U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 

Addressing States’ Needs

JJEC has a number of ongoing activities designed to address the

needs identified in the assessment.

Regional training. JJEC worked with the Coalition for Juvenile

Justice (CJJ), which represents the SAGs, and the planning committees of the four regional SAG coalitions to conduct training

conferences (in New Orleans, LA; Omaha, NE; Pittsburgh, PA;

and San Diego, CA) in the summer and fall of 2000. The training

featured a combination of skill-building workshops and sessions

that highlighted successful local and national juvenile justice evaluation projects. Similar training activities are planned for fiscal

year 2001 and include the CJJ national and regional conferences.

Technical assistance. The project offers the States onsite technical assistance, including short-term, State-specific consultation,

that enhances their capacity to assess their juvenile justice programs and initiatives (funded under the Formula Grants program)

and to incorporate evaluation into the program development and

planning processes. During these brief technical assistance visits,

experts work closely with the SAGs and juvenile justice specialists to ensure that evaluation systems are in place, to develop

statewide performance measures for juvenile justice projects, and

to assist in conducting evaluation studies. Summary reports on the

technical assistance projects and their outcomes will be published

regularly by JJEC.

SAC Evaluation Partnership Program. JJEC provides seed

money to encourage partnerships between the SACs and SAGs.

The goal of these partnerships is to build sustainable relationships

that enhance long-term juvenile justice evaluation capacity. States

are designing evaluation systems, building performance measures

into the Formula Grants process, and evaluating specific initiatives. Partnership projects were funded in Maine, Massachusetts,

and New Mexico in late 1999, and in Illinois, Iowa, and Maine in

the summer of 2000. Final reports summarizing the activities and

findings from Maine and Massachusetts are posted on JJEC’s

The Juvenile Justice Evaluation

Center Project

by Francesca G. Lanier, Stan Orchowsky, and Taj C. Carson

The Justice Research and Statistics Association (JRSA) and the

U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and

Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) are working together to enhance the ability of States to evaluate the effectiveness of their

juvenile justice programs. The goal of this project is to provide

useful resources and practical technical assistance that will

strengthen the ability of local and State policymakers, program

administrators and staff, and evaluators to implement and use

evaluation studies and their findings. To further this effort, JRSA

and OJJDP created the Juvenile Justice Evaluation Center

(JJEC).

The first phase of the project focused on the assessment of the

States’ (and territories’) existing evaluation practices and technical assistance needs, especially as they relate to the programs and

initiatives funded through the Title II, Part B, State Formula

Grants program. Subsequent project activities are based on this

assessment.

Evaluation of States’ Needs

Beginning in early 1999, JRSA surveyed three groups of State

stakeholders: juvenile justice specialists, Statistical Analysis

Center (SAC) directors, and State Advisory Group (SAG) chairs

who head the Governor-appointed boards that establish and

review programs and policies for OJJDP’s Formula Grants program. The assessment is summarized in the report Juvenile

Justice Evaluation Needs in the States: Findings of the Formula

Grants Program Evaluation Needs Assessment, which is available on JRSA’s Web site (www.jrsa.org/pubs). It found that training and technical assistance should help increase knowledge of

evaluation principles and techniques at the State and local levels,

develop and improve State infrastructures for supporting systematic evaluation, and foster relationships among State agencies,

local programs, and evaluators.

June 2001 #25
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FS–200125 Fact Sheet

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Office of Justice Programs

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Washington, DC 20531

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Web site (www.jrsa.org/jjec) under “State Resources.” Reports

from the remaining States will be posted when available.

JJEC Online. JJEC Online provides evaluation resources and

information specific to juvenile justice programs and initiatives.

The online center offers a dynamic resource in four main areas:

◆ Programs contains information on performance measures,

evaluation designs, links to initiatives, and publications for

17 different juvenile justice program areas.

◆ State information provides a forum for States to share reports,

monitoring documents, requests for proposals, and other information produced at the State level.

◆ Resources includes a list of publications, evaluation instruments, and links to other evaluation sites.

◆ National initiatives provides a direct link to Federal agencies

and their juvenile justice-related initiatives.

Evaluation manual. The publication Collecting and Using

Evaluation Information for Program Improvement will provide

basic evaluation information for local programs. It will present an

overview of the evaluation process and describe tools that can be

used to carry out meaningful evaluation activities. Although the

manual is being written primarily for program managers, the

authors hope to produce a document that will benefit everyone

involved in the collaborative evaluation process. JRSA hopes to

publish the manual by the end of 2001. It will be posted on

JRSA’s Web site.

Evaluation briefing papers and guides. A series of nontechnical

briefing papers on topics related to the evaluation of specific juvenile justice initiatives will serve as brief resource guides. JJEC

also will produce a series of more indepth guides containing information on program evaluation and effectiveness in three

topic-specific areas: an overview of juvenile justice evaluation

(June 2001), strategies for evaluating small juvenile justice programs (July 2001), and hiring and working with an evaluator

(July 2001). The evaluation guidebooks, which will be targeted to

program administrators and State planners, will be posted on

JRSA’s Web site by August 2001.

Disproportionate minority confinement (DMC). JRSA is working on several projects involving DMC, including a guide to related evaluation issues and technical assistance on evaluating DMC

initiatives. SAC Evaluation Partnership Programs for 2001 will

also focus on DMC issues.

Overall, JJEC helps States measure the effectiveness of juvenile

justice programs and provides constructive feedback that helps

local programs improve their performance. Through these activities, JJEC strengthens the ability of State and local policymakers,

program administrators and staff, and evaluators to implement and

use evaluation studies and their findings.

For Further Information

For more information about JJEC, contact:

Stan Orchowsky, Ph.D.

Director of Research

Justice Research and Statistics Association

777 North Capitol Street NE., Suite 801

Washington, DC 20002

202–842–9330

202–842–9329 (fax)

sorchows@jrsa.org

Francesca G. Lanier is a Research Associate and Stan Orchowsky, Ph.D.,

is Director of Research at JRSA. When this Fact Sheet was written, Taj C.

Carson, Ph.D., was Project Manager at JRSA.

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is a component 

of the Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice

Assistance, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice,

and the Office for Victims of Crime.

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