Clinical trial NCT02449057: An Evaluation of JUST Court in Yuma County, AZ
Official title: An Evaluation of JUST (Juveniles Under Supervision and Treatment) Court in Yuma County, AZ
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Substance Abuse
Adolescent Behavior
Juvenile Delinquency Unspecified
Lead sponsor: Pepperdine University
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: University of California, Los Angeles
First posted: 2015-05-20
Enrollment: 150
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 13
Maximum age (years): 17
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: OTHER

Brief summary: 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: 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.

Eligibility criteria: 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

Primary outcomes:
measure: Number of days served in detention
timeFrame: followup at 6 months
measure: Recidivism
timeFrame: followup at 6 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Truancy
timeFrame: followup at 6 months
measure: Failure to appear
timeFrame: followup at 6 months
measure: Other technical violations
timeFrame: followup at 6 months
measure: Substance use
timeFrame: followup at 6 months
measure: New dispositions
timeFrame: followup at 6 months
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Yuma
country: United States
facility: Yuma County Juvenile Justice Center
state: Arizona
Study officials:
affiliation: Pepperdine University
name: Angela Hawken, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: