The purpose of the study was to explore entrepreneurial training as a rehabilitation option to reduce recidivism for juvenile offenders. The problem is that juvenile offenders return to incarceration at alarming rates. The United States record of rehabilitating juvenile offenders has been challenging since its inception of Juvenile Court in 1899.…

In January, California Governor Gavin Newsom released his proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2020-21 and included a substantial increase in spending for the state's dangerous and prison-like youth correctional institutions, currently known as the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) (CJCJ, 2019; DOF, 2020a). This proposed increase coincides with a…

Compared to typical schools, implementation of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) remains in its early stages with juvenile justice and alternative education settings, whether residential or day programs. As interest and support grows for implementation within juvenile justice and alternative education settings, the creation of…

Schools continue to rely on disciplinary exclusions as a consequence for behavioral rule violations, despite evidence that removing students from instruction for discipline purposes is associated with poor behavioral, academic, and social outcomes. School-wide positive behavior interventions and supports (SWPBIS) is one multitiered support…

As COVID-19 cases surge worldwide, young people in California's state-run youth correctional system, the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), remain at high risk of contracting the deadly virus. During a first-wave outbreak in June and July of 2020, DJJ was unable to control COVID-19's rapid spread, resulting in the infection of one in twelve youth…

In this study, we assessed the feasibility and social validity of an adapted approach to positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) implementation in secure juvenile facilities. The authors developed a comprehensive model of facility-wide positive behavior interventions and supports (FW-PBIS) for use in secure juvenile correctional…

California Governor Gavin Newsom proposed closing the Division of Juvenile Justice's (DJJ's) remaining facilities in favor of local alternatives as part of the 2020-21 state budget (Newsom, 2020). Communities across California have long organized to bring awareness about the systemic racism and harms of youth detention and incarceration. The…

This Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ) fact sheet shows that, in 2015, arrests of young people under age 25 dropped below 2014 levels and continue a decades-long trend of decline. While the causes of these declines are unknown, falling youth arrests rates coupled with decreased youth incarceration suggest that high rates of…

On the brink of closure, California's Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) requires critical attention. DJJ's inherent flaws and high costs led state leaders to heed long-standing calls for the closure of its youth correctional institutions in favor of local alternatives, a process known as juvenile justice realignment. DJJ stopped most youth…

California maintains two sets of secure juvenile facilities: a state-run youth correctional system, the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), and 112 juvenile halls, camps, and ranches operated by county probation departments. Despite sustained declines in serious juvenile arrests and a reduction in commitments to the state, DJJ has not closed a…

Social and emotional learning (SEL) plays a critical role in preparing young people for success in college, careers, and life. In general education settings, high quality SEL programs have been shown to reduce behavioral problems, improve students' sense of belonging, increase school attendance, and promote academic achievement. Recent…

In a one-day count in 2018, an estimated 37,529 youths resided in juvenile placement facilities across the United States. While the estimated number of juveniles in residential placement facilities has dropped by more than half over 20 years, alternative placement to other government juvenile facilities continues to remove youths from their…

Each year, California provides millions of state funding to counties to serve youth within their communities and reduce justice involvement through two major grant programs. First, the Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act (JJCPA), which was enacted by the Schiff-Cardenas Crime Prevention Act and given its current name through a California Senate…

Recently released statistics from the California Department of Justice (DOJ, 2017) show that arrests of youth ages 10-17 declined in 2016, reaching historically low levels. Arrest rates, which are reported to the state by local law enforcement agencies, fell for the ninth straight year in 2016, continuing a decades-long pattern of decline. Though…

On a given day, more than 43,000 youths who largely identify as students of color and are disproportionately male are held in residential placement facilities as a result of involvement with the juvenile justice system. More than two-thirds of youths living in placement facilities who participated in a national survey shared aspirations to…