The National Juvenile Justice Network has just released The Real Costs and Benefits of Change: Finding Opportunities for Reform During Difficult Fiscal Times, a compilation of reform efforts and strategies that make sense both in terms of producing better outcomes for youth and communities and saving money. Reform efforts such as Youth Aids in Wisconsin, Reclaim Ohio, and Redeploy Illinois are highlighted as strategies in which funding strategies can help promote more successful community-based work with delinquent youth along with tips for policy-makers and advocates about how to promote change when funding is tight. This document lends support to the need for Wisconsin to move forward in closing one of the two male Juvenile Correctional Institutions so that funds going to counties to promote successful community strategies are not further diminished.
Youth Justice: Providing Wisconsin Children and Families with a Clear Path to a New Model
Systemic racism and ongoing forms of injustice play a crucial role in youth of color being over-represented at all points of contact within the criminal legal system — from policing to courts to incarceration.
