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## Other Youth Topics

## Breadcrumb

            -  Youth Topics 
            -  American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) Youth 
            -           Juvenile Justice      

# Juvenile Justice

American Indian youth are over-represented in state and federal juvenile justice systems and Indian youth in the system are more likely to face harsher treatment in the most restrictive environments. AI/AN youth are 50 percent more likely than White youth to receive the most punitive measures, including pepper spray, restraint, isolation, out-of-home placement following adjudication, or a waiver to adult criminal court. Not only are AI/AN youth disproportionately represented in the juvenile justice system (with one 2008 study finding that tribal youth comprise 60 percent of the juvenile justice population), but they are also often held in long-term facilities far away from their tribal lands. 1

The violent crime rate among American Indians is twice that of the U.S national rate. Tribal communities are also afflicted by high rates of domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, alcohol use, and gang involvement. Given such factors, many tribal youth are exposed to multiple risk factors, which can contribute to delinquency. Native youth have very high rates of violent victimizations and exposure to violence. They are overrepresented in arrests for alcohol, drug offenses, and running away. They are also overrepresented in the most restrictive placements and interventions.2

While the violent crime rate for U.S. youth has steadily declined over the past few years, the rate of violent juvenile crime in tribal communities continues to grow. Risk factors for delinquency for the nearly two million American Indians and Alaska Natives who live on or near tribal lands are compounded by a lack of social services. Inadequate resources for their juvenile justice systems are a challenge for tribal communities, resulting in insufficient training of law enforcement and other justice personnel, and a shortage of programs that comprehensively combat juvenile delinquency through appropriate prevention, intervention, and sanction activities.3

Although there are few evidence-based programs that focus on AI/AN youth disparity issues,4 there have been some successful programs for improving their juvenile justice outcomes:

**Lower Brule Sioux Tribe’s Talking Circles**

The Lower Brule Sioux Tribe in South Dakota began their Talking Circles program in 2011 as a part of the girls’ juvenile probation as an alternative to detention. The program functions to connect the youth with positive role models and mentors from their community. Participating in Talking Circles allows the young women to discuss whatever they are thinking about (positive or negative), resolve conflict, and choose how to manage their circle. Participants in this program have been reported to have a decrease in suicide attempts, reduction in gang activity, improved school attendance, increase in graduation rates, and overall improved compliance with probation conditions. 5

**Village of Kake, Alaska’s Adult and Youth Circle Peacemaking**

The Kake Youth Circle Peacemaking group is an Alternative Dispute Resolution Group. The Alaska State Court System orders that minors consuming alcohol and youth who commit first-time offenses be diverted to the Kake Youth Circle Peacemaking group. Youth participants act as the facilitators while adults are often invited to participate, and support from the community is essential. The group’s success has been measured through Tribal member’s participation, the time taken to hear cases, and the restoration of relationships. There are additional circles held for follow-up cases and celebration circles for participants who have achieved milestones.6

Despite an overall lack of research examining best practices for juvenile justice with AI/AN youth, the following recommendations pose promising avenues towards improving AI/AN youth outcomes within the juvenile justice system and their rehabilitation after involvement with it:7
                      - Provide publicly funded legal representation to AI/AN youth who encounter the juvenile justice system. Doing so will mitigate instances of harm towards tribal youth and will better ensure their legal rights remain protected throughout their involvement with the system.
                      - Avoid punitive measures such as out-of-home placement and/or detention whenever possible (such measures may be necessary when the youth poses a danger to themselves or society). Based on the abundance of evidence on non-AI/AN youth outcomes when provided with diversion/delinquency prevention programming and when given the opportunity to avoid exposure to the justice system, the same emphasis on restoration, habilitation, and rehabilitation must be taken with tribal youth.
                      - Provide individually tailored and culturally relevant reentry services when detention is necessary.
                      - Provide trauma-informed, culturally appropriate screening, assessment, and care throughout the federal, state, and tribal justice systems so that AI/AN youth can effectively have their mental, emotional, and physical needs met in a manner that is not standardized for White and/or non-native youth.

## Resources

**Tribal Youth Programs and Services**This webpage provides brief summaries of programs and services geared towards Tribal youth to prevent victimization and juvenile delinquency, reduce violent crime, and improve juvenile justice systems.

**Building Culturally Relevant Youth Courts in Tribal Communities (PDF, 118 pages)**This resource draws on the ideas and expertise of many who work in youth courts throughout the United States, as well as on the experience of staff at the National Youth Court Center at the American Probation and Parole Association, who research and work with youth courts on a national level.

**Improving Outcomes for American Indian/Alaska Native People Returning to the Community from Incarceration: A Resource Guide for Service Providers****(PDF, 31 pages)**This resource guide for providers working with American Indian/Alaska Native people reentering their communities from incarceration, contains a compilation of federal resources, research, examples, and considerations for facilitating a successful reentry. Population-specific considerations are provided for youth, children, families, and more.

**Collaboration and Resource Sharing to Improve Services to Indian Youth**This webpage highlights successful resource sharing strategies that represents commitment to something larger than the single focused organizational goals and objectives and a shift to enter relationships with other agencies to achieve shared goals, visions and responses to mutual interest and obligations.

**Tribal Consultation Webinar**This webinar was conducted between 288 tribal leaders and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). Throughout the recorded event, the Tribal Consultation explored specific ways in which the OJJDP can better collaborate with and serve currently under-resourced tribal justice systems. The webinar focused on the Juvenile Justice Reform Act and its relevance and relation to tribes across the nation.

**Tribal Consultation Response****(PDF, 29 pages)**This report summarizes the findings discussed between the OJJDP and tribal representatives at the webinar as well as OJJDP’s actions and responses since the event.

**Minority Youth in the Juvenile Justice System, Disproportionate Minority Contact (PDF, 12 pages)**National Conference of State Legislatures Research by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency and the Center for Children’s Law and Policy suggests that youth who are members of racially/ethnically marginalized groups receive harsher treatment than their white counterparts at nearly every stage of the juvenile justice process.

***Youth Gangs in Indian Country* (PDF, 16 pages)**This resources describes the nature and makeup of youth gangs in Indian Country by drawing on research findings from a survey conducted by the National Youth Gang Center (NYGC).

## References

1 Developmental Services Group, Inc., 20162 Rolnick, Dorgan, Goldberg, Pouley, Keel, Whitener, & Davidson, 2014; Developmental Services Group, Inc., 2016; Hartney, 2008; Lindquist et al., 2014; Litt & Singleton, n. d.3 Litt & Singleton, n. d.4 Developmental Services Group, 20165 Jweied, 20146 Jweied, 20147 Developmental Services Group, Inc., 2016; Dorgan et al., 2014

## Other Resources on this Topic

### Agencies 

                          - Children's Bureau

### Announcements 

                          - Department of Justice Awards More Than $136 Million to Support Youth and Reform the Juvenile Justice System
                          - Free to Learn Initiative
                          - November is American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) Heritage Month
                          - OJJDP’s Fiscal Year 2021 Discretionary Awards Total Nearly $344 Million
                          - Report: Child Exploitation in Special Areas and Populations
                          - Report: Federal Policy to Advance Racial, Ethnic, and Tribal Health Equity
                          - Report: Healing Indigenous Lives: Native Youth Town Halls
                          - Report: Missing or Murdered Indigenous Women: New Efforts Are Underway Exist to Improve the Federal Response
                          - Report: Not One More: Findings and Recommendations of the Not Invisible Act Commission
                          - Report: Supporting Tribal Youth Attendance Achievement
                          - Resource: 2019 National Indian Education Study (NIES) Data Companion
                          - Resource: Advances in Supporting Kinship Caregivers – Part 3
                          - Resource: American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) Heritage Month Fun Facts
                          - Resource: AmeriCorps Equity Action Plan
                          - Resource: Choose AmeriCorps Public Service Announcement
                          - Resource: Core Youth Outcomes in Youth of Color
                          - Resource: Culturally Responsive Pathways to Peer Programming in Tribal Communities
                          - Resource: Engaging American Indian Children and Families
                          - Resource: Guide for Drafting or Revising Tribal Juvenile Delinquency and Status Offense Laws
                          - Resource: Healthy Native Youth
                          - Resource: Healthy Native Youth Community of Practice Sessions
                          - Resource: Healthy Native Youth Implementation Toolbox
                          - Resource: Healthy Native Youth Stand-Alone Lessons
                          - Resource: MyPlate Recipes for National Native American Heritage Month
                          - Resource: NCFY
                          - Resource: Preventing Suicide Requires a Comprehensive Approach
                          - Resource: Project Red Talent National Network At-Home HIV Tests
                          - Resource: Recruiting and Supporting Resource Families in Tribal Communities
                          - Resource: Seed Sisters 4 Part “Strong Roots” Series, Part 1
                          - Resource: Stories from the Field: The White Earth Nation
                          - Resource: Suicide Provisional Estimates
                          - Resource: Supporting Native Youth into Adulthood
                          - Resource: Talking is Power: Tools for Parents
                          - Resource: The Indian Child Welfare Act: A Primer for Child Welfare Professionals
                          - Resource: Toolkit for Implementing Authentic Youth Engagement Strategies Within State Advisory Groups
                          - Resource: Trauma-Informed Practice Strategies (TIPS) for Supporting Caregivers of Native Youth in Out-of-Home Care
                          - Resource: Trauma-Informed Practice Strategies to Support Indigenous Transition-Aged Youth
                          - Resource: Tribal Customary Adoption
                          - Resource: Vaccines for Children (VFC) Program
                          - Resource: What Does it Mean to be Two-Spirit?
                          - Resource: Working with American Indian Children and Families in Adoption
                          - Resources for American Indian and Alaska Natives (AI/AN)
                          - Share with Youth: Indian Boarding School Oral History Project
                          - Share with Youth: Next Legends
                          - Share with Youth: Public Health Associate Program (PHAP)
                          - Share with Youth: We Need You Here
                          - Toolkit: Celebrating our Magic: Resources for American Indian/Alaska Native Transgender and TwoSpirit Youth, Their Relatives and Families, and their Healthcare Providers
                          - Webinar Series: Community of Practice with Healthy Native Youth Part 2
                          - Webinar Series: Supporting Gender Diverse Indigenous Youth
                          - Webinar: Tribal Technical Advisory Committee Meeting
                          - Youth Voices Have Moved to YE4C

### Feature Articles 

                          - Just Launched! Redesigned YE4C
                          - Minnesota's Support Systems for Rural Homeless Youth Program
                          - National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month
                          - We R Native. Who R U?  Submit Your Story!

### Programs 

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                          - John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood

### Publications 

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### Resources 

                          - Resource: Healthy Native Youth

### Youth Topics 

                          - American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) Youth

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Youth who receive special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 2004) and especially young adults of transition age, should be involved in planning for life after high school as early as possible and no later than age 16. Transition services should stem from the individual youth’s needs and strengths, ensuring that planning takes into account his or her interests, preferences, and desires for the future.

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### Feature Articles

Just Launched! Redesigned YE4C

National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month

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### Publications

Native American Traditional Justice Practices

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