Improving Public Safety Through Positive Youth Justice
The Imprint
Learn More about Improving Public Safety Through Positive Youth Justice
Framework and Vision
Research has shown that involvement in the juvenile justice system, especially incarceration, causes young people to have worse outcomes than similarly situated youth who were not engaged in the juvenile justice system. In addition to being harmful and ineffective, youth incarceration is also extremely expensive.
NICJR’s positive youth justice system (PYJS) framework provides a roadmap for a national effort to reduce the size of the juvenile justice system; improve its services, conditions and youth outcomes; and reinvest cost savings into neighbourhoods and communities that experience a disproportionate burden of poverty and crime.
The Six Principles of A Positive Youth Justice
All of these principles and practices are supported by a sizable body of data and research across the fields of criminology, psychology, public health, social work, and more. Establishing positive youth justice systems anchored in these principles will make our communities safer and greatly improve outcomes for our youth.
Positive Youth Development and Positive Youth Justice Training
NICJR’s Positive Youth Development and Positive Youth Justice training focuses on effective practices that specifically support justice-involved youth to develop appropriately and successfully into adulthood. This training is tailored to meet the needs of various organizations and individuals serving high-risk young people, including but not limited to probation and law enforcement agencies, community-based organizations, and schools. It covers topics such as the history of the juvenile justice system; the effect of trauma on youth development; behaviors and skills that support youth success; strategies to engage high-risk youth; and understanding risk, needs, and assets assessments.