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CJJ Annual National Conference & 25th Anniversary Celebration: "Unlocking the Future of Juvenile Justice"
May 2-5, 2009
Arlington, VA
The CJJ Annual National Conference and 25th Anniversary Celebration, “Unlocking the Future of Juvenile Justice,” was designed to: (1) showcase juvenile justice and delinquency prevention reform efforts that demonstrate alternatives to formal system involvement, out of home placement, detention and incarceration for delinquent youth and youth at risk of delinquency; and (2) engage participants in input sessions/discussions to explore ways to infuse youth development principles and practices into juvenile justice and delinquency prevention.
 Click here for the full conference program in PDF form.
Click here to view a 25th Anniversary Celebration photo album and program.
Individual Session Information and Handouts:
Joint Meeting: Ethnic and Cultural Diversity Committee and State DMC Coordinators
Presentation of Program FOCUS, a multi-service partnership involving the Milwaukee County Delinquency and Court Services Division, Milwaukee County Wraparound Program and St. Charles Youth & Family Services, that diverts youth from out-of-home placements. FOCUS has directly contributed to a reduction in the relative rate index (RRI) values for secure juvenile confinement for all minorities in Milwaukee County from 2.55 in 2005 to 0.82 in 2007.
Presenters: Lindsey D. Draper, State DMC Coordinator, Wisconsin; Catherine Connolly, President, St. Charles Youth & Family Services, Wisconsin; Eric Meaux, Director, Delinquency and Court Services Division, Milwaukee County Department of Health & Human Services, Wisconsin
 Click here for the PowerPoint presentation.
General Session: Changing the Way We Do Business: Lessons from Family-Focused Initiatives
A dynamic panel shared efforts by Family Justice to shift state juvenile justice agencies and their organizational cultures, policies and practices to embrace family engagement. The challenges and benefits of cultivating a family-focused, strengths-based culture within juvenile justice were addressed.
Presenters: Shay Bilchik, Center for Juvenile Justice Reform, Georgetown University, Washington, DC; Carol Shapiro, Founder and President, Family Justice, New York; Bernard E. Warner, Chief Deputy Secretary of Juvenile Justice, Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, California
Click here for the PowerPoint presentation.
Click here for Handout 1.
Click here for Handout 2
Concurrent Session: North Carolina Juvenile Justice Treatment Continuum: A Strength-Based, Integrated Service Platform for Juvenile Justice, Mental Health and Restorative Justice
The Juvenile Justice Treatment Curriculum (JJTC) is an expanding initiative in North Carolina’s court districts, which creates continuums of care for court-involved youth. The continuums target co-occurring mental health and substance abuse needs and emphasize collaboration among courts, restorative justice providers, mental health providers and community partners.
Presenters: David F. Hutchinson, Meridian Behavioral Health Services, North Carolina; Gordon Keath, CEO, Project Challenge, North Carolina; Patricia Long, System Development Program Coordinator, Meridian Behavioral Health Services, North Carolina; Chuck Mallonee, Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention – District 30, North Carolina; Shari Miller, Research Psychologist, RTI International, North Carolina; Joel Rosch, Senior Research Scholar, Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University, North Carolina
Click here for the PowerPoint presentation.
General Session: Infusing Positive Youth Development into Juvenile Justice Policy and Practice
Positive Youth Development (PYD) is a comprehensive way of thinking about the development of children and youth, and factors that facilitate their individual growth and successful transition to adulthood. The concepts and approaches of PYD enjoy broad support in the scientific community, as well as broad support among youth advocates and practitioners, more generally. However, PYD has not yet been thoroughly adopted by juvenile justice agencies and practitioners, nor infused into juvenile justice interventions. This session presented a framework to inspire PYD approaches in juvenile justice practice, coupled with an example of PYD in action in Roxbury, MA. Immediately afterwards, conference attendees participated in facilitated response and discussion groups.
Presenters: Jeffrey A. Butts, Executive Vice President for Research, Public/Private Ventures, Pennsylvania; Cecely A. Reardon, Supervising Attorney, Committee for Public Counsel Services, Youth Advocacy Project, and State Advisory Group Member, Massachusetts
Click here for Jeffrey A. Butts' PowerPoint presentation.
Click here for Cecely A. Reardon's PowerPoint presentation.
Concurrent Session: Reducing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Berks County (PA)
Berks County (PA), like many jurisdictions across the United States, has experienced rapid demographic change in recent years. Concerns about overrepresentation of youth of color in out-of-home detention and placement led the county to embark on a project, supported by the MacArthur Foundation’s Models for Change initiative, to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system. This session presented the successful data-driven strategies that Berks County has used to reduce detention and placement of youth of color.
Presenters: Jeffrey Grego, Assistant Chief, Berks County Juvenile Probation Office, Pennsylvania; Joseph A. Guillama, Site Coordinator, Berks County Racial and Ethnic Disparities Reduction Project, Pennsylvania; Laurie A. Hague, Assistant Chief, Berks County Juvenile Probation Office, Pennsylvania; Dana Shoenberg, Senior Staff Attorney, Center for Children’s Law and Policy, Washington, DC
Click here for the PowerPoint presentation.
Concurrent Session: Youth Advocacy Project: Applying a Youth Developmental Approach to Delinquency Prevention
Building on principles of Positive Youth Development, this session highlighted ways that such an approach has been incorporated into legal representation of children and youth charged with delinquency offenses, and presented a framework for how juvenile defenders, as well as other stakeholders in the juvenile justice system, can incorporate such principles into their work.
Presenter: Cecely A. Reardon, Supervising Attornery, Committee for Public Counsel Services Youth Advocacy Project, and State Advisory Group Member, Massachusetts
Click here for the PowerPoint presentation.
Concurrent Session: New York City Detention Reform
New York City, with support from the Vera Institute of Justice, has developed an empirically-based detention risk assessment instrument and implemented a continuum of community-based detention alternatives. This session described the data-driven reform efforts to date, discussed how the initiative can inform other jurisdictions and highlighted the recent work of a local youth-led justice board that has made recommendations about the reform process.
Presenters: Dory Hack, Deputy Director, Center for Courts and the Community, New York; Annie Salsich, Director, Vera Institute’s Center for Youth Justice, New York; Joseph, Youth Justice Board Member, New York
Click here for the PowerPoint presentation.
Concurrent Session: Effective Transitions through Systems of Care: Collaborative Community Supports to Build Success for System-Involved Youth
System-involved youth face myriad challenges as they leave institutional care and re-enter family, school and community life. Lack of collaboration between the juvenile justice system and other community child-serving and family-serving systems may disrupt or prevent continuity of care and support. Yet, systems of care offer a re-entry framework that provides collaborative community supports and produces positive outcomes for youth and families.
Presenters: Simon Gonsoulin, Director, National Evaluation and TA Center for Education of Children and Youth who are Neglected, Delinquent or At-Risk, American Institutes for Research, Washington, DC; Nicholas Read, Technical Assistance Liaison, National Evaluation & TA Center for the Education of Children and Youth Who are Neglected, Delinquent or At-Risk, American Institutes for Research, Washington, DC; Reyhan Reid, Youth Involvement Resource Specialist, Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health, American Institutes for Research, Washington, DC
Click here for the PowerPoint presentation.
Concurrent Session: California's Multi-Faceted Approach to DMC Reduction
California’s approach to addressing disproportionate minority contact (DMC) demonstrates how a state with an enormous and highly diverse youth population has crafted a leadership approach and invested funds in effective efforts to reduce racial/ethnic disparities. The state’s approach, which encompasses direct service, education and support/advocacy, locally and at the state level, was presented. This session also emphasized replication in other jurisdictions with varied demographics and politics.
Presenters: James Bell, Founder and Executive Director, W. Haywood Burns Institute, California; Sandy Keaton, Senior Researcher, Criminal Justice Division, San Diego Association of Governments, California; Sandra McBrayer, State Advisory Group Member, DMC Committee Chair, and Chief Executive Officer, Children’s Initiative, California
Click here for the PowerPoint presentation.
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