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Prevention
and Early Intervention
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The
Commission's Office of Local Programs and Services brings
together several offices that support the development
and enhancement of a local continuum of care which complements
the programs offered by the Commission. |
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Based
on the philosophy that communities have a unique understanding
of their local youth populations, the Commission administers
several funding initiatives and state-level services
that encourage the development and enhancement of a
continuum of community-based services and sanctions,
from prevention programs to sentencing options for at-risk,
court-involved and delinquent youth. |
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The
Office is responsible for four funding areas including
the State/Community Partnership Grant Program, the State
Incentive Program, federal funding through the Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention Program, and Juvenile
Accountability Block Grant Program. The Office also
includes the Grant Management Unit, Court Liaisons,
and the Juvenile Detention Monitoring Unit. |
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Juvenile
Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) |
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Through
its grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the New
Jersey Juvenile Justice Commission is the lead agency
responsible for the replication of the national Juvenile
Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI). The Initiative
was created by the Annie E. Casey Foundation over ten
years ago, and has as its overall goal to reduce the
unnecessary and inappropriate use of detention while
maintaining public safety and court appearance rates.
In April 2004, New Jersey became an official replication
site and is awarded $200,000 annually by the Foundation.
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The
Juvenile Justice Commission leads this Initiative in
partnership with a State Steering Committee whose membership
includes representation from the Attorney General's
Office (including Police and Prosecutors), the Judiciary
(including Administration, Judges and Probation), the
Department of Children and Families, the Public Defenders
Office, the Office of the Child Advocate, the Department
of Education, County Administration Representatives,
County Youth Services Commission Representatives, the
New Jersey Juvenile Detention Association, the Governor's
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Committee
and the Institute for Social Justice. In addition, each
county operates its own local leadership through the
JDAI County Steering Committees. |
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New
Jersey's Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative
was initially piloted in five counties: Atlantic, Camden,
Essex, Hudson and Monmouth. The Juvenile Justice Commission
has documented the overall impact of JDAI as a statewide
initiative by reporting annual trends in key indicators
of detention utilization, including admissions, length
of stay, and average daily population, the overrepresentation
of minority youth in detention, and detention alternative
program utilization. |
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The
Juvenile Justice Commission and its partners are currently
expanding the initiative to an additional five counties:
Bergen, Burlington, Mercer, Ocean and Union. |
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The
2006 JDAI Annual Data Report highlights the following
impacts of JDAI collectively in the five pilot counties:
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- On
any given day in 2006, across JDAI sites there
were 215 fewer youth in detention centers
than in 2003 (the year prior to NJ's participation
in JDAI), a decrease of -43%.
- Youth
of color account for 93% of this reduction,
with 199 fewer youth of color in secure detention
on any given day.
- The
average daily population of girls in detention
decreased dramatically across JDAI sites between
2003 and 2006, dropping by –61.6%, with
31 fewer girls in detention on any given day.
- Across
JDAI sites, mean length of stay in detention
decreased by -31.6%. On average, in 2006 youth
remained in detention 10 days less than they
did in 2003.
- Disparity
in length of stay has been reduced so that
across JDAI sites, minority youth no longer
remain in detention an average of twice as
long as white youth. In 2003, minority youth
remained in detention an average of 16.6 days
longer than white youth; by 2006, this disparity
had been reduced to 5.2 days.
- Across
JDAI sites, in 2006 over twelve hundred (1,236)
fewer youth were admitted to detention facilities
than in 2003. Importantly, the proportion
of youth admitted for new delinquency charges
has increased, thus much of the drop in admissions
can be attributed to fewer youth admitted
for violations/non-delinquency matters.
- Across
JDAI sites, the vast majority of youth are
released from detention alternatives following
successful completion. The proportion of youth
discharged as the result of a new charge is
very small, less than 10% across sites in
2006.
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JDAI
Annual Data Report - 2006 (21mb
pdf)
plug-in |
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JDAI
Site Results Report - Sept. 2006
(145k pdf) |
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Youth
Services Commissions |
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The
development and enhancement of a local community-based
continuum is achieved through a cooperative effort between
the state and its 21 counties through county youth services
commissions. The county youth services commissions were
established to examine the individual and unique needs
of youth in their communities and to develop programs
and sentencing options for their youth. |
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Experience
and research has demonstrated the value of responding
to the problems of youth within their own communities.
Local development of correctional programs for appropriate
youth can be more effective and less costly than placement
of youth in State administered programs. |
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State/Community
Partnership |
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The
State/Community Partnership Program provides fiscal
incentives for county and local governments to establish
prevention, intervention and aftercare services that
address the root causes of delinquency. Each year, the
Commission awards approximately $10 million in such
block grants. More than 4,500 young people participated
in one or more of the 224 partnership programs available
throughout the state in 1999. |
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Juvenile
Accountability Block Grants (JABG) |
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Juvenile
Accountability Block Grants (JABG) afford both county
and municipal level governments the opportunity to hold
juveniles increasingly accountable for delinquent behaviors
through Juvenile Crime Enforcement Coalitions (JCECs)
and the allocation of funding across priority purpose
areas. Additionally, the State maintains a share of
JABG funding for Information Technology improvements
and the provision of substance abuse assessment services.
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State
Incentive Program |
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The
development of the State Incentive Program (SIP) is
a key component of the Juvenile Justice Commission's
Master Plan to improve New Jersey's juvenile justice
system. |
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In
tandem with the existing State/Community Partnership
Grant Program, the State Incentive Program supports
counties in their program planning and development efforts.
It further enhances the county's ability to develop,
at the local level, a continuum of effective sanctions
and services for juvenile offenders. This desired continuum
of options includes both efforts to prevent youth from
becoming delinquent and to respond in the most effective
way to a wide array of delinquent youth. |
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These
sentencing options provide judges with more choices,
thus helping ensure that the disposition best fits the
offender and the offense. The 1983 Juvenile Justice
Code allows judges to utilize a wide array of dispositions
for youth. Despite that ability, available programs
of sanctions and services to match that array of dispositions
have been slow to develop. One result of this limited
availability is that youth are often placed in State
facilities when use of local facilities and programs
would be more appropriate and effective. It is important
to note that, parallel with the implementation of the
State Incentive Program, the Commission is substantially
increasing its institutional and non-institutional bed
capacity with the goals of addressing existing bed shortages
and enhancing overall Commission programming. |
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Program
Development & Prevention Services Office |
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The
primary responsibility of the Program Development
& Prevention Services Office (PD&PS) is
to oversee federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention (JJDP) funded programs totaling $3.5
million and to staff the state level JJDP Committee,
chaired by Judge B. Thomas Leahy. In addition,
the Office is responsible for state level compliance
monitoring of the core requirements of the JJDP
Act, notably that youthful offenders not have
sight or sound contact with adult offenders, that
juvenile non-offenders or status offenders (runaways,
truants, etc.) not be kept in a secure setting
and that delinquent juveniles not be detained
in any adult jail or lockup. |
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The
Office also ensures that the Juvenile Justice
Commission develops a plan to address the overrepresentation
of minority youth in the juvenile justice system.
Currently, the JJC is in the assessment phase
of this process. |
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Federal
Grants |
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View
Grants |
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Annually,
the State of New Jersey, through the Department of Law
& Public Safety - Juvenile Justice Commission, receives
a Title IIB Formula Grant, a Title IIE Challenge Grant,
a Title V Delinquency Prevention Grant and a Juvenile
Accountability Incentive Block Grant (JAIBG) award from
the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
(OJJDP) in Washington, DC. |
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67%
of the Title IIB Formula Grant must be spent on community-based
projects while the remaining 33% may be spent on state
level initiatives in accordance with the program areas
listed in the State's Three Year Comprehensive Plan.
Currently, the JJC allocates Title IIB Funding for compliance
monitoring, disproportionate minority confinement, serious
crime, innovative local law enforcement programs and
systems improvements. |
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Title
IIE Challenge Grant funding allows the State broad discretion
in targeting spending for special populations or projects.
Recent grants have been awarded to institute a detention
reform project and to develop a gender specific model
program. |
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Title
V Risk Focused Delinquency Prevention Program Grant
provides local communities with funding to develop primary
prevention programs based upon identified problem behaviors
and priority risk factors. |
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Along
with the State Community Partnership and the State Incentive
Programs, the grants administered through this office
provide for a community-based continuum of sanctions
and services for juvenile offenders and those at-risk
of offending. |
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Court
Liaisons |
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The
Juvenile Justice Commission Court Liaisons act as the
bridge between the Family Court and the Juvenile Justice
Commission. In this role, Court Liaisons are responsible
for diverting juveniles from the Juvenile Justice Commission
to community-based programs when deemed appropriate
by the courts. When local diversion is not appropriate,
Court Liaisons will seek placement in a JJC residential
group center, the New Jersey Training School or a contracted
bed. |
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Court
Liaisons are involved in all aspects of the juvenile
justice system. Additional responsibilities include:
coordinating juvenile justice system issues with counties,
representing the JJC on County Youth Services Commissions,
and supporting the JJC's continuum of care not only
through coordinating initial placement, but also by
working with aftercare to ensure that youth returning
to their communities are properly supported. |
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Grants
Management Office |
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The
Commission's Grants Management Office is responsible
for seeking grant funds that address the needs of the
juveniles under the Commission's jurisdiction and support
the Commission's mission. The Grants Management Office
researches funding sources and reviews grant announcements
to identify those that coincide with the needs of the
Commission not supported by the state budget. Funds
are sought via proposal/budget development and submission
for a variety of initiatives inclusive of staff training,
education programs, workforce development programs,
parenting programs, mentoring programs, substance abuse
education and residential treatment, restorative justice
projects, transitional programs, aftercare step-up programs,
mental health programs, sex offender programs, bullet
proof vests, drug testing and capital projects. The
Grants Management Office in conjunction with the Education,
Operations and Fiscal Offices, monitors program implementation
/operations and expenditures. |
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Juvenile
Detention Compliance Monitoring Unit |
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The
Juvenile Detention Compliance Monitoring Unit conducts
programmatic and physical facility inspections on the
17 county-operated detention facilities to ensure compliance
with the Manual of Standards for Juvenile Detention
Facilities (N.J.A.C. 13:92). In addition, the Unit approves
all juvenile detention construction projects, including
new and renovation projects. The Unit also responds
to problems and investigates major incidents occurring
within juvenile detention facilities to ensure all areas
of concern are addressed. Finally, the Unit provides
technical assistance to juvenile detention facility
staff and administrators regarding physical plant, security,
suicide and operation issues. |
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