By The National Governors Association

Youth involved in the juvenile justice system routinely face a variety of repercussions beyond detention. Although some of these may be directly related to the violation that occurred, there are many other secondary effects that can result from their system involvement. These secondary repercussions, or collateral consequences, can negatively impact youth and their families upon even the lowest level of engagement with the juvenile justice system. Such side effects can restrict a youth’s ability to recover and develop into a productive and self-sustaining adult citizen.

To better understand the range of collateral consequences youth may face, NGA conducted a series of learning calls and hosted a virtual roundtable titled “Strategies to Address the Needs of Juveniles Impacted by Collateral Consequences” during the fall of 2022. This roundtable convened national, state, and local subject-matter experts to explore the breadth of collateral consequences faced by justice-involved youth, the challenges and barriers policymakers face when addressing these consequences and policy options state leaders may consider to mitigate the negative effects that may result when youth interact with the juvenile justice system. This publication documents these high-level discussions and highlights key policy strategies for Governors’ offices to consider addressing this issue.  

Washington, DC: NGA, 2023. 12p.

By The National Juvenile Justice Network

Realizing true youth justice means ensuring youth live in a well-resourced ecosystem of community-based, trauma-informed and healing-centered responses to youth needs that create a pathway to opportunity, success and thriving for young people. An integral part of that ecosystem is a positive school environment that honors who young people are, pushes them to do their best, helps them when they encounter challenges, and extends grace when they miss the mark. When young people have access to positive school environments, they are better equipped to come to school with enthusiasm for learning, discover their dreams and passions, find ways to positively impact their school environment and learn from mistakes when they arise.
Unfortunately, a “surveillance” culture permeates too many of today's schools where students are penalized instead of encouraged to achieve their highest goals. Black, Brown, Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, and disabled students more often experience these types of surveillance school environments, which cause young people stress, trauma, and alienation and detract from their ability to learn and grow. Ultimately, it can lead students to become so disaffected that they drop out of school or are forced out through suspension, expulsion, or arrest.

Washington DC: NJJN, 2022. 45p.

By The Strathmore Law Clinic

Socially and economically vulnerable girls in Kenya are at heightened risk of being ensnared by the juvenile detention system. Facing extreme poverty, these girls are often arrested and detained for petty offences that arise from socioeconomic disadvantage. Girls are often subjected to abuses at all levels of the juvenile detention system, including violations of their rights during arrest, remand, and trial; abusive or inadequate conditions of post-sentencing detention; and stigmatization and lack of support upon release from detention. This report chronicles the experiences of girls during all phases of the criminal detention system in Kenya and advocates for abolition and reform of the juvenile detention system.

In November 2019, following weeks of desk research on the experiences of juveniles in Kenya’s criminal detention system, the Leitner Clinic, Strathmore Law Clinic, Wakilisha Initiative and Clean Start convened in Nairobi to conduct fact-finding interviews for the report. We conducted a site visit to the Kamae Girls Borstal Institution (“Kamae”), the only girls Borstal institution in Kenya, and interviewed the Head Officer and 10 of the 37 girls currently detained at Kamae to discuss their experiences at all levels of the juvenile detention system. We also interviewed Hon. Jacqueline Kibosia, a Kenyan children’s court magistrate; Irene Ndegwa, a pro bono attorney who represents children in the juvenile detention system; and representatives of Wakilisha Initiative (“Wakilisha”), Clean Start, Nafisika Trust (“Nafisika”) and NGOs that assist incarcerated and formerly incarcerated children.

Nairobi, Kenya: Strathmore Law Clinic, 2022. 38p.

By Save the Children - Australia

At its best, the youth justice system has the potential to turn around lives, be responsive to the needs of children and young people, provide the supports they need to thrive, and thereby keep communities safer. In recent years, numerous reports and inquiries across Australia and internationally have detailed the negative impacts that contact with the justice system can have on children and young people. This is particularly the case for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, who are overrepresented across all youth justice systems in Australia and are detained in youth detention facilities at unacceptably high rates. Despite some recent gains and efforts in certain jurisdictions to better utilise prevention and early intervention across the system and support culturally safe practices, youth justice systems in Australia persistently violate child rights. Our youth justice systems are also often not fit-for-purpose to support the needs of children and young people and divert them out of the system for good. Punitive and incarceration-focused policies and practices directly undermine the key outcomes that governments are seeking to achieve through these policies, including to reduce recidivism and improve community safety. This report comes at a time when there has been significant youth justice reform across a number of states and territories in Australia, and a strengthened political imperative at the national level to raise the age of criminal responsibility and ameliorate the ongoing legacy of racial injustice. Right now, more than ever, there is also a heightened public consciousness that demands a new and better approach to youth justice. The report aims to highlight why child rights are important, how these rights are relevant across youth justice systems, where child rights are being undermined in youth justice today and where the greatest opportunities are for reform.

Save the Children - Australia: 2023. 109p.

By Miroslava Chavez-Garcia

This unique analysis of the rise of the juvenile justice system from the nineteenth to twentieth centuries uses one of the harshest states—California—as a case study for examining racism in the treatment of incarcerated young people of color. Using rich new untapped archives, States of Delinquency is the first book to explore the experiences of young Mexican Americans, African Americans, and ethnic Euro-Americans in California correctional facilities including Whittier State School for Boys and the Preston School of Industry. Miroslava Chávez-García examines the ideologies and practices used by state institutions as they began to replace families and communities in punishing youth, and explores the application of science and pseudo-scientific research in the disproportionate classification of youths of color as degenerate. She also shows how these boys and girls, and their families, resisted increasingly harsh treatment and various kinds of abuse, including sterilization.

California. University of California Press. 2012. 292p.

By Emer Smyth and 

Merike Darmody

New research, published by the ESRI and produced in partnership with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Inclusion and Youth (DCEDIY), shows that schools are more important than neighbourhoods in influencing adolescent behaviour. Using data from the Growing Up in Ireland study, the findings show that most 17-year-olds have no behaviour difficulties and few consistently ‘act out’ at home, at school, and in the community.
 

Dublin: The Economic and Social Research Institute. 2021. 147p.

By Maria Jerram

This fieldwork for this inspection took place between April and June 2021. The trial for the murder of George Floyd ran alongside it and concluded during this time. The impact of this case and the rise and influence of the Black Lives Matter movement were strongly felt in almost every service we visited during this inspection. It was clear that these events have reignited overdue discussion about racial discrimination and its impact. Over the course of six weeks, we inspected nine different youth offending services (YOSs). We reviewed comprehensive evidence in advance from each area and in total examined 173 cases of black and mixed heritage boys (59 out-of-court disposal cases and 114 cases dealt with by the courts). We commissioned the services of ‘User Voice’ 1 to obtain the views of 38 boys who had been supervised by the different services. They told us about the support they had received and the challenges they face. Prior to this thematic inspection, we analysed our own core inspection data from a 12-month period and found that the quality of service delivery to black and mixed heritage boys tended to be poorer than that of work delivered to their peers. This was especially evident in the out-of-court disposal cases. We were concerned in this inspection to find that when we looked at this type of work, with an increased focus on ethnicity and experiences of discrimination, we found an even greater disparity. The boys whose cases we looked at had complex needs, and opportunities to support them earlier, outside of the youth justice system, had often been missed. It was therefore concerning to find that, when they came to the attention of the criminal justice system, the quality of services they received at this critical moment in their life was insufficient. 60 percent of the boys subject to court orders had been excluded from education, most of them permanently, and the impact of this on their life chances was significant. Black and mixed heritage boys were consistently over-represented in custodial cohorts. In one service every child in custody was a black or mixed heritage boy and this is deeply worrying. Addressing ‘disproportionality’ has been a longstanding objective in most youth justice plans, but our evidence indicates that little progress has been made in terms of the quality of practice. At a strategic partnership level there is a lack of clarity and curiosity about what is causing the disparity and what needs to be done to bring about an improvement. Partners are not collating data and using it effectively to analyse and address the barriers that contribute to the over-representation of black and mixed heritage boys in the criminal justice system. Most services recognised that things have not been done well enough and stated their commitment to improve. In the last 12 months some YOSs have developed focused strategies and plans to address disproportionality and support anti-racist practice; however, any impact of this is yet to be reflected in the quality of casework. This current impetus must now be used to urgently improve practice, service delivery and outcomes for black and mixed heritage boys. To be effective, there must be a clear vision, strategy and plan that is embraced by all partner agencies and understood by all those working with this group of boys. Training, support, direction and guidance for staff are critical, as is the ongoing monitoring and reviewing of progress and improvement. We will also introduce a more robust set of standards around this issue for our core youth inspections.  

Manchester, UK: HM Inspectorate of Probation, 2021. 71p

Out of Harm's Way:  A new care system to protect vulnerable teenagers at risk of exploitation and crime 

By The Commission on Young Lives

  There is an ongoing epidemic of drug-running, grooming and serious youth violence in England. Harmful criminal exploitation is now an ever-present reality of some childhoods. It involves tens of thousands of marginalised and vulnerable young people, brings misery and destroys lives and prospects. Recent government statistics show that last year almost 13,000 children in England were identified by social services as being involved with gangs, thousands more sexually exploited. Yet this is just the tip of the iceberg, the children who we know about. There are many thousands of others growing up surrounded by addiction issues, domestic violence, serious parental mental ill health, or poverty. Frequently they go unsupported and invisible to the agencies who should be able to protect them. They are the children most likely to fall through gaps in the education or care systems, and who can end up exploited by the ruthless organised criminals or abusers who have such a talent for spotting the most vulnerable.  

London: The Commission on Young Lives, 2021. 63p.

By The Commission on Young Lives  (UK)

Hidden in Plain Sight’ was published in November 2022. It sets out our recommendations for fighting back against those who groom and exploit children and how we can provide the right support to vulnerable teenagers to help them to thrive and succeed in life.

Its recommendations include:

• A new ‘invest to save’ “Sure Start Plus” programme. Part-financed by the millions of pounds recovered from the proceeds of crime every year, this ‘Sure Start for Teenagers’ network would bring health and education together to lead the local fight back against those who exploit children, through coordinating services and support in local disadvantaged areas and ensuring that young people at risk get help early when problems occur.

• A one-off £1billion children and young people’s mental health recovery programme, part-financed by a levy on social media companies and mobile phone providers.

• A new army of youth practitioners to identify struggling youngsters, build positive relationships and guide young people away from harm and towards success. 

London: The Commission on Young Lives, 2022. 90p.

By Youth Endowment Fund and Crest Advisory

The Youth Endowment Fund’s mission is to find out what works to prevent children from becoming involved in violence. To do that, we need to understand young people’s lives. That’s why we’ve created a Youth Advisory Board, so that we’re giving young people, including those with experience of violence, a stake in our decision-making. We’ve invested in the Peer Action Collective, to develop young people-led approaches to research. And it’s why we’ve written this report, which uses a survey of over 2,000 teenage children and official statistics to present an overview of young people’s experiences today. We also interviewed young people and youth offending team workers, to see how the data matches their experiences (and will be publishing more details on what they said in the coming months). We’ll repeat this research every year, so we can track trends and changes. This is a summary of our first year’s findings.  

Youth Endowment Fund and Crest Advisory,2022. 99p.

The latest findings from the Edinburgh Study are presented.  The report is based on the latest phase of fieldwork, which involved interviews with cohort members, an online survey, and analysis of criminal records data.

Amongst the findings are that experiences of poverty and trauma in childhood were strongly associated with offending behaviour in adolescence and also going on to offend into early adulthood.  Nevertheless, many of those who were involved in serious offending were not known to the children’s hearings system or the adult criminal justice system. While trauma in childhood was damaging, many of those who continued offending beyond age 25 had also experienced significant trauma in adulthood.

We recommend that policies need to be focused on prevention and early intervention, with specific strategies to tackle poverty and adversity. 

Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh, School of Law, 2022. 46p.

By 

Charles Puzzanchera; Sarah Hockenberry; Melissa Sickmund

Youth and the Juvenile Justice System: 2022 National Report is the fifth edition of a comprehensive report on youth victimization, offending by youth, and the juvenile justice system. With this release, the report series has adopted a new name (the series was previously known as "Juvenile Offenders and Victims"), but the focus of the report remains unchanged: the report consists of the most requested information on youth and the juvenile justice system in the United States. Developed by the National Center for Juvenile Justice (NCJJ) for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the National Institute of Justice, the report draws on reliable data and relevant research to provide a comprehensive and insightful view of youth victims and offending by youth, and what happens to youth when they enter the juvenile justice system in the U.S. 

Pittsburg: National Center for Juvenile Justice, 2022. 226p.

By Beatriz Magaloni and Veriene Melo, With contributions from Sara Rizzo,  and Sofia Mac Gregor Oettler

This study is the result of over four years of active collaboration between the Poverty, Violence and Governance Lab (PovGov) and the Rio-based NGO Agency for Youth Networks (hereafter, Agency). What began in 2012 as an informal conversation between PovGov researchers and the program’s founder and director, Marcus Faustini, led to a solid partnership that has produced not only this research but also opportunities for engagement through events both in California and in Rio de Janeiro. A central objective of PovGov’s research agenda is to assess and disseminate knowledge about initiatives and policies seeking to benefit socially vulnerable populations throughout Latin America. Agency’s target population – namely, young people from the favelas and peripheries of Rio de Janeiro who often find themselves unemployed, out of school, and exposed to high levels of violence – being of great relevance to PovGov’s work. During a 2015 conference hosted by PovGov at the Stanford Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) entitled “Educational and Entrepreneurial Initiatives to Support Youth in Places of Violence,” several Agency educators and participants shared their experiences in the program. They expanded on its mission, challenges, and relevance considering the scenario of vulnerability and limited opportunities that young people face not only in Rio de Janeiro but throughout Brazil. It became clear then that the approach, experience, and impact of the Agency's innovative methodology – which engages young people in marginalized communities as protagonists in the creation and implementation of projects with a potential for social impact – should be analyzed in-depth, with the work beginning promptly after. Employing a mixed-method strategy based on quasi-experimental and non-experimental designs, to build our program impact evaluation, we drew from survey responses from 500 people, as well as interviews, observations, and informational documents of various kinds. The results, culminated in this report, come down to four learning summaries which speak to methodology and curriculum (Agency’s methodology promotes active learning for project creation while strengthening pathways for individual empowerment and community engagement); the profile of program participants (Agency is engaging some of the most vulnerable – but also resilient and hopeful – youth groups in Rio de Janeiro); participant experience (Agency provides participants with tools to increase their life-skills, networks, urban mobility, community engagement, and entrepreneurial competencies); and impact evaluation (participation in the Agency program has a positive impact on several dimensions of employment, business development, social engagement, and individual empowerment). Ultimately, our study has demonstrated that Agency’s youth-inclusive methodology is successful in deepening reflection and facilitating action for meaningful youth-led processes of community change to take place, while promoting mechanisms and pathways for young people to learn, reflect on their experiences, express themselves, amplify their voices, and become protagonists of the changes they want to see.   

Stanford, CA: Stanford University, The Poverty, Violence and Governance Lab (PovGov), 2019. 96p.

By Christopher Blattman, Gustavo Duncan, Benjamin Lessing, and Santiago Tobon  

Medellín’s city government wanted to raise its efficacy and legitimacy, especially in neighborhoods with weak state presence and competing armed actors. The city identified 80 such neighborhoods. In half, they intensified non-police street presence tenfold for two years, attempting to improve social services and dispute resolution. Unexpectedly, despite increased attention from street staff, residents lowered their opinion of the state on average. We trace these adverse effects to communities where state presence was initially weakest. Staff in these neighborhoods worked to improve services, but the central administration struggled to deliver on these promises. Where state presence was already established, however, the intervention raised opinions of the government as expected. We hypothesize that it is costlier for states to improve services where it is weak—an incentive for bureaucrats and elected leaders to concentrate state-building efforts in established areas, widening inequality in public service access and local variance in state legitimacy.   

Chicago: University of Chicago, Development Economics Center, Becker Friedman Institute, 2022. 42p.

By Christopher Blattman, Gustavo Duncan, Benjamin Lessing, and Santiago Tobón

Gangs govern millions worldwide. Why rule? and how do they respond to states? Many argue that criminal rule provides protection when states do not, and that increasing state services could crowd gangs out. We began by interviewing leaders from 30 criminal groups in Medellín. The conventional view overlooks gangs’ indirect incentives to rule: governing keeps police out and fosters civilian loyalty, protecting other business lines. We present a model of duopolistic competition with returns to loyalty and show under what conditions exogenous changes to state protection causes gangs to change governance levels. We run the first gang-level field experiment, intensifying city governance in select neighborhoods for two years. We see no decrease in gang rule. We also examine a quasi-experiment. New borders in Medellín created discontinuities in access to government services for 30 years. Gangs responded to greater state rule by governing more. We propose alternatives for countering criminal governance.

Chicago: University of Chicago, Development Economics Center, Becker Friedman Institute, 2022. 75p.

By U.K. Home Office

Country information and protection guidelines for British asylum authorities on fear of gangs (gangs' origins; main gangs; structure, size and reach; characteristics of members; activities and impact; targets of gang violence; returnees; government anti-gang policy and law; effectiveness of law enforcement agencies; freedom of movement)

London: Home Office, Independent Advisory Group on Country Information, 2021. 92p.

By David P. Farrington and Brandon C. Welsh

After decades of rigorous study in the United States and across the Western world, a great deal is known about the early risk factors for offending. High impulsiveness, low attainment, criminal parents, parental conflict, and growing up in a deprived, high-crime neighborhood are among the most important factors. There is also a growing body of high quality scientific evidence on the effectiveness of early prevention programs designed to prevent children from embarking on a life of crime. Drawing on the latest evidence, Saving Children from a Life of Crime is the first book to assess the early causes of offending and what works best to prevent it. Preschool intellectual enrichment, child skills training, parent management training, and home visiting programs are among the most effective early prevention programs. Criminologists David Farrington and Brandon Welsh also outline a policy strategy--early prevention--that uses this current research knowledge and brings into sharper focus what America's national crime fighting priority ought to be. At a time when unacceptable crime levels in America, rising criminal justice costs, and a punitive crime policy have spurred a growing interest in the early prevention of delinquency, Farrington and Welsh here lay the groundwork for change with a comprehensive national prevention strategy to save children from a life of crime.

New York: Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2006. 248p.

By Mark Shaw and Luke Skywalker

The focus of this Policy Note is specifically on the role of women and girls in gangs as an opportunity to examine whether a more “gendered” response to the phenomenon of gangsterism could have success. The case study for the research was the gangs of Cape Town, a city not only with a historical problem of gangs, but one where recent trends have showed a dramatic upswing in violence, both within and between gangs. Cape Town was chosen largely because it offered the possibility, through the network of the Global Initiative and its links to the University of Cape Town, for interviewing female gang members in a way that would have been difficult to achieve elsewhere. Cape Town now displays violence - at a level of 60 homicides per 100,000 residents for 2015/16 – that is consistent with many cities in Latin and Central America that have had longstanding challenges with gangs. In Cape Town, violence is closely linked to changes within the city’s drug economy in marginalised areas, and the introduction of a flood of firearms (ironically many from police stores) from 2010. This has exacerbated conflict between gangs and increased the ability of smaller and new gangs – who have obtained access to weapons – to both enter and expand their drug operations. The result is a fluid and violent environment, although this is generally confined to previously marginalised so-called ‘coloured’ or mixed race areas of the city. It goes without saying, however, that the human cost and suffering has been enormous, with some parts of the city having homicide rates of over 100 deaths per 100,000 people with innocent bystanders, including children, often caught in the crossfire.

Geneva: Global Initiative Against Transnational and Organized Crime, 2017. 27p.

By Thomas Hanson, Jo Ann Izu, Trevor Fronius, Anthony Petrosino

Bullying affects large numbers of U.S. students in elementary schools and is associated with short and long-term harms for both victims and bullies. Although prevention is critical, schools also need effective interventions for dealing with bullying once it occurs. Funded by the National Institute of Justice and in collaboration with the Oakland Unified School District and No Bully, WestEd conducted a two-year study of the impacts of the No Bully System (NBS) - a promising set of interventions designed to activate adult and peer support systems within the school for the targets of bullying – using a cluster randomized experimental design involving 24 elementary schools. No Bully trains staff to prevent and interrupt student harassment and bullying and ensure school-wide anti-bullying policies are in place. The core component of NBS is the Solution Team where a trained adult facilitator (Solution Coach) brings together a group of 6-8 students (Solution Team) that includes the bully or bullies, bystanders and pro-social peers, and leads the team through a series of three brief meetings to end the bullying of one of their peers by cultivating empathy and developing peer-driven solutions. The target is not included in the initial meetings though s/he is invited to attend the final session.  

Los Alamitos, CA: WestEd, 2019. 29p.

By April K. Lewis; Cindy Nguyen; Carrie Freshour; Cindy Schaeffer; Eric Slade

Findings and methodology are reported for an evaluation of the impact on school safety of a new comprehensive emotional and behavioral health crisis response and prevention (EBH-CRP) intervention implemented in Baltimore County (Maryland) public schools. The EBH-CRP intervention is a comprehensive training, organization, and support protocol for school and community stakeholders intended to increase school and community competence in preventing and responding to student emotional and behavioral health crises. The primary goal of the evaluation was to measure changes in specific school safety and discipline outcomes in intervention schools compared to schools that did not participate in the intervention. Data collection and analysis for the evaluation covered two intervention school years. The impact of the EBH-CRP intervention on stakeholder knowledge and preparedness to address emotional and behavioral health across the continuum was measured by comparing pre-post change in diverse stakeholder perceived knowledge and preparedness to address emotional and behavioral health concerns in intervention schools compared to non-participating schools. Intervention school participants in specific training components also reported on their pre-post change in knowledge, preparedness, and benefits of the EBH-CRP intervention over the project period.

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  Poisson regression models predicted student suspensions, office referrals, bullying reports, and juvenile justice referrals. The evaluation encompassed participant and control middle schools and high schools. A secondary aim of the evaluation was to assess the impact of the EBH-CRP intervention on emotional and behavioral health crisis incidents and service-use outcomes. A cost-benefit analysis assessed the net benefits (dollar benefits minus costs) of the EBH-CRP intervention. Schools that implemented the EBH-CRP model had fewer student suspensions and office referrals in intervention year 2, and they were more often recognizing, assessing, and addressing emotional and behavioral crises among students.

Final Report to the U.S. National Institute of Justice, 2019. 56p.