PRINCETON
- The New Jersey Juvenile Justice Commission
(JJC) will host its 4th annual Juvenile
Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI)
All Sites conference on June 26 & 27,
2008 at the Hyatt Regency New Brunswick.
Over 300 people are registered to attend.
Reporters are invited to attend the Thursday,
June 26 morning from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00
a.m. Presentations will be made by Veleria
N. Lawson, Executive Director, Juvenile
Justice Commission; Attorney General Anne
Milgram: Honorable Philip Carchman, Acting
Administrative Director of the Courts; Honorable
Stuart Rabner, Chief Justice, New Jersey
Supreme Court; and Keynote speaker James
Bell, Executive Director, W. Haywood Burns
Institute.
The purpose of the conference is to provide
an opportunity for New Jersey JDAI members
to share information on their successes,
obtain information on national experiences
in implementing JDAI, and learn more about
the JDAI core strategies and philosophy.
The faculty is made up of local and state
leaders involved in the implementation of
JDAI as well as national experts. Members
of each County JDAI Steering Committee,
as well as State Steering Committee members,
will be in attendance. The conference is
made possible through a grant from the Annie
E. Casey Foundation.
JDAI
has resulted in lowering the average daily
population of youth in secure detention
from the participating sites, as well as
increased accountability and consistency
within the juvenile justice system. Still,
while New Jersey has experienced significant
improvements in the detention population,
it continues to experience racial disparity
in juvenile detention centers.
This
year’s keynote address will be given
by James Bell, Executive Director of the
W. Haywood Burns Institute. Through the
efforts of JDAI, New Jersey will be working
with the Burns Institute to create enhanced
strategies for not only continuing to reduce
the overall number of youth of color in
custody, but also on positively impacting
on racial disparity.
“If we are to truly serve our young
people, we need to be accountable for every
decision that is made and we need to have
a system that is consistent. Those ideals
are at the heart of JDAI,” said Attorney
General Anne Milgram. “A child’s
placement should not depend on whether he
or she comes from a New Jersey suburb or
one of our urban centers. It should not
depend on whether the youth is a girl or
a boy. And it should not depend on whether
a young person is white or is a minority.
We have seen many successes since the implementation
of JDAI in 2004, and yet we still have challenges
to overcome.”
JDAI
sites have made significant reductions in
admissions and length of stay, which positively
impacted on the number of minority youth
in secure detention. Comparing 2003 to 2007,
on any given day in the initial sites, Atlantic,
Camden, Essex, Hudson and Monmouth, there
were 211 fewer youth in detention. Of these,
on any day there were 189 fewer youth of
color in detention, a 40.7 percent reduction.
The
number of minority youth in detention in
the original sites has been cut in half
since 2003 in Camden (50.1 percent) and
in Essex (47.5 percent). In New Jersey’s
newest JDAI sites, Bergen, Burlington, Mercer,
Ocean and Union, there were 21 fewer kids
in detention on any given day in 2007, as
compared to 2005, the year prior to these
sites joining JDAI. The overall number of
minority youth in these sites dropped by
11.8 percent over the same time period.
The initiative has also leveled the playing
field in JDAI sites in regard to length
of stay in detention. Bringing minority
and non-minority youth significantly closer
in terms of average stays than prior to
the implementation of JDAI.
JDAI,
a joint initiative of the New Jersey Judiciary,
the JJC and numerous state and county agencies,
is safely reducing the unnecessary use of
secure detention for New Jersey’s
youth. In April 2004, New Jersey was selected
as an official replication site for the
Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Juvenile
Detention Alternatives Initiative and awarded
$200,000 by the foundation. As the lead
agency, the JJC worked in partnership with
the Judiciary and other state and local
agencies to create a state steering committee
to guide the initiative statewide. Each
participating county also has a local steering
committee that relies on collaboration,
leadership, and data to make improvements
in the county juvenile detention system.
JDAI
is currently implemented in 10 of the 17
counties operating juvenile detention centers
including, Atlantic, Camden, Essex, Hudson,
Monmouth, Bergen, Burlington, Mercer, Ocean
and Union. It is expected to expand to all
counties operating detention centers by
2010.
“Due
to the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative,
New Jersey has experienced significant success
in reducing the number of juveniles inappropriately
placed in county detention centers in the
counties participating in JDAI,” said
Veleria N. Lawson, Executive Director, Juvenile
Justice Commission. “The conference
is meant to draw all key leaders working
on the JDAI in New Jersey together to share
accomplishments and discuss further improvements.
By working together, we will continue to
examine and improve our juvenile justice
system.”
Juvenile detention is a temporary placement
of a youth accused of a delinquent act,
while awaiting the final outcome of his
or her case in court. The purpose of detention
is to house youths who, by virtue of alleged
offenses or documented prior histories,
pose a serious public safety or flight risk.
A
primary goal of JDAI is to make sure that
secure detention is in fact used only for
this purpose – to ensure serious and
chronic youthful offenders are detained,
and that effective alternatives are available
for other youth who can be safely supervised
in the community while awaiting final court
disposition. The initiative provides a framework
of strategies that help reduce the inappropriate
use of secure juvenile detention, while
maintaining public safety and court appearance
rates. A major focus of the work is reducing
the disparate use of detention for minority
youth.
More information on New Jersey’s JDAI
can be found at www.njjjc.com/publications.htm.
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