Research and Evaluation Center

Jeffrey A. ButtsJohn Jay College of Criminal JusticeCity University of New York

American Society of Criminology Annual MeetingChicago, ILNovember 16, 2012

Positive What? Reframing the Goals of Juvenile Justice Interventions

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Juvenile Crime Decline?

Serious, violent youth crime continues to fall.

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Juvenile Crime Decline?

Violent youth crime continues to account for a very small portion of all arrests.

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Juvenile Crime Decline?

Juvenile court caseloads have not declined as much as youth arrests.

Thus, court caseloads today are increasingly made up of less serious offenses.

What’s the plan?

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Effective Intervention Must Include

Dual Focus on: Risk Factors Protective

Factors

Parallel Efforts to: Generate Evidence of Impact Facilitate Successful Replication

Maximum Use of: Family Resources Community

Partners

Logic

Economics

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If our Goal is Effectiveness…When choosing interventions for youth in the

justice system, we must be AGNOSTIC -- open to new facts

Advocating one intervention over another based on turf, convenience, bias or financial interests is simply wrong

Central goal of intervention is to ensure community safety by changing youth behavior -- NOT merely to deliver a particular type of service or to ensure the financial stability of providers

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Grounded in Science of Adolescence

There are plenty of good reasons to believe that using the principles of adolescent development to frame interventions will help to reduce youth crime.

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How do we transform youth justice systems to focus on practical ways of attaching youth to assets and facilitating positive youth development?

Focusing Youth Justice on PYD8

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Positive Youth Development Strengths and assets Attachment, engagement, and socialization Usefulness and belonging Broad system of community-based supports Allow all youth to experience opportunities and activities that youth in wealthy communities take for granted:• Supportive

relationships• Rewards for work • Skill development• Success in learning

• Physical activity and sports• Music and the arts• Civic engagement• Community/political

involvement

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Community Network for Youth DevelopmentSan Francisco

Promising and Effective Practices National Youth Employment Coalition

40 Developmental Assets

Youth Development Framework

National Clearinghouse and Families & Youth

National Research Council

Institute for Applied Research in Youth DevelopmentTufts University

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Not Adapted for Y

outh Offenders

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2010 Report

Butts, Jeffrey A., Gordon Bazemore, and Aundra Saa Meroe (2010) 

Positive youth justice: Framing justice interventions using the concepts of positive youth development

Washington, DC: Coalition for Juvenile Justice.

www.juvjustice.org

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PYJ Model: Positive Youth Justice ASSETS

Learning/Doing Attaching/Belonging

Work Activities Outcomes

Activities Outcomes

Education Activities Outcomes

Activities Outcomes

DOMAINS Relationships

Activities Outcomes

Activities Outcomes

Community Activities Outcomes

Activities Outcomes

Health Activities Outcomes

Activities Outcomes

Creativity Activities Outcomes

Activities Outcomes

Research and Evaluation Center

Contact Information

Jeffrey A. Butts, Ph.D.Director, Research & Evaluation Center

John Jay College of Criminal JusticeCity University of New York

http://johnjayresearch.org/rec

jbutts@jjay.cuny.edu