Keeping Youth Out of the Deep End of the Juvenile Justice System
The Annie E. Casey Foundation funded and supported several communities in undertaking deep-end reform activities to reduce juvenile out-of-home placement, particularly for youth of color. These activities included improving probation practices, enhancing decision making in the juvenile justice system, expanding diversion and service options, and increasing youth and family engagement. Researchers from the Urban Institute and Mathematica collaborated to evaluate the reform. The evaluation showed that communities relied on multiple reform activities and considered the unique challenges and opportunities of the community to address racial and ethnic equity and inclusion in the juvenile justice system. Deep-end reform leadership with positional power and a commitment to reform, strong community partnerships, stakeholder and site staff buy-in, and substantial data capacity proved to be the most common indicators of success for the various community sites.