U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION

2012 ANNUAL REPORT

Children’s exposure to violence

Juvenile reentry

Tribal youth

Evidence-based practices

Mentoring

Family engagement

Internet crimes against children

Training and technical assistance

At-risk girls

Disproportionate minority contact

Youth violence prevention

Dissemination and outreach

Commercial sexual exploitation of children

Supportive school discipline

Drug courts

Research and evaluation

Juvenile justice reform

Missing and exploited children

Youth in custody

Working

for Youth

Justice and Safety
2012
OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION

Robert L. Listenbee, Administrator

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

This report covers activities undertaken by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

during fiscal year 2012 (October 1, 2011–September 30, 2012). 

NCJ 241584

 ANNUAL REPORT Working

for Youth

Justice and Safety
U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

810 Seventh Street NW.

Washington, DC 20531

Eric H. Holder, Jr.

Attorney General

Karol V. Mason

Assistant Attorney General

Robert L. Listenbee

Administrator

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Office of Justice Programs

Innovation • Partnerships • Safer Neighborhoods

www.ojp.usdoj.gov

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Working for Youth Justice and Safety 

www.ojjdp.gov

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; the Office for Victims of Crime; and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, 

Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking.

 Photos used in this report: Copyright © 2013 Shutterstock. 
2012 ANNUAL REPORT iii

To the President, the Attorney General, the President pro tempore of the 

Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chairmen of the 

Committees on the Judiciary of the Senate and the House of Representatives, 

the Chairman of the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House 

of Representatives, and Members of Congress

It is my honor to transmit the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s (OJJDP’s) 

annual report for fiscal year 2012. This report includes information pursuant to:

n	 OJJDP Annual Report—Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (JJDP) Act of 1974, as 

amended; Public Law 93–415, section 207 [42 U.S.C. 5617].

n	 Missing Children Program—JJDP Act of 1974, as amended; Public Law 93–415, section 

404(a)(5) [42 U.S.C. 5773(a)(5)].

n	 Juvenile Accountability Block Grants Program—Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act 

of 1968; Public Law 90–351, section 1808(b) [42 U.S.C. 3796ee–8(b)].

n	 Title V Incentive Grants for Local Delinquency Prevention Programs—JJDP Act of 1974, as 

amended; Public Law 93–415, section 503(4) [42 U.S.C. 5782(4)]. 

n	 Boys & Girls Clubs in Public Housing Projects—Economic Espionage Act of 1996; Public 

Law104–294, section 401(d) [42 U.S.C. 13751 note].

Respectfully submitted,

Robert L. Listenbee

Administrator 

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 

2012 ANNUAL REPORT v

FOREWORD

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 

(OJJDP) has two primary responsibilities: to address the 

needs of youth who have come into contact with the juvenile 

justice system or are at risk of doing so and to protect children who are victims of abuse, violence, and crime. These 

purposes are closely connected. In fact, years of research 

demonstrate that many of the youth who enter the juvenile 

justice system have previously been exposed to violence. 

In fiscal year (FY) 2012, OJJDP awarded nearly $268 million 

in grants to help at-risk youth, protect children, and improve 

juvenile justice systems nationwide. In addition to financial 

support, the Office also provided a wide array of resources 

for stakeholders.

OJJDP’s National Conference for Children’s Justice and Safety was a major milestone in FY 2012. 

The conference brought together more than 2,300 juvenile justice professionals, policymakers, researchers, and advocates to focus on key issues in the juvenile justice field. OJJDP also continued 

its role as an important partner in the Attorney General’s Defending Childhood Initiative to combat 

children’s exposure to violence, supporting demonstration sites and translating vital research for 

the field. 

In FY 2012, the Office provided funding to states to promote safe conditions for youth in confinement and reduce racial disparities through its Formula Grants program. In addition, OJJDP partnered with federal, state, local, and nonprofit providers to promote youth mentoring; protect young 

people from violence, abduction, and sexual exploitation; enhance family engagement in the 

juvenile justice system; and serve youth in Indian country. 
vi OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION • OJJDP.GOV

Through these efforts and in all of its programs, OJJDP continues to emphasize evidence-based 

practices. Using proven approaches to juvenile justice and safety is good for our children, our 

communities, and our budgets. In a time of continuing fiscal challenges, it is both desirable and 

necessary to implement approaches that have been studied and proven to work. Throughout this 

report, you will find “Connecting With the Field” sidebars that highlight OJJDP’s efforts to support 

research, evaluation, and training and technical assistance—and to communicate findings and 

best practices to the broader juvenile justice community. 

As OJJDP works to promote youth justice and safety, we never lose sight of the young victims, 

at-risk juveniles, and justice-involved youth who so desperately need assistance. After all, 

advocating for our country’s most vulnerable children is not just a worthy cause—it is our mission.

Robert L. Listenbee

Administrator

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
2012 ANNUAL REPORT vii

ABOUT OJJDP

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) was established by Congress 

through the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (JJDP) Act of 1974, Public Law 93–415, 

as amended. A component of the Office of Justice Programs within the U.S. Department of Justice, 

OJJDP works to prevent and control juvenile delinquency, improve the juvenile justice system, and 

protect children.

Vision Statement

OJJDP envisions a nation where our children are healthy, educated, and free from violence. If they 

come into contact with the juvenile justice system, the contact should be rare, fair, and beneficial 

to them.

Mission Statement

OJJDP provides national leadership, coordination, and resources to prevent and respond to 

juvenile delinquency and victimization. OJJDP supports states and communities in their efforts to 

develop and implement effective and coordinated prevention and intervention programs and to 

improve the juvenile justice system so that it protects public safety, holds offenders accountable, 

and provides treatment and rehabilitative services tailored to the needs of youth and their families.

Organization

OJJDP is composed of the Office of the Administrator, three program divisions (Child Protection, 

Demonstration Programs, and State Relations and Assistance), the Office of Policy Development 

(including the Communications Unit), and the Grants Management Unit. Appendix C summarizes 

each component’s role.

2012 ANNUAL REPORT ix

CONTENTS

Chapter 1: OJJDP Is a Voice for Youth and Families...................................................................1

Funding Highlights..........................................................................................................3

Signature Initiatives.........................................................................................................4

Areas of Focus................................................................................................................5

Connecting With the Field................................................................................................6

Chapter 2: OJJDP Is Working To Promote Youth Safety...............................................................7

Defending Childhood: Combating Children’s Exposure to Violence .......................................9

Mentoring....................................................................................................................10

National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention...................................................................10

Reentry ........................................................................................................................11

Internet Crimes Against Children.....................................................................................11

Drug Courts..................................................................................................................12

Supportive School Discipline Initiative .............................................................................12

Girls and the Juvenile Justice System................................................................................13

Tribal Youth Initiatives....................................................................................................13

Partnering To Prevent Bullying ........................................................................................14

Missing Children...........................................................................................................14

Children’s Advocacy Centers..........................................................................................15

Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children .....................................................................15

Connecting With the Field..............................................................................................16
x OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION • OJJDP.GOV

Chapter 3: OJJDP Is Working To Ensure Youth Justice...............................................................19

Formula Grants Program................................................................................................21

Juvenile Accountability Block Grants Program...................................................................22

Tribal Juvenile Accountability Discretionary Grants Program...............................................22

Community Prevention Grants Program............................................................................23

Public-Private Partnerships for Reform...............................................................................24

National Center for Youth in Custody ..............................................................................25

Juvenile Justice Reform and Reinvestment Initiative.............................................................25

Raising Awareness About Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders...............................................26

Engaging Families of Children in the System ....................................................................26

National Juvenile Justice Evaluation Center.......................................................................26

Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws .................................................................................27

Juveniles Taken Into Custody...........................................................................................27

Connecting With the Field..............................................................................................29

Appendixes

Appendix A: OJJDP Fiscal Year 2012 Awards..................................................................31

Appendix B: OJJDP Fiscal Year 2012 Publications ............................................................37

Appendix C: OJJDP Organization...................................................................................41
a Voice 

for Youth

and Families

CHAPTER 1
2 OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION • OJJDP.GOV

When children are exposed to violence, their still-developing voices can 

be muffled or even silenced. Likewise, when youth enter the juvenile 

justice system, their voices are too often quieted. Ensuring that our 

nation’s juvenile justice and child protection systems hear—and listen to—the voices

of youth and families is the core responsibility of the Office of Juvenile Justice and

Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). 

OJJDP partners with juvenile justice practitioners and child safety professionals throughout the country to make sure that the needs of children and families inform policies and 

programs. The Office set the tone for its collaborative work in fiscal year 2012 with the 

National Conference for Children’s Justice and Safety, which brought together more 

than 2,300 experts and professionals and included numerous sessions addressing key 

issues in juvenile justice.
National Conference for 

Children’s Justice and 

Safety: Unite, Build, Lead 

More than 2,300 

public officials, tribal 

representatives, juvenile 

justice practitioners, 

policymakers, 

law enforcement 

professionals, child 

advocates, educators, 

and researchers 

attended the Office of 

Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s 

National Conference for Children’s Justice 

and Safety in October 2011. The event 

featured more than 300 speakers and more 

than 65 workshops and sessions. With a 

focus on key issues in the juvenile justice 

field, the conference included special tracks 

on children’s exposure to violence, anti-gang 

strategies, child protection and advocacy, 

truancy and dropping out, at-risk girls, 

trends in tribal youth policy, evidence-based 

practices, and reforming the treatment of 

juveniles in custody. The conference also 

included breakout sessions designed to solicit 

feedback directly from youth and families of 

youth in the juvenile justice system, as well as 

a listening session with federal leadership. 

2012 ANNUAL REPORT 3

than $27.7 million in formula grants to 

designated agencies in FY 2012.

n	 The Juvenile Accountability Block 

Grants (JABG) program provided more 

than $21.8 million in funding for states 

and local governments to enhance accountability for youth and for the juvenile justice 

system. In FY 2012, the program served 

nearly 300,000 youth and/or families. 

n	 OJJDP continued its longstanding commitment to mentoring programs by awarding more than $68 million to national 

and local organizations that offer youth 

mentoring services. Through a partnership 

with the U.S. Department of Defense, OJJDP 

is supporting targeted mentoring programs 

for youth with a parent in the military. The 

Office is also funding an evaluation of its 

Mentoring Enhancement Demonstration 

program, which strives to improve mentoring 

programs by integrating teaching functions 

into mentors’ roles. 

n	 A national network of 61 coordinated task 

forces, the Internet Crimes Against 

Following are snapshots of the Office of 

Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s 

(OJJDP’s) major fiscal year (FY) 2012 

efforts to ensure that the needs and concerns 

of youth who have been abused, neglected, 

locked up, or let down are amplified—so they 

can be heard loud and clear. More information about these efforts and a variety of other 

programs and activities is available throughout 

this report and on the OJJDP Web site: 

ojjdp.gov.

Funding Highlights

n	 OJJDP awarded nearly $268 million in 

grants to help at-risk youth, protect children, and improve juvenile justice systems 

nationwide. The 363 awards were made 

through formula, block, and discretionary 

grant funding.

n	 Through its Formula Grants program,

OJJDP supports state and local efforts to prevent youth from entering the juvenile justice 

system and to help nonserious offenders turn 

their lives around. OJJDP awarded more 

“Working together, we need to do what is right for America’s children.”

—Melodee Hanes, Principal Deputy Administrator, OJJDP
Advisory Boards

The Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice 

and Delinquency Prevention coordinates 

federal programs and activities related to 

juvenile delinquency prevention and missing 

and exploited children. Composed of 22 

federal agency and practitioner members 

appointed by the Speaker of the House of 

Representatives, the Senate Majority Leader, 

and the President of the United States, the 

council makes recommendations to Congress 

regarding juvenile justice policies, objectives, 

and priorities. The Attorney General serves 

as chairperson, and the Administrator of the 

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 

Prevention (OJJDP) serves as vice 

chairperson.

The Federal Advisory Committee on Juvenile 

Justice (FACJJ) is composed of members of 

state advisory groups on juvenile justice. 

FACJJ advises the President and Congress on 

matters related to juvenile justice, evaluates 

the progress of juvenile justice activities 

and projects, and advises the OJJDP 

Administrator on the work of OJJDP. FACJJ 

was restructured in fiscal year 2012 to allow 

for deeper communication and collaboration 

with the leadership and staff of OJJDP and 

more timely responses to legislative and 

policy matters.

Children (ICAC) program combats 

technology-facilitated child exploitation 

with proactive investigations and criminal 

prosecutions. OJJDP awarded the 61 ICAC 

task forces across the United States $20 

million for operations and public education 

in FY 2012 and provided $5.5 million to 

support training, technical assistance, and 

research.

n	 Family drug courts and juvenile 

drug courts leverage a variety of social 

and community services to address the 

underlying drug and alcohol problems of 

offenders and their families. In FY 2012, 

OJJDP provided more than $6 million to 

family and juvenile drug courts throughout 

the country.

n	 With nearly $2 million in funding from 

the Office of Management and Budget, 

OJJDP is administering a new Juvenile 

Justice Reform and Reinvestment 

Initiative that will help sites identify 

initiatives with a high return on investment 

that can be replicated.

Signature Initiatives

n	 Defending Childhood is a major Department of Justice initiative to combat children’s 

exposure to violence. OJJDP continues to 

provide support for eight demonstration 

sites that are developing multidisciplinary 

approaches to address trauma. 

n	 The National Forum on Youth 

Violence Prevention is a network of 

cities and federal agencies that work 

together to prevent and reduce youth and 

gang violence. Launched in six cities in 

FY 2011, the forum’s work is already 

showing promising results, according to 

an independent, interim assessment. OJJDP 

provides capacity-building grants to forum 

cities and facilitated the addition of four cities in FY 2012. Additional grants to support 

violence-prevention strategies were awarded 

to other cities through the CommunityBased Violence Prevention program.

4 OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION • OJJDP.GOV

“Protecting our nation’s children and young people from violence is a 

responsibility that every American shares. For today’s Justice Department, 

this work is one of our most important, and most urgent, priorities.”

—Attorney General Eric Holder
n	 The Supportive School Discipline 

Initiative is a joint effort of the Departments 

of Justice and Education to address harsh 

and exclusionary school discipline policies 

that push youth out of school and into the 

justice system. OJJDP is a key member of the 

initiative and is helping to develop training 

materials and other resources for schools, 

as well as coordinating research and data 

collection efforts.

Areas of Focus

n	 OJJDP continues to work to address the 

unique needs of at-risk girls and girls in 

the juvenile justice system. By supporting ongoing research and bringing together 

stakeholders, the agency strives to promote 

awareness and inspire systemic changes that 

will improve outcomes for girls. The Office’s 

National Girls Institute provides training, 

technical assistance, and resources for local 

organizations that serve at-risk girls. 

n	 OJJDP is working to promote family 

engagement and eliminate antiquated 

approaches to juvenile justice that isolate 

youth and restrict family 

involvement. In FY 2012, the 

Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 

Prevention invited feedback 

from parents of youth in the system; this feedback will be used 

to inform future policies and 

programs. 

n	 As part of its efforts to combat 

the commercial sexual 

exploitation of children, 

OJJDP has provided ongoing 

training for law enforcement 

agencies and offered mentoring programs 

for victims. The agency also invests in research on successful prevention strategies. 

n	 OJJDP’s longstanding support for tribal 

communities includes discretionary 

grants, training and technical assistance, 

research, and an annual youth summit. In 

FY 2012, the Tribal Juvenile Accountability 

Discretionary Grants program included 18 

active awards. The Tribal Youth and Tribal 

Juvenile Detention and Reentry Resource and 

Technical Assistance Centers provided vital 

information for tribes seeking to improve 

their services and systems. OJJDP also partnered with a range of federal agencies to 

help organize the 2012 National Intertribal 

Youth Summit, which included more than 

200 youth and adult leaders from 53 tribal 

communities and featured seminars, lectures, 

and special sessions. 

2012 ANNUAL REPORT 5
CONNECTING WITH THE FIELD

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is helping 

professionals in the juvenile justice field better serve our nation’s youth by 

supporting research and evaluation efforts and disseminating information to 

the field through training and technical assistance, Webinars, and publications. 

n Combating Children’s Exposure to Violence. As part of the 

Attorney General’s Defending Childhood Initiative, OJJDP continued its 

efforts to translate knowledge gleaned from the National Survey of Children’s 

Exposure to Violence to make it accessible and useful to practitioners in the 

field. Newly released bulletins in this publication series included information 

on polyvictimization, child and youth victimization known to police, intimate 

partner violence, and victimization and delinquency.

n Providing a Forum for Research. In October 2011, OJJDP launched 

the semiannual, peer-reviewed Journal of Juvenile Justice to address a variety 

of issues in the juvenile justice field. In its first year, the Journal has covered 

subjects ranging from crossover youth to comprehensive restorative justice 

programs and from the use of truancy boards to the development of screening 

tools for runaway youth. The publication is an accessible, practical tool for 

both researchers and practitioners.

n Promoting Model Programs. OJJDP’s online Model Programs Guide 

(MPG) assists practitioners and communities in implementing evidence-based 

prevention and intervention programs that can make a difference in the lives 

of children and communities. The MPG database of more than 200 programs 

is updated continually and covers the entire continuum of youth services—from 

prevention to reentry. 

n Delivering Important News. OJJDP News @ a Glance is a bimonthly, 

online newsletter that provides constituents with the most up-to-date and 

comprehensive information about juvenile justice issues. The newsletter, which 

celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2012, has evolved to meet the changing 

needs of readers and now has more than 30,000 subscribers. 

n Offering Online Resources. The JUVJUST electronic listserv along with 

a comprehensive Web site allow OJJDP to offer stakeholders easy access to 

important information. JUVJUST provides e-mail notices several times a week 

about resources, events, funding opportunities, and other news. OJJDP’s Web 

site includes current information about programs, events, funding opportunities, 

research, and publications. 

n Supporting Training and Technical Assistance. OJJDP has 

made great strides in delivering training and technical assistance (TTA) to 

juvenile justice professionals throughout the nation. In fiscal year 2012, 

OJJDP redesigned the National Training and Technical Assistance Center 

and centralized TTA resources to make them more easily accessible for 

practitioners in the field. The Office also facilitated information exchanges 

among its network of 57 TTA providers, enabling them to do more with less 

by forming partnerships and sharing resources. A new online training center 

was launched as a cost-effective means to deliver TTA to the field. In addition, 

OJJDP delivered 18 Webinars on a wide variety of topics to more than 

7,500 participants. 

6 OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION • OJJDP.GOV
Working

To Promote

Youth Safety

CHAPTER 2
8 OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION • OJJDP.GOV

F

or too many children, childhood ends abruptly when they become the victims of or 

witnesses to violence in their homes, schools, or neighborhoods. Research shows 

that many of these children are later victimized in other ways, become perpetrators 

of violence, or engage in dangerous or risky behaviors. An investment in the safety of 

our children is an investment in the future of our country. 

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is committed to 

promoting youth safety through innovative programs. Efforts range from programs that 

help victims of abuse and neglect to initiatives that focus on recovery and reentry for 

juveniles in the justice system. OJJDP also promotes a vigorous research agenda, 

evaluation programs that continue to test what works, and dissemination efforts that 

ensure vital information reaches providers in the field. 
“It took decades before I finally started to talk about the violence in 

my childhood. And as the task force has heard from one person after 

another, things haven’t changed enough. Every child deserves a safe 

home, a safe school, and a safe community.” 

—Joe Torre, Chairman of the Board of the Joe Torre Safe at Home FoundationTM, Major League Baseball’s 

Executive Vice President for Baseball Operations, and co-chair of the Defending Childhood Initiative

2012 ANNUAL REPORT 9

held four public hearings around the country to 

receive input from practitioners, policymakers, 

academics, and community members about 

the problem of children’s exposure to violence. 

The hearings were held in Baltimore, MD; 

Albuquerque, NM; Miami, FL; and Detroit, MI. 

The task force briefed Congress on the public 

hearings and used the input from the hearings 

to write a report to the Attorney General that 

will serve as a blueprint for addressing children’s exposure to violence. A copy of the 

full report is available at justice.gov/

defendingchildhood. 

A key component of the Defending Childhood 

Initiative is the multiyear demonstration program. Since FY 2010, OJJDP has been providing support to eight demonstration sites that 

are developing multidisciplinary approaches 

to address trauma. In addition, these sites are 

working to provide universal screening and 

assessment as well as evidence-based treatment 

and interventions to combat children’s exposure to violence. Beyond financial support, the 

Department of Justice (DOJ) is also providing 

tailored technical assistance and facilitating 

information sharing among the sites. In May 

2012, representatives from the eight sites gathered in Washington, DC, for a meeting that 

featured presentations, peer-to-peer exchanges, 

and dialog with DOJ leadership. 

Additional funding is being provided to the 

International Association of Chiefs of Police 

and the Yale Child Study Center to develop 

and disseminate resources that will enhance 

the responses of law enforcement and partner 

agencies to children exposed to violence. 

Defending Childhood: Combating 

Children’s Exposure to Violence

Launched by Attorney General Eric Holder in 

2010, the Defending Childhood Initiative aims 

to prevent children’s exposure to violence, 

mitigate the negative effects experienced by 

children exposed to violence, and develop 

knowledge about and spread awareness of 

this issue. Defending Childhood is a direct 

result of the National Survey of Children’s 

Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV), a massive 

research project sponsored by the Office of 

Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 

(OJJDP) with support from the Centers for 

Disease Control and Prevention. NatSCEV researchers found that more than 60 percent of 

children were exposed to violence, crime, or 

abuse in the past year. 

As part of the Defending Childhood Initiative, 

Attorney General Holder established a National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence 

in fiscal year (FY) 2012. Composed of 13 

experts from diverse fields, the task force was 

co-chaired by Robert L. Listenbee, then-Chief 

of the Juvenile Unit Defender Association of 

Philadelphia, and Joe Torre, Chairman of the 

Board of the Joe Torre Safe at Home FoundationTM and Major League Baseball’s Executive 

Vice President for Baseball Operations. From 

late 2011 through early 2012, the task force 
Mentoring

Research shows that mentoring programs can 

improve behavioral, social, emotional, and 

academic outcomes for at-risk youth. OJJDP 

has demonstrated a longstanding commitment to supporting mentoring programs at the 

national and state levels. In FY 2012, OJJDP 

awarded more than $68 million to national 

and local organizations to strengthen, expand, 

and implement youth mentoring activities and 

youth development programs.

A partnership between the U.S. Departments of 

Justice and Defense was launched in FY 2011; 

its purpose was to award funds to support 

mentoring programs for youth with a parent in 

the military. The program has begun to make 

an impact—it is helping children of military 

service members develop resiliency skills, build 

healthy lifestyles, acquire career training, and 

connect with other military families. 

To help chart the future of the mentoring field, 

OJJDP continues to offer new training and research opportunities. OJJDP joined with other 

partners to host the second annual National 

Mentoring Summit on January 24–25, 2012, 

in Washington, DC. The summit brought together major youth mentoring organizations 

along with government, civic, research, and 

corporate leaders to evaluate best practices 

and review new research. 

Additional funding was provided to evaluate 

the effectiveness of OJJDP’s Mentoring 

Enhancement Demonstration Program, which 

supports collaborations to help integrate 

advocacy and teaching functions into the 

mentor’s role. The Office also funded a study 

of how system-involved youth receive referrals 

to mentoring programs; this study became the 

basis for a forum and a nationwide training 

program. Several additional studies are investigating the effectiveness of mentoring as a 

prevention strategy for youth who are at risk of 

involvement in or who are already involved in 

the juvenile justice system. 

National Forum on Youth 

Violence Prevention

Launched in FY 2011 at the direction of President Obama, the National Forum on Youth 

Violence Prevention is a network of cities and 

federal agencies that work together, share information, and build local capacity to prevent 

and reduce youth and gang violence. The first 

set of participating cities included Boston, MA; 

Chicago, IL; Detroit, MI; Memphis, TN; Salinas, 

CA; and San Jose, CA. An independent, interim assessment of the forum’s work, conducted 

by John Jay College of Criminal Justice and 

Temple University’s Department of Criminal 

Justice, indicated promising results. 

Boys & Girls Clubs of 

America in Underserved 

Communities

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 

Prevention (OJJDP) continues to work with Boys 

& Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) to make a 

significant and lasting impact on the lives of 

children living in disadvantaged communities.

In fiscal year (FY) 2012, OJJDP awarded 

$23 million to BGCA to help local clubs 

launch new programs and enhance existing 

programs for at-risk youth. The funding 

enabled clubs to mentor more than 30,000 

youth, approximately 80 percent of whom 

are enrolled in programs proven to reduce 

substance abuse, crime, and other negative 

behaviors. BGCA provided mentoring funds 

to more than 170 clubs in Indian country and 

approximately 140 clubs in public housing 

communities. Participating clubs received 

support and resources to increase the number 

and quality of mentor-mentee matches for tribal 

youth. In addition, OJJDP’s FY 2012 funding 

supported:

n	 Mentoring programs for military-connected 

club members in 6 communities and more 

than 1,000 grants targeting youth in underserved communities.

n	 Gang Prevention Through Targeted Outreach 

programs in approximately 18 communities.

n Identification and recruitment of minority 

male mentors in 10 organizations.

Note: Data for performance measures for BGCA 

funding are projections. The grant is operating until 

September 2013.

10 OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION • OJJDP.GOV
During FY 2012, OJJDP provided capacitybuilding grants to forum cities to help implement their local youth violence prevention 

plans. OJJDP also led a competitive application process that resulted in the selection of 

four additional cities: New Orleans, LA; 

Philadelphia, PA; Minneapolis, MN; and 

Camden, NJ. As these cities begin to formulate 

and implement their comprehensive plans for 

addressing youth violence, they will benefit 

from the experiences of the original six cities. 

OJJDP also awarded several grants through 

its Community-Based Violence Prevention 

program, some of which went to forum cities. 

These grants support existing violence prevention programs and strategies that are known 

to be effective. OJJDP awarded approximately 

$1.5 million each to Baton Rouge, LA; Detroit, 

MI; Los Angeles, CA; and Philadelphia, PA, to 

continue and expand existing programs. 

Reentry 

OJJDP has continued to serve as a central 

resource for Attorney General Eric Holder’s 

Federal Interagency Reentry Council. Launched 

in January 2011, the council convenes 20 federal agencies that work to make communities 

safer by reducing recidivism and victimization, 

helping those who return from prison and jail 

to become productive citizens, and saving taxpayer dollars by lowering the costs associated 

with incarceration. 

Juveniles who are returning to their communities face a variety of challenges. The Federal 

Interagency Reentry Council released three 

fact sheets in FY 2012 that address issues facing juveniles and their families during reentry. 

OJJDP helped to develop the fact sheets, which 

address the following misperceptions: access 

to juvenile criminal records is strictly limited, 

youth can easily return to school after release 

from juvenile confinement, and Medicaid agencies are required to terminate benefits if an 

otherwise eligible juvenile is incarcerated.

OJJDP continued to collaborate closely with 

the Bureau of Justice Assistance in FY 2012 to 

administer appropriations under the Second 

Chance Act (SCA). SCA is the first legislation 

enacted that authorizes federal grants to government agencies and nonprofit organizations 

to provide employment assistance, substance 

abuse treatment, literacy classes, housing, 

family programming, mentoring, and other 

services to help reduce recidivism and offer 

ex-offenders a chance to lead productive lives.

OJJDP awarded $1.8 million in funds for the 

implementation of SCA reentry demonstration 

programs in sites across the country. Also in 

FY 2012, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) 

initiated an evaluation of OJJDP FY 2010 

SCA Juvenile Offender Reentry Demonstration 

Projects. The Office committed more than $3.4 

million to support the projects that are being 

considered for the NIJ evaluation.

Internet Crimes Against Children

The Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) 

program is a national network of 61 coordinated task forces engaged in proactive 

forensic investigations and criminal prosecutions addressing technology-facilitated child 

exploitation. In FY 2012, OJJDP awarded $20 

million to ICAC task forces for law enforcement 

operations and public education, as well as 

more than $5.5 million to support training and 

technical assistance and research on Internet 

crimes against children. 

Documented complaints of child sexual exploitation from the public and from electronic 

service providers continued to grow in FY 

2012—ICAC task forces received 65,000 

complaints as compared to 40,000 in FY 

2011. Investigations from these reports led 

to 5,973 arrests and the forensic examination 

of more than 48,000 computers. 

2012 ANNUAL REPORT 11
In addition to investigations and prosecutions, 

training is a critical element of the ICAC program’s mission. ICAC task forces supported the 

training of 30,000 law enforcement personnel, 2,000 prosecutors, and more than 9,000 

other professionals. In addition, the April 2012 

National Strategy Conference on Combating 

Child Exploitation was the largest training 

forum on child exploitation ever hosted by the 

U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative and the ICAC program. The 

conference, with 2,000 attendees, featured 

highly specialized training provided by the 

ICAC program, its federal partner agencies, 

and other organizations.

Drug Courts

Family drug courts aim to decrease the incidence of child abuse and neglect, intervene 

in families with risk factors, and reduce the 

likelihood of negative outcomes for youth by 

addressing parents’ substance abuse and providing services for children. In FY 2012, OJJDP 

provided more than $2.2 million to jurisdictions in Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, and 

Montana to use best practices to implement a 

new family drug court or enhance an existing 

court. 

OJJDP also collaborated with the Substance 

Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to host a symposium for family drug court 

professionals in September 2012. The event 

featured workshops, program design information, research and data, and program evaluations to help professionals implement best 

practices for family drug courts. During the 

symposium, OJJDP and the Center for Children 

and Family Futures announced the selection of 

five family drug courts as peer learning courts 

that will highlight national best practice models 

and offer peer-to-peer technical assistance. 

OJJDP also awarded $3.8 million to juvenile 

drug courts in Florida, North Carolina, and 

Ohio based on the Reclaiming Futures model. 

This model brings together juvenile courts, 

probation, adolescent substance abuse treatment, and the community to improve drug and 

alcohol treatment for teens and connect them 

to positive activities and caring adults.

Supportive School 

Discipline Initiative

Too often, harsh and exclusionary school discipline policies push youth out of school and 

into the justice system. Recent research by the 

Council of State Governments Justice Center 

that tracked nearly 1 million 7th graders in 

public school for 6 years showed that 60 

percent of these students were removed from 

class at least once, and 15 percent had 11 or 

more suspensions or expulsions between the 

7th and 12th grades. The researchers found 

that students who were suspended or expelled 

experienced an increased likelihood of being 

involved in the juvenile justice system the subsequent year. 

The Departments of Justice and Education are 

working together to keep children in school 

and out of the justice system. The joint Supportive School Discipline Initiative (SSDI) is 

directly addressing this problem by collecting 

best practices for avoiding counterproductive 

school discipline, coordinating research and 

data collection efforts, issuing guidance documents to help states and localities address 

12 OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION • OJJDP.GOV
school discipline more effectively, and developing training and resources to help schools 

adopt more positive strategies and ensure 

compliance with civil rights laws. 

One of the central pillars of the initiative is to 

build consensus through a bipartisan process 

that engages key stakeholders to identify the 

changes required to provide alternative discipline strategies and ensure safe and positive 

climates. The consensus-building project is 

supported by a public-private collaboration 

between foundation partners and the federal 

government. The Council of State Governments 

Justice Center has convened several advisory 

groups of key stakeholders to begin to shape 

the consensus and prepare final recommendations for improving school discipline policies and 

practices. OJJDP is a key member of the SSDI.

Girls and the Juvenile 

Justice System

Addressing the needs of girls in the community 

and in the juvenile justice system is a priority 

for OJJDP. The Office’s Girls Study Group has 

found that there are specific delinquency risk 

factors associated with girls, including a history of sexual abuse, early onset of puberty, 

depression, and anxiety. Furthermore, OJJDP’s 

Survey of Youth in Residential Placement 

showed that 42 percent of girls in custody 

have experienced past physical abuse, as 

compared with 22 percent of boys. 

The fall 2012 meeting of the Coordinating 

Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 

Prevention featured testimony from young 

women who survived abuse and were then 

caught up in the juvenile justice system, as well 

as a range of experts in the fields of juvenile 

justice, health, social services, public policy, 

and law. The discussions focused on risk factors that lead girls into the juvenile justice 

system, pathways to success, and policies 

and practices in need of reform to meet 

girls’ needs.

Established in 2010, OJJDP’s National Girls 

Institute (NGI) provides training, technical 

assistance, and resources to local, tribal, 

and private organizations that serve girls 

and young women in or at risk of entering 

the juvenile justice system. In FY 2012, NGI 

launched a new Web site to promote access to 

resources to help improve outcomes for at-risk 

and delinquent girls.

Tribal Youth Initiatives 

One of the keys to building stronger tribal 

communities is enhanced collaboration between federal and tribal partners. Some of the 

strongest and most important tribal partners 

are tribal youth. In FY 2012, OJJDP’s Tribal 

Youth program provided $6.3 million to 

support tribal efforts to prevent and control 

delinquency and improve tribal juvenile 

justice systems. 

As part of its ongoing efforts to engage tribal 

youth, OJJDP partnered with a range of federal agencies to organize the 2012 National 

Intertribal Youth Summit. During the weeklong 

summit, more than 200 youth and adult leaders from 53 tribal communities participated in 

seminars, lectures, talking circles, and special 

sessions on leadership development and issues 

“It’s wonderful to come to Washington, DC, and have a chance to talk 

about issues on the reservation where we live. And we’re talking to people who really care and may be able to do something about it.”

—Minnie Two Shields, 15-year-old member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation in North Dakota

2012 ANNUAL REPORT 13
critical to youth. Youth also had the opportunity 

to engage in direct dialog with federal officials 

and to express their concerns about a range 

of issues, including environmental pollution, 

gangs, and poverty in Indian country. Finally, 

working with a professional production company, the young leaders developed a public 

service announcement encouraging youth to 

support each other and to exercise their leadership potential. The video is available at 

justice.gov/tribal/videos.html.

In FY 2012, the Rural Alaska Community 

Action Program received $500,000 for the 

Alaska Native Youth Success Training and 

Technical Assistance Project. The project’s 

mission is to reduce delinquency rates by 

increasing the capacity of communities to 

nurture positive youth development. One of 

the project’s objectives is to create a resource 

center that draws on the expertise of multidisciplinary professionals and youth leaders. 

Partnering To Prevent Bullying

Bullying in all of its forms—physical, verbal, 

and social—can cause serious and lasting 

harm for victims. Sadly, nearly one in three 

middle and high school students report 

being bullied. 

To help prevent bullying and protect victims, 

federal leaders from a variety of agencies (including OJJDP) formed the Federal Partners in 

Bullying Prevention. The group held its third 

annual summit in FY 2012. Leaders of nonprofit and corporate organizations, federal 

officials, parents, and students attended the 

summit, which featured sessions focused on 

bullying and suicide and methods for helping 

students who bully others. 

As part of the Federal Partners in Bullying Prevention, OJJDP co-led a Stop Bullying Video 

Challenge for youth. Youth were asked to create public service announcements that showcase ways in which they can take action when 

bullying occurs and promote an overall culture 

of kindness and respect in their communities 

and schools. The three winning videos can be 

seen at stopbullying.challenge.gov. 

Missing Children

The National Center for Missing & Exploited 

Children (NCMEC) observed its 28th year of 

operation in June 2012. As a clearinghouse 

and resource center, NCMEC collects and 

distributes data regarding missing and exploited children. In partnership with OJJDP, the center offers critical intervention and prevention 

services to families and supports law enforcement agencies at the federal, state, and local 

levels in cases involving missing and exploited 

children. OJJDP funding for NCMEC totaled 

more than $32 million in FY 2012.

NCMEC operates a 24-hour, toll-free missing 

children’s hotline (1–800–THE–LOST); a 

CyberTipline for the public to use to report 

Internet-related child sexual exploitation; and 

the Child Victim Identification Program (CVIP), 

which uses specialized computer software to 

determine the identities of children whose 

images appear in pornography.

In FY 2012, the center’s hotline received 

198,213 calls. During the same period, its 

CyberTipline handled 361,006 reports regarding potential child exploitation or online harm 

to children. As of the end of 2012, a total of 

4,954 identified children were in the CVIP 

system. During FY 2012, NCMEC assisted 

in the recovery of 10,966 children; since its 

inception in 1984 through the end of 2012, 

NCMEC has assisted in the recovery of 

183,174 children.

NCMEC also is a key participant in the 

AMBER Alert program and the annual 

National Missing Children’s Day 

commemoration.

The AMBER Alert system issues media alerts 

when a law enforcement agency determines 

that a child was abducted and is in imminent 

14 OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION • OJJDP.GOV
danger. The Office of 

Justice Programs 

manages the program with assistance 

from OJJDP. In FY 

2012, NCMEC released the AMBER Alert Report, which showed 

that 158 AMBER Alerts involving 197 children 

were issued in the United States in 2011. 

More than 140 of the cases in which alerts 

were issued ended with a recovery; 28 of 

the recoveries were the direct result of 

AMBER Alerts. 

Children’s Advocacy Centers

Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs) provide 

a coordinated response to victims of child 

abuse through multidisciplinary teams composed of investigators, prosecutors, medical 

personnel, and social service and mental 

health professionals. The goal of CACs is to 

provide services to victims and nonoffending 

family members while coordinating the investigation and prosecution of child abuse cases. 

In FY 2012, OJJDP continued to assist CACs 

throughout the country by providing more than 

$14 million in funding. This funding (through 

the Victims of Child Abuse Act) helped support 

established regional CACs, expand service 

in underserved geographic areas, improve 

the quality of services provided to abused 

children, and leverage strategic partnerships to 

expand access to quality training programs.

Commercial Sexual 

Exploitation of Children

One of Attorney General Eric Holder’s key 

priorities is to protect children and other victims of human trafficking and exploitation. 

OJJDP has helped further this goal by supporting programs that combat the commercial 

sexual exploitation of children (CSEC). CSEC 

includes any crime of a sexual nature committed against juvenile victims for financial gain. 

Since 2010, OJJDP has supported law enforcement agencies in their efforts to protect 

children from exploitation through improved 

training and the use of best practices. OJJDP 

also supports mentoring programs for victims 

that use promising practices and proven principles to empower girls and boys to move past 

their experiences. 

In addition to this direct funding, OJJDP has 

invested in research that examines successful 

intervention and prevention strategies to 

combat CSEC. The Office is also supporting 

investigations into the relationship between Internet activity and offline sexually abusive behavior, as well as the risky Internet behaviors 

of adolescents that may increase victimization.

Bringing Missing

Children Home

At the annual National 

Missing Children’s 

Day ceremony, the 

U.S. Department of 

Justice recognizes the 

outstanding efforts 

of law enforcement 

personnel and private 

citizens who have 

helped recover 

abducted children or protect children from 

exploitation. The ceremony is planned and 

managed by the Office of Juvenile Justice 

and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and 

features several award presentations. 

During the fiscal year 2012 event, OJJDP’s 

then-Acting Administrator Melodee Hanes 

highlighted the release of three new 

OJJDP publications: AMBER Alert Best 

Practices and Spanish translations of What 

About Me? Coping With the Abduction 

of a Brother or Sister (¿Y yo? Cómo 

Sobrellevar el Secuestro de un Hermano o 

una Hermana) and You’re Not Alone: The 

Journey From Abduction to Empowerment 

(No Estás Solo: El Camino del Secuestro al 

Empoderamiento).

2012 ANNUAL REPORT 15
CONNECTING WITH THE FIELD

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is helping 

professionals in the juvenile justice field better serve our nation’s youth by 

supporting research and evaluation efforts and disseminating information to 

the field through training and technical assistance, Webinars, and publications.

n Defending Childhood by Empowering Service Providers. The 

National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV) was an 

unprecedented research undertaking. In a continuing effort to put NatSCEV 

research into practice, OJJDP produced a series of bulletins highlighting 

findings from the study. These bulletins make this important study more 

accessible for practitioners in the field; they include information on intimate 

partner violence, polyvictimization, child and youth victimization known to 

police, and victimization and delinquency. 

As a supplemental tool to NatSCEV, the Crimes against Children Research 

Center at the University of New Hampshire released the second edition of the 

Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire. The questionnaire attempts to document 

the full range of victimization that youth experience. In addition to functioning 

as a research tool, the questionnaire can also help practitioners assess youth’s 

needs. 

The Defending Childhood Initiative also expanded its outreach to professionals 

in various fields by launching a new Web page, “Take Action To Protect 

Children,” that includes online resources and tips for professionals. To respond 

to the specific needs of law enforcement, OJJDP provided support to a training 

and technical assistance provider to develop resources that will enhance law 

enforcement responses to children exposed to violence. 

The Safe Start Center is OJJDP’s national resource center for information 

and training related to reducing children’s exposure to violence. As part of 

ongoing efforts to increase awareness, the center released a toolkit about the 

prevalence of children’s exposure to violence. 

n New National Girls Institute Web site. The National Girls Institute 

launched a new Web site to translate decades of research by the Girls Study 

Group into practice. The Web site provides a wealth of resources for service 

providers along with material geared toward girls and their families. 

n Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children. With OJJDP fiscal 

year (FY) 2012 funding, the National Institute of Medicine is conducting a 

study (in collaboration with the National Research Council’s Committee on Law 

and Justice) to examine the causes and consequences of commercial sexual 

exploitation of children and to assess current strategies to address the problem 

at the federal, state, and local levels. 

n Supportive School Discipline. In partnership with the U.S. Departments 

of Education and Health and Human Services, OJJDP launched the Supportive 

School Discipline Webinar series to increase awareness and understanding of 

the issue and to provide practical examples of school discipline practices that 

maintain school and classroom safety while ensuring academic engagement 

and success for all students. 

16 OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION • OJJDP.GOV
n Understanding Bullying. OJJDP released the bulletin Bullying in Schools: 

An Overview, which describes a series of studies conducted by the National 

Center for School Engagement, summarizes the results of the research, and 

makes recommendations for policies and practices. OJJDP also sponsored 

several Webinars to inform researchers, practitioners, educators, parents, and 

youth about how to help prevent and reduce the incidence of bullying in their 

schools and communities. 

n Preventing Suicide. Throughout FY 2012, OJJDP supported the work of 

the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, co-chairing the alliance’s 

Suicide Prevention Task Force for Youth in Contact With the Juvenile Justice 

System. The task force aims to raise awareness among individuals who work 

with adjudicated youth and youth at risk of delinquency, as well as the public 

at large, that there is an increased risk for suicide in system-involved youth 

and that suicide for this population is preventable. The task force also supports 

research on suicide and suicide prevention. 

n Tribal Resources. OJJDP continues to support Tribal Youth and Tribal 

Juvenile Detention and Reentry Resource and Technical Assistance Centers for 

all grantees and federally recognized tribes. The centers provide resources for 

tribes seeking prevention, intervention, detention, and reentry services for tribal 

youth. 

n Combating Gangs. To help local policymakers and professionals better 

understand gang problems and how best to combat them, OJJDP published 

Highlights of the 2010 National Youth Gang Survey. This fact sheet discusses 

the prevalence of gangs, the rates of gang activities and gang homicides, 

reasons for gang-member migration, and external gang influences. OJJDP 

also presented the Webinar “The Sexual Exploitation of Girls in Gangs,” which 

examined girls’ involvement in gangs, their relationships within gangs, and 

how they are sexually exploited. 

n Field-Initiated Research. In FY 2012, OJJDP provided $1.2 million to 

support the Community-Based Violence Prevention Field-Initiated Research 

and Evaluation program. This program provides funding to increase available 

information about the effectiveness and cost efficiency of existing communitybased violence prevention programs and to identify and assess promising new 

community-based violence prevention models. 

n Model Drug Courts. With assistance from OJJDP, the National Council 

of Juvenile and Family Court Judges created and held the Reclaiming 

Futures/Juvenile Drug Court Inter-Sites Training for OJJDP grantees who 

are implementing hybrid Reclaiming Futures/Juvenile Drug Courts. The sites 

were tasked with creating models of Reclaiming Futures/Juvenile Drug Court 

integrations that could serve as blueprints for other jurisdictions.

n Targeted Training and Technical Assistance. In FY 2012, OJJDP’s 

network of 57 training and technical assistance providers delivered a range 

of educational programs targeted to meet the needs of the field. Efforts to 

promote youth safety included training for law enforcement on investigating 

Internet crimes against children and the development of tools and strategies 

to increase public awareness about issues that include bullying, underage 

drinking, missing and exploited children, and the effects of experiencing and 

witnessing violence. 

2012 ANNUAL REPORT 17

Working

To Ensure

Youth Justice

CHAPTER 3
20 OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION • OJJDP.GOV

S

ince its establishment in 1974 under the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has 

been working to address the needs of troubled youth, their families, and their 

communities. From the beginning, OJJDP has focused on prevention, treatment, and 

recovery—helping young people and their families avoid or overcome challenges. In 

part due to OJJDP’s programs and research agenda, stakeholders ranging from juvenile 

justice professionals to the general public now overwhelmingly favor prevention and 

rehabilitation for nonviolent youth offenders. 
State

Noncompliance With Core Requirement, Resulting in Reduced Fiscal Year 2012 Funding

Deinstitutionalization

of status offenders

Separation of juveniles from 

adults in secure facilities

Removal of juveniles from 

adult jails and lockups

Idaho •

Massachusetts •

North Carolina • •

Oregon •

South Carolina • •

West Virginia •

Guam • •

Puerto Rico • •

Notes: “State” means any state of the United States, the District of Columbia, and the five U.S. territories: American Samoa, Guam, the 

Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Wyoming does not participate in the Formula Grants program. The U.S. 

Census Bureau has exempted Puerto Rico from reporting racial statistics. All reporting states were in compliance with the requirement to reduce 

disproportionate minority contact. To access compliance data for fiscal years 2006–12, visit ojjdp.gov/compliance/compliancedata.html.

2012 ANNUAL REPORT 21

offenders, (2) separate juveniles from adults in 

secure facilities, (3) remove juveniles from adult 

jails and lockups, and (4) address disproportionate minority contact (DMC) with the juvenile justice system. Because of reduced funding, OJJDP 

is encouraging states to focus limited resources 

on achieving and maintaining compliance with 

the four core requirements stated above.

Since the JJDP Act was enacted, there has been 

a significant decline in state violations of the 

first three core requirements: detention of status 

offenders has decreased nearly 98 percent, instances of youth held with adults have decreased 

99 percent, and occurrences of youth held in 

adult jails and lockups have decreased nearly 

98 percent. In FY 2012, all states participating 

in OJJDP’s Formula Grants program complied 

with the requirements for reducing racial and 

ethnic disparities. Despite the considerable 

progress states have made toward achieving the 

goals of the JJDP Act, nationwide there is much 

more work to be done. In particular, OJJDP is 

focusing its efforts to address the detention of 

status offenders for any length of time and to 

reduce the number of youth held securely in jails 

and lockups.

If a state, despite its good faith efforts, fails to 

demonstrate compliance with any of the core 

requirements in any year, OJJDP will reduce its 

formula grant for the subsequent fiscal year by 20 

percent for each requirement for which the state 

is noncompliant. The table above indicates the 

Through its administration of the Formula Grants 

program and a variety of other activities, the 

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 

Prevention (OJJDP) helps states and communities 

better meet the needs of youth. In addition to 

providing vital funding, OJJDP monitors performance measures that help the Office, Congress, 

and the juvenile justice field gauge progress 

and address challenges. The Office also engages in ongoing research, evaluation, and training 

efforts to identify best practices and promote 

evidence-based approaches to juvenile justice. 

Formula Grants Program

Formula grant funding has been dramatically 

impacted by budget cuts in recent years. In 

response, OJJDP has redoubled its efforts to help 

states and localities focus on using best practices 

and evidence-based programs to ensure that 

limited dollars have the most impact.

Through the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 

Prevention (JJDP) Act, OJJDP provides formula 

grants to support state and local efforts to plan, 

operate, and evaluate projects and programs 

that focus on preventing youth from entering the 

juvenile justice system or helping nonserious offenders find more positive paths. OJJDP awarded 

more than $27.7 million in formula grant funds 

to designated state agencies in fiscal year (FY) 

2012. To receive funding, states must fulfill four 

core requirements: (1) deinstitutionalize status 
Juvenile Accountability 

Block Grants Program

Funds at Work

In Rhode Island, the Department of the 

Attorney General uses Juvenile Accountability 

Block Grant dollars to support a Gun Violence 

and Community Gang Prosecution Unit. 

The unit monitors crimes in an area with 

a history of high firearm-related violence 

and prosecutes crimes committed with 

guns, violations of gun statutes involving 

drug trafficking, and gang-related crimes. 

Working in partnership with the Providence 

Police Department, federal law enforcement 

agencies, and the United States Attorney’s 

Office, the unit serves approximately 600 

youth per year. The department is improving 

the quality of life for citizens by providing 

prosecutorial resources to support communitypolicing efforts to target gun violence.

states that received reduced FY 2012 funding 

for noncompliance with one or more of the JJDP 

Act’s core requirements.

Juvenile Accountability 

Block Grants Program

Both juveniles and the juvenile justice system 

must be held accountable. This is the premise 

underlying the Juvenile Accountability Block 

Grants (JABG) program. For youth, accountability is best achieved through a system of 

graduated sanctions imposed according to 

the nature and severity of the offense. For the 

juvenile justice system, accountability includes 

a responsibility to process cases efficiently and 

to work with community partners to keep youth 

from reoffending. States and units of local government implement JABG programs in any of 

17 program purpose areas, which all focus on 

different methods for enhancing accountability.

The JABG program provided $21.8 million in 

funding in FY 2012. Using funding from 

multiple years, the program served nearly 

300,000 youth and/or families during the 

2012 reporting period. A total of 56 JABG 

grantees submitted some level of performance 

data for the 2012 reporting period (April 1, 

2011, to March 31, 2012). The states submitted information for approximately 1,610 

subgrants and reported performance data for 

1,588 of those subgrants. JABG grantees and 

subgrantees reported performance measure 

data regarding activities that were funded by 

active awards received in FYs 2007–11.

Although funds were allocated to activities 

across all 17 JABG purpose areas, the activities with the largest funding allocations 

included accountability-based programs (27 

percent), court/probation programming (13 

percent), and the hiring of additional juvenile 

court and corrections professionals (11 percent).1 In FY 2012, 82 percent of program 

youth successfully completed program requirements, 71 percent exhibited a desired change 

in the targeted behavior, and 9 percent reoffended during the reporting period. In addition, 77 percent of programs reported using 

an evidence-based program or practice.

Tribal Juvenile Accountability 

Discretionary Grants Program

OJJDP’s Tribal Juvenile Accountability Discretionary Grants (T–JADG) program is part of the 

U.S. Department of Justice’s Coordinated Tribal 

1 Hiring of additional juvenile court and corrections professionals represents an aggregate of the following JABG purpose areas: 

Hiring Court Staff/Pretrial Services, Hiring Prosecutors, Funding for Prosecutors, and Hiring Detention/Corrections Staff.

22 OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION • OJJDP.GOV
Tribal Juvenile 

Accountability 

Discretionary Grants 

Program Funds at Work

The Reno Sparks Indian Colony (Nevada) 

is an excellent example of how Tribal 

Juvenile Accountability Discretionary Grants 

(T–JADG) awards are improving Native 

communities. 

Using a fiscal year 2009 T–JADG 

award, the Reno Sparks Indian Colony 

juvenile probation department has done 

a remarkable job of facilitating a healthy 

and productive relationship with the 

Washoe County school district. Consistent 

visits to each school by a probation officer 

have strengthened relationships between 

the probation department and school 

administrations, which benefits each child 

in the tribal community. If a concern is 

brought to the attention of an administrator, 

he or she will contact the juvenile probation 

department to either mediate or mitigate the 

issue. The Washoe County school district’s 

interactive network, “Infinite Campus,” also 

allows the juvenile probation department to 

proactively track attendance for individual 

tribal students within the district. 

Assistance Solicitation, which is an effort to 

simplify the grant process for tribes and 

enhance their access to funding opportunities. 

T–JADG focuses on increasing accountability 

for delinquent tribal youth and strengthening 

tribal juvenile justice systems. In FY 2012, 

OJJDP made three new grant awards totaling 

nearly $800,000; recipients were the Nome 

Eskimo Community (Alaska), Ho-Chunk Nation 

(Oklahoma), and Ysleta del Sur Pueblo (Texas). 

In FY 2012, OJJDP had 18 active T–JADG 

awards; 16 of these grantees provided performance data for the 2012 reporting period. 

In FY 2012, 82 percent of program youth 

exhibited a desired change in the targeted 

behavior and 56 percent successfully completed program requirements. In addition, 

56 percent of programs reported using an 

evidence-based program or practice.

Community Prevention 

Grants Program

Early intervention is the best defense against 

juvenile criminal activity. Using positive community influences to discourage dangerous or 

risky behaviors protects young people and 

improves neighborhoods. 

Since 1994, OJJDP has administered the 

Community Prevention Grants (CPG) program 

(funded through Title V Incentive Grants for 

Local Delinquency Prevention), which provides 

funds to help communities develop and implement delinquency prevention programs. CPG 

funds delinquency prevention efforts across 19 

program areas reflecting a range of activities 

that include mental health services, mentoring, 

and job training. 

No new CPG grants were awarded in FY 

2012. However, states reported data for 

a total of 153 active subgrants from 114 

subgrantees using funding from prior years. 

These grants represented more than $5 

million in funded activities.

CPG programs served 14,417 youth in 2012. 

In addition, 72 percent (5,474) of eligible 

youth exited programs after completing program requirements. Of the 97 local programs 

that provided performance data during this 

reporting cycle, 56 percent were evidence 

based. The greatest number of subgrants were 

allocated to the following program areas: 

delinquency prevention (79 subgrants), disproportionate minority contact (30 subgrants), 

school programs (20 subgrants), and mentoring (11 subgrants).

2012 ANNUAL REPORT 23
These local programs addressed a wide range 

of youth behaviors. Overall, 68 percent of 

youth participants exhibited positive changes 

in behaviors targeted by the program. Specifically, youth showed improvements in the 

following areas: 73 percent improved their 

school attendance, 58 percent reduced their 

antisocial behavior, 84 percent improved relationships with their families, and 90 percent 

reduced their substance use. The ultimate outcome measure for delinquency prevention programs is a low offending rate among program 

participants. In FY 2012, the offending and 

reoffending rate of CPG program participants 

was 2 percent and 4 percent, respectively.

Public-Private Partnerships 

for Reform 

OJJDP is working hard to leverage resources 

by forming partnerships with the nonprofit and 

philanthropic sectors. These partnerships not 

only maximize the efficiency of existing resources, but also allow for critical information 

sharing across disciplines and more effective 

problem solving. Following are a few examples of OJJDP’s ongoing collaboration with the 

private sector: 

across the country. This partnership was 

established in 2010 through an investment 

of $1 million from each agency. These 

funds are supporting training and technical 

assistance to states and localities interested 

in implementing the JDAI model.

n	 The Courts Catalyzing Change Initiative is 

a collaborative effort between OJJDP, the 

National Council of Juvenile and Family 

Court Judges (NCJFCJ), and Casey Family 

Programs to reduce disproportionality in the 

child welfare system through training and 

technical assistance to judges and court 

personnel. Through this effort, NCJFCJ has 

developed a judicial benchcard and other 

tools for juvenile and family court judges 

and personnel.

n	 The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/ 

Reclaiming Futures is partnering with OJJDP 

to provide training and technical assistance 

to OJJDP’s juvenile drug courts to implement 

the Reclaiming Futures model. The model 

builds a systematic response to juvenile substance abuse that includes all aspects of the 

justice system and community services. 

n	 In FY 2012, OJJDP partnered with the 

John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to jointly provide $2 million over 2 

years to support reforms in treatment and 

services for youth involved in the juvenile 

justice and child welfare systems. The 

four projects focus on key areas in need 

of improvement: mental health screening 

and risk/needs assessment, mental health 

training for juvenile correctional and detention staff, disproportionate minority contact 

reduction, and juvenile justice and child 

welfare system integration. 

n	 The Supportive School Discipline Initiative 

(SSDI), which works to address school discipline practices that push children out of 

school and into the justice system, has drawn 

support from Atlantic Philanthropies, The 

California Endowment, NoVo Foundation, 

the Public Welfare Foundation, and the 

Open Societies Foundation. For more 

information about SSDI, see chapter 2. 

n	 OJJDP and the Annie E. Casey Foundation 

are partnering to expand the Juvenile 

Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) model 

for juvenile justice reform to additional sites 

24 OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION • OJJDP.GOV
National Center for 

Youth in Custody

Staff in detention and confinement facilities 

need high-quality training and technical assistance to provide for the safety, security, 

and rehabilitation of youth in their custody. In 

2010, OJJDP responded to the field-generated 

call for assistance, leadership, and support to 

improve conditions for juvenile offenders by 

creating the National Center for Youth in 

Custody (NC4YC). 

Emphasizing the rehabilitative goals of the 

juvenile justice system, the center delivers 

training and technical assistance, promotes 

evidence-based approaches to working with 

youth in custody, and serves as a resource 

for stakeholders. In FY 2012, NC4YC offered 

several Webinars and provided a wealth of 

resources for professionals, including training 

to state Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) 

juvenile coordinators and information on best 

practices for protecting youth in confinement 

to the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s PREA 

Resource Center. 

Juvenile Justice Reform and 

Reinvestment Initiative 

Practitioners in the juvenile justice field are 

increasingly seeking tools to evaluate the costeffectiveness of services for justice-involved 

youth. To address this need, the Office of Management and Budget awarded $1.9 million to 

OJJDP to administer the Juvenile Justice Reform 

and Reinvestment Initiative. 

This new program will help sites develop and 

implement an integrated set of evidence-based 

and cost-measurement tools that will enable 

Supreme Court Cites 

OJJDP Publications

On June 25, 2012, the U.S. Supreme 

Court ruled in Miller v. Alabama and 

Jackson v. Hobbs that state 

laws that mandatorily 

sentence juveniles convicted 

of homicide to life in 

prison without parole 

are unconstitutional. 

Three Office of Juvenile 

Justice and Delinquency 

Prevention (OJJDP) 

publications developed 

under the National Juvenile Justice Data 

Analysis Project were cited in the decision: 

Trying Juveniles as Adults: An Analysis of 

State Transfer Laws and Reporting; Juvenile 

Arrests 2009; and Juvenile Offenders and 

Victims: 2006 National Report. Considering 

information and analysis developed by 

OJJDP, the High Court was able to place 

stricter limits on sentencing for juveniles—a 

decision that will ultimately improve the 

juvenile justice system. 

“This Supreme Court decision is an indicator of the significant progress 

we’re making in juvenile justice. It underscores the importance of bringing scientific findings and statistical analyses into national discussions 

about youth justice and safety.”

—Melodee Hanes, Principal Deputy Administrator, OJJDP

2012 ANNUAL REPORT 25
them to make informed decisions about resources and services for justice-involved youth. 

The overall goal of the program is to improve 

outcomes for youth while also saving money. 

OJJDP is also providing nearly $700,000 to 

fund an evaluation of the initiative.

Raising Awareness About Fetal 

Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) 

include a range of disabilities of varying 

severity that affect children whose mothers 

drank alcohol during pregnancy. Children 

who are affected by FASD are at increased 

risk for involvement with the juvenile justice 

system. Because most attorneys and judges 

are not familiar with the effects of FASD, youth 

and adults with these disorders often do not 

receive appropriate treatment and care in the 

justice system. 

The OJJDP-led Justice Issues Working Group is 

collaborating with the American Bar Association (ABA) Center on Children and the Law, 

NCJFCJ, and other partners to raise awareness 

about FASD. OJJDP’s National Conference on 

Children’s Justice and Safety featured sessions 

on the legal and health-related implications of 

FASD. The working group also partnered with 

the ABA to organize a continuing education 

training session on FASD. 

Engaging Families of 

Children in the System

Every child needs the input and involvement of 

his or her parents or caretakers. This is especially true for youth in the juvenile justice system. Therefore, families need to be engaged in 

every step of the juvenile justice process, from 

courts to reentry. 

In FY 2012, OJJDP’s Coordinating Council on 

Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 

made enhancing family engagement a priority. The council invited parent activists whose 

children are or were involved in the juvenile 

justice system to speak at its May meeting. 

The council meeting also featured reports from 

members of a federal workgroup on recent 

activities to elevate family engagement. With 

input from workgroup members, Georgetown 

University’s Center for Juvenile Justice Reform 

released a set of detailed recommendations 

for federal agencies on how to promote familyfocused policies and practices. 

National Juvenile Justice 

Evaluation Center

OJJDP’s National Juvenile Justice Evaluation 

Center (NJJEC) helps state, local, and tribal 

“We need to disabuse ourselves of the notion that when children come into our systems we can 

and should separate them from their families. Instead, we need to work with families to build on their 

strengths and overcome their weaknesses and with our youth to help them best navigate those issues. 

In this regard, we are at our best if families are at the core of our work, not on the periphery.”

— Shay Bilchik, Director, Center for Juvenile Justice Reform

26 OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION • OJJDP.GOV
entities evaluate juvenile justice programs 

and implement evidence-based initiatives. 

A project of the Justice Research and Statistics 

Association, the center provides a range of 

practitioner-friendly resources to guide juvenile 

justice agencies in selecting, implementing, 

evaluating, and sustaining programs supported 

by research.

In FY 2012, NJJEC released the first issue of 

its bimonthly online newsletter for practitioners. 

The center also conducted a needs assessment 

of grant-making agencies and found that many 

grantees need training and technical assistance in the area of evaluation. In response, 

NJJEC is developing a sustainability toolkit that 

will outline important components for continuing evidence-based programs and practices. 

Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws 

Youth who drink are more likely to abuse alcohol, cause traffic injuries, and commit crimes. 

Underage drinking is a serious problem for 

families and communities throughout the 

country. OJJDP has been working to combat 

underage drinking since the establishment of 

the Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws (EUDL) 

program in 1998. 

In FY 2012, OJJDP awarded $2.2 million 

to five organizations under the EUDL 

Field-Initiated Research and Evaluation Program. The goal of the program is to foster 

rigorous scientific research and evaluation that 

has practical applications for the prevention 

of underage drinking and the enforcement of 

underage drinking laws. An additional $1.4 

million was made available for a targeted 

initiative to reduce underage drinking in the 

military. The initiative provided funds to local 

civilian communities to enforce underage 

drinking laws and prevent underage service 

personnel from consuming alcohol by collaborating with active-duty bases.

Juveniles Taken Into Custody

OJJDP monitors trends related to juvenile 

offenders in residential placement. The 

1997–2010 Census of Juveniles in Residential 

Placement (CJRP) and the 2010 Juvenile Residential Facility Census (JRFC) provided valuable statistics about juveniles in custody and 

the facilities that hold them. Facilities included 

in both the CJRP and JRFC data collections 

represent a wide range of facility types—

secure and nonsecure as well as publicly 

operated (state and local) and privately operated (including long-term and short-term holding). Of all juveniles in residential placement, 

69 percent were held in public facilities and 

31 percent were in private facilities. 

Trends

A total of 70,792 youth were held in publicly 

and privately operated juvenile residential 

facilities on the February 2010 CJRP census 

date. The last time that so few juvenile offenders were counted in the national census of juvenile facilities was in 1989, when the tally was 

slightly less than 67,000. 

The 2010 1-day count translates to a placement rate of 225 juvenile offenders in residential placement for every 100,000 juveniles in 

the U.S. population. In comparison, the overall 

placement rate in 1997 was 356. Although 

national placement rates declined from 1997 

to 2010, not all states experienced a decline 

in their residential placement populations. 

Detention rates increased in about one-quarter 

of the states, while rates declined in the other 

three-quarters. Almost 9 in 10 (88 percent) of 

the states had lower commitment rates in 2010 

than in 1997, but in several states the reverse 

was true.

2012 ANNUAL REPORT 27
At least 99 juvenile residential placement facilities had closed between the CJRP data collection in February 2010 and the October JRFC 

data collection. This decline in the number of 

facilities parallels the decline in the population 

of juvenile offenders. On the October 2010 

JRFC census date, a total of 2,132 facilities 

reported holding 66,654 juvenile offenders 

(excluding tribal facilities and those in 

Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands). This 

represents a 6-percent reduction in 

population in only 8 months. 

Deaths in Residential Placement

Juvenile facilities reported 11 deaths of 

youth younger than age 21 in residential 

placement for the 12 months prior to 

the 2010 census. Deaths of juveniles in 

residential placement remain relatively 

rare, and the death rate in 2010 (1.6 per 

100,000) was substantially lower than 

the rate in 2000 (2.8 per 100,000). There 

were five deaths from suicide and four 

deaths by illness/natural causes other 

than HIV/AIDS. There was one death

from an accident and one death from

an unknown cause. No homicides

were reported.

Change in detention rate,

1997–2010

■ Decrease (39 states)

■ Increase (12 states)

DC

Change in commitment rate,

1997–2010

■ Decrease (44 states)

■ Increase (7 states)

DC

TRENDS IN JUVENILE RESIDENTIAL PLACEMENT, 1997–2010

28 OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION • OJJDP.GOV
CONNECTING WITH THE FIELD

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is helping 

professionals in the juvenile justice field better serve our nation’s youth by 

supporting research and evaluation efforts and disseminating information to 

the field through training and technical assistance, Webinars, and publications.

n Hot Spots Policing. OJJDP released Hot Spots of Juvenile Crime: Findings 

From Seattle, which presents important results from an OJJDP-funded 

study. Key among these findings is the fact that juvenile crime tends to be 

concentrated in discrete areas where youth congregate and police can most 

efficiently deter crime when they focus their resources on these areas. 

n DMC Virtual Resource Center. Reducing disproportionate minority 

contact (DMC) is one of the core requirements of the Juvenile Justice and 

Delinquency Prevention (JJDP) Act. To help practitioners comply with this 

requirement, OJJDP launched the DMC Virtual Resource Center, which 

provides tools and resources to support state and local efforts to reduce DMC. 

n Underage Drinking. OJJDP funded the national evaluation of the Enforcing 

Underage Drinking Laws Randomized Community Trial to determine the 

effects of local, coalition-based approaches to increasing enforcement of laws 

related to underage drinking. OJJDP also released Effects and Consequences 

of Underage Drinking, which presents findings from a literature review that 

investigated how underage drinking can affect a youth’s physical, emotional, 

and neurological health.

n Juvenile Arrests. OJJDP released Juvenile Arrests 2009, a new bulletin 

in the Juvenile Offenders and Victims National Report series. This bulletin 

summarizes 2009 juvenile crime and arrest data reported by law enforcement 

agencies across the country and shows that overall, juvenile arrests decreased 

by 9 percent between 2008 and 2009.

n Delinquency Cases. To help practitioners and policymakers better understand delinquency cases in juvenile and criminal courts, OJJDP released 

four fact sheets containing updated statistics: Juvenile Delinquency Probation 

Caseload, 2008; Delinquency Cases in Juvenile Court, 2008; Person Offense 

Cases in Juvenile Court, 2008; and Delinquency Cases Waived to Criminal 

Court, 2008. 

n Offering Access to Data. OJJDP’s Statistical Briefing Book offers easy 

access to current juvenile justice data and analysis tools that allow users to 

create custom reports. The most recent update included 2011 data on juvenile 

populations, 2010 data on victims of domestic violence, FBI supplementary 

homicide reports through 2010, and revisions to the Frequently Asked 

Questions section. 

n Emergency Planning. To assist juvenile justice residential facilities in 

preparing for, responding to, and recovering from emergencies, OJJDP 

released Emergency Planning for Juvenile Justice Residential Facilities. This 

publication is the first comprehensive planning guide to address the specific 

2012 ANNUAL REPORT 29
needs of facility staff and children, youth, and families involved in the justice 

system during an emergency. 

n Pathways to Desistance. Pathways to Desistance is an OJJDP-supported 

longitudinal study that investigates how to promote desistance from crime 

among youth who have committed serious offenses. The study included more 

than 21,000 interviews over 8 years with 1,300 juvenile felony offenders in 

Philadelphia, PA, and Phoenix, AZ. 

OJJDP has developed several bulletins summarizing the study, including 

an overview of the study findings and an explanation of the link between 

adolescent substance abuse and serious offending. Future publications will 

address more detailed knowledge gleaned from the study. 

The study has also generated some key policy recommendations, which 

were presented at the February 2012 meeting of the Coordinating Council 

on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. These suggestions included 

reducing the rate and duration of placement in institutions for juvenile 

offenders and increasing the provision of substance abuse prevention services 

to serious adolescent offenders.

n Targeted Training and Technical Assistance. In fiscal year 2012, 

OJJDP’s network of 57 training and technical assistance providers delivered a 

range of educational programs targeted to meet the needs of the field. Efforts 

to promote youth justice included assistance for states and communities to 

fully comply with the core requirements of the JJDP Act. Assistance was also 

provided for professionals and communities focused on intervening early with 

troubled youth and families and preventing juvenile delinquency and crime. 

Webinars were developed and delivered that focused on disproportionate 

minority contact and improving outcomes for multisystem youth who cross 

over between the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. 

30 OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION • OJJDP.GOV
Fiscal Year 2012 

Awards

APPENDIX A
32 OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION • OJJDP.GOV

I

n fiscal year 2012, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention awarded 

nearly $268 million in grants to help at-risk youth, protect children, and improve juvenile justice systems nationwide. The 363 awards were made through formula, block, 

and discretionary grant funding.
2012 ANNUAL REPORT 33

Solicitation Title Total Funding Number of Awards

Alaska Tribal Youth Training and Technical Assistance $500,000 1

Child Abuse Training for Judicial and Court Personnel $1,776,976 1

Child Protection Division Continuations $14,267,553 23

Community-Based Violence Prevention Demonstration Program $5,997,472 4

Community-Based Violence Prevention Field Initiated Research and Evaluation $1,277,333 3

Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) Membership and Accreditation Program $1,810,795 1

Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) Training and Technical Assistance $2,150,000 1

Demonstration Programs Division Continuations $15,943,129 29

Formula and Block Grants

Funding through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s (OJJDP’s) formula

and block grants is available to states and territories through the state agency designated by the 

Governor. Juvenile Justice Specialists in each state administer the funding through subgrants to 

units of local government, local private agencies, and federally recognized American Indian/

Alaska Native jurisdictions for programs in accordance with legislative requirements. In fiscal year 

(FY) 2012, OJJDP awarded approximately $50 million under the following formula and block 

grants programs:

Program Title Total Funding Number of Awards

Juvenile Accountability Block Grants Program $21,820,621 56

Title II Formula Grants Program $27,766,825 56

Discretionary Grants

OJJDP awards discretionary grants to states, units of local government, and private organizations 

to administer programs. Nearly $218 million in discretionary grants was awarded in FY 2012.
34 OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION • OJJDP.GOV

Solicitation Title Total Funding Number of Awards

Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws Discretionary: 

Initiative to Reduce Underage Drinking in the Military

$1,452,289 2

Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws Field-Initiated Research and Evaluation $2,259,764 5

Enhancing Law Enforcement Response to Children Exposed to Violence $749,998 1

Evaluation of OJJDP’s Juvenile Justice Reform and Reinvestment Initiative $699,623 1

Family Drug Court Programs $2,274,896 4

Field-Initiated Research and Evaluation Program $1,497,618 3

Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force: Houston Metropolitan Area $349,719 1

Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program Continuations $19,770,001 60

Juvenile Drug Courts/Reclaiming Futures $3,877,104 3

Juvenile Justice Reform and Reinvestment Demonstration Program $1,990,209 3

Local Mentoring Coordinator Program $769,370 7

Membership Support Services for Nonprofit Missing Children’s Organizations $225,000 1

Mentoring Best Practices Research $2,862,200 7

Mentoring Enhancement Demonstration Program $3,830,626 10

Multi-State Mentoring Initiative $10,766,000 7

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children Continuations $32,622,877 2

National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention Expansion Project $80,000 4

National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention Training and Technical Assistance Project $1,012,463 1
2012 ANNUAL REPORT 35

Solicitation Title Total Funding Number of Awards

National Intertribal Youth Summit $500,000 1

National Juvenile Court Data Archive $600,000 1

National Mentoring Programs $50,000,000 8

Non-Participating State: Wyoming $380,000 1

Research Continuations $8,849,176 22

Second Chance Act Juvenile Offender Reentry Program for Demonstration Projects $1,850,598 4

State Relations and Assistance Division Continuations $1,526,955 2

Tribal Field Initiated Research and Evaluation Programs $437,261 1

Tribal Juvenile Accountability Discretionary Grants Program $792,507 3

Tribal Youth Program $6,338,962 15

Victims of Child Abuse (VOCA) Act Children’s Advocacy 

Centers Membership and Accreditation Program

$744,323 1

VOCA Children’s Advocacy Centers Subgrant Program $8,796,559 1

VOCA Regional Advocacy Centers Continuation Program $4,494,208 4

VOCA Training and Technical Assistance to Child Abuse Professionals $627,568 1

VOCA Training and Technical Assistance to Child Abuse Prosecutors $1,225,945 1

Award information for FYs 2007–12 is available on the OJJDP Web site, ojjdp.gov 

(click on “Funding,” then “Awards”).

Fiscal Year 2012

Publications

APPENDIX B
38 OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION • OJJDP.GOV

All Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) publications 

can be viewed and downloaded from the OJJDP Web site, ojjdp.gov (select 

the “Publications” section). Print publications can also be ordered online at 

the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Web site, ncjrs.gov (select the 

“A–Z Publications/Products” section). The NCJ numbers in the chart can be used to 

search for or order resources from NCJRS or to locate specific resources in the NCJRS 

library.
2012 ANNUAL REPORT 39

Publication Title Publication Type NCJ Number

AMBER Alert Best Practices Report 232271

Bullying in Schools: An Overview Bulletin 234205

Child and Youth Victimization Known to Police, School, 

and Medical Authorities 

Bulletin, National Survey of Children’s 

Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV) Series 

235394

Children’s Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence and Other Family Violence Bulletin, NatSCEV Series 232272

Delinquency Cases in Juvenile Court, 2008 Fact Sheet 236479

Delinquency Cases Waived to Criminal Court, 2008 Fact Sheet 236481

Effects and Consequences of Underage Drinking Bulletin, Underage Drinking Series 237145

Emergency Planning for Juvenile Justice Residential Facilities Report 234936

Highlights of the 2010 National Youth Gang Survey Fact Sheet 237542

Hot Spots of Juvenile Crime: Findings From Seattle Bulletin 231575

Juvenile Arrests 2009 Bulletin, Juvenile Offenders and 

Victims National Report Series

236477

Juvenile Court Statistics 2009 Report 239114

Juvenile Delinquency Probation Caseload, 2008 Fact Sheet 236478

National Center for Youth in Custody Fact Sheet 235770

No Estás Solo: El Camino del Secuestro al Empoderamiento

(Spanish-language translation of You're Not Alone: 

The Journey From Abduction to Empowerment, NCJ 221965)

Report 237774

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Offi ce of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention ojjdp.gov

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 

Melodee Hanes, Acting Administrator April 2012

Nationally, violent crime and property crime rates have declined dramatically over the past decade (Federal Bureau of 

Investigation, 2011; Truman, 2011). An enduring concern 

for many jurisdictions, however, is the continued presence of 

gangs and gang activity, which are often associated with violence and serious crimes (Cooper and Smith, 2011). Despite 

the overall decline in crime, gang violence continues at high 

levels in some cities (Howell and colleagues, 2011).

About the Survey

Since 1996, the National Gang Center, through the National 

Youth Gang Survey (NYGS), has collected data annually from 

a large, representative sample of local law enforcement agencies 

to track the size and scope of the nation’s gang problem. The 

sample consists of two groups: (1) all police departments in 

cities with more than 50,000 residents (larger cities) and all 

suburban county police and sheriff’s departments (collectively 

referred to as “larger areas”) and (2) a random sample of police 

departments in cities with populations between 2,500 and 

50,000 (smaller cities) and rural county sheriff’s departments 

(collectively referred to as “smaller areas”).1

Survey Findings

This fact sheet summarizes fi ndings from the 2010 survey. Of 

the 2,544 survey recipients, 2,158 (85 percent) responded to 

the survey. 

Key Points 

Based on law enforcement reports, in 2010—

• There were an estimated 29,400 gangs and 756,000 gang members 

throughout 3,500 jurisdictions across the United States.

• Gang-related homicides increased more than 10 percent from 2009 

in cities with populations of more than 100,000.

• Highly populated areas accounted for the vast majority of gangrelated homicides nationally.

• Gang members were less likely to migrate to smaller areas and had 

most likely migrated for social, not illegitimate, reasons.

Highlights of the 2010 National Youth Gang Survey

Arlen Egley, Jr., and James C. Howell

Prevalence of Gang Activity

The fi gure on page 2 shows the percentage of agencies 

nationwide that reported gang activity between 1996 and 

2010. The 15-year trend, marked by decreasing prevalence 

rates in the 1990s and increasing prevalence rates in the early 

2000s, is statistically unchanged in the past 5 survey years. 

The overall estimate of gang activity in the study population 

remained stable from 2009 (34.5 percent) to 2010 (34.1 

percent). Larger cities consistently reported greater rates of 

gang presence and seriousness of gang crime during the 15-

year period.
40 OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION • OJJDP.GOV

Publication Title Publication Type NCJ Number

OJJDP Journal of Juvenile Justice, Volume 1, Issue 1 Journal 236317

OJJDP Journal of Juvenile Justice, Volume 1, Issue 2 Journal 238336

OJJDP News @ a Glance, September/October 2011 Newsletter 235961

OJJDP News @ a Glance, November/December 2011 Newsletter 236316

OJJDP News @ a Glance, January/ February 2012 Newsletter 237146

OJJDP News @ a Glance, March/April 2012 Newsletter 238120

OJJDP News @ a Glance, May/June 2012 Newsletter 238636

OJJDP News @ a Glance, July/August 2012 Newsletter 238982

OJJDP: An Overview InFocus Fact Sheet 234073

OJJDP’s Major Grant Programs InFocus Fact Sheet 234072

Person Offense Cases in Juvenile Court, 2008 Fact Sheet 236480

Polyvictimization: Children’s Exposure to Multiple Types

of Violence, Crime, and Abuse 

Bulletin, NatSCEV Series 235504

Questions and Answers About the National Survey of 

Children’s Exposure to Violence 

Fact Sheet, NatSCEV Series 235163

¿Y yo? Cómo Sobrellevar el Secuestro de un Hermano o una Hermana

(Spanish-language translation of What About Me? Coping With the 

Abduction of a Brother or Sister, NCJ 217714) 

Report 237775
Organization

APPENDIX C
42 OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION • OJJDP.GOV

OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION

Administrator

Counselor to the Administrator

Deputy Administrator for Policy Deputy Administrator for Programs

 Child Protection Demonstration State Relations

 Division Programs Division and Assistance

 Division

Office of Policy Development

Principal Deputy Administrator

Communications 

Unit

Budget and 

Planning Division

Senior Advisor to the Administrator
2012 ANNUAL REPORT 43

Office of the Administrator

The Office of the Administrator establishes the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s (OJJDP’s) priorities and policies, oversees the management of OJJDP’s divisions, and fosters 

collaboration with federal, state, and local agencies and associations that share OJJDP’s commitment to preventing and combating juvenile delinquency and addressing the problem of missing 

and exploited children.

Office of Policy Development

The Office of Policy Development (OPD) assists the OJJDP Administrator in coordinating national 

policy on juvenile justice. OPD advises the Administrator on policy and legal issues and how 

OJJDP can best accomplish its mission. OPD also provides leadership and direction for OJJDP’s 

research and training and technical assistance efforts and oversees the agency’s communications 

and planning activities.

Communications Unit

The Communications Unit (CU) is responsible for OJJDP’s information dissemination and outreach. 

CU develops OJJDP publications, manages its Web site and online services, and performs a range 

of writing and editing functions to support the Office. CU also serves as a liaison to the Office of 

Justice Programs on media-related issues.

Budget and Planning Division

The Budget and Planning Division handles OJJDP’s budget and planning operations and manages 

the Office’s research and training and technical assistance functions. The division also oversees all 

administrative and personnel matters.
Note: During fiscal year 2012, OJJDP planned an officewide reorganization to better reflect the full breadth of its work: youth 

development, prevention, and safety; juvenile justice system improvement; state and community development; innovation and 

research; budget and administration; and audit and compliance. The new structure integrates research, policy, program, and 

capacity-development activities and is designed to enhance OJJDP’s ability to support the juvenile justice community in its efforts 

to serve our nation’s youth and families.

44 OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION • OJJDP.GOV

Child Protection Division

The Child Protection Division (CPD) develops and administers programs related to crimes against 

children and children’s exposure to violence. It provides leadership and funding in the areas of enforcement, intervention, and prevention. CPD’s activities include supporting programs that promote 

effective policies and procedures to respond to the problems of missing and exploited children, 

Internet crimes against children, abused and neglected children, and children exposed to domestic 

or community violence.

Demonstration Programs Division

The Demonstration Programs Division (DPD) provides funds to public and private agencies, organizations, and individuals to develop and support programs and replicate tested approaches to delinquency prevention, treatment, and control in areas such as mentoring, substance abuse, gangs, 

truancy, chronic juvenile offending, and community-based sanctions. DPD also supports and coordinates efforts with tribal governments to expand and improve tribal juvenile justice systems and 

develop programs and policies that address problems facing tribal youth.

State Relations and Assistance Division

The State Relations and Assistance Division (SRAD) provides funds to help state and local governments achieve the system improvement goals of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 

Act, combat underage drinking, implement delinquency prevention programs, address disproportionate minority contact, and support initiatives to hold juvenile offenders accountable for their 

actions. SRAD also supports and coordinates community efforts to identify and respond to critical 

juvenile justice and delinquency prevention needs.



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Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Washington, DC 20531

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Office of Justice Programs

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

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