Understanding Juvenile Reentry as More than a Public Safety Issue

1. Understanding Juvenile Reentry as More than a Public Safety Issue November 1, 2011 National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention Thomas Murphy Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Office of Justice Programs U.S. Department of Justice

2. Reentry Defined • Prepare out-of-home youth for reentry into specific families and communities • Establish the necessary arrangements & linkages with full range of public & private sector and individuals in the community that can address known risk & protective factors • Ensure the delivery of prescribed services and supervision in the community As this definition implies, both the residential facility and the community have a critical role to play in reentry.

3. OJJDP’s Investment in Juvenile Reentry (Aftercare) • Intensive Aftercare Program • Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Program • Juvenile Reentry and Family Strengthening • Tribal Detention Green Reentry Initiative • Second Chance Act • Multiple inter-agency projects with Department of Labor • Youth Demonstration Initiative • Civic Justice Corps

4. Strategies for Improving Youth Reentry – Intensive Aftercare Program • Evidence-based, research-driven treatment modalities • Structural characteristics and features for reentry delivery of services (Reentry Continuum) • Personnel/leadership/training issues • Case management framework (elements for informed decision making, continuity and consistency) • Requirement for multi-agency/systems collaboration

5. Intensive Aftercare Program (IAP) • Placement Phase – facility placement (confinement and pre-release planning) • Transitional Phase – transitional placement & transition to community aftercare (point of reentry) • Family & Community-Based Phase – community aftercare & off community aftercare (normalization) (balance of supervision, treatment & services)

6. Program Design Features

7. Structured Transition Phase Increasing Emphasis on Informal Mechanisms of Social Control by the Community Community Involvement* Decreasing Emphasis on Formal Mechanisms of Social Control by Juvenile Justice Termination of Formal Aftercare Status Point of Community Reentry The Decompression Processin Reentry *When community is referenced, it includes a network of community supports and most importantly, family.

8. Risk and Protective Factors: Seven Domains • Housing – family and other • Peer groups and friends • Mental, behavioral, and physical health • Substance abuse • Education • Workforce • Leisure time, recreation

9. Evidence-Based Building Blocks • Continuity of Care • Cognitive-Behavioral Approach • Staffing, training, and quality assurance • Overarching case management

10. Continuity of Care Components – each linked together in practice • Continuity of Control • Continuity in Range of Services • Continuity in Service & Program Content • Continuity of Social Environment • Continuity of Attachment

11. Cognitive-Behavioral Approach and Skill Building • Seeks to develop pro-social patterns of reasoning by maintaining focus on: • Managing anger and handling conflict pro-socially • Assuming personal responsibility • Taking an empathetic perspective • Solving problems & setting goals • Acquiring life skills

12. Leadership and Training • A key dimension of promising practices • Need to develop qualified trained staff who have the leadership and support at the highest levels of the organization • Cross-training among disciplines is useful • Direct service staff should work in teams

13. Five Components of Overarching Case Management – Bridging Residential and Reentry Services • Assessment and Classification • Individual Case Planning • Surveillance/Service Mix • Incentives and Consequences (Graduated Responses) • Brokerage and Linkages

14. Five Guiding Principles • Progressively increased responsibility and freedom in the community • Facilitating youth-community interaction • Working with both the offender and targeted community support systems • Developing new resources where needed • Monitoring & testing youth & community

15. Obstacles to Case Management • Inadequate funding • Institution based resources • Large case loads/Low staffing • Established work hours and habits • Poor supervision standards • Insufficient attention to pre-release issues • Distance • Organizational rigidity • Crisis-driven management

16. What do we Know about Juvenile Reentry • Psychological development is critical to understanding the reentry process for adolescents. • Must look at prior criminal involvement & lifestyles, education, mental health, and continuity & change in social relationships. • Employment, family structure are just as relevant

17. Federal Funding Opportunities for Reentry • Designated State Agencies & the Juvenile Justice Specialist • Title II – B – 35 program areas • Juvenile Accountability Block Grant – 17 purpose areas • Second Chance Act – demonstration, planning, and mentoring (OJJDP), Reentry Courts, & Co-occurring Disorders • Discretionary Funding – Green Reentry Initiative with Tribes

18. Second Chance Act • FY 2011 - $83 million total (17% decrease from FY 2010) • OJJDP awarded over $11 million in FY 2011 – Funded 32 new and continuation projects • Planning, Demonstration and Mentoring • BJA has additional solicitations for adult and juvenile focused reentry activities • Strong support to appropriate some level of funding in 2012

19. Working Groups • Federal Interagency Reentry Council • Staffing Working Group to Council • Juvenile Justice Sub-Committee to Council • Working Group of the Coordinating Council (sunset) • OJP Reentry Working Group • Reentry Core team in OJJDP

20. Resources • www.ojjdp.gov/mpg • www.crimesolutions.gov • www.findyouthinfo.gov • www.nc4yc.org • www.nationalreentryresourcecenter.org

21. Thank You! Thomas MurphyGrants Program Specialist/Second Chance Act Juvenile Lead202-353-8734thomas.murphy@usdoj.govwww.ojjdp.gov