This website provides access to the report and webinar, both entitled, "Environmental Scan of Criminal Justice Responses to Justice-Involved Young Adult". The first step in addressing how we deal with young adults in the criminal justice system is knowing what is out there - and following up with open communication and collaboration.

This resource presents a concrete list of dos and don’ts that policymakers and justice system leaders can use to guide policy and practice changes focused on young adults in the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems. Informed by both research and practice, the list outlines supervision and service strategies that states and localities should and should not implement in order to use resources more efficiently to improve outcomes for young adults in the justice system.

The key theme that emerged from JPI’s convening of stakeholders to discuss better ways of working with young adults, is that if a more effective and targeted approach to this population can be developed, it would help reduce the use of incarceration for the 400,000-plus 18 to 24-year-olds estimated to be in prison or jail, without compromising public safety (p. 24).

In this paper, [the authors] propose a different kind of criminal justice for young men and women. We propose new institutional methods and processes for young adult justice, for those ages 18 to 24, that can meet the realities of life for today’s disadvantaged youth involved in crime and the criminal justice system. What we envision seek to extend the reach of the juvenile court while also using it as a basis for a new system that reflects a modern understanding of the transition into adulthood.

This brief, from the CSG Justice Center, is designed to help state and local officials better support young adults in the justice system. It identifies these young adults’ distinct needs, summaries the limited research available on what works to address these needs, and provides recommendations for steps that policymakers, juvenile and adult criminal justice agency leaders, researchers, and the field can take to improve outcomes.

Little is known about youth who were previously placed in a detention facility and what factors predict a subsequent recidivism to placement. This study of a two-county juvenile offender population (one urban and one rural) investigates what demographic, educational, mental health, substance dependence, and courtrelated variables predict recidivism to detention placement. Findings from logistic regression analysis indicate that seven variables significantly predict juvenile offenders’ recidivism placement, some expected and some unexpected.

This Article provides a thorough description and diagnosis of the reasons that the Indian country juvenile justice system continues to fail Native youth, one that has been missing from the legal and policy literature. It provides a careful analysis of the law governing juvenile delinquency jurisdiction in Indian country.

The tribal notification provision for Native youth entering the state juvenile justice system, unique to the State of New Mexico, has been identified as a method to address the disproportionate number and disparate treatment of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN or Native) youth in the juvenile justice system. Where the Indian Child Welfare Act is followed, which includes the notification of tribes in child welfare cases, experts have found that practice and outcomes for Native children improve.

The issues addressed by the work group reflect the important role of state legislatures in enacting policies that avoid unnecessary involvement of youth in the justice system and support evidence-based interventions that reduce recidivism and protect public safety. While lawmakers and the group recognize that serious and violent crimes committed by the most serious young offenders may require secure confinement, a major interest of the group was how to sustain and reinforce current trends of falling juvenile crime and out-of-home placement rates.

Bala, Nila

Newsweek, U.S. Edition 12/30/17 at 6:00 AM

California will “become the first state to stop jailing poor children who can’t afford to pay court fines and fees. The state will scrap juvenile administrative fees altogether in an effort to protect low-income families and children from what can only be described as a neo-debtors' prison.”