NJJEC Bulletin July 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?

In June, the NJJEC project 

said farewell to staff member 

Dr. Carrie Williamson, who 

left JRSA for other 

employment. We are actively 

recruiting for a new NJJEC 

staff person. In the meantime, 

Dr. Stan Orchowsky, Dr. 

Shawn Flower and the team 

at JRSA will carry on where 

Carrie left off. We wish Carrie 

the best of luck in all her 

future endeavors!

Don’t forget to check out our 

Webinars! All of the NJJEC 

webinars are available online. 

Visit the NJJEC website to 

view the webinar, read a 

transcript, or download the 

presentation slides.

Do you have a suggestion for a new 

webinar topic or resource? Email

njjec@jrsa.org! 

Upcoming Events of 

Interest

26th Annual Crimes Against 

Children Conference

August 11-August 14

The Dallas Children’s Advocacy 

Center will host the 26th

Annual Crimes Against

Children Conference August 11 

through 14 in Dallas, Texas. 

The conference provides 

training for justice 

practitioners involved in 

investigation, prosecution, and 

treatment, and includes 

specialized tracks for 

practitioners focused on 

internet-related crimes. Check 

the conference website to 

register.

37th National Child Welfare, 

Juvenile, and Family Law 

Conference 

August 18-20

The 37th National Child 

Welfare, Juvenile, and Family 

Law Conference will be held by 

the National Association of 

Counsel for Children August 18 

through 20 in Denver, 

Colorado. Youth service 

providers and advocates across 

a range of disciplines will 
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participate in the training, which provides 

information about legal work and youth

engagement in the court system. The 

agenda and registration information are 

available on the conference website. 

National Kinship Care Conference

September 17-19

The Child Welfare League of America will 

hold the National Kinship Care Conference

in New Orleans, Louisiana September 17 

through 19. The theme of the conference is 

Building Communities of Caring for Children 

and Families. Session topics include crosssystem collaboration, trauma-informed 

care, and best practices in Tribal 

communities. Registration details are 

available on the conference website. 

Featured Resource:

Resources for 

Providers Addressing 

Sexual Exploitation and 

Trafficking of Minors

A number of resources are available for 

youth service providers who work with or 

may encounter child or youth victims of 

sexual exploitation and trafficking. 

Webinars

The National Girls Institute hosted a 

webinar entitled Child Trafficking, Girls, 

and Detention: A Call to Reform about the 

extent of child sex trafficking in the United 

States and appropriate responses to systeminvolved girls who have been victims of 

human trafficking. Presenters discuss the 

need to provide trauma-informed care 

rather than incarcerate these youth, who are 

often detained on prostitution charges.

The Vera Institute of Justice, Just Detention 

International, and the PREA Resource 

Center collaborated on a webinar entitled 

Developing Partnerships with CommunityBased Service Providers. This webinar 

specifically addresses the issue of sexual 

abuse of youth in confinement settings, and 

explains ways correctional administrators 

can partner with social service agencies to 

prevent and respond to this problem. 

Resource Kits

The Institute of Medicine and National 

Research Council (both of the National 

Academies) have provided an extensive set 

of materials related to sex trafficking of 

minors. Confronting Commercial Sexual 

Exploitation and Sex Trafficking of Minors in 

the United States includes an infographic, a 

brief, a list of related myths and facts, a slide 

presentation, and a Guide for Providers of 

Victim and Support Services. These 

resources provide information about the 

extent of the problem, best practices and 

the integration of social services to support 

victims, and troubleshooting some of the 

most prominent challenges to working with 

child sexual exploitation and trafficking 

victims. 

Evaluation Feature:

Safely Home

Youth Advocate Programs, Inc. (YAP) 

recently released an assessment of 

community-based programs for youth. With 

funding from the Public Welfare 

Foundation, the YAP report describes how 

communities and systems can safely support 

high-need youth in their homes and 
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communities, rather than housing them in 

locked facilities. 

YAP administered a survey to youth, juvenile 

justice and child services providers, advocates, 

and policymakers to determine their 

perspectives on best approaches to systeminvolved youth and their families. The youth 

surveyed were actively involved in both YAP 

and non-YAP programs around the country, 

and the survey data were supplemented with 

outcome metrics and site visit interviews. 

The report provides a list of strategies and 

techniques necessary for effective communitybased interventions. These techniques 

include flexible and individualized services 

that account for each youth’s strengths and 

needs, engagement with the youth’s 

community services, giving back to the 

youth’s community through active civic 

engagement, and a “No Reject Policy” that 

encourages the inclusion of all youth in a 

community-based approach. The report notes 

that many exclusions are a result of gaps in 

services, and that it is a better long-term 

approach to adapt services to meet unique 

needs in community settings rather than 

choose confinement solely based on a lack of 

resources. 

In addition to its assessment of general 

community-based services, Safely Home

highlights specific community-based 

programs including Black Family 

Development; Community Connections for 

Youth; Roca, Inc.; and Youth Advocate 

Programs; as well as state, city, and county 

efforts in Alabama; Middlesex, New Jersey; 

Lucas County, Ohio; and Newburgh, New 

York. 

Source: Fazal, Shaena M. Safely Home. Youth Advocate 

Programs, Inc., June 2014. 

Local Spotlight:

Washington, DC

The Mentoring Today program serves high 

risk, repeat youth offenders from 

Washington DC both before and after they 

are released from incarceration to support 

their successful reintegration into their 

families and community. Through a 

partnership with Students United, a student 

organization at American University’s 

Washington College of Law, Mentoring 

Today begins working with youth four 

months prior to their release from New 

Beginnings Youth Development Center 

(operated by DYRS , the DC Department of 

Youth Rehabilitation Services) and continues

these relationships throughout the reentry 

process. Law student mentors advocate for 

youth at court hearings and discharge/reentry planning meetings and continually 

monitor service provision after youths’

release for a minimum of 12 months of 

weekly mentoring and advocacy services. By 

working with a dedicated mentor and 

advocate, mentees learn to advocate for 

themselves – building their sense of selfworth and learning through the example and 

encouragement of their mentors’ individually 

tailored advocacy efforts.

Among the 61 youth served since the 

program began, all are young men of color, 

primarily African-American, and come from 

neighborhoods plagued by violence, 

staggering unemployment, and high 

incarceration rates. Most face additional risk 

factors such as living in single-parent 

households, suffering abuse or neglect, being 

surrounded by drug use, and coping with a 

learning or mental disability. Mentoring 

Today uses a web-accessible database to 

capture program data, including all contacts 

with youth, case workers, service providers, 

and family members. Reports are generated 
`

that summarize youth service hours, education 

and employment outcomes, youth 

achievements, and recidivism data. Nearly onethird of all New Beginnings residents are 

convicted of a new crime within six months of 

release. Mentoring Today’s 12-month 

reconviction rate is 12.5%, which means that in 

twice the amount of time, this program cuts 

the reconviction rate by more than half. While 

DYRS has not published its reconviction rate 

beyond six months, the national two-year 

reconviction rate for similar youth is 81%. 

Overall, 70% have increased their employment 

and 85% have re-enrolled in school upon 

release. Over the last year, 82% were either 

employed or enrolled in school. On a national 

level, 43% of incarcerated youth never return 

to school at all.

For more information about Mentoring Today, 

visit their website at http://mentoringtoday.org.

Featured resources and programs are not endorsed 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/

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.