By Samantha Harvell, Teresa Derrick-Mills, Constance Hull

Over the past decade, Milwaukee County’s youth probation agency—the Department of Health and Human Services’ Children, Youth and Family Services (CYFS)—has fundamentally changed its approach to supervision, redefined staff roles and responsibilities, and adopted a new trauma-informed, developmentally responsive case management model to improve practices and boost outcomes for the young people and families it serves. Implementing changes of that magnitude has not been quick or easy and remains a work in progress. Yet CYFS leaders and staff have learned much from the process, and Milwaukee County provides a helpful case study of youth justice reform in action.

Why This Matters

Community supervision, typically in the form of probation, plays a central role in the juvenile legal system. The majority of young people adjudicated delinquent are placed on probation in the United States. In 2019, the most recent year for which data are available, half of all juvenile cases sanctioned in court—nearly 250,000—resulted in probation. Because of this, reforming probation could transform how youth justice is administered across the country.

What We Found

Drawing on interviews with 20 local stakeholders and our experiences providing technical assistance to CYFS leaders over more than two years, this report summarizes lessons from Milwaukee County’s reform efforts, including factors that have supported and hindered progress. Key findings include the following:

• Having a team dedicated to quality management provides critical infrastructure to support reform.

• Implementation science offers a helpful framework for promoting change.

• Effective leadership is essential.

• Investing in staff development and organizational infrastructure and systems is vital to long-term success and sustainability.

• Building internal support and buy-in for reform is crucial.

• Developing tailored, targeted, and effective messages about reform is critical to growing and leveraging external legal partnerships.

• Centering community is essential.

• Expanding funding structures can support transformative change.

Washington DC: The Urban Institute, 2023. 33p.

By Samantha Harvell, Arielle Jackson, Constance Hull, Colette Marcelin, and Leah Sakala

The COVID-19 health crisis, which reached the United States in early 2020, has significantly impacted youth legal system agencies’ policies and practices worldwide. In the pandemic’s third year, new variants of the virus continue to threaten health and safety, and agencies continue to grapple with how best to support young people and their families. Even before the pandemic, incarceration posed significant risks to young people’s physical and mental health, particularly among youth of color, who are disproportionately impacted by the criminal legal system. During the pandemic, some youth legal system agencies increased their use of traumatizing practices like solitary confinement and at times ended all in-person visitation with caregivers and siblings, demonstrating the need for agencies to double down on efforts to end youth incarceration and instead invest in community-based strategies that support youth long term. This brief is designed to help inform those efforts by highlighting how three states—Maryland, Massachusetts, and New Jersey—have reduced youth incarceration over the past two years. Each state has taken a unique approach to changing policy and practice championed by a wide range of stakeholders, including governors, legislators, and judicial and corrections agency leaders, and each case study in this brief shows a different path to lasting reform. Taken together, the examples provide several options for reducing youth incarceration and investing in more effective strategies to prevent harm and support youth accountability and needs.

Washington, DC: The Urban Institute, 2022. 16p.

By Samantha Harvell, Chloe Warnberg, Andreea Matei, and Eli Mensing

Over the past several decades, the knowledge base about how to address juvenile delinquency and improve outcomes for youth and families has grown considerably. The documented benefits of well-designed community-based programming over residential facilities have spurred a movement away from the outdated institutional-youth-prison model and toward more effective community-based solutions. States and localities are exploring how to support a new juvenile justice approach that builds continua of care and opportunity in communities disproportionately impacted by youth incarceration and prioritizes fair, equitable, and effective treatment for all youth. This is the next frontier of juvenile justice reform, and effective strategies for closing youth correctional facilities and redirecting resources to community-based solutions must be identified. Juvenile justice administrators are uniquely positioned to lead facility closure efforts as part of broader system reform

By Andreea Matei

The Juvenile Diversion Initiative (JDI) in the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office is a pre-file diversion program for youth under 18 that aims to intervene early and limit the number of youth entering the juvenile justice system by providing individualized services based on each youth’s needs. This case study, part of the Mapping Prosecutor-Led Diversion Project, focuses on the JDI's broad eligibility criteria and its incorporation of education advocates, highlighting takeaways for other prosecutors and stakeholders looking to launch similar programs. The information included is based on the office’s submitted response to the Mapping Prosecutor-Led Diversion Project survey and interviews with program leadership, staff, and partners. This case study is intended as an overview of this diversion strategy and is not an assessment or evaluation

Washington, DC: The Urban Institute, 2022. 6p.

By Luis Alonso-Armesto. Julio Cáceres-Delpiano, Warn N. Lekfuangfu  

This study examines the impact of increasing the Minimum Legal Drinking Age (from 16 to 18 years old) on the academic performance, substance use, and peer behaviours of teenagers. Using a difference-in-discontinuities design, we exploit regional MLDA reforms in Spain and PISA data to identify significant improvements in mathematics and science performance, particularly among male teenagers and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. A complementary analysis using data from the Survey on Drug Use in Secondary Education in Spain indicates that these academic gains coincide with reductions in alcohol consumption, intoxication, smoking, and marijuana use, suggesting a link between substance use and educational outcomes. Moreover, the reform led to less drinking and less use of illicit drugs within peer networks, highlighting the amplifying role of peer effects in policy impact.   

  IZA DP No. 17772

Bonn:  IZA – Institute of Labor Economics , 2025. 55p.

By Eóin O’Meara Daly, Jackie Dwane, Caitlin Lewis and Seán Redmond

What does it mean for youth justice practitioners to examine their own relational practice with young people and consciously adapt their approach according to available evidence? This paper presents empirical findings from a project undertaken in Ireland that examined effective relationship building through complimentary processes of a systematic review of evidence, practice reflection, and action research – the latter has been described as a systematic collaborative approach where researchers and practitioners both conduct research and take action to simultaneously investigate and address an issue (Mac Naughton, 2001). The project was undertaken in collaboration with 60 youth justice practitioners from 16 Youth Diversion Project (YDP) case study sites across Ireland. YDPs are community-based focussed youth interventions that address offending behaviour with targeted young people to divert them from further involvement in crime (Reddy and Redmond, 2022). The 16 case study sites represent a purposive sample of 100 projects managed by over 30 youth organisations. Youth justice work in Ireland emphasises non-custodial alternatives to detention for young people who offend (Hamilton, 2023). These alternatives include community-based diversion, intervention and prevention strategies, and/or programmes that focus on addressing risk and need (Convery and Seymour, 2016). Youth justice practitioners are frontline workers trained in youth work, social care or similar disciplines who engage with referred young people to help reduce their offending behaviour. Building relationships with young people for crime diversion purposes accounts for a substantial proportion of youth justice practitioners’ time and taxpayers’ investment in Ireland. It has been argued that without the relationship between the youth justice practitioner and the young person, there is no intervention (DCYA, 2014). However, little is known about what constitutes effective relationship building in youth justice (Fullerton et al., 2021). As a result, policymakers and practitioners have not been able to fully understand the extent to which relationships can help divert young people from crime. In 2021, as a first step in understanding the ‘black box’ of relational practice, the Research Evidence into Policy, Programmes and Practice (REPPP) project in the School of Law, University of Limerick, published a systematic evidence review to present the international evidence regarding the development of effective relationships for youth crime diversion (Fullerton et al., 2021). The findings provided a summary of evidence relating to building and maintaining effective relationships between professionals and young people in youth justice settings. The review proposes that ‘the core skills involved in developing effective working relationships with young people include active listening, taking the time to get to know the young person, empathetic responding, advising, guiding, modelling pro-social behaviours and challenging ideas and behaviours in a non-threatening or judgemental manner’ (Fullerton et al., 2021, p. 8). The next step, and the substance of this paper, was to learn from youth justice practitioners working at the frontline with young people. Action research was used to more closely examine existing relational practice and then develop a new evidence-informed model and guidance. The new model is informed by international evidence from the systematic evidence review and a substantial reservoir of tacit knowledge shared by youth justice practitioners.

Manchester, UK: HM Inspectorate of Probation, 2025. 13p.

By Jamie J. Fader & Dijonée Talley

This policy brief brings together what is known about respect as a necessary element of justice contact for emerging adults. We examine the developmental role of respect in supporting healthy transitions to adulthood, the ways in which typical justice system operations undermine positive outcomes by building disrespect into the process, and highlight some innovative justice programs that are respect-centered. We conclude with suggestions for specific techniques for building respect into justice-related contacts with emerging adults. We believe that respect can be incorporated into any intervention or interaction to improve outcomes and support healthy transitions to adulthood. Honoring the human dignity of justice- involved emerging adults involves reframing their relationships with justice professionals working in all capacities.

New York: Columbia University Justice Lab, 2021. 30p.

By Lael Chester, Soraya Shri-Pathman, Maya Sussman

Emerging Adults Incarcerated on Rikers Island: An Overview raises concerns for emerging adults aged 18 to 25 and describes the harmful impacts they disproportionately face while being exposed to the violent environment of Rikers Island. Exposure to this neglect and violence during the transition to adulthood causes long-lasting trauma, hindering young people’s well being and impeding their healthy development. The report details the gross racial disparities present at the NYC jail complex and makes the following recommendations for the NYC Department of Correction to take immediately:

Expand the definition of “young adulthood” to include 18-25-year-olds;

Collect data on this distinct population and establish data transparency;

Invest in and use alternatives-to-incarceration courts and programs to stop detaining (and sentencing) emerging adults on Rikers; and

Remove all emerging adults from Rikers and follow other successful community-based models and those in alternative settings to implement more effective, developmentally appropriate responses to emerging adults.

New York: Columbia University Justice Lab, 2022. 17p.

By Noor Toraif and Lael E. H. Chester

In this report, we collate a set of promising practices to support the implementation of pre-arraignment diversion programs for emerging adults. Emerging adults are roughly between 18-25 years of age and are uniquely situated between the developmental stages of adolescence and mature adulthood. This stage of adolescence poses a variety of challenges, because it is developmentally appropriate for this age group to be impulsive thrill seekers who are highly susceptible to peer influence and are ill equipped to assess risk or potential long-term consequences. As a result, they are overrepresented in almost every activity that involves bad judgement, such as: car crashes, accidental drownings, unintended pregnancies, and illegal behavior. The fact that this age group is maturing physically, emotionally, socially, and neurologically also creates a unique opportunity for non-punitive interventions designed to promote better life outcomes for the individuals and safer, healthier communities for everyone. We identify some of the limitations of the criminal legal system’s traditional responses to undesirable behavior for emerging adults and then recommend the implementation of pre-arraignment diversion for emerging adults as an effective way to prevent further criminal legal system involvement by responsibly supporting positive youth development. In this report, we note the key differences between the juvenile and adult criminal legal systems - their goals, strategies, rules, procedures, and resources – and the fact that emerging adults are automatically excluded from the youth system, often limiting (if not eliminating) the opportunity to be diverted before arraignment in a developmentally appropriate manner. We begin this report by describing the distinct developmental stage of emerging adulthood (also referred to as transition age youth) and the need to implement developmentally appropriate responses within, and adjacent to, the criminal legal system. Next, we analyze how the developmental frameworks of Positive Youth Development and Positive Youth Justice can be used to guide and inform the supports and interventions necessary to nurture young people’s development, especially when designing and implementing pre-arraignment diversion programs for emerging adults. We assess and review examples of pre-arraignment diversion programs for emerging adults, noting that they are relatively rare. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we identify 13 promising practices derived from the existing examples of, and research on, these programs:

New York: Columbia University Justice Lab, 2023. 34p.

By Timothy McCuddy, Owen Gallupe, Marleen Weulen Kranenbarg, Frank Weerman

The field of criminology has spent nearly a century investigating the link between peers and delinquency, but only recently turned its attention to the online peer context. We examine three ways online and offline peer delinquency are related to self reported delinquency. In theory, online peer delinquency may influence delinquent behavior independently of the influence from the physical presence of delinquent peers. Adolescents may also select online peers who are similar to their offline peers, and experiences online may contribute to being more receptive to offline peer influence. We use survey data from a longitudinal sample of middle and high school students in a large, metropolitan area, which includes measures of online peer support for delinquency and perceived delinquency of ofine peers. Employing path models, we find that perceiving to have offline delinquent peers is partly related to previous behavior but also to previous experiences with online friends. We also find that the measures of both offline and online peer delinquency are independently related to later self-reported delinquency, and online peer support for violence can enhance the apparent influence of offline violent peers. Overall, this study illustrates that research examining delinquent peer influence should also include online peer processes.

Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology (2024) 10:573–600

By Kristin M. Lloyd, Brae Youn

Adolescence is marked by incredible change that impacts the life-course. One change that may have profound impacts is teen parenthood. Having access to emotional support may act as a protective factor that reduces negative outcomes, yet little is known about teen parents’ access to such support. Accordingly, using data from the Pathways to Desistance Study, the current study examines how becoming a teen parent changes the number of supportive adults this group had access to (diversity of support). Further, the current study examines the extent to which gender impacts the ability for justice involving youth to leverage support. Results indicate that justice system involved teen parents have access to fewer supportive persons after they become parents. The same is true for residential parents—those who lived with their child—and young mothers.

Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology (2024) 10:550–572

By Cheryl Thomas KC (Chair), Kate Aubrey-Johnson, Sir Robert Buckland KC, Susana Castro-Kemp, Anne-Marie Day and Frank Grimsey Jones

An independent review into how the current system can fail to prevent children with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) and neurodivergence from unnecessarily entering into the justice system, how they are dealt with once in the system, what happens when they leave the justice system and how this parlous situation can be cost-effectively dealt with and increase the likelihood that children with SEND or neurodivergence who commit crime go on to become well-functioning, law-abding adults.

London: Michael Sieff Foundation , 2025. 121p.

By Ella Armstrong

RECOMMENDATIONS Girls, along with their families, carers, and professionals, have highlighted critical changes needed to transform their experiences within these systems. Their recommendations call for a shift from punitive and stigmatising responses to approaches rooted in trauma-informed care, stability, and genuine empowerment. Girls emphasised the need for trust, time, and presence from professionals, highlighting that meaningful relationships are critical in preventing harm and promoting recovery. Increased professional training and awareness to ensure that those working with girls — particularly in Children’s Social Care and youth justice — understand gendered trauma and avoid reinforcing stigma. Address systemic biases, including adultification and criminalisation of girls in care, particularly for girls of colour, by embedding anti-racist and anti-discriminatory practice in all levels of policy and service provision. Ensure girls' voices are central to policy and decision-making, such as including girls with lived experience in the Girls’ Justice Board, as recommended in the Independent Review into Girls in Custody, to create meaningful change. 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY METHODS This report is based on qualitative research, including interviews with girls, caregivers, and professionals across youth work, Children’s Social Care, and the Youth Justice System. Testimonies were collected to highlight lived experiences, supported by a review of policy documents and existing literature on gender, youth justice, and social care. Statistical analysis was also incorporated to illustrate key trends in girls’ experiences and outcomes. FINDINGS Specialist gender-sensitive services are often unavailable due to limited resources, leaving girls without the tailored support they need. A lack of professional confidence and consistency in working with girls means responses are often punitive rather than trauma-informed, reinforcing stigma and disadvantage. Girls in contact with the Youth Justice System experience heightened criminalisation, often due to systemic biases, a lack of gender-sensitive support, and being mischaracterised as disruptive rather than in need of help. A cycle of disadvantage then persists, with girls more likely to experience abuse, mental health struggles, and exclusion from education, yet receive inadequate support. Adultification bias disproportionately affects girls of colour, and coupled with systemic racism, this leads to harsher interventions and fewer protective responses.

London: SHiFT, 2025. 26p.

By Derek Miller, M.D.

Dr. Derek Miller graduated from our School of Psychiatry in 1954, and was on the staff of the C. F. Menninger Memorial Hospital for a time, where he did excellent work, especially with disturbed adolescent boys. When he and his wife returned to England, he began work at the Tavistock Clinic and served as a consultant to the Harts Training School, a “home-like residential institution or model therapeutic home,” to which boys were sent by the court after failures elsewhere. Gro'ivth to Freedom describes three years of this experiment, which in essence was to give these mostly homeless and unloved boys a place to live in which they would be taught, guided, counseled, but not punished. Dr. Miller gives many thumbnail illustrations of the process. A few of the boys were transferred to other institutions—hospitals, Borstal homes, or prisons—but the majority went on to social recovery. Statistics about such programs are always misleading. Who knows what “well” is here? Who can say what would have happened had these same boys been given some otner treatment? We know that other boys of somewhat similar types have done less well in nearly all the other available programs and places. The author gives figures, but no figures are as important as the spirit of the book, which shows what love and concern and dedication can do for boys who have never experienced it.

INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1964, 248p.

By Ben Sanders 

  The use of sport for development and peace (SDP) has grown rapidly in the 21st century, with sport being recognised as a means to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other global priorities. This includes the use of sport-based approaches for positive youth development and to prevent and address risk factors linked to crime, violence and substance use, especially among vulnerable populations. As part of its efforts to support the implementation of the Doha Declaration (A/RES/70/174), in 2016 the United Nations Office on Drugs and (UNODC) launched a global youth crime prevention (YCP) initiative that aims to promote sports and sport-based learning as a tool to prevent crime and to effectively build the resilience of at-risk youth. By strengthening key life and social skills and enhancing normative knowledge on risks related to crime and substance use and their consequences, the initiative seeks to positively influence behaviour and attitudes of young people and prevent anti-social and risky behaviour. In this regard, UNODC worked with international experts to develop an evidence-informed, sport-based life skills training curriculum called Line Up Live Up to address risk factors associated with crime, violence and substance use, such as poor behavioural control, as well as to strengthen protective factors. The evidence was drawn from existing life skills programmes, including those reflected as impactful on preventing substance use as implemented in classroom settings (UNODC/WHO, 2018) and on preventing youth violence through cognitive, emotional, and social skills development (UNODC/WHO/ UNDP 2014). The Line Up Live Up curriculum includes a 10-session manual and additional materials to assist coaches, trainers, youth workers and others working with young people to deliver life skills training to male and female youth aged 13 – 18 years. In the context of the Line Up Live Up programme, “sport” is used as a generic term, “comprising sport for all, physical play, recreation, dance and organised, casual, competitive, traditional and indigenous sports and games in their diverse forms” (Kazan Action Plan, UNESCO 2017). An internal assessment of the Line Up Live Up programme, piloted by UNODC in 11 countries from 2017-2019, has been conducted. The assessment is based on quantitative and qualitative data collected from routine monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and selected process and impact assessments reports, including analysis of youth and trainer surveys, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, observation, trainings and country reports. This paper aims to place key findings and lessons learned from the assessment of the Line Up Live Up pilot programme in the context of relevant research on the use of sport for youth violence and crime prevention, and to provide recommendations on the effective use of sport in this context. It is anticipated that the paper will help strengthen programming and the effective integration of sport programmes in crime prevention frameworks and interventions, as well as contribute to the broader analysis of the contribution of sport to the Sustainable Development Goals and violence and crime prevention in particular.   

Vienna:  United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) , 2020. 52p.  

By Kevin T. Wolff, Michael T. Baglivio, Joshua A. Lang

This study examined differences among youth in deep-end juvenile justice residential placement who did, and did not, present with co-occurring disorders. The prevalence of co-occurring mental health and substance use/abuse issues was found to be 19%, far lower than that of prior work. Researchers demonstrated more similarities than differences between youth with and without co-occurring disorders, both in terms of their criminal histories and the prevalence of their criminogenic needs. Additionally, the residential programs across Florida appear to provide treatment at similarly high levels of integrity, as measured by 1) matching treatment services to the highest three dynamic risk assessed criminogenic needs, 2) providing dosage of treatment at the number of contact hours and weeks of service provision as dictated by the SPEP assessment, and 3) providing high quality treatment as per FDJJ’s operationalization of SPEP treatment quality. Importantly, while treatment provision occurred uniformly, youth with co-occurring disorders do not appear to benefit as equally well from treatment matching to assessed needs, though such matching was certainly beneficial for such youth. Additionally, the recidivism rates were substantively identical between youth with and without co-occurring disorders, indicating (as they presented with similar criminogenic needs and criminal history) youth with co-occurring disorders may not be expected to pose higher risk to public safety or likelihood of reentering the justice system.

New York: John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 2024. 96p.

By Trudy van der Stouwe, Jeanne Gubbels, Yvonne L. Castenmiller, Marion van der Zouwen, Jessica J. Asscher, Machteld Hoeve, Peter H. van der Laan & Geert Jan J. M. Stams

Objectives

To examine the effectiveness of social skills training (SST) for juvenile offenders and for whom and under which conditions SSTs are the most effective.

Methods

Multilevel meta-analyses were conducted to examine the effectiveness of juvenile offender SST compared to no/placebo treatment and alternative treatment on offending, externalizing problems, social skills, and internalizing problems.

Results

Beneficial effects were only found for offending and social skills compared to no/placebo treatment. Compared to alternative treatment, small effects on only reoffending were found. Moderator analyses yielded larger effects on offending, with larger post-treatment effects on social skills. Effects on externalizing behavior were only reported in the USA, and effects on social skills were larger when the outcomes were reported through self-report.

Conclusions

SST may be a too generic treatment approach to reduce juvenile delinquency, because dynamic risk factors for juvenile offending are only partially targeted in SST.

J Exp Criminol 17, 369–396 (2021).

By Claire Ely

BACKGROUND: From October 2020 to January 2023 the Youth Justice Board (YJB) undertook a two-year project to better understand prevention and diversion practice and its funding arrangements. Key findings from this project concluded that: youth justice services (YJSs) reported that they deliver a significant amount of prevention and diversion work that is not formally captured in any standardised way; and, the benefits of partnerships and shared visions with other services, including police, health, education, children’s services, courts and wider partners, were consistently highlighted by YJSs and wider justice stakeholders as being essential for effective prevention and diversion. The YJB also found that prevention and diversion practice: ‘is leading to positive outcomes for children. The most common data source to measure prevention and diversion is first time entrants. YJSs provided local data that the work is supporting reductions in first time entrant rates and leading to improvements in children’s lives.’2 However, diversion practice is varied and inconsistent. YJSs feel that children are, in some cases, being unnecessarily criminalised due to differing eligibility criteria for access to services and differing responses to offences, including varied application of the use of No Further Action - Outcome 22. There is also a lack of national and local oversight and governance of prevention and diversion work which needs to be enhanced to improve the evidence-base surrounding current practice. Purpose of the paper There are a number of bodies and organisations that oversee, monitor and scrutinise the delivery of services in the criminal justice system. This paper will focus on how two bodies inspect the work that YJSs and the police undertake with children who receive diversion or an out of court disposal (OOCD), soon to be called out of court resolutions. The bodies responsible for inspecting these agencies are: His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS). Each of these bodies play an important role in ensuring that YJSs and the police are working with children in a safe and effective way. However, there are considerable differences between the various standards, inspection frameworks and data collection approaches required by YJSs and the police, and not all have a specific focus on diversion and OOCDs, or even children who offend generally. Practitioners tell us that this means they often find themselves confused by what is expected of them, with their practice endorsed by one inspectorate, yet criticised or not inspected by another. This paper forms part of the Youth Endowment Fund’s work to provide guidance to local leaders on evidence-led diversion. It aims to do the following: 1. Provide an overview of the national inspection frameworks (including joint inspections) that currently exist to monitor the delivery of diversion work undertaken by YJSs and the police. 2. Summarise findings and recommendations from recent inspection reports. 3. Outline recommendations for improvements regarding the types of inspections and how these are undertaken as suggested by police, YJS practitioners and inspectors.

London: Centre for Justice Innovation, 2025. 20p.

By Queensland Family and Child Commission

This report is an Examination Review conducted by the Queensland Family and Child Commission (QFCC). The Review adopts a mixed methods approach to determine whether available supports and processes are addressing the needs of children and families, and diverting young people from reoffending behaviour. This report provides important insights and perspectives from young people, families and workers on a topic that continues to be the subject of extensive public discussion and debate and has been the subject of significant legislative and funding attention by the Queensland Government. It was informed by the experiences of 66 young people with recent experience of being released from youth detention. It also includes the advice and views of 44 frontline workers across Queensland from community-controlled organisations, government programs, youth justice service centres, youth detention centres and non-government organisations, and six family members.

Recommendation 1: The Queensland Government fund and deliver a dedicated 12-month post-detention transition program that incorporates in-home family interventions and effective engagement in education, training and employment. Entry to this program should commence as part of case management of every young person as soon as they enter detention and should prioritise both their, and their family’s direct participation. Program delivery must incorporate family and community participation that seeks to address criminogenic causes in the young person’s life that commences prior to their release from custody.

Recommendation 2: The post-detention transition program developed under Recommendation 1 should form part of a broader approach by the Queensland Government to target investment in a developmental approach to crime prevention. Programs and services developed as part of such investment must address risk factors and promote protective factors associated with youth crime. At a minimum these should tackle the known factors associated with involvement in the youth justice system (family dysfunction, domestic and family violence, drug and alcohol use, education disengagement, mental health issues, housing instability and poverty), and should promote continuity of support and of relationships with key individuals whether the young person is in custody or in the community. This will require a coordinated and focussed, whole-of-government approach that draws on, and integrates existing housing, employment, health, education, mental health, justice and federally commissioned programs.

Brisbane: Queensland Family and Child Commission 2024. 102p.

By Curtis Smith IV, Laura Whitaker, Stephanie Brooks Holliday

The overrepresentation of queer youth in the juvenile justice system in Los Angeles County underscores the need for tailored service strategies to meet this population's needs. However, given the lack of concrete guidance within the Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act's (JJCPA's) Comprehensive Multi-Agency Juvenile Justice Plan, JJCPA-funded programs may require additional guidance on how to best achieve this goal. Staff members of these programs often have competing priorities and may find it challenging to find practical information to guide their services.

In this report, the authors summarize the peer-reviewed literature related to queer at-promise and juvenile justice-involved youth to present a high-level summary of the pathways through which these youth enter the juvenile justice system, the common issues that they experience while in the system, the needs that practitioners should be aware of when serving these youth, and potential strategies to better support queer youth when providing services.

The authors go on to describe the existing challenges and practices that JJCPA-funded programs experience when aiming to serve queer youth. The authors then draw on the expertise of local organizations that serve queer youth who intersect with the juvenile justice system and identify practical solutions to enhancing care for these youth.

Key Findings

• Queer youth who are at-promise (i.e., experiencing factors that place them at risk for involvement in the juvenile justice system) and those involved in the juvenile justice system often experience various forms of adversity, such as parental rejection, houselessness, dual-system involvement, school discrimination, mental health challenges, and criminal justice system discrimination.

• Staff of programs funded by the JJCPA in Los Angeles County are interested in meeting the needs of queer youth; however, they may feel unprepared to do so.

• Key informants from queer-serving organizations suggest that JJCPA-funded programs serving queer youth should foster a safe and affirming environment, integrate school and family systems, consider youths' intersectionality, and implement collaborative care models.

Recommendations

• JJCPA-funded programs should develop partnerships with queer organizations to support at-promise and justice-involved youth with clear goals and transparency about such needs as training or consultation.

• JJCPA-funded programs should build lasting relationships through coaching partnerships for sustained impact, facilitating collaborative workshops, and integrating partnerships into staff onboarding and training.

• JJCPA-funded programs should integrate queer identity into services while considering other identity aspects and broader needs.

• JJCPA-funded programs should adjust approaches based on diverse identities, ensuring that resources and services are available.

• JJCPA-funded programs should offer queer-specific services when needed, using various modalities, such as virtual options.

• JJCPA-funded programs should evaluate and integrate inclusive policies, ensuring that such policies are communicated and reinforced with staff.

• JJCPA-funded programs should document policies for accessibility, detailing application, evaluation, and consequences to emphasize their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

• JJCPA-funded programs should ensure that staff reflect and support the needs of queer youth through diverse representation and expertise.

• JJCPA-funded programs should increase queer representation among staff to create safe spaces and connect with relevant resources.

• JJCPA-funded programs should use staff to coordinate services across systems, considering the diverse needs of queer youth.

Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2025, 33p.