Juvenile Justice

Youth in jail cellEvery year, approximately two million people under age 18 are arrested and 100,000 are held in residential placement facilities. Many juvenile offenders experience multiple challenges including mental health and substance abuse issues and learning disabilities, and have a history of poverty, trauma, abuse, and/or neglect. To prevent recidivism, young people can benefit from a range of re-entry and mentoring services.


Related Topics

Mentoring
Substance Use Disorders

Latest Work

5 Nov 2020
Spotlight

Spotlight on Native Nations

Contributing and working alongside Native Nations, AIR has a deep commitment to engaging communities, fostering shared vision and values, building capacity, and developing strategic alliances to achieve sustainable systems change in Indian Country.
Image of young girl getting onto a school bus
9 Oct 2020
Spotlight

Mental Health Awareness

Raising awareness and increasing the understanding of mental health can change the way society views and responds to this complex issue. AIR promotes positive mental health through school and community-based approaches involving youth, families, school, health care providers, and other stakeholders.
Illustration of Roger Jarjoura
25 Feb 2020
Q & A

Meet the Expert: Roger Jarjoura

Roger Jarjoura is on the leadership team for AIR’s National Reentry Resource Center, funded by the U.S. Department of Justice. Prior to joining AIR in 2012, he spent 19 years as a faculty member in the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs, where he served as a fellow on community engagement.
student and teacher working on math problem
4 Nov 2019
In the Field

Supporting Students in Secure Care Through Title I, Part D

Educating students who have been neglected, delinquent, or are otherwise at-risk requires specialized training and careful collaboration across the agencies responsible for serving for these students. For this reason, each state receives funding from the U.S. Department of Education through the Title I, Part D Neglected or Delinquent Programs. Determining the best use of these funds is a top priority for all Title I, Part D coordinators.
10 Jul 2019
Q & A

The Education Connection: Helping Ex-Offenders Return to Their Communities

Each year, 700,000 people are released from federal and state prisons. For many, the transition home is not easy. They face obstacles including poverty, drug abuse, family dysfunction, and lack of access to services and treatment. Failure to reconnect can mean that many end up back in prison. AIR's Roger Jarjoura spoke about the role education plays in helping ex-offenders stay out of the justice system.
Image of girl talking in a youth group
24 Jun 2019
Q & A

A Look at Federal Support for Residential Education Programs

In a study prepared for the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, AIR Senior Researchers Jennifer Loeffler-Cobia and Nicholas Read examined how state and local agencies and facilities use Title I, Part D funds in support of education, transition, and related services and supports for the youth they serve.
Image of man on a bench with his arm around a boy
22 Feb 2019
Q & A

A Quick Word About Mentoring With: Manolya Tanyu, Senior Researcher

The 2012 Mentoring Enhancement Demonstration program was designed to strengthen existing youth mentoring programs across the United States. In this Q&A, Manolya Tanyu describes the effectiveness of the programmatic enhancements—and the challenges of implementing them across a wide array of youth mentoring organizations.
Project

Evaluation of OJJDP’s Mentoring Enhancement Demonstration Program

Millions of children across the United States benefit from mentoring every year. Selected by the U.S. Library of Congress, AIR conducted a five-year evaluation of mentoring enhancement demonstration programs funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The goal is to assess whether strategic enhancements to the roles that mentors play will improve youth outcomes.
Project

Indicators of School Crime and Safety

The purpose of this project is to plan, research, design, and execute the annual Indicators of School Crime and Safety, a flagship report co-sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics and the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Image of troubled teen girl
25 Sep 2017
Blog Post

Helping Courts Guide Young Lives Back on Track

As communities across the country mark National Recovery Month, Roger Jarjoura explains why recovery can be particularly challenging for youth, and how the juvenile justice system must address their specific needs.
2 Aug 2017
Spotlight

Youth Violence Prevention

The complex factors contributing to youth violence in the U.S. and abroad are found at the individual, family, community, and societal levels.

Project

Tribal Defending Childhood Initiative

The Tribal Defending Childhood Initiative supports four federally recognized tribes—the White Earth Nation (Minnesota); the Winnebago Tribe (Nebraska); the Northern Arapahoe Tribe (Wyoming); and the Southern Ute Tribe (Colorado)—as they develop or continue developing trauma-informed practices and procedures across juvenile justice and related child-serving systems.
14 Jun 2017
Toolkit

Juvenile Drug Treatment Court Guidelines

Nationwide, more than 400 juvenile drug treatment courts (JDTCs) offer a way to respond to the complex needs of youth with substance use disorders, which often require specialized interventions.

Project

Evaluating Title I, Part D Funds and their Impact on Neglected and Delinquent Youth

Title I, Part D of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act allocates funds to states and school districts to improve educational services for neglected and delinquent youth. This study, prepared by AIR for the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, was designed to better understand how state and local agencies and facilities use Part D funds for services in support of these youth.
Project

Crime and Safety Surveys Project

This project covers support in all aspects of the Department of Education's NCES crime and safety surveys.
Project

Defending Childhood American Indian/Alaska Native Policy Initiative: Supporting Trauma-Informed Juvenile Justice Systems for Tribes

The 2014 Attorney General’s Advisory Committee report on American Indian/Alaska Native Children Exposed to Violence proclaimed the need for a re-imagined and re-created tribal juvenile justice system focused on prevention, treatment, and healing. AIR and its partners seek to serve and support the vision of promoting the health and well-being of tribal youth, families, and communities by providing technical assistance to foster the development and implementation of innovative, culturally appropriate, and sustainable trauma-informed response models across all child-serving systems.
19 May 2016
In the Field

Helping Ex-Offenders Return to Their Communities: An Interview with Roger Jarjoura

More than nine million individuals are released from correctional facilities annually, and the transition home is not always easy. Many face numerous obstacles including poverty, drug abuse, family dysfunction, and lack of access to services and treatment. Failure to reconnect can mean that many end up back in prison: 68 percent of those released are incarcerated again within five years. AIR expert Roger Jarjoura shares his insights on how education can play a role in helping ex-offenders stay out of the justice system.
Karen Francis
18 Dec 2015
Video

Long Story Short: How Can We Improve Outcomes for Girls in the Juvenile Justice System?

Over the past two decades, the number of young women entering the juvenile justice system has steadily increased. In this video interview, Karen Francis, AIR principal researcher, talks about how the juvenile justice system can best respond to girls’ unique needs and experiences.
Georgetown School-Justice Partnerships Certificate Program video
13 Nov 2015
Video

How Research Can Offer Solutions to the School-to-Prison Pipeline

Helping youth at risk escape the school-to-prison pipeline is a growing concern for educators, researchers, communities and providers. The School-Justice Partnerships Certificate Program, the first of its kind, brings together Georgetown University's Center for Juvenile Justice Reform, AIR experts, and educational and juvenile justice leaders to provide research-based solutions for those who work with youth at risk. In this video, experts speak to their experiences addressing the school-to-prison pipeline and how the program can help.
teenager talks about exclusionary discipline
22 Jul 2015
Video

Young People Speak Out About Exclusionary School Discipline

AIR experts David Osher and Sandra Williamson were at the White House this week speaking at the national convening to "Rethink School Discipline." In this video from an earlier event, we hear from students themselves.
Austin, Texas Capitol Building
15 Jan 2015
Commentary

Open Letter to Governors—An Education Agenda for 2015 and Beyond

Governors are called upon to lead and improve their states' education systems, addressing a number of diverse and changing issues. In this open letter, AIR's Angela Minnici, director of the Education Policy Center and the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders, sets out seven action steps for 2015 to help governors address the needs of students from early childhood through workforce.
Project

Safe and Successful Youth Initiative in Massachusetts (SSYI)

Youth violence disrupts communities and businesses, increases health care costs, and decreases property values—not to mention the human impact. The Safe and Successful Youth Initiative (SSYI) in Massachusetts combines health and safety approaches to eliminating serious violence among high-risk, urban youth. Does it work? Three new AIR evaluations, announced by MA former governor Patrick, showed youth not involved in SSYI were 42% more likely to be incarcerated than youth who were.
1 Nov 2014
Report

Massachusetts Safe and Successful Youth Initiative: Benefit-to-Cost Analysis of Springfield and Boston Sites

This benefit-to-cost analysis was conducted as a preliminary investigation into the value of the Safe and Successful Youth Initiative implemented in Massachusetts as an effort to curb violent crime in eleven cities across the state.
1 Oct 2014
Report

The Impact of the Safe and Successful Youth Initiative on City-Level Youth Crime Victimization Rates

To address serious youth violence, particularly that involving guns, Massachusetts initiated the Safe and Successful Youth Initiative in 2011, providing a comprehensive public health approach to addressing young men, between the ages of 14-24, believed to be at “proven risk” for being involved with firearms.
1 Oct 2014
Report

A Comparative Study Using Propensity Score Matching to Predict Incarceration Likelihoods Among SSYI and non-SSYI Youth from 2011-2013

To address serious youth violence, particularly that involving guns, Massachusetts launched the Safe and Successful Youth Initiative in 2011, providing a comprehensive public health approach to addressing young men, between the ages of 14-24, believed to be at “proven risk” for being involved with firearms.
10 Sep 2014
App

T4TA: Text 4 Technical Assistance

T4TA: Text 4 Technical Assistance connects users with experts and resources through their mobile phones on topics such as child welfare, juvenile justice, school climate, mentoring, youth development, and addressing disparities.
Project

Protecting Youth in Juvenile Justice Systems from Disaster-related Injury and Trauma

As the number of federal disaster declarations increases, so does the challenge of protecting more than 60,000 youth in residential and correctional facilities from disaster-related injury and trauma.

21 May 2014 | 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Event

Reconnecting System-Involved Youth: A Developmental Approach

Every year, hundreds of thousands of youth exit the juvenile justice and foster care systems, and many will struggle with transitioning to adulthood. AIR invites you to a briefing highlighting developmental approaches to effectively transition youth involved in systems, the experiences and needs of these youth, and mentoring as a fundamental support to help reconnect youth to education, employment, and community.
21 May 2014
Spotlight

Resources: A Developmental Approach to Reconnecting System-Involved Youth

On May 21, 2014, AIR hosted a briefing with U.S. Representative Robert “Bobby” Scott on Reconnecting System-Involved Youth: A Developmental Approach. Resources on topics related to that event are listed here.
Project

National Girls' Institute

Girls are the fastest growing segment of the juvenile justice population. They enter the juvenile justice system at younger ages than boys and with complex needs. Many have experienced multiple traumatic events, and a majority of girls in juvenile detention experience mental health challenges.
Project

Understanding Community-Based Violence Prevention in Massachusetts

Between 2001 and 2010, Massachusetts recorded 639 homicide victims aged 14 to 24. In response, the state implemented a variety of violence reduction programs, most recently through the Safe and Successful Youth Initiative, which AIR and its partners are evaluating.
18 Oct 2013 | 7:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Event

Oct. 30 - Meaningful Measures: School Discipline that Improves Academics

AIR will host an expert panel discussion of positive approaches to school discipline on October 30. Join us to learn about new information on the relationship between keeping students in school and improved academic outcomes, and to explore disciplinary policies that don't dampen student achievement.

9 Sep 2013
Report

Roundtable: The Perspectives of Youth Affected by Exclusionary School Discipline

Exclusionary school discipline policies once instituted to prevent serious infractions have crept into discipline practices for minor issues. Youth who participated in a roundtable on the subject contend that it limits opportunities to learn and compromises academic achievement; is applied disproportionately and subjectively; and deprives students of the support services they need.
3 Sep 2013
Report

What Works to Prevent Urban Violence Among Proven Risk Young Men?

Youth violence presents significant challenges across the U.S., disrupts communities and economic development, increases health care costs, and decreases property values—not to mention the human impact. The Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services contracted with justice experts from AIR—along with WestEd and the Justice Resource Institute—to study the development and implementation of the Safe and Successful Youth Initiative in 11 of the most violent communities across the state.
16 Jan 2013 | 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM
Event

“Roundtable: The Perspectives of Young People Affected by Harsh Discipline” Engages Youth to Reduce the School-to-Prison Pipeline

Nineteen youths accepted AIR’s invitation to talk about how harsh school discipline has impacted them and the risks and challenges of the “school-to-prison” pipeline in front of an audience of policymakers and practitioners who work on juvenile justice and related issues. The participants, ages 16 to 24, spoke at the January 16 listening session, “Roundtable: The Perspectives of Young People Affected by Harsh School Discipline” at AIR headquarters in Washington, D.C.

12 Dec 2012
Report

Supporting Student Achievement through Sound Behavior Management Practices

Zero-tolerance school policies that remove youth from the classroom are resulting in an increasing number of students failing to complete high school, and in unnecessary involvement in the juvenile justice system. AIR has developed an evidence-based framework to address the issue across educational settings.

12 Dec 2012
Report

Keeping Young People Out of Prison and in the Classroom

Today, nearly 95,000 youth under the age of 21 are in custody in publicly and privately operated facilities in the U.S. Increasingly, youth are finding themselves involved in the juvenile justice system as a result of school-related conduct. Researchers suggest that this trend, known as the “school-to-prison pipeline,” is an unintended consequence of harsh school discipline policies such as “zero tolerance” and referring students to the police or courts for school code violations historically handled by schools.

20 Nov 2012
Video

Family and Community Support Help Decrease Youth Involvement in the Juvenile Justice System

In this video interview, Joyce Burrell, AIR principal investigator and juvenile justice program leader, talks about how people under 18 have better outcomes when they remain in the community with supports.
2 Nov 2012
Presentation

D.C. Family Court Hosts Annual Interdisciplinary Conference; Focuses on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth

On October 4, 2012, the Family Court of the District of Columbia held its 11th Annual Interdisciplinary Conference. This year’s topic focused on ways that professionals in the juvenile justice system can provide supports that are culturally appropriate and inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth and their families.
Project

Project Combine

Evidence-based treatment and mentoring services have each been shown to be effective in addressing substance use and delinquency in teenage youth involved with justice systems.

2 May 2012
Report

Three Briefs in Juvenile Justice Resource Series Address Mental Health, Behavioral Health Funding, Screening and Assessment

To build system of care communities’ capacities to serve youth who are currently involved in or at-risk of becoming involved in the juvenile justice system, AIR's Technical Assistance Partnership, along with the National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice, authored three new issue briefs addressing mental health, behavioral health funding, and screening and assessment.
11 Oct 2011 | 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM
Event

AIR Experts to Present at the 2011 Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's Conference for Children's Justice & Safety

Experts from AIR's NDTAC Center will present at the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s (OJJDP’s) October 12-14, 2011, National Conference, “Children’s Justice & Safety: Unite, Build, Lead,” as well as an October 11 pre-conference education session, at the Gaylord National Hotel and Convention Center in Washington, DC.

8 Apr 2011
Toolkit

The Mentoring Toolkit: Resources for Developing Programs for Incarcerated Youth

This toolkit provides information, program descriptions, and links to important resources.
8 Apr 2011
Toolkit

Transition Toolkit 2.0: Meeting the Educational Needs of Youth Exposed to the Juvenile Justice System

AIR developed this second edition of the National Evaluation and Technical Assistance Center for the Education of Children and Youth Who are Neglected, Delinquent, or At Risk’s Transition Toolkit.

5 Apr 2011
Report

Juvenile Boot Camp Demonstration Study

Supported by the National Institute of Justice, AIR participated as part of a research team to conduct a process evaluation of Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s juvenile boot camp demonstration study.

5 Apr 2011
Report

Habitual Serious and Violent Juvenile Offender Program

AIR’s evaluation of the program, which was designed to improve the processing and disposition of serious juvenile offenders for four jurisdictions across the country, focused on the program’s effects on file charges, case processing, and case outcomes.

5 Apr 2011
Report

A Rare Events Analysis of the 2007 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey

The purpose of this research grant is to use data from the 2007 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey to examine the self-protective behaviors exhibited by victims of bullying.

Project

National Center on Education, Disability, and Juvenile Justice (EDJJ)

The National Center on Education, Disability, and Juvenile Justice is a national center to conduct research, training, technical assistance, advocacy, and dissemination activities to develop more effective responses to the needs of youth with disabilities in the juvenile justice system or those at-risk for involvement with it.

Project

No Place Like Home

The purpose of this project is to facilitate enrollment in Medicaid/CHIP of youth discharged from the Juvenile Justice Administration in Kansas and to evaluate the project on behalf of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Project

Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health (TA Partnership)

The TA Partnership provides technical assistance to state, regional, and county system of care communities currently funded to operate the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program, including those that have juvenile justice-involved youth as a population of focus.

Project

Research on the Reporting of Bullying Events

This project involved providing training and methodological expertise in the School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Study.

1 Sep 2010
Report

Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Youth in Contact With the Juvenile Justice System in System of Care Communities

The Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health (TA Partnership) recognizes the many challenges system of care communities face in working to better meet the needs of all of the children, youth, and young adults they serve. In an effort to help these communities meet the unique needs of young people involved or at risk of involvement with the juvenile justice system, the TA Partnership is releasing a resource series focused on this population.

26 Jul 2002
Report

Improving Outcomes for Youth with Disabilities in the Juvenile Justice System

This series of monographs addresses the issues of youth with cognitive or behavioral disabilities and their experiences in the juvenile justice system. Staff in the system can better serve these children by receiving support in understanding these issues.