Our study examined co-occurring substance use and major depressive disorders among justice-involved adolescents to inform behavioral health services planning within U.S. criminal justice systems. We used data from the 2015-2017 administrations of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), an annual survey of non-institutionalized U.S.…

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) invests in mentoring programs and services to help ensure positive outcomes for youth. Successful mentoring relationships have been shown to increase youth's self-esteem, improve academic achievement, and steer them away from delinquency, substance use, and other high-risk…

Adolescent substance use is typically addressed from the perspectives of school personnel (e.g., teachers, school counselors, social workers, and resource officers) who interact daily with students in school settings. Consequences of adolescent substance use in the schools may include suspension or expulsion and possible legal involvement.…

This study examined whether the extent to which youth experience consequences resulting from substance use was related to their impulse control. Longitudinal data are from 1,216 justice-system-involved male adolescents from the Crossroads Study (46% Latino, 37% Black, 15% White, and 2% self-identified other race). Results indicate that youth lower…

Background: To examine the associations between adolescent pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes on substance use and suicide attempts in a sample who is at greater risk for substance use and suicide attempts -- those who have been involved with the juvenile justice and child welfare systems. Methods: Using a prospective, longitudinal design, we…

Background: Although the link between substance use and criminal behavior is well-established, associations between the use of specific substances and specific criminal charges remains unclear. That is, there are mixed findings in the literature, and the majority of extant literature focuses only on associations between alcohol and marijuana use…

The following study examined the association between race, ethnicity, referral source, and reasons for attrition from substance use treatment in a sample of 72,643 discharges of adolescent youth in the United States from 2014 to 2016. Black and Hispanic adolescents were more likely to be discharged due to incarceration and termination by the…

Juvenile delinquency intervention and treatment programs have the broad goals of preventing crime and reducing recidivism by providing treatment and services to youth who have committed crimes. The following five statements are presented in this report and based on practices and programs rated by CrimeSolutions: (1) Juvenile awareness programs may…

Background: African-American and Latinx youth are disproportionately exposed to neighborhood violence and are overrepresented in the U.S. juvenile justice system. Perceived neighborhood violence is associated with negative health outcomes. Objective: We examined associations between African-American and Latinx youths' perceived neighborhood…

Juvenile Rehabilitation (JR) became part of Washington State's Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) on July 1, 2019. JR serves the state's highest-risk youth who have been charged with a qualifying offense and either adjudicated in a county's juvenile court or convicted in an adult criminal court. In 2000, JR needed to further define…

Federal and other studies have noted that exposure to violence and substance abuse make Native American youth susceptible to becoming involved with the justice system. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to examine federal and tribal efforts to address juvenile delinquency and the barriers tribes face in doing so. This report…

This study examined why students with disabilities have a strong presence in the juvenile justice system and measures to prevent or reduce the school-to-prison pipeline. The study utilized a Teacher Questionnaire on Delinquency to compare middle and high school teachers perceptions' of risk factors of delinquency for students with disabilities.…

Nationally, 45,567 juvenile offenders were held in 1,772 residential placement facilities on October 26, 2016. Facilities that hold juvenile offenders vary in their operation, type, size, confinement features, screening practices, and services provided. To better understand the characteristics of these facilities, the Office of Juvenile Justice…

The aim of this research project was to examine how wraparound supports are represented in the Australian national and NSW state policies and schools and to identify best practices and models of wraparound support. The grey literature from seven sectors, i.e., youth justice, out of home care, disability, mental health, drug and alcohol,…

This pilot study builds on national literature by describing the characteristics of Colorado youth who were formerly in foster care and later accessed homeless services as young adults. State-focused data are important as youth experiencing homelessness typically stay in their state of origin. It was not possible in this study to estimate the…