We are proud to announce a new partnership with the Arkansas Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), made possible by a grant award from the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. We congratulate the AOC for their competitive selection and their leadership to achieve statewide juvenile justice system reform that will result from this three-year grant.
Through the grant award, AOC will partner with the RFK National Resource Center, National Center for Juvenile Justice (NCJJ), and the Impact Center at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (Impact Center), to improve outcomes for system-involved youth in Arkansas by decreasing racial and ethnic disparities (RED) at all points of contact with the judicial system through use of validated screenings and assessments. AOC and their project partners will perform a comprehensive RED review at different points of contact in the juvenile system in five Arkansas counties. The AOC will work with these partners to analyze the juvenile system; identify strengths and opportunities for improvement; develop and implement evidence-based responses to address RED; measure response outcomes; and use those outcomes to inform policy changes.