Working for Youth Justice and Safety ojjdp.ojp.gov 

Coordinating Council on Juvenile 

Justice and Delinquency 

Prevention 

Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Working for Youth Justice and Safety ojjdp.ojp.gov 

OJJDP’s Continuum of Care

for the Coordinating Council 

on Juvenile Justice and 

Delinquency Prevention

Working for Youth Justice and Safety ojjdp.ojp.gov 

Office of Juvenile Justice and

Delinquency Prevention
Working for Youth Justice and Safety ojjdp.ojp.gov 
Working for Youth Justice and Safety ojjdp.ojp.gov 

The field has always recognized the need for a Continuum of 

Care to serve young people

• Early research identified the importance of prevention and early 

intervention as the best ways to prevent youth crime and reoffending. 

Subsequent research has only confirmed this more strongly.

• A “continuum of care” framework is well established in the health and 

other social services fields.

• Many states and localities are already using a CoC framework and have 

done so for years. We are learning from them.
Working for Youth Justice and Safety ojjdp.ojp.gov 

Why it matters

• Prevention and early intervention work to prevent later offending and 

incarceration.

• Small number of complex youth that need a high level of intervention – a strong continuum of care factors in those needs and immediate 

intervention.

• Communities with a continuum of care can constantly assess changing 

needs and adapt to respond to changes. Community members feel safer 

as they know their community can respond and is spending funds on 

solutions shown to work.
Working for Youth Justice and Safety ojjdp.ojp.gov 

What is it & How is OJJDP Using it?

• The Continuum of Care (CoC) is a Framework for understanding the broad array of youth justice 

programs and services needed to prevent delinquency and the further progression of youth in 

the juvenile justice system. 

• OJJDP is using this CoC framework to help communities provide the supports and services that 

youth and families need to prevent them from becoming further involved in the system and to 

help guide them to a positive future. 

• The framework can also help communities in allocating resources and identifying where the 

gaps are greatest.
Working for Youth Justice and Safety ojjdp.ojp.gov 

2018 Changes to the Juvenile Justice & 

Delinquency Prevention Act

Purpose - 34 U.S.C. §11102(4) 

“...to support a continuum of evidence-based or promising programs 

(including delinquency prevention, intervention, mental health, 

behavioral health and substance abuse treatment, family services, and 

services for children exposed to violence) that are trauma informed, 

reflect the science of adolescent development, and are designed to meet 

the needs of at- risk youth and youth who come into contact with the 

justice system.”
Working for Youth Justice and Safety ojjdp.ojp.gov 
Working for Youth Justice and Safety ojjdp.ojp.gov 

USDA’s 4H Mentoring 

Grants for youth at risk 

of justice involvement AmeriCorps Reentry 

Grants with justiceinvolved youth

Department of 

Education guidance on 

accessing quality 

education for 

incarcerated youth

Department of Labor

workforce investment 

boards’ prioritization of 

justice-involved youth

Coordination between 

youth justice and child 

welfare systems to 

serve youth with multisystem involvement

Federal Agencies & the Continuum:
Working for Youth Justice and Safety ojjdp.ojp.gov 

Relevance of this model for the 

Coordinating Council

• Use the framework as a tool to guide federal interagency work for 

youth justice:

• Assessing gaps in practice and policy

• Identifying opportunities for youth that may not yet exist or to scale

• Coordinating agency activities

• Realigning investments to the front end where impact is greatest and 

most effective

• Use the framework to organize the Council’s report to Congress and 

ensure content is balanced across the continuum of youth needs
Working for Youth Justice and Safety ojjdp.ojp.gov 

Coordinating Council on Juvenile 

Justice and Delinquency 

Prevention 

Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Working for Youth Justice and Safety ojjdp.ojp.gov 

Coordinating Council Recommendations: 

Listening Phase

• Between October 2022 and December 2023, the Coordinating 

Council heard testimony and gathered input from:

• Young people with lived experience

• Programmatic Staff

• System partners

• Field Experts

• The general public

• This process captured nearly 100 unique recommendations 

for the Council.
Working for Youth Justice and Safety ojjdp.ojp.gov 

Reviewing, Narrowing & Refining 

Recommendations

• Between January & March of 2024: 

• Refined recommendation language

• Consolidated where appropriate to reduce duplication

• Subcommittee representatives vetted recommendations within their 

agencies and submitted priorities 

• Subcommittees examined trends and themes/affinity grouping among the 

recommendations

• Culled the recommendations list down to 6 main themes, with 16 

recommendations in total
Working for Youth Justice and Safety ojjdp.ojp.gov 

Sorting & Categorizing Recommendations

Recommendation Primary Agency Primary Affinity 

Group

Program or Policy Focus

Support local communities in 

identifying their own individual 

needs, and provide training and

technical assistance to support 

implementation of

prevention services that are 

responsive to these needs. 

(prevention)

Multiple

CrossGovernmental

Collaboration

Practice
Working for Youth Justice and Safety ojjdp.ojp.gov 

Identifying Major Themes:

1. Build Opportunities at the Federal Level for Meaningful Engagement of 

Incarcerated Youth & Families

2. Expand Opportunities for Investments in Developmentally-appropriate, 

Culturally-aligned, and Healing-focused Prevention and Early intervention 

Strategies

3. Invest in, Elevate, and Research Culturally-Relevant, Community Based 

Services as Alternatives to Detention
Working for Youth Justice and Safety ojjdp.ojp.gov 

Themes (continued):

4. Enhance Coordination of Mental Health and Substance Use Services 

Across the Continuum for Justice-Involved Youth

5. Expand Re-entry Opportunities for Justice-Involved Youth

6. Build Knowledge and Capacity of the Workforce that Serves Justice- Involved Youth
Working for Youth Justice and Safety ojjdp.ojp.gov 

Prioritizing Recommendations:

• Identify top priorities

• Consider the Continuum of Care

• Balance Program and Practice recommendations

• Balance short-term and long-term recommendations
Working for Youth Justice and Safety ojjdp.ojp.gov 

Next Steps:

April-June subcommittee mtgs: 

• Reviewing the full Council’s prioritized recommendations 

• Gathering supporting data/information, as needed

• Breaking recommendations down into workplan activities and/or recommendations to Congress/the President

• Continued vetting by agency representatives behind the scenes

June Full Council mtg:

• Full Council reviews and approves workplan and final recommendations list as developed/refined by subcommittee members

June-August subcommittee mtgs: 

• Report drafting

• Continued agency vetting, as appropriate

September Full Council mtg:

• Full council approves draft report

September-December:

• Report design and final approval process

January 2025:

• Report distributed to Congress/White House
Working for Youth Justice and Safety ojjdp.ojp.gov 

For More Information

Julie Herr or Marcy Mistrett

Julie.Herr@usdoj.gov

Marcy.Mistrett@usdoj.gov

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 

http://www.ojjdp.gov

Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 

https://juvenilecouncil.ojp.gov/