NCJ Number
243463
Date Published
April 2012
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This briefing paper examines the Sierra Health Foundation's Youth Justice Initiative.
Abstract
This briefing paper examines the Sierra Health Foundation's Positive Youth Justice Initiative for the juvenile justice system in California. The initiative was proposed in January 2011 following a proposal from the State government to change its management approach to juvenile criminal/delinquent behavior. The Positive Youth Justice Initiative as developed by the Sierra Health Foundation contains four main design elements, each of which is described in this briefing paper. The first design element shifts the juvenile justice field towards a positive youth development framework. The second design element focuses on identifying and treating children involved in the juvenile and criminal justice systems with trauma-informed, gender-responsive care. The third design element involves inclusion of a wraparound process for services for juveniles and their families involved with the juvenile justice system to enable them to become more productive members of the community. The fourth design element deals with improvements to the operational capacity of the juvenile justice system. These improvements are aimed at participating counties to assist their efforts at designing and implementing a uniform data collection and reporting system, developing and implementing validated screening and assessment tools, and promoting cultural changes within juvenile justice systems throughout the State.