NJJEC Bulletin May 2015

The NJJEC Bulletin

NJJEC is a project of the 

Justice Research and 

Statistics Association 

funded by the Office of 

Juvenile Justice and 

Delinquency Prevention

(OJJDP). NJJEC’s purpose is 

to improve the evaluation 

capacity of states, localities, 

and tribes, and facilitate the 

use of evidence-based 

programs and practices in 

juvenile justice. The NJJEC 

Bulletin is disseminated 

directly to subscribers and 

posted on the NJJEC 

website, and provides 

information related to 

juvenile justice evaluation 

that is of interest to state, 

local, and tribal juvenile 

justice professionals. 

We welcome your 

participation! If you would 

like to submit an article, 

suggest a news item for the 

Bulletin, or ask a question 

about evaluation, email 

njjec@jrsa.org. For more 

information about the 

resources available through 

the National Juvenile Justice 

Evaluation Center, visit the 

NJJEC website. 

What’s Going On 

at NJJEC?

We would like to welcome 

Dr. Erin Farley to the NJJEC 

project. Dr. Farley has 

extensive experience in 

program evaluation, 

particularly in the area of 

court services. She’s also a 

former professor of criminal 

justice. 

We’d also like to thank Dr. 

Ajima Olaghere, who stepped 

in to produce this issue of the 

NJJEC Bulletin.

Do you have a suggestion

for a new webinar topic or 

resource? Email

njjec@jrsa.org! 

Upcoming Events 

of Interest

11th Global Youth Justice 

Training Institute

June 16th – June 18, 2015

Global Youth Justice, will 

host a training institute 

primarily designed for adults 

who are enhancing, 

expanding, or establishing

youth justice diversion 

programs, often referred to as 

teen court, peer court, youth 

court, student court, and 

youth peer jury. More details 

and registration information 

are available online.

Juvenile Probation Reform 

Academy for Probation and 

Parole Professionals

July 13th – 15th, 2015

The American Probation and 

Parole Association (APPA), 

the Council of State 

Governments (CSG) Justice 

Center, and the Robert F. 

Kennedy National Resource 

Center for Juvenile Justice 

have partnered to establish a 

Juvenile Probation Reform 

Academy for juvenile 

probation and parole leaders 

and managers. The program 

will be held at the 40th annual 

APPA training institute in 

Los Angeles. More details 

and registration information 

are available online.

Register now for the 10th

Annual National Juvenile 

Justice Network Forum

July 20th – July 21st, 2015

The National Juvenile Justice 

Network (NJJN) Annual 

Forum brings together 

advocates for youth justice 

reform for training, 

networking, and strategysharing. More details and 

registration information are 
NJJEC Bulletin Page 2

available online.

2015 Juvenile Justice Youth Summit 

July 23rd – 24th, 2015

CJJ and OJJDP will co-host the 2015 Juvenile 

Justice Youth Summit titled: The Time is 

Now: Creating Change with Young Emerging 

Leaders. More details and registration 

information are available online. 

ABA Conference on Children and the 

Law

July 24th – July 25th, 2015

The 16th National Conference on Children 

and the Law hosted by the American Bar 

Association, will address a range of child 

welfare issues that emphasize family wellbeing and improving the skills of attorneys, 

judges and other advocates. It will also 

feature emerging child welfare policy and 

systemic reform issues and their effects on 

practice, children and families. More details 

and registration information are available 

online.

Featured Resources:

Publications

The May issue of the OJJDP Juvenile Justice 

Bulletin highlights the findings from a 

process and outcome evaluation of nine 

juvenile drug courts conducted by the 

Center for Criminal Justice Research at the 

University of Cincinnati The evaluation

examined process and outcome measures 

related to the participation in and operation 

of juvenile drug court programs, including: 

1) reductions in recidivism and substance 

abuse; 2) increases in social functioning; 3) 

characteristics of successful court 

participants; 4) operation of drug courts 

consistent with evidence-based approaches; 

and 5) programmatic characteristics of 

effectiveness. Additionally, the authors 

sought to examine the efficacy of 16 

strategies for juvenile drug courts 

recommended by the National Drug Court 

Institute (NDCI), as well as provide 

policymakers with information about 

juvenile drug court efficacy.

Among several other outcomes, the 

authors’ findings suggest that youth who 

participated in the drug court program 

increased recidivism, defined as risk of new 

referral and adjudication. This also held 

true for outcomes related to risk level, time 

at risk, race, gender, substance of choice, 

frequency of substance use, previous drug 

and alcohol treatment, parental substance 

use, and mental health problems. However, 

youth who successfully completed the drug 

court program had “significantly lower 

odds of a later referral and/or adjudication 

than those who did not successfully 

complete [the drug court program or 

probation]” (p. 12). On a process level, 

mixed results defined the operational 

landscape of drug courts. Specifically, the 

authors report, “Two of the nine drug 

courts scored ‘effective,’ four scored ‘needs 

improvement,’ and three scored ‘ineffective’ 

on the CPC-DC. None of the courts scored 

in the ‘highly effective’ category” (p. 8). 

Overall, the authors determined the courts 

in the study did not adhere to several of 

NDCI’s 16 recommendations for juvenile 

drug courts.

The full publication can be viewed online 

here. 

The April 2015 volume of the Journal of the 

American Academy of Child & Adolescent 

Psychiatry features study by Catherine S. 

Elkington, PhD, et al., entitled “Psychiatric 

Disorders and Violence: A Study of 

Delinquent Youth After Detention.” In this 
NJJEC Bulletin Page 3

study, Elkington et al. (2015) examined the 

relationship between delinquent youth 

suffering from psychiatric disorders and 

violence post detention. Using a longitudinal 

sample of 1,659 youth from the Cook County 

Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in 

Chicago, the authors observed that rates of 

violence decreased post detention between 

three and five years for both males and 

females. However, compared to youth who do 

not suffer from psychiatric disorders, male and 

female youth with disorders had greater odds 

of any type of violence. Another study finding, 

which has garnered some media attention, 

revealed “substance use disorders predicted 

subsequent violence” (p. 302). As a result, the 

authors conclude the provision of ongoing 

psychiatric services for high-risk youth should 

include violence assessments and reduction as 

key components.

An article featuring an interview with the 

study’s lead author can be read online here.

Featured Resources: 

Online

The Office of Juvenile Justice and 

Delinquency’s (OJJDP) Model Programs Guide

is a website contains information about 

evidence-based juvenile justice and youth 

prevention, intervention, and reentry 

programs. It is a resource for practitioners and 

communities about what works, what is 

promising, and what does not work in juvenile 

justice, delinquency prevention, and child 

protection and safety. The user friendly site 

provides a range of information including, but 

not limited to links for funding, state contacts, 

and program ratings for easy identification of 

effective programs based on evidence. The site 

integrates with crimesolutions.gov to tailor the 

presentation of model programs related to 

juvenile justice.

The National Partnership for Juvenile Services 

(NPJS) has launched the Journal of Applied 

Juvenile Justice Services. The OJJDP-funded 

journal will include topics such as: effective 

strategies for working with at-risk youth, the 

operation of juvenile facilities, juvenile justice 

trends, legal issues affecting juvenile justice 

practice, ethical issues in juvenile treatment, 

and leadership and training in juvenile 

justice. 

OJJDP Launches TTA360—A User-Friendly 

Training and Technical Assistance Request 

System. TTA360 is a centralized web-based 

TTA request system that allows users to 

submit a request to any of OJJDP's providers, 

create and manage their own accounts, and 

view progress on their requests in real time. A 

request can be assigned to multiple providers, 

facilitating collaboration and a quick and 

efficient response. To learn more about 

TTA360, review the FAQs and the user guide.

Featured Evaluation:

Aftercare Programs for Reducing 

Recidivism among Juvenile and 

Young Adult Offenders: A MetaAnalytic Review

In a recent publication in Clinical Psychology 

Review, a team of researchers sought to 

systematically synthesize and analyze all 

studies on reentry and aftercare programs for 

youth and young adult offenders. 

Additionally, these authors sought to 

understand which particular components of 

aftercare programs are associated with 

reductions in recidivism. 

The authors searched over 20 academic and 
`

professional databases, including sites for 

unpublished studies. Studies synthesized and 

evaluated included only those with rigorous 

research designs, namely experimental or 

quasi-experimental designs. Studies were only 

included in the analysis if an actual treatment 

was evaluated, e.g., studies focusing on 

external control or coercion were excluded.

 

The results of the systematic searched yielded 

22 independent studies to be meta-analyzed. 

The results from the meta-analysis were 

modest, “indicating that aftercare has a small 

and positive effective on recidivism” (p. 266) 

for youth and young adults who participate in 

aftercare programs compared to those who do 

not.

Age, involvement in gang activity, and 

treatment intensity were observed to affect 

outcomes. Furthermore, youth and young 

adults considered high-risk and violent were 

more likely to benefit from reentry and 

aftercare programs. These programs were also 

likely to have a greater impact if they 

occurred within an individual treatment 

modality.

In summary, “results obtained show that 

overall aftercare programs had a small and 

positive effect on reducing recidivism of 

juvenile and young adult offenders. We do 

need to be cautious about drawing 

conclusions from these general findings. The 

target group focused upon is heterogeneous 

and consists mainly of a high-risk group of 

troubled, serious delinquent youths, where 

success rates can be expected to be limited” 

(p. 269).

James, C. et al. (2013). Aftercare programs for 

reducing recidivism among juvenile and 

young adult offenders: A meta-analytic 

review. Clinical Psychology Review, 33, 263-

274.

NJJEC Bulletin Page 4

The NJJEC Bulletin is the newsletter of the National Juvenile Justice Evaluation Center. It provides information on NJJEC 

project activities, evaluation-related activities of OJJDP grantees, and upcoming trainings and conferences of interest.

To access NJJEC project information and resources: http://www.jrsa.org/njjec/

To subscribe: http://www.jrsa.org/njjec/newsletter.htm

To unsubscribe: e-mail njjec@jrsa.org

NJJEC is a Project of the Justice Research and Statistics Association. 

Notice of Federal Funding and Federal Disclaimer: This document was prepared under Grant Number 2010-JF-FX-0063 from the 

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view or 

opinions in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the 

U.S. Department of Justice.