Background

More than 1.3 million youth cycle through delinquency courts each year,1 which has a significant 

impact on their development and prospects for long-term success. As a result, juvenile reentry 

involves not only post-incarceration services for youth, but is also a process that (a) begins the 

moment a young person comes into contact with the juvenile justice system, and (b) is engineered 

to help youth transition from system supervision to a crime-free, productive adulthood. Young 

people typically face many challenges in making this successful transition. They may not receive 

the necessary support from their families, peers, schools, and communities. They may struggle 

to connect with aftercare treatment for mental health and/or substance use disorders when they 

return to their communities after confinement, or they may face barriers to enrolling in an appropriate 

educational and/or vocational setting. The majority of youth under system supervision face one 

if not many of these challenges to their successful reentry: 

• Mental Health. Between 60 and 70 percent of youth involved with the juvenile justice system 

have a diagnosable mental disorder and more than 27 percent have a serious mental health 

disorder that impairs their ability to function.2

• Substance Use. Between 25 to 50 percent of youth involved with the juvenile justice system 

have significant substance use disorders,3 often co-occurring with mental disorders at rates 

of 60 percent or more. 4

• Child Welfare. Up to 65 percent of youth in the juvenile justice system may have past or 

current involvement with the child welfare system.5 

• Education. Youth involved with the juvenile justice system are significantly more likely to 

receive suspensions or expulsions, have academic skills well below their grade levels, 

possess learning or developmental disabilities, and drop out of school.6

The Second Chance Act

In April 2008, Congress passed the Second Chance Act, first-of-its-kind legislation enacted 

with bipartisan support and backed by a broad spectrum of leaders in law enforcement, 

corrections, courts, behavioral health, and other areas. The Second Chance Act represents a

federal investment in strategies to reduce recidivism and increase public safety, as well as to

reduce corrections costs for state and local governments. The bill authorized up to $165 million 

in federal grants to state, local, and tribal government agencies and nonprofit organizations.

About the Second Chance Act Grant Program

Since 2009, nearly 600 Second Chance Act grant awards have been made to government agencies and nonprofit organizations from 49 states for reentry programs serving adults and juveniles. 

Approximately 20 percent of these grants were awarded to agencies and organizations serving a 

juvenile justice population.11 Grantees provide vital services—including case management, 

education, substance use and mental health treatment, family therapy, housing, mentoring, vicThe Second Chance Act:

Juvenile Reentry

June 2014

Key Facts

• 1.3 million youth cycle through juvenile 

courts each year.7

•	 An estimated 60,000 youth are confined in

juvenile detention and correctional facilities 

on any given day.8

• 50,000 youth are supervised on probation 

annually.9

• Recidivism rates for youth with the most 

serious offense histories are often 40 to 70 

percent.10

FY2009 $25 million

FY2010 $100 million

FY2011 $83 million

FY2012 $63 million

FY2013 $67.5 million

FY2014 $67.7 million

Federal Funding of Second 

Chance Act Programs
Figure 1. Types of Services Provided to Eligible Youth through 

Second Chance Act Funding: July 2009–June 2013 

1. Melissa Sickmund, Anthony Sladky, and Wei Kang, “Easy Access 

to Juvenile Court Statistics: 1985-2010,” (Washington, DC: Office 

of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2013), available at 

ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/ezajcs.

2. Kathleen R. Skowyra and Joseph J. Cocozza, Blueprint for Change: 

A Comprehensive Model for the Identification and Treatment of Youth 

with Mental Health Needs in Contact with the Juvenile Justice System

(Delmar, NY: National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice 

and Policy Research Associates, Inc., 2006), available at ncmhjj.com/

wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Blueprint.pdf.

3. Hilary Hodgdon, “Juvenile Offenders and Substance Use and Abuse,” 

The Future of Children 18, no. 2 (2008), available at futureofchildren.org/

futureofchildren/publications/highlights/18_02_Highlights_05.pdf.

 4. Skowyra and Cocozza, Blueprint for Change.

 5. Denise Herz, et al., Addressing the Needs of Multi-System Youth: 

Strengthening the Connection between Child Welfare and Juvenile 

Justice (Washington, DC: Center for Juvenile Justice Reform, 2012), 

available at cjjr.georgetown.edu/pdfs/msy/AddressingtheNeedsofMultiSystemYouth.pdf; Denise C. Herz, Miriam Krinsky, and Joseph P. 

Ryan, “Improving System Responses to Crossover Youth: The Role of 

Research and Practice Partnerships,” The Link: Connecting Juvenile 

Justice and Child Welfare 5, no. 1 (2006): 1, available at cwla.org/

programs/juvenilejustice/thelink2006summer.pdf.

6. Peter Leone and Lois Weinberg, Addressing the Unmet Educational 

Needs of Children and Youth in the Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare 

Systems (Washington, DC: Center for Juvenile Justice Reform, 

Georgetown Public Policy Institute, 2010), available at cjjr.georgetown.

edu/pdfs/ed/edpaper.pdf.

 7. Sickmund, Sladky, and Kang, “Easy Access to Juvenile Court 

Statistics: 1985-2010.”

8. Melissa Sickmund et al., “Easy Access to the Census of 

Juveniles in Residential Placement,” (Washington, DC: Office of 

Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2013), available at 

ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/ezacjrp.

9. Sickmund, Sladky, and Kang, “Easy Access to Juvenile Court 

Statistics: 1985–2010.”

10. At this time, there is no nationally accepted juvenile recidivism rate, 

however, individual reports from many states show recidivism rates for 

high-risk youth in the community as high as 60–70 percent.

11. Since 2009, 100 of the 586 Second Chance Act grants awarded 

by the OJP target youth in the juvenile justice system.

12. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. 

“Fact Sheet on OJJDP Second Chance Act Grant Program 

Accomplishments.” Accessed June 18, 2014. https://www.ojjdpdctat.org/help/SCAFactSheetJan2009Jun2013.pdf. 

13. G.R. Jarjoura, “They All Come Back: Reflections on Juvenile Reentry Initiative” (paper presented at the ACJJ Statewide Conference on 

Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2003) in Ashley Nellis and 

Richard Hooks Wayman, Back on Track: Supporting Youth Reentry from 

Out-of-Home Placement to the Community (Washington, DC: Youth 

Reentry Task Force of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 

Coalition, 2009), available at sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/

CC_youthreentryfall09report.pdf.

• Indiana. The Aftercare for Indiana through Mentoring (AIM) program provides 

comprehensive reentry support services to young people in the custody of 

the Indiana Division of Youth Services. While they’re in confinement, AIM 

connects these youth with adult mentors, and when they return to their 

communities, they receive life skills training, educational and employment

services, and housing support. A 4-year follow-up study of youth enrolled in 

AIM found that 43 percent of participants were re-incarcerated compared to 

62 percent of non-participating youth.13

• San Francisco. The Juvenile Collaborative Reentry Unit (JCRU) provides 

pre- and post-release case management services to youth returning from 

juvenile probation camps and correctional facilities. Case managers 

develop a reentry plan that includes goals for strengthening family 

relationships; improving housing, education, and employment opportunities; 

and enhancing substance use treatment and pro-social activities. In the 

first 3 years of the pilot program, probation violations fell 14 percent, 

rearrests declined 17 percent, and new convictions dropped 57 percent.

• The Texas Juvenile Justice Department. The Second Chance program 

provides family-focused reentry services to gang-affiliated youth. The 

program supports comprehensive case management services based on 

the individual needs of each young person, including cognitive behavioral

therapy, anger management, education, and employment. According 

to a recent study of program participants, approximately 80 percent 

had no further contact with the juvenile justice system within 4 to 6 

months of release.

Examples of Second Chance Act Grant-Funded Juvenile Reentry Initiatives

Notes

tim support, and others—to make a youth’s transition from system supervision safer and more successful. Between July 2009 to June 2013, more than 

17,000 youth received services from Second Chance Act funding.12 Out of the 

4,962 youth who were identified as needing substance use counseling, 3,497 

received this service; in addition, 4,003 eligible youth received mental health 

services, and 985 youth obtained housing (see figure 1). Second Chance Act 

grants also support improved corrections and supervision practices that aim 

to reduce recidivism. The grant programs are funded and administered by the 

U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP).

Source: The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. “Fact Sheet on OJJDP Second Chance Act Grant Program Accomplishments.”