JJ reform report

A report by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, Committee on Law and Justice identifies and prioritizes strategies and policies to effectively facilitate juvenile justice system reform, and recommends an implementation plan for the Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Deliquency Prevention (OJJDP). The MacArthur-supported report provides specific guidance to OJJDP regarding the steps that it could take to enable reform that is grounded in knowledge about adolescent development. It identifies seven hallmarks of a developmental approach to juvenile justice to guide system reform: accountability without criminalization, alternatives to justice system involvement, individualized response based on needs and risks, confinement only when necessary for public safety, genuine commitment to fairness, sensitivity to disparate treatment, and family engagement.