facility-level estimates of sexual victimization by type of activity, including youth-on-youth sexual contact, staff sexual misconduct, and level of coercion. It also includes an analysis of the experience of sexual victimization, characteristics of youth most at risk to victimization, where the incidents occur, time of day, characteristics of perpetrators, and nature of the injuries."
The Dangers of Detention: The Impact of Incarcerating Youth in Detention and Other Secure Facilities (pdf)
"This policy brief reviews the existing literature on the efficacy of detention and looks at the consequences of detention on young people, their families, and communities."
The Lives of Juvenile Lifers: Findings from a National Survey (pdf)
This report provides a new perspective on the population of individuals serving life sentences without parole for crimes committed in their youth. It represents the findings of a comprehensive investigation into this population that includes a first ever national survey of juvenile lifers. (2012)
The Rest of Their Lives Life without Parole for Child Offenders in the United States (pdf)
This joint report from Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International examines the problem of child offenders in the United States sentenced to life without parole and presents research on why this sentence is never an appropriate outcome for youthful offenders. The report begins with a set of recommendations to Federal, State, and local government officials, prosecutors, judges, and defense attorneys on stopping the use of life without parole sentences for young offenders. The report also examines juvenile justice trends in the United States, the demographics of youth sentenced to life without parole, the differences between youth and adult offenders, the conditions for young offenders sentenced to life without parole in adult prisons, and just sentences for youth under International Human Rights law. Case studies of young offenders are included in the report.
Trauma among Girls in the Juvenile Justice System (pdf)
"This review suggests that trauma-sensitive and gender-specific programming and treatment models are needed in order to address needs and prevent re-traumatization of girls in the juvenile justice system. Specifically, the treatment models should provide girls with developmentally reparative experiences that address not only PTSD but also issues of identity, trust, safety, body image, physical self care, affect regulation, peer group selection and engagement, and sexuality."
Trauma-Focused Interventions for Youth in the Juvenile Justice System (pdf)
"Numerous studies document that many of the youth in the juvenile justice system have been exposed to myriad traumatic events, either as victims or as witnesses. Because of this exposure, many of these youths have developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other stress-related disorders. This document reviews trauma-focused, family-based, and group-based interventions that show promise for use with youth in the juvenile justice system."