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Prevention
and Early Intervention |
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Juvenile
Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) |
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In
2004, the Annie E. Casey Foundation selected New Jersey
to be among the first states to replicate the nationally
recognized JDAI. JDAI was developed in response to national
trends reflecting a drastic increase in the use of secure
detention for juveniles despite decreases in juvenile
arrests, and the resulting overcrowding of youth detention
centers nationwide. In New Jersey, for example, between
1993 and 2002 juvenile arrests for “index”
offenses (i.e., the most serious offenses) decreased
by 44.8 percent and overall juvenile arrests decreased
by 24.7 percent. However, during the same 10-year period
average daily population in detention increased by 37.7
percent. These changes led to serious overcrowding in
New Jersey’s county-operated detention facilities.
In 1996, for example, New Jersey’s detention facilities
were operating at 166 percent of approved capacity.
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Juvenile
detention is the 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 their alleged offenses
or documented prior histories, pose a serious public
safety or flight risk. The goal of JDAI as a systems-change
initiative is to create more effective and efficient
processes surrounding the use of detention. A primary
goal of JDAI is to make sure that secure detention is
used for serious and chronic youthful offenders, and
that effective alternatives are available for other
youth who can be safely supervised in the community
while awaiting final court disposition. JDAI also works
to redirect resources toward successful reform strategies
and to improve conditions of confinement in detention
facilities for those youth who require this most secure
level of supervision. |
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JDAI 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. |
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Significant
cost-savings have been realized as the result of JDAI
in New Jersey. The excess space created by population
reductions has allowed several counties to close their
detention centers and house their youth in other counties’
facilities. These agreements resulted in millions of
dollars of cost savings for the sending counties and
substantial revenue increases for the receiving counties.
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The
JJC is the lead agency for JDAI in New Jersey, providing
the management and staffing infrastructure integral
to New Jersey’s success as a JDAI site. The JDAI
has earned the broad support of government at both the
state and local level, exemplifying the best of interagency
and intergovernmental collaboration. The Attorney General’s
Office and the New Jersey Judiciary have been instrumental
in developing and supporting JDAI. At the state level,
the New Jersey Council on Juvenile Justice System Improvement,
whose members are jointly appointed by the JJC Executive
Director and the Administrative Director of the New
Jersey Courts, oversees JDAI and considers statewide
policy and practice reforms. At the local level, County
Councils on Juvenile Justice System Improvement are
directly responsible for implementing local reform strategies.
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The
results achieved through these JDAI partnerships have
brought New Jersey national recognition. While nationally
JDAI is operational in more than 125 local jurisdictions
spanning 30 states, New Jersey is the only state to
be designated a national model for detention reform
by the Casey Foundation. This designation was bestowed
upon NJ in late 2008 as a result of the impressive outcomes
New Jersey has achieved since JDAI inception. New Jersey
receives funding from the Casey Foundation to support
JDAI, and to specifically conduct two-day working sessions
with delegations from other states interested in replicating
New Jersey’s JDAI success. To date, delegations
from seven states, including Arizona, Indiana, Massachusetts,
Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, and New Mexico, have participated
in New Jersey’s JDAI “Model Site”
Program. |
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The
JDAI Annual Data Reports listed here highlight
the impact of JDAI collectively in the active
sites.
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