The Future of Youth Justice: A Solutions-Based Roadmap

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Youth Correctional Leaders for Justice is an organization of over 70 current and former leaders of youth justice systems. We’ve led public systems in states and cities across the country to provide more effective interventions for young people and their families.
 

As we face a critical turning point in our field, now is the time to take the remarkable progress of the last 25 years and stand behind a new vision for youth justice that is based in research and evidence of what works; a youth-centered and community-grounded vision that builds safer communities, stronger, healthier young people and equity for our most vulnerable and disadvantaged youth and families.

While we see some places looking to move backward into failed policies and practices of the past, Youth Correctional Leaders for Justice (YCLJ) sees this as a powerful moment to assert a positive, evidence-based vision for the future. Based on our experiences, we recognize the vital importance of partnering with and elevating families and communities to provide, support and care for young people who come into conflict with the law. We have worked closely with communities across the country to develop and implement innovative responses for youth that produce far better results than we’ve ever seen from incarceration and other “tough on crime” approaches. These solutions are centered in communities, diverse and tailored to youth and family needs and strengths and promote greater youth well-being and safer communities than traditional legal responses. 

Our successes prove that we can have both safety and justice; that all youth are capable of change with the right supports and opportunities; and that there are concrete and effective solutions to address youth crime and violence that we know work, have seen succeed and can replicate. 

After more than 20 years of declines, youth crime and violence increased in the aftermath of the socially devastating pandemic. It must be noted, however, that despite this temporary spike, the rate of youth offending and violence remained well below historical levels. Moreover, most recent data show a return to pre-pandemic rates of youth crime, which are more than 75% lower than their peak in the late 1990s.

In responding to the perceived crisis in youth crime and violence, some jurisdictions have begun reaching backward to ineffective and abusive punishment-based practices, including plans in several states to spend millions to expand existing or build new youth prisons. We believe this is a serious mistake, with far-reaching negative consequences that will continue for decades. The evidence and our experience as leaders of these systems tells us that most large, distant, institutional youth prisons are factories of failure and harm – both for youth and community safety. Compounding the injustice of incarceration, its harms are inflicted disproportionately on youth of color, who are held in facilities nearly five times as often as white youth.

There is a better path. Drawing on decades of reform and evidence of success, we can replace ineffective and costly youth prisons by investing in the capacity and infrastructure needed in communities to promote safety, opportunity, and accountability. While every jurisdiction must develop and follow their own roadmap, years of experience support including the following four primary elements:

● Divert youth from the formal criminal system whenever possible, and support them in their own homes and communities

● Invest in a diverse array of supports that will help young people grow and thrive

● Strengthen and scale community violence intervention (CVI) programs to address the root causes of gun violence

● When safety requires temporarily removing a young person from home, provide a homelike, nurturing, non-prison environment

As youth correctional leaders, we are committed to advancing this roadmap, including shifting the culture and resources within our agencies, learning about what works so we can iterate beyond the existing paradigm, and educating policy- and decision-makers about why this approach works and matters. We can do so much more in partnership with youth, families, and communities to create a world where all our youth can thrive safely at home. This is our vision and North Star for the future of youth justice.

Youth Correctional Leaders for Justice is housed at and convened by Catalyze Justice, which works with leaders across the country who are reimagining and reinventing youth justice. For additional resources, check out the Taking on Transformation (ToT) website takingontransformation.org. ToT includes a step-by-step guide for system leaders interested in pursuing youth justice transformation and examples of how to approach this work.