INSPIRE
International Research and Developments
Sarah S. Pearson and Sonia Jurich, Youth Court: A Community Solution for Embracing At-Risk Youth, 2005
Youth Court is a rapidly expanding alternative to the juvenile justice system for young people in the United States of America who have committed non-violent offenses. It has grown from 78 programs in 1994 to 1,035 in March 2005. Youth volunteers, under the supervision of adult volunteers, work as bailiffs, clerks, jury and judges, questioning the offender, debating and imposing sentences. The program’s goal is to intervene in early antisocial, delinquent, and criminal behaviors to reduce incidents and prevent the escalation of such behaviors.
The American Youth Policy Forum, with support from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the National Youth Court Center, managed by the American Probation and Parole Association, conducted a nationwide review of youth court programs between November 2004 and January 2005. A total of 365 youth court coordinators from across the United States participated in the study. This report reflects the study findings. The report’s goal is to provide policymakers and the public with an overview of youth court programs, their characteristics and benefits.
This report can be found at: http://www.aypf.org/publications/ or in pdf format at: http://www.aypf.org/publications/Youth%20Court%20-%20A%20Community%20Solution.pdf
Audit Commission, Youth Justice 2004: A Review of the Reformed Youth Justice System
The youth justice system in England and Wales has recently undergone a radical overhaul. In this report, the Audit Commission traces what has happened since Misspent Youth was published in 1996 and take stock of the new reforms and the difference they have made. It identifies what seems to be working well and what needs to be done now to build on the reforms and make them work better. As part of the study, the commission we spoke to many people, from practitioners, to young people and parents who experience them first hand. This report outlines what the commission discovered.
This report can be found at: http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/reports/product_list.asp?CategoryID=&prodType=AC-REPORTS&PageGroups=10 or pdf format at: http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/Products/NATIONAL-REPORT/7C75C6C3-DFAE-472d-A820-262DD49580BF/Youth%20Justice_report_web.pdf
Howard N. Snyder & Melissa Sickmund, Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 2006 National Report, March 2006
This report draws on reliable data and relevant research to provide a comprehensive and insightful view of juvenile crime across the United States of America. It offers Congress, state legislators and other state and local policymakers, professors and teachers, juvenile justice professionals, and concerned citizens empirically based answers to frequently asked questions about the nature of juvenile crime and victimization and about the justice system’s response.
Citing FBI and other data sources, the Report demonstrates that the rate of juvenile violent crime arrests has consistently decreased since 1994, falling to a level not seen since at least the 1970s. However, during this period of overall decline in juvenile violence, the female proportion of juvenile violent crime arrests has increased (especially for the crime of assault), marking an important change in the types of youth entering the juvenile justice system and in their programming needs. The Report also describes when and where juvenile violent crime occurs, focusing attention on the critical after-school hours.
This report can be found at: http://ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/ojstatbb/ or in pdf format at: http://ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/ojstatbb/nr2006/downloads/NR2006.pdf
Elizabeth Whiting and Lucy Cuppleditch, Re-offending of juveniles: Results from the 2004 cohort, June 2006
This report analyses the one-year re-offending rates of juveniles in England and Wales (those aged 10 to 17 at date of sanction or on release from custody). It covers offenders who received pre-court disposals, non-custodial court disposals and those who were released from custody in the first quarter of 2004 (the 2004 cohort). As just over half of juveniles are dealt with by way of pre-court disposals, sampling on convictions alone would undercount their offending and re-offending.
Pre-court disposals include cautions, reprimands and final warnings. In 2000 juvenile offenders could be given a caution, but by 2004 cautions had been replaced with reprimands and final warnings. It is not possible to distinguish between the different types of pre-court disposal on the Home Office Police National Computer (HOPNC).
The report shows two types of re-offending:
- actual re-offending rates: the percentage of offenders who re-offended during a one year follow-up period and subsequently received a pre-court disposal or were convicted in court; and
- predicted re-offending rates: the estimated percentage of offenders who will re-offend, after changes in offender characteristics over time have been controlled for.
This report can be found at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/youthjustice1.html or in pdf format at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs06/hosb1006.pdf
Gabrielle Maxwell, Venezia Kingi, Jeremy Robertson, Allison Morris, Chris Cunningham, Achieving Effective Outcomes in Youth Justice - Feb 2004
The purpose of this research was to identify factors associated with effective outcomes in the youth justice system and to assess the extent to which the goals of the Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989 were being met. Key factors examined include: the professional practice of the co-ordinator and other members of the youth justice team; the management practice of the Department of Child, Youth and Families Services (CYF) office, including resourcing, training and procedures; the family group conference process and outcomes; other criminal justice events including diversionary and Youth Court experiences; the provision of services after the conference; the previous history of the young person; and their experiences after the family group conference.
This report can be found at: http://www.msd.govt.nz/work-areas/social-research/children-young-people/achieving-effective-outcomes-youth-justice.html
Other languages