Community-Based Alternatives to Youth Incarceration

Table of Contents

• INTRODUCTION 2
• What We Know About the Effects of Incarceration on Youth 2
• The decline of the population of incarcerated youth exists alongside other efforts to reduce overall youth involvement in the juvenile justice system. 2
• What We Know About Community Alternatives for Youth 3
• Challenges to Understanding Best Practices in Closing Facilities 3
• The combined effects of limited education and employment options can have long-lasting repercussions for youth and their success after incarceration. 3
• METHODOLOGY 4
• Discussion Points 4
• RESULTS 5
• Family Support and Equity Concerns 6
• Discussion 6
• Identifying and Addressing Disparate Treatment 7
• Family Engagement 9
• Better family engagement might help in understanding needs barriers and potential supports to help improve outcomes. 9
• Practices for Secure Settings 10
• Serious Youth Offending and High-Risk High-Needs Youth 10
• A key question is what the appropriate response is for serious youth offenses or youth with high levels of risk and need. 10
• Systems and Creating a Road Map for Reform 11
• Develop Holistic Community Improvement Approaches 11
• Practices for Community Settings and Optimizing Length of Stay to Be Least Restrictive 11
• CONCLUSION 12
• Analyze Barriers to Working with Government and Nongovernment Funding 12
• TECHNICAL APPENDIX 13
• Workshop Scope and Panel Selection 13
• Panelists emphasized that closing secure youth facilities and reducing residential placement of youth should consider not only recidivism but indicators of positive youth development. 13
• Identification and Prioritization of Needs 14
• Interviews 14
• In-Person Workshop 14
• Post-Session Prioritization 15
• REFERENCES 21
• Acknowledgments 23
• The RAND Justice Policy Program 23
• About the Authors 23
• About This Report 24