Youth Courts

This is an intervention designed to prevent future criminal activity among system-involved youth through using short-term, high-intensity relationships with paid mentors, referred to as Advocates. The program is rated Promising. Program participants showed statistically significant improvement in educational engagement and reductions in serious dispositions, compared with a comparison group.

This program was located at a secure-custody residential facility that provided educational and vocational training to moderate-risk male youth. The program is rated No Effects. Participants showed a statistically significant greater likelihood of obtaining a degree, compared with nonparticipants. However, there were no statistically significant differences in any arrest for any offense overall and felony arrest specifically, employment, time employed, or higher education enrollment.

Using comprehensive assessments, the program identified, provided, and coordinated individualized services for high-risk, drug-involved, justice-involved juveniles. This program is rated Effective. Results suggest that JBTC participants were significantly less likely to recidivate and had statistically significantly fewer arrests, compared with non-JBTC participants. However, the impact on self-reported drug use was mixed.

This is a problem-solving community court that seeks to prevent crime. One component of the program, the Family Court, hears juvenile delinquency cases involving youth aged 15 or younger, with the goal of responding to the specific needs of youth in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. The program was rated No Effects. The program had no significant effect on recidivism rates for juvenile defendants.

These court supervised, post-plea (but pre-final disposition) drug diversion programs provide comprehensive community-based treatment services to juveniles convicted of an offense and their families. The program is rated Promising. The program had a statistically significant impact on recidivism.

This is a diversion program for young persons. The primary goal of the program is to reduce the occurrence of juvenile crime by diverting youth from the traditional juvenile justice system and providing an alternative to formal processing. The program is rated Promising. Treatment group youth were statistically significantly less likely to reoffend, compared with control group youth.

This is an educational and job training program for economically disadvantaged youth. The program is rated Promising. Youth in Job Corps demonstrated a lower rate of future arrest, conviction, and incarceration, as well as a higher rate of employment, higher earnings, and longer time spent employed, compared with control group youth. These findings were statistically significant. However, there were no statistically significant differences in alcohol or illegal drug use.

This is a group-based intervention for moderate- and high-risk juvenile court youth in Washington State. The goal is to reduce recidivism rates by teaching anger control, moral reasoning, and social skills. The program is rated No Effects. One study found treatment group youth were statistically significantly more likely to recidivate, compared with the comparison group. Another study found no statistically significant differences in recidivism rates between the treatment and comparison groups.

This is a problem-oriented policing program that offered a collection of enforcement and non-enforcement strategies designed to reduce homicide in Richmond, Calif. The initiative combined traditional law enforcement practices with prevention and intervention efforts that involved partnerships with the community, other city agencies, and local schools. This program is rated Promising. There was a statistically significant reduction of homicides following the implementation of the initiative.