On December 19, 2018, OJJDP hosted a public meeting of the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The meeting highlighted Bureau of Indian Affairs’ initiatives to support youth in Indian country and the Family and Youth Services Bureau’s programs to address runaway and homeless youth. The meeting also included reports on current juvenile justice-related activities by the Council’s member agency representatives and practitioner members.

Jesse Panuccio, Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General (center), Matt M. Dummermuth, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs (left), and Caren Harp, OJJDP Administrator, offered introductory remarks at the Coordinating Council meeting.

The urgent needs of youth in Indian country were the focus of a presentation by Jason Thompson, an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, a police officer, and Assistant Director of the Office of Justice Services (OJS) at the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs.

American Indian and Alaska Native youth are one of the most vulnerable populations in the nation; however, because they represent a small percentage of the juvenile population, their needs can “at times be overlooked,” Thompson said. Tribal youth experience high rates of poverty, substance abuse, school failure, and incarceration—problems that are often intergenerational. Thompson emphasized that youth incarceration is often ineffective at deterring delinquent behavior and helping youth to overcome these challenges. “I’m a police officer, and we are an enforcement agency. We enforce and incarcerate, but this painfully misses the mark. . . .One big takeaway is that there’s kids that have got to go to jail, but it shouldn’t be the norm,” he said.

I believe that we need to find a way to balance the public safety demands for accountability with the important rehabilitative mission of our juvenile justice system . . . . This is a Department of Justice that is committed to both.

—Matt M. Dummermuth
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General
Office of Justice Programs

Thompson described a range of OJS initiatives to support alternatives to detention and restorative justice practices, including the 2016 update of the Model Indian Juvenile Code, which favors restorative approaches that seek to maintain accountability and community safety while focusing on rehabilitation. OJS also funds tribal courts that offer restorative justice through “talking circles,” a traditional way for people in Indian country to resolve issues in a nonadversarial setting. In addition, the agency supports Healing to Wellness courts, which respond to the substance-related issues of tribal youth through a combination of intensive supervision, incentives and sanctions, and treatment and rehabilitation. OJS provides funds for training directed to the specific needs of tribal court personnel. Through evaluations and assessments, the office helps tribal courts identify existing problems and formulate strategies for improvement. In cases where incarceration is essential, OJS supports the provision of educational support, counseling, and mental health and behavioral health services while youth are in confinement.

Curtis Porter, Special Assistant to the Associate Commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Family and Youth Services Bureau, offered the second presentation. He described the work of the bureau’s Runaway and Homeless Youth Program (RHYP), which supports street outreach, emergency shelters, and longer term transitional living and maternity group home programs to serve and protect homeless youth.

Youth run away or become homeless for many reasons, including abuse, neglect, abandonment, or release from the juvenile justice system back into their communities without having stable housing arrangements. In addition, because runaway and homeless youth are at risk of becoming victims of sex trafficking to survive on the streets, RHYP sets a priority on building the capacity of grantees to address human trafficking. RHYP provides tailored resources and technical support to funded programs to identify, intervene, and provide services and referrals for youth who have been trafficked.

The Runaway Safeline [1–800–RUNAWAY] is a federally designated system to help runaway and homeless youth. It’s one of the best resources.

—Caren Harp
OJJDP Administrator

RHYP also supports the National Runaway Safeline, which provides, among other services, crisis intervention, information and referrals to community resources and support, free travel home where appropriate, and advocacy for youth to ensure they get support and guidance from authorities, school administrators, social service agencies, and medical and legal professionals.

The Coordinating Council meeting also included reports on juvenile-justice related programs by representatives of the following member agencies: the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Homeland Security, and Labor; the Corporation for National and Community Service; and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

In addition, the following practitioner members offered brief statements: Maura Corrigan, Director, Michigan Department of Human Services; Jacob Horowitz, Director, Public Safety Performance Project, The Pew Charitable Trusts; Jim St. Germain, Executive Director, Preparing Leaders of Tomorrow, Inc.; David A. Tapp, Judge, 28th Judicial Circuit of Kentucky; and William Thorn, Judge, Utah Court of Appeals.

Resource:

A summary and webcast of the meeting will be made available on the Coordinating Council’s website.