An Evaluation of JUST Court in Yuma County, AZ

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Arizona has created a pilot program for juvenile probationers called Juveniles under Supervision and Treatment (JUST), which includes swift and certain, but modest responses, to technical violations of the terms of juvenile probation. JUST targets high- and medium-risk juvenile probationers and its stated objective is to reduce violations and overall incarceration of youth in the program. The JUST pilot is being implemented under the authority of the Arizona Governor's Office for Children, Youth and Families (GOCYF) and the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC).

Detailed Description
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Arizona's Juveniles Under Supervision and Treatment (JUST) Court is a pilot project initiated by the Arizona Governor's office. It is designed to test whether the principles of Swift, Certain, and Fair (SCF) Supervision-clear rules, close monitoring, and swift and certain, but modest, penalties for each violation can succeed when applied to juveniles under community supervision. The Arizona Administrative Office of the Courts piloted JUST in two counties: Yavapai and Yuma. The Yuma program was launched in March 2011. The goal of JUST is to (a) reduce the violation rate so as to reduce the number of petitions filed to revoke probation (the purpose is to reduce the use of juvenile detention), and (b) reduce recidivism overall. All juveniles in Yavapai are supervised under JUST (evaluation using an RCT is therefore unfeasible). JUST in Yuma is now being scaled up, which affords the opportunity for an RCT. The goal of the RCT is to compare the performance of youth supervised under JUST with those supervised under probation-as-usual.

Official Title
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An Evaluation of JUST (Juveniles Under Supervision and Treatment) Court in Yuma County, AZ

Conditions
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Substance Abuse, Adolescent Behavior, Juvenile Delinquency Unspecified

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: JUST


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Newly probated At least 13 years old No older than 17 years and 3 months At least nine months remaining on supervision Must be on standard probation with a supervision level of moderate to maximum Must be able to participate in the program for at least nine months Exclusion Criteria: Not meeting all inclusion criteria Sex offender Dangerous offenses

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 13 Years
Maximum Age: 17 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Other
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: JUST<br>Juveniles Under Supervision and Treatment. This entails swift, certain, and modest sanctions for violations of terms of community supervision. | Other: JUST<br>* Swift, certain, and proportionate sanctions for violations of terms of community supervision.<br>|
| No Intervention: Probation-as-Usual<br>Juvenile probation-as-usual. | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Number of days served in detention | Number of days served in detention | followup at 6 months | 
| Recidivism | Number of new arrests (overall, and by type) | followup at 6 months | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Truancy | Number of days truant | followup at 6 months | 
| Failure to appear | Number of no-shows for probation appointments | followup at 6 months | 
| Other technical violations | Number of other technical violations | followup at 6 months | 
| Substance use | Results of urinalysis screens from routine testing and research-based testing | followup at 6 months | 
| New dispositions | Number of new dispositions, by (type) | followup at 6 months |