NJJEC Bulletin May 2014

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, e-mail 

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?

NJJEC staff are developing a 

webinar on assessment and 

screening tools, including 

some of the basic 

considerations in selecting, 

implementing, and validating

these tools in different 

juvenile justice settings.

NJJEC staff will participate in 

a panel entitled A New Look 

at Evidence-Based Resources 

at the Coalition for Juvenile 

Justice’s 2014 Annual 

Conference on Friday, June 

20. The panel will provide an 

overview of evidence-based 

practice resources and 

practical ways to use the 

information they provide. 

The panel includes 

representatives from the 

Development Services Group

and the Center for Juvenile 

Justice Reform at Georgetown 

University. See the 

Upcoming Events of Interest 

section or the CJJ website for 

more information on the 

conference!

Do you have a suggestion for a new 

webinar topic or resource? Email

njjec@jrsa.org! 

Upcoming Events of 

Interest

77

th Annual National Council 

of Juvenile and Family Court 

Judges (NCJFCJ)

July 13-16

The National Council of 

Juvenile and Family Court 

Judges will hold its 77th Annual 

Conference July 13 through 16 

in Chicago, Illinois. The 

conference focuses on topics of 

interest to juvenile justice 

professionals in the judicial 

community, including family 

violence, child testimony, and 

detention alternatives. Review 

the schedule, find information 

about the preconference 

seminar on working with 

adolescents with substance 

abuse issues, and register 

online. 

The National Technical 

Assistance Center for 

Children’s Mental Health 

Training Institutes 

July 16-20

The National Technical 

Assistance Center for 

Children’s Mental Health at the 

Georgetown University Center 

for Child and Human 

Development will hold its 2014 

Training Institutes in 
NJJEC Bulletin Page 2

Washington, DC July 16 through 20. The 

2014 Training Institutes on Improving 

Children’s Mental Health Care in an Era of 

Change, Challenge and Innovation: The Role 

of the System of Care Approach are 

designed to assist policymakers, service 

providers, and evaluators in implementing 

effective practices. The agenda and 

registration information are available 

online. 

Coalition for Juvenile Justice 2014 

Annual Conference

June 18-21

The Coalition for Juvenile Justice (CJJ) will 

host its 2014 Annual Conference June 18 

through 21 in Washington, DC. CJJ is a 

nationwide coalition of State Advisory 

Groups (SAGs) and other juvenile justice 

professionals. The conference’s theme is 

Looking Back, Planning Ahead: A Vision for 

the Next 40 Years in Juvenile Justice. 

Sessions will focus on policy and practice 

since the passage of the Juvenile Justice and 

Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) and 

current issues in the field. See the 

conference website for more information 

and to register. 

National Forum on Criminal Justice 

August 10-12

The National Criminal Justice Association, 

the Justice Research and Statistics 

Association, and the IJIS Institute will hold 

the National Forum on Criminal Justice

August 10 through 12 in Breckenridge, 

Colorado. Sessions include Juvenile Justice 

Reform: A View from the States; Give Me All 

Your Data, I Want to Improve!; and State 

and Local Collaboration for Better DecisionMaking: Examples from Two JusticeInformation Sharing Award Sites, which 

highlights the information sharing process 

during implementation of risk and needs 

assessment for youth. See the conference 

website for the agenda, registration, and 

information about post-conference seminars. 

Featured Resource:

NIJ and OJJDP’s 

Justice Research Series

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and the 

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 

Prevention (OJJDP) have collaborated on a 

Justice Research Series, a set of bulletins 

summarizing research conducted and 

supported by the two Department of Justice’s 

Office of Justice Programs agencies on specific 

juvenile justice system topics. Below is a 

description of five recently released topics. 

Click the titles of each issue to access each 

issue online.

 Delays in Youth Justice (February 2014): 

Provides findings from a national study of 

trends in case processing time for juvenile 

offenders, as well as an in-depth study of 

three successful jurisdictions’ strategies to 

reduce delays.

 Young Offenders: What Happens and 

What Should Happen (February 2014):

Examines some of the issues surrounding 

youth and young adults being transferred 

to adult court, including recidivism, 

reentry, and adolescent development. 

 Criminal Career Patterns (May 2014): 

Describes the relationship between juvenile 

and adult offending, including severity, 

frequency, and offense type. 
NJJEC Bulletin Page 3

 Explanations for Offending (May 2014):

Presents a brief summary of five major 

perspectives on causes of offending and 

desistance, including social-psychological 

and life course development theories. 

 Prediction and Risk/Needs Assessment

(May 2014): Defines risk, needs, and 

protective factors, as well as different 

methods of assessing these factors and the 

implications of research findings about the 

predictive ability of these assessments.

Evaluation Feature:

Ohio’s Behavioral Health

Juvenile Justice Initiative (BHJJ) 

The Begun Center for Violence Prevention 

Research and Education at Case Western 

University recently released an extensive 

evaluation of a program designed to expand 

and improve mental health services for 

juvenile offenders. As we have discussed in 

past editions of the Bulletin, an extensive 

amount of program data is needed to extend 

performance measurement into a full-scale 

evaluation—to demonstrate that program 

activities actually caused changes in youth 

behavior. Completed evaluations of similar 

programs are a good source of information for 

program staff to learn more about the data 

types and collection methods they will need to 

be prepared for an evaluation. 

The Ohio Behavioral Health/Juvenile Justice 

(BHJJ) initiative is a diversion program for 10 

to 18 year old system-involved youth 

diagnosed with mental and behavioral 

problems such as Bipolar Disorder, PostTraumatic Stress Disorder, and Conduct 

Disorder. The BHJJ program operates in six 

Ohio counties with funding from the state’s 

Department of Youth Services and 

Department of Mental Health and Addiction 

Services. 

The program evaluation found that youth 

served by BHJJ had substantial improvements 

with regard to problem behaviors, 

functioning, and the effects of trauma. The 

report includes assessments of other 

important factors for treatment professionals 

and service providers to consider as they 

collect program data that demonstrate 

program successes and provide context for 

others interested in replicating the program 

or a similar initiative:

 Population characteristics. The average 

number of mental or behavioral diagnoses 

for youth involved in the program was 

more than two, and more than one-third 

of the youth also used controlled 

substances. 

 Treatment completion. More than 70 

percent of youth successfully completed 

the program. “Successful completion” 

criteria included attendance and 

compliance, and specific definitions were 

included for each county. 

 Client satisfaction. More than 90 percent 

of the parents, guardians, or other 

caregivers for youth involved in the 

program reported that they were satisfied 

with the delivery of services. 

The report provides a description of 

numerous data collection instruments 

completed by program staff, youth, and their 

caregivers, as well as the time each was 

completed (for example: at intake, during the 

course of the program, or at the time of 
`

discharge from the program). 

The evaluation report also explains the 

implementation process for each county, 

including partnerships between local social 

service agencies and county-specific admission 

criteria. This information is important because 

it captures additional nuances for each 

program site that might be important for 

program replication, or for understanding 

differences in treatment outcomes across sites. 

Source: Kretschmar, J., Butcher, F., and Flannery, D. An 

Evaluation of the Behavioral Health Juvenile Justice 

Initiative 2006-2013. February 2014.

Local Spotlight:

Memphis, Tennessee

The Shelby County Schools system

implemented the School House Adjustment 

Program Enterprise (SHAPE) in 2007. SHAPE 

is designed to reduce referrals to juvenile court 

by allowing youth to complete a six-week 

diversion program. 

A report on the program, School House 

Adjustment Program Enterprise (SHAPE): 2011-

2012 Outcome and Evaluation Study details the 

criteria for SHAPE participation, which include 

pending juvenile charges for non-serious 

offenses, willingness to participate in the 

program, and no past or present felony or 

serious violent charges or convictions. The 

program follows a specific curriculum 

administered by trained Shelby County 

Schools staff. The program emphasizes 

accountability and incorporates the Mendez 

Foundation Curriculum. The school system’s 

partnership and collaboration with the 

Memphis Police Department (MPD) has been 

a critical component, as 95 percent of SHAPE 

participants are referred by the MPD. 

Data collection instruments utilized by 

program staff include an intake form, 

agreement to participate, and a risk/needs 

assessment, program attendance records, and 

school performance indicators including 

attendance and grades. Successful completion 

is defined as attending at least 12 sessions over 

the six-week program period and meeting 

additional participation requirements. 

Since 2007, the number of referrals to juvenile 

court from schools participating in SHAPE has 

declined from about 1,000 to less than 500, 

though the author notes other programs may 

have been a factor in this reduction.

Source: James-Garner, A. School House Adjustment 

Program Enterprise (SHAPE): 2011-12 Outcome and 

Evaluation Study. December 2012.

Featured article does not represent an endorsement of 

the program(s) by the National Juvenile Justice 

Evaluation Center or the Office of Juvenile Justice and 

Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. 

Department of Justice. 

NJJEC Bulletin Page 4

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/

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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.