Associate Attorney General Tony West (left) and OJJDP Administrator Robert L. Listenbee at the July 28, 2014, meeting of the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

At the July 28, 2014, meeting of the OJJDP-administered Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, council members and invited experts addressed OJJDP’s juvenile reentry strategic plan and activities; research findings on reducing recidivism and improving other youth outcomes; and federal, state, and community activities promoting the successful transition of youth reentering their communities following system supervision. The meeting also featured a special segment offering the perspectives of young adults with firsthand experience in the juvenile justice system. (See “Young Adults Share Their Insights on Reentry.”)

Welcoming remarks at the meeting were offered by Associate Attorney General Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs Karol V. Mason, and Deputy Assistant to the President for Urban Affairs, Justice, and Opportunity Roy Austin. Discussants included Michael Thompson, Director of the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center; Laurie Garduque, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s Director of Justice Reform; officials from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the Corporation for National and Community Service, and the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Labor, Agriculture, and Housing and Urban Development; and council practitioner members Chief Justice Maura Corrigan, Judge Trina Thompson, and Judge Gordon Martin.

OJJDP Administrator Robert L. Listenbee, Vice Chair of the council, led the discussion by describing OJJDP’s priorities for positioning state and local governments to ensure that all youth in the juvenile justice system can successfully transition out of system supervision to a crime-free, productive adulthood. He said OJJDP is working to:

• Highlight what research says works to reduce recidivism and improve other key youth outcomes.
• Provide state and local governments with tools to assess whether policies and practices are in place that support improved outcomes.

• Promote efforts by states to track youth outcomes.
• Assist state and local governments in transforming their approach to youth transitions to focus on broad systems reform as well as discrete programs or practices.
• Examine what services and supervision youth are receiving—and what difference those investments are making—in states that have dramatically reduced the number of youth in confinement.
• Address gaps in knowledge about what works to reduce recidivism and improve other key youth outcomes.

The meeting also featured the release of the white paper Core Principles for Reducing Recidivism and Improving Other Outcomes for Youth in the Juvenile Justice System. The report synthesizes the research on what works to reduce recidivism for youth in the juvenile justice system and offers an integrated approach to improving outcomes for youth under system supervision. It was developed by the CSG Justice Center in collaboration with OJJDP and was supported by the MacArthur Foundation and the Bureau of Justice Assistance.

The white paper is accompanied by an issue brief, Measuring and Using Juvenile Recidivism Data to inform Policy, Practice and Resource Allocation, which reveals findings from a recent survey of the recidivism data collection practices of all 50 state juvenile correctional agencies. It offers recommendations for how jurisdictions can better collect and use recidivism data to inform policy, practice, and resource allocation.

Following the Coordinating Council meeting, Administrator Listenbee joined Ms. Garduque, Mr. Thompson, and Director of the Utah Division of Juvenile Justice Services Susan Burke to discuss the findings of the newly released reentry publications at a Capitol Hill briefing. U.S. Senators Chris Murphy (D–CT) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D–RI) also offered remarks. The hearing was sponsored by the CSG Justice Center and the National Reentry Resource Center, in partnership with the MacArthur Foundation.

Resources:

OJJDP is a member of the Federal Interagency Reentry Council, established by Attorney General Eric Holder in 2011. For more information about the council, visit the Web site of the Council of State Governments.

Information about OJJDP’s FY 2014 Second Chance Act Comprehensive Statewide Juvenile Reentry Systems Reform Planning Program and Second Chance Act Strengthening Relationships Between Young Fathers and Their Children: A Reentry Mentoring Project is available online.