# Recommendation

Primary 

Agency/Agencies 

Implicated

Primary Affinity 

Group

Programs/Practice vs. 

Policy focus

1

Law enforcement agencies should implement 

internal policies that incease professionalism 

among officers, improve relationships with the 

community, and uphold the safety and well-being 

of both community-members and law enforcement 

personnel. 

DOJ Law Enforcement and 

the Courts 

Policy

2

Institutionalize Leadership Roles for Families by 

designating two council practitioner member 

spots for a young adult with lived experience and 

a parent/guardian/family member. It is critical 

that the voices and expertise of both youth and 

family members can guide, shape, and respond to 

the policy issues and other matters that come 

before the Council in a consistent and valued 

manner. This would also set an important example 

of providing meaningful leadership roles for 

families on governing and policy-setting bodies 

which would hopefully lead to more leadership, 

power-sharing opportunities for families across 

the country. 

DOJ Cross-Governmental 

Collaboration

Policy

3

Conduct cross agency collaboration and listening 

sessions to review policies and rescind or amend 

those that prevent access to resources, beginning 

with review of the Department of Labor Training 

and Employment Guidance Letter No. 23-14[i]. 

DOL and others Cross-Governmental 

Collaboration

Policy

4

Shift a portion of the funding and resources that 

are currently funneled to law enforcement, 

incarceration, and other reactive programming 

models towards programming models that are 

community based, hyper-localized, and provide 

streamlined and rapid response behavioral health 

services.

DOJ, SAMHSA, 

and others

Healthcare and Social 

Services - Alternative 

Youth 

Programs/Approaches

Policy

5

Provide more funding to youth defense, the only 

part of the reactive system that is dedicated to 

protecting youth and advocating for their rights, 

to support holistic defense models and strong 

advocacy.

DOJ Law Enforcement and 

the Courts 

Policy

6 Eliminate restrictions on public housing access 

for youth with delinquency charges/adjudications.

HUD Housing Policy

7

Provide funding for communities to create safe 

and accessible play and recreation spaces for 

children.

HUD, Interior, DOJ, 

HHS?

Healthcare and Social 

Services - Alternative 

Youth 

Programs/Approaches

Policy

Full Recommendations List

Page 1 of 12
8

Invest in prevention and early intervention by 

redirecting funds towards community-based 

programs and services that address the root causes 

of delinquency, such as poverty, lack of 

education, mental health and substance use issues. 

DOJ, HHS, 

SAMHSA, DoEd, 

ONDCP

Healthcare and Social 

Services - Alternative 

Youth 

Programs/Approaches

Policy

9

Invest in the training of judicial and law 

enforcement personnel in areas such as deescalation techniques, mental health awareness 

and alternative dispute resolution. 

DOJ, SAMHSA Law Enforcement and 

the Courts

Policy

10

Develop and fund diversion programs that allow 

for non-criminal handling of certain offenses, 

particularly first-time and minor offenders. 

DOJ Law Enforcement and 

the Courts

Policy

11

Strengthen support for services like family 

counseling, educational support, mental health 

and substance use support as alternatives to 

detention.

DOJ, HHS, 

SAMHSA, DoEd, 

ONDCP

Healthcare and Social 

Services - Alternative 

Youth 

Programs/Approaches

Policy

12

Create a grant program that provides financial 

incentives to communities that successfully keep 

children and youth out of detention and with their 

families in local communities where there are 

resources to address the root causes of 

delinquency. The program would be similar to 

incentives that were provided to states when 

youth in the child welfare system were adopted.

DOJ and others Healthcare and Social 

Services - Alternative 

Youth 

Programs/Approaches

Policy

13

The Department of Education should ensure that 

schools inside of juvenile facilities (both pre and 

post-adjudication) are adequately funded and held 

accountable to providing the educational services 

that youth are entitled to.

DoEd Schools Policy

14

The Dept of Education can also ensure that 

students returning from confinement have access 

to appropriate, high quality schools by prohibiting 

schools and school districts from refusing 

students from returning to their previous school, 

funneling them to alternative schools, or requiring 

them to attend 'virtual' schools - absent clear, fair 

reasons like a valid imminent threat to safety of 

the school or staff. 

DoEd Schools Policy

15 Decriminalize homelessness HUD Housing Policy

16 Explore ways to incentivize the elimination of 

food deserts

USDA Healthcare and Social 

Services

Policy

17 Allow familes to live together in subsizdized 

housing

HUD Housing Policy

18 Allow food purchases in reentry grants USDA Healthcare and Social 

Services 

Policy

Page 2 of 12
19

Training for law enforcement officers can 

significantly reduce arrest of youth and thereby 

prevent youth from entering the juvenile justice 

system (JJS). Training officers on the teen brain 

will make it less likely for them to criminalize 

regular adolescent behavior. Additionally, 

training on restorative and trauma-informed 

practices can provide law enforcement officers a 

better understanding on why diversion programs 

can produce better long-term outcomes for youth, 

the community and for law enforcement. 

Community service providers should be included 

in the trainings so that law enforcement officers 

become familiar with the services provided, build 

relationships with community members, and can 

better navigate the referral process when using 

discretion and diverting youth to diversions 

programs

DOJ and others Law Enforcement and 

the Courts

Practice

20

Law enforcement should partner with institutions 

and community-based organizations to increase 

options to address areas of youth need while also 

increasing protective factors. These partnerships 

can be used to prevent youth from entering the 

juvenile justice system, but can also be used with 

justice-involved youth. These programs can be 

developed with input from a variety of sources, 

including community members, with the 

understanding that they all must meet the legal 

requirements and ethical standards of each 

discipline. 

DOJ and others Law Enforement and 

the Courts

Practice

21

Establish a National Family Information and Peer 

Navigation Clearinghouse, with state affiliates. 

Families need easily accessible, comprehensive, 

reliable information developed by families, for 

families about accessible, developmentally, and 

culturally appropriate, trauma-informed wholistic 

services when they need help. Information 

provided by real people, with their own lived 

experience, who can walk them through the 

process.

Multiple Healthcare and Social 

Services

Practice

22

Work together to address individual and 

collective/historic trauma. The Council and its 

members are uniquely situated to promote and 

ensure funding for community-based, culturally 

and developmentally-informed, effective, 

affordable, and accessible trauma responsive 

services for all youth and families. Embracing 

recommendations by both Georgetown and 

NCTSN in their recent publication “A TraumaInformed Guide for Working with Youth 

Involved with Multiple Systems” is a good place 

to start. 

Multiple Healthcare and Social 

Services

Practice

Page 3 of 12
23

Create and support pathways for collaboration 

across systems at the local, state, and national 

levels, with guidance provided specifically to 

state administrators, teaching them how to embed 

the JJDPA in every aspect of the juvenile justice 

system. Education on the core mandates of the 

JJDPA should be provided across all systems and 

among every system gatekeeper, including 

attorneys at the local, state, and federal levels. 

State administrators of the Title II funding need 

guidance on how this can be done and what the 

benefits are (e.g., long term sustainability of 

effective programming and the leveraging of 

resources). 

DOJ Cross-Governmental 

Collaboration

Practice

24

To further ensure the long-term impact of the 

JJDP Act and the spirit behind it, retention issues 

and longevity of Title II state administrators must 

be examined, and solutions explored. Improving 

the retention of state administrators will improve 

the coordination of services for delinquency 

prevention programming and outcomes for justice 

involved youth. 

DoEd Cross-Governmental 

Collaboration

Practice

25

A closer examination of the barriers to obtaining 

interstate and state vital documents would be 

beneficial to assist with the development of 

solutions. In addition, providing a pathway for 

states to obtain vital documents through interstate 

collaboration and supporting states to develop the 

infrastructure needed to implement statewide and 

interstate data systems that are designed to 

streamline resources for youth and families will 

remove barriers and increase opportunities while 

simultaneously assisting with resource 

management. 

HHS Cross-Governmental 

Collaboration

Practice

Page 4 of 12
26

Provide assistance to juvenile justice systems to 

assist them with identifying a pathway to hire a 

permanent youth engagement coordinator to 

support, engage, and strengthen youth voice in the 

review, development, and implementation of 

policy, practice, and programs within the juvenile 

justice systems. A youth voice with lived 

experience in the development and 

implementation of policies, practices, and 

programming is critical to the overall pathway of 

success for all youth and families served by the 

juvenile justice system. Building internal controls 

so these positions are protected from partisan 

politics and budgetary constraints will create a 

sustained pathway for youth with lived experience 

to have a voice in the long-term operations and 

success of the juvenile justice system.

DOJ Engaging Families and 

Youth with Lived 

Experience

Practice

27

Enforcing existing standards set for carceral 

systems and policing to reduce overuse and 

misuse of these system, thus freeing up resources 

for more preventative services

DOJ and others Law Enforcement and 

the Courts

Practice

28

Support schools to provide more counselors, 

social workers, intervention specialists, free 

meals, extra-curriculars, and after-school 

activities.

DoEd and others Schools Practice

29

Support schools in providing quality education to 

youth in detention centers and enforce educational 

standards in facilities where youth are 

incarcerated.

DoEd, DOJ Schools Practice

30 Incentivize creation of more support services in 

schools over the use of school policing.

DoEd and others Schools Practice

31

Incentivize the equal distribution of resources to 

neighborhood schools in large urban school 

districts so children can access quality education 

and needed services where they live, thus 

reducing transportation barriers to treatment, 

sports, and recreation.

DoEd Schools Practice

32

Encourage individuals that wish to pursue careers 

in education-related roles through financial 

support and training.

DOL, DoEd Employment and 

Training

Practice

33 Support free and accessible community-based 

healthcare and behavioral healthcare.

HHS, SAMHSA Healthcare and Social 

Services

Practice

34

Support service delivery models that utilize 

technology or have neighborhood based 

operations to provide expedited intake processes 

and quick access to health care and mental health 

services.

HHS, SAMHSA Healthcare and Social 

Services

Practice

35

Incentivize connecting families involved with 

social services to local support services over 

sending children away from families to treatment 

facilities.

HHS, DOJ Healthcare and Social 

Services

Practice

Page 5 of 12
36

Provide training to enhance social services 

workers’ understanding of how to support youth 

who are involved in both the social services and 

juvenile court systems. 

HHS, DOJ Healthcare and Social 

Services

Practice

37 Ensure housing is environmentally safe. HUD Housing Practice

38

Invite in other governmental agencies to create 

communities with easy access to food, 

transportation, education, medical services, 

workforce development, etc.

Multiple Housing Practice

39 Support civil legal service agencies that can 

advocate for families in housing crises.

DOJ, HUD Housing Practice

40 Support free school meals. USDA Healthcare and Social 

Services

Practice

41 Incentivize employers to pay livable wages, 

provide insurance, and paid time off.

DOL Employment and 

Training

Practice

42 Support employing people who have lived 

experiences in the carceral system

DOL, DOJ Employment and 

Training

Practice

43

Collaborate with member agencies to increase 

meaningful workforce development opportunities 

for youth in their neighborhoods.

DOL Employment and 

Training

Practice

44

Send Americorps members into neighborhoods 

most impacted by the criminal and juvenile legal 

systems to talk to families and identify community 

specific needs, identify any existing community 

organizations already trusted within the 

community, and act as liaisons to bring additional 

services and resources to the community.

AmeriCorps Healthcare and Social 

Services

Practice

45

Send Americorp members to establish the 

neighborhood level community centers to 

coordinate services in a one-stop service model, 

and to train community members for employment 

at the community centers.

AmeriCorps Healthcare and Social 

Services

Practice

46

Support community-based addiction services that 

can be accessed for free and without court 

involvement.

ONDCP, SAMHSA, 

DOJ

Healthcare and Social 

Services

Practice

47

Judges should receive training in cultural 

competency to understand and respect the diverse 

backgrounds of the youth they encounter. This 

includes awareness of how biases, explicit, 

implicit and systemic, can influence decision 

making. Implementing data collection and 

analysis can help identify and address racial 

disparities in the juvenile justice process. 

Involving community members, especially from 

marginalized communities, in the decisionmaking process can help ensure that the system is 

mor responsive to the needs of those it serves. 

DOJ Law Enforcement and 

the Courts

Practice

Page 6 of 12
48

Judges need access to the latest research on what 

interventions are effective for reducing recidivism 

and promoting positive outcomes for youth. This 

includes understanding the impacts of different 

sentencing options. Regular workshops, 

seminars, and webinars on the latest juvenile 

justice research can help judges stay informed 

about best practices.

DOJ Law Enforcement and 

the Courts

Practice

49

Create forums where judges, probation 

administrators and officers, prosecutors, defense 

attorneys, community stakeholders and families 

can discuss and develop consensus on probation 

reform. Implementing and evaluating pilot 

programs can help in understanding the impacts 

of probation reform before they are widely 

implemented.

DOJ Law Enforcement and 

the Courts

Practice

50

There should be greater flexibility in funding and 

incentives should be provided to among member 

agencies for shared problem solving and 

collaboration which will allow the agencies to 

obtain better outcomes for the children, youth and 

families. Agencies must stop worrying about 

their individual budgets and work together to use 

funds to provide the attention and services that are 

needed to send the messages we want delivered to 

“a time that we will not see.

Multiple Cross-Governmental 

Collaboration

Practice

51

Addressing the needs of children who require 

assistance involves a thoughtful approach, starting 

with how we conceptualize and label them. The 

label "at-risk" carries an inherently negative 

connotation that can inadvertently hinder efforts 

to support these children effectively. It suggests a 

focus on risks and deficits rather than strengths 

and potential, which can impact both the approach 

of the caregivers and the self-perception of the 

children. 

Multiple Cross-Governmental 

Collaboration

Practice

Page 7 of 12
52

Agencies should be stopped from relying on 

detention when their interventions, methods and 

treatments seem to fail. Youth incarceration is 

costly, ineffective and harmful to adolescents 

while not improving public safety. Recidivism 

rates are higher, and detention exposes youth to 

negative influences and fails to address the 

underlying issues that led to their delinquent 

behavior. Detention facilities often lack properly 

trained staff and effective rehabilitation programs 

with more emphasis on punishment rather than 

rehabilitation failing to address educational needs, 

mental health or substance use issues or social 

skills development. Detention can disrupt the 

adolescent development process thereby leading 

to negative outcomes like educational disruption, 

social isolation and exposure to additional trauma. 

DOJ and others Law Enforcement and 

the Courts

Practice

53

Agencies must create opportunities for 

meaningful involvement and participation in the 

reform efforts of those with lived experience in 

service delivery, policy development and 

leadership. Persons with lived experience are 

agents of change who contribute their unique 

expertise and in-depth knowledge of navigating 

systems — they are experts by experience. 

Engagement with persons with lived experience is 

critical to identify the flaws in the system.

DOJ and others Engaging Families and 

Youth with Lived 

Experiences 

Practice

54

Expanding resources for schools and localized 

community groups with attractive programming 

for youth before adolescence can foster a strong 

positive sense of identity and belonging capable 

of remaining viable into adulthood. 

DoEd and others Schools Practice

55

Parents must be equipped to both provide healthy 

attachments while minimizing environmental 

ACEs. Incorporating this information into 

expecting and new parent education administered 

by health systems and community service 

agencies will increase parental awareness of these 

important concepts. 

SAMHSA, HHS, 

and others

Healthcare and Social 

Services

Practice

Page 8 of 12
56

Resources should be utilized to attract high 

quality staff to youth-serving positions and 

encourage long-term commitments. Positive peer 

groups and pro-social programming should be 

provided with the resources to be as available. 

Fostering a sense of community and identity 

requires wrap-around services. Programming 

should work to incorporate families and integrate 

themselves into households engaging caregivers 

and sibling groups. A youth’s ability to forge a 

strong healthy attachment with positive mentors is 

critical to the success of these programs. 

Frequent staff turnover and the utilization of shortterm interns undermines the development of these 

relationships. 

Multiple Healthcare and Social 

Services

Practice

57

To promote a response that is empathetic to the 

juvenile and their needs, juvenile justice judges, 

attorneys, probation officers, clinicians and 

service providers should receive training around 

ACEs and the impact of trauma on a young 

person’s decision-making. In its efforts to 

promote a youth’s sense of accountability, the 

juvenile justice system would benefit from a 

developed understanding of the impact the 

youth’s upbringing had on their decision making. 

DOJ, SAMHSA, 

HHS and others

Healthcare and Social 

Services

Practice

58

Understanding the youth and their community’s 

perception of mental health services is critical. 

Where there is stigma attached to treatment, 

therapeutic interventions should be packaged in 

an attractive manner capitalizing on existing 

positive outlets embraced by the community such 

as visual art, athletic, music and drama programs. 

DOJ, HHS, 

SAMHSA, and 

others

Healthcare and Social 

Services

Practice

59

In exploring barriers to success and opportunities 

for improvement, struggles of child welfare youth 

in the juvenile justice system should be examined. 

Investing in these dual system youth provides 

assistance to our most vulnerable. Dual System 

or Dually Involved Youth programs and cross 

agency collaboration between the juvenile justice 

and child welfare systems eliminates 

communication gaps, reduces redundancy, and 

allows both agencies to capitalize each other’s 

experience. 

HHS, DOJ Cross-Governmental 

Collaboration 

Practice

60

Support local communities in identifying their 

own individual needs, as well as provide them 

training and technical assistance to create services 

and programs that can prevent youth from 

entering the juvenile justice system.

Multiple Cross-Governmental 

Collaboration 

Practice

Page 9 of 12
61

Cultivate highly skilled probation officers who 

receive specialized training, especially youth and 

family focused.

DOJ Law Enforcement and 

Courts

Practice

62

Prioritize Evidence-based and best practice 

resources such as a Service Recommendation 

Matrix, Home-based services, tangible incentives, 

or a Reentry Unit to enhance probation 

supervision and service access. 

DOJ and others Law Enforcement and 

Courts

Practice

63

Create opportunities for positive youth 

development by promoting a youth’s individual 

strengths. 

Multiple Healthcare and Social 

Services

Practice

64

Promote local and national evaluations and 

technical assistance focused on probation best 

practices and their implementation, including 

clear measures for how to provide data and 

reporting that demonstrates evidence of fidelity.

DOJ Law Enforcement and 

Courts

Practice

65

DoEd can support innovative schools and support 

programs that offer these students meaningful 

opportunities to re-engage with and find success 

at school, which will help to keep them out of the 

jj system, and get them on track to graduate. 

DoEd Schools Practice

66

DOL can clarify more explicitly in its 

Reintegration of Ex-Offenders Program that 

grants for justice system-involved youth are 

intended to reach all system-involved youth, not 

just the reentry population. The frequent use of 

the terms "reentry" or "reintegration" suggests 

programs are only for youth who have spent time 

in correctional facilities.

DOL Employment and 

Training

Practice

67

DOL can also encourage and approve state 

Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 

(WOIA) waiver requests that incentivize local 

Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) to serve 

justice system-involved youth in their youth 

programs.

DOL Employment and 

Training

Practice

68

DOL can also provide more explicit guidance to 

state and local WIBs on how to overcome the 

barriers to enrolling and serving justice-involved 

youth under the WIOA youth program, as well as 

identify and promote best practices on how to 

collaborate with justice system partners and serve 

this population more effectively. 

DOL Employment and 

Training

Practice

69

Resources should not just be for people on 

probation but the communities that support them 

as well. 

DOJ and others Law Enforcement and 

the Courts

Practice

70 Invest in and collocate housing with supportive 

services hubs

HUD and others Housing Practice

71 Increase connections between Depts of 

Corrections and local housing authorities

HUD, DOJ Housing Practice

Page 10 of 12
72 Improve "First Week Out" planning inside the 

walls to include housing placement

HUD, DOJ Housing Practice

73 Teach nutrition and healthy eating in youth 

programs

USDA and others Healthcare and Social 

Services - Food

Practice

74 Invest in professional development for youth 

facing staff

Multiple Healthcare and Social 

Services

Practice

75

Enhance the success of justice-involved youth in 

their communities by ensuring access to 

comprehensive, supportive services addressing 

the whole individual; meet basic needs first, be 

trauma-informed and healing-centered

Multiple Healthcare and Social 

Services

Practice

76 Infuse cultural awareness into community needs 

assessment

Multiple Practice

77

Examine the intersection between homelessness, 

police involvement, and justice system 

involvement and what we as government 

representatives can do to address these concerns.

DOJ, HUD, HHS Housing Practice

78

Resources should be offered to kids before they 

get into the system. The current justice system is 

being used as a fix for the failures of all other 

systems – housing, education, labor. It doesn’t 

prevent criminals; the system makes them. 

Multiple Cross-Governmental 

Collaboration 

Practice

79

It’s important to refer to “youth” as “kids.” Using 

“kids” brings home the fact that these young 

people are in fact, kids.

Multiple Practice

80

Justice-involved youth could be paid to go to 

school, and that pay could go towards fines and 

fees. 

DOJ, DoEd, DOL Schools Practice

81

Explore ways to make mental health treatment 

more readily available and accessible to justiceinvolved youth.

SAMHSA Healthcare and Social 

Services

Practice

82

A kid in the system has no money, no job, no 

housing once they are released but are often 

expected to pay fines. She noted that there is 

plenty of money to keep kids in the system, but 

more money is needed to help kids when they are 

out of the system. 

SAMHSA Cross-Governmental 

Collaboration 

Practice

83

Eliminate fees and fines. In order to get off 

probation, fines must be paid. If fines aren’t paid 

in the juvenile system, at 18, kids enter the adult 

system. This keeps people in the system. 

DOJ Law Enforcement and 

the Courts

Practice

84

Explore ways to address the co-occurence of 

substance use and MH issues and their 

relationship to youth behavior, well-being, and 

equity.

SAMHSA, ONDCP, 

DOJ

Heathcare and Social 

Services

Practice

85 Improve access to access post-secondary 

education for youth exiting the system. 

DoEd, DOJ Schools Practice

86

Explore ways to ensure that judges and the system 

have access to all pertinent details when 

reviewing an offender’s background. 

Multiple Cross-Governemntal 

Collaboration

Practice

Page 11 of 12
87

There needs to be a clear vision for our youth, and 

we need business community support, life skills 

development, 4H in every county.

USDA and others Heathcare and Social 

Services

Practice

88

We should be creating tools and checklists and 

manuals at the federal level to give to states and 

local communities. Best practices informed by 

community, not researchers. 

HUD Cross-Governmental 

Collaboration 

Practice

89

Having a national roadmap would be helpful. It 

feels like every State is trying to figure things out 

on their own. 

Multiple

90

Require police departments to implement traumainformed training as a prerequisite for federal 

funding. 

DOJ and others Law Enforcement and 

the Courts

Policy

91 Explore ways to encourage law enforcement to 

build stronger relationships with the community.

DOJ Law Enforcement and 

the Courts

92 Probation programs should provide tangible and 

individualized incentives for youth.

DOJ Law Enforcement and 

the Courts

93

We need to do a better job of sharing important 

youth records and data across systems, while also 

balancing privacy concerns.

Multiple Cross-Governmental 

Collaboration 

Page 12 of 12