Juvenile Justice Reform in New York State

This article describes the work at the Division of Criminal Justice Services of New York State, in collaboration with other state partners, integrating developments in neuroscience, in particularly the understanding of the adolescent brain, into practical, well informed changes to the juvenile justice system in New York State. The process started in earnest in 2010 with a statewide collective impact planning process that included data-driven analysis, extensive interviews with juvenile justice stakeholders, and an analysis of effective practices in New York State and across the nation. This process resulted in the implementation of action steps outlined in a strategic plan for juvenile justice reform entitled Safe Communities, Successful Youth: A Shared Vision for the New York State Juvenile Justice System, released in July 2011. Since that time, we have developed a sophisticated network of juvenile justice stakeholders to come together to work on implementing effective strategies to promote youth success and ensure public safety. Specifically, we have developed statewide metrics and county profiles that allow us to track 235 data points across the juvenile justice system over time so we can get a sense of system effectiveness and pinpoint potential areas of focus. We have also established nine Regional Youth Justice Teams across the State to bring system stakeholders together on a regional basis so that we can more effectively impact change based on the needs of different communities. Finally, we are excited that we will soon be launching a new best practices institute, which will help us to develop and share model interventions for our most vulnerable youth.