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New Resource!

Probation and Youth Justice System Review Guidebook

Robert F. Kennedy National Resource Center for Juvenile Justice, 2023

The Probation and Youth Justice System Review (System Review) Guidebook was developed for probation departments, courts, and youth justice systems seeking to improve outcomes for the young people they serve thereby achieving our shared goals for reducing risk for future delinquent behavior, holding youth accountable, supporting sustainable positive behavior change, and improving community safety. This new resource builds upon the RFK National Resource Center’s seminal System Review framework used in partnership with 32 state and local jurisdictions throughout the country to achieve substantial improvements in youth outcomes and system performance. The System Review Guidebook aligns with the most up-to-date and relevant research on adolescent development, risk-needs-responsivity approaches, comprehensive behavioral health screening and assessment (including trauma), graduated responses, family engagement, implementation and change management science, and data-driven management and reporting. It also features current jurisdictional examples to illustrate different aspects of the System Review process, as well as on-the-ground perspectives from jurisdictional leaders who can provide firsthand insight on the challenges and successes experienced within their respective communities.


New Resource!

Keys to Youth Justice Improvement: Demonstration of Practical, Sustainable, Measurable, and Replicable Solutions

John Tuell, with Michelle Darling and Jodi Martin, Robert F. Kennedy National Resource Center for Juvenile Justice, 2023

This Innovation Brief highlights the replicable processes and achievements of the Dennis M. Mondoro Probation and Juvenile Justice System Enhancement Project (Mondoro Project). Through the Mondoro Project, the RFK National Resource Center partnered with six competitively selected jurisdictions seeking to achieve substantial improvements in system performance and youth outcomes. The brief provides new knowledge and innovations demonstrated by each participating jurisdiction, as well as lessons learned and key takeaways from the project. These findings illustrate how other state and local jurisdictions are enabled to replicate reforms that establish evidence-informed policies, practices, and stakeholder collaborations to produce positive, sustainable, and measurable outcomes tailored to a jurisdiction’s youth justice system.  


Strengthening Interagency Collaboration: The Case for Pre-Adjudication Diversion

Dr. John S. Ryals, Jr. and Blake Bascle, Robert F. Kennedy National Resource Center for Juvenile Justice, 2018

The use of pre-adjudication diversion in interagency processes can result in dramatic improvements in youth outcomes, community safety, system performance, and interagency collaboration. Benefits of using pre-adjudication diversion goals are rooted in the history of the juvenile justice system, demonstrated through proven intervention approaches, and embedded in adolescent development research. This practice brief describes how the use of pre-adjudication diversion is supported by current knowledge about youth development and highlights benefits of diversion programming in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana.


A Proactive Approach to Self-Assessment in the Juvenile Justice System Cover

A Proactive Approach to Self-Assessment in the Juvenile Justice System

Honorable Mark A. Ingram and Kari Harp, National Trends in State Court, National Center for State Courts, 2016

The juvenile justice system has often failed to be pro-active in assessing the effectiveness of common policies and practices. This article encourages an intentional approach to holding our own system accountable for improving outcomes for youth. Because the system involves numerous invested parties, comprehensive self-assessment requires a collaborative approach that is often effectively led by the judiciary who sit at the center of the delinquency process. Jurisdictions are encouraged to consider their three quality assurance options: 1) continue with business as usual and hope youth are being served effectively, 2) wait until an account is called for by parties challenging the status quo and then address areas for improvement, or 3) proactively assess policies and practices to ensure they align with the research on what reduces recidivism and improves youth outcomes.


Letting Go of What Doesnt Work for Juvenile Probation, Embracing What Does

Letting Go of What Doesn’t Work for Juvenile Probation, Embracing What Does

John A. Tuell and Kari L. Harp, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, June 2016

In a best practice methodology, juvenile probation combines monitoring and oversight for compliance with the court ordered conditions and targeted responses to priority areas of youth and family behaviors that promote positive behavior change. In this approach, juvenile probation serves to ameliorate the risk for re-offending thereby improving public safety, while simultaneously increasing the chances that youth will develop improved cognitive behavioral skills and abilities that will interrupt their trajectory into adult criminality. The Robert F. Kennedy National Center for Juvenile Justice has made juvenile probation self-assessment in partnership with state and local jurisdictions an organizational priority. This column, published in the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange in June 2016, details the key components of the system review process and the key tenets and practices that comprise a probation and juvenile justice system truly aligned with those approaches that improve youth and system outcomes.


Probation Review Implementation How Best Practices Meet Everyday Practices RFKNRCJJ

Probation Review Implementation: How Best Practices Meet Everyday Practices

Dr. John S. Ryals, Jr., Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Actions Corps, 2013

Probation Review Implementation: How Best Practices Meet Everyday Practices serves as a companion guide to the Probation Review Guidebook (2011) and reports on the implementation of recommendations developed during the probation review process in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. Efforts in Jefferson Parish resulted in substantial improvements in nearly every aspect of the Probation Department activities, including reduced recidivism, reduced rates of detention, reduced probation caseloads, and increased savings. This report details the successes and challenges of the implementation process and serves as a valuable tool for jurisdictions interested in improving their ability to change lives and protect the community.


Sustaining the Momentum of Probation System Reform in Jefferson Parish Cover

Sustaining the Momentum of Probation System Reform in Jefferson Parish

Dr. John S. Ryals, Jr., Robert F. Kennedy National Resource Center for Juvenile Justice, 2015

As juvenile justice reform continues to spread across the United States, many probation departments are wary about investing scarce resources on reforms that may be short lived. Their reluctance is reasonable considering the plethora of programs in the past several decades that have been “innovative” and “effective,” but have little proof of long-term impacts. However, the Probation System Review process led by the Robert F. Kennedy National Resource Center for Juvenile Justice has built on lessons of the past to enhance programs, practices, and policies to demonstrate long-term impacts on key goals of juvenile probation systems – reducing costs, protecting the community, and improving youth outcomes. The new Practice Brief by John S. Ryals, Jr., highlights the most recent results of ongoing tracking of the impact of reforms undertaken in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, and the key principles of sustainability that have contributed to the continued success of the Parish’s reforms.