Research and Evaluation Center Jeffrey A. Butts John Jay College of Criminal Justice City University of New York American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting Chicago, IL November 16, 2012 Positive What? Reframing the Goals of Juvenile Justice Interventions

Research and Evaluation Center 2 Juvenile Crime Decline? Serious, violent youth crime continues to fall.

Research and Evaluation Center 3 Juvenile Crime Decline? Violent youth crime continues to account for a very small portion of all arrests.

Research and Evaluation Center 4 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?

Research and Evaluation Center 5 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

Research and Evaluation Center 6 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

Research and Evaluation Center 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. 7

Research and Evaluation Center 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 PYD 8

Research and Evaluation Center 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 9

Research and Evaluation Center Community Network for Youth Development San 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 Development Tufts University 10

Research and Evaluation Center 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.

Research and Evaluation Center 12 PYJ Model: Positive Youth Justice ASSETS Learning/DoingAttaching/Belonging Work  Activities  Outcomes  Activities  Outcomes Education  Activities  Outcomes  Activities  Outcomes DOMAINSRelationships  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 Justice City University of New York