Skip to main content

OP-ED: How One State Turned Around Its Juvenile Justice System [JJIE.org]

Julie-Revas-edit2

Fewer than 15 years ago, Connecticut’s network of contracted programs to rehabilitate juvenile offenders was in jeopardy. The programs were not producing good enough results to justify their cost. And yet, in the past five years, there has been a 40 percent decrease in arrests. So, how did Connecticut turn the tide?

To answer that question, a little history is in order. Funds for juvenile programs were first appropriated in the mid-1990s. Lacking the robust scientific literature that exists today, state officials settled on programs they believed would help kids make positive changes. Soon, input from the Connecticut Judicial Branch’s Court Support Services Division (CSSD) and evidence gleaned from a few, small initial studies showed that the programs were not producing the anticipated results. As a result, CSSD established a Center for Best Practices in 2001 so that it could propose small, incremental changes to improve the network and its outcomes.

 

[For more of this story, written by Julie Revas, go to http://jjie.org/op-ed-how-one-...stice-system/107880/]

Attachments

Images (1)
  • Julie-Revas-edit2

Add Comment

Comments (0)

Post
Copyright Β© 2023, PACEsConnection. All rights reserved.
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×