AG 1999 05 17 - Laserfiche WebLink

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PROGRAM SUMMARY Statement of the Problem: In concise terminology,describe the juvenile justice problem the program intends to address. Recently, the State legislature made major revisions to the Juvenile Code to address increases in juvenile crime and status offenses occurring over the last decade, as well as, more serious crimes being committed by juveniles.. The Juvenile Services Division and Division of Youth Services were combined into one agency, the Office of Juvenile Justice (O J J). The revised codes emphasize use of community resources to deal with juveniles involved in less serious delinquent behaviors or status offenses, while allowing juveniles to be committed to "training schools" for longer periods of time for more serious offenses. Status offenses are addressed in more detail, emphasizing parental responsibility in dealing with negative behaviors of childrem To address truancy issues, the Community intervention Team (CIT) was formed in 1997. In 1998, CCMC implemented Teen Court, hereafter referred to as TC, as an alternative to the traditional judicial system and for the purposes of prevention/intervention. Program Goal: State the effect the program is designed to have on solving the problem described above. Teen Court, as a viable community resource for addressing delinquent behaviors and truancy issues, is specifically mentioned in the revised Juvenile Code. The CCMC Teen Court Program is now one of 10 such programs in the state. Truancy Mediation will be implemented as a component of Teen Court as is RESOLVE. The long-term goals of Teen Court and its components are as follows: (1) To protect the community; (2) To increase the capacity of the community's youth to become responsible and productive citizens by offering services to affect positive changes in attitudes and behaviors of referred youth, as well as, offering a hands-on experience for the volunteer youth interested in the judiciaI systems and in community involvement; (3) To offer Teen Court and its components of RESOLVE and Truancy Mediation to the community as alternative resources to the traditional court system. Target Population: Describe the target population and the steps that the program has taken to insure that the targel population ts served TC does not deal with chronic, serious, or violent delinquent or status offenders. The target group are youth who have committed certain misdemeanor delinquent offenses or have exhibited truant behavior, facing the possibility of being petitioned through OJJ. To be eligible for TC, referred youth must: be 11-I 5 years old ( not yet 16 ), not have been adjudicated delinquent or undisciplined, be enrolled in school, not on a long-term suspension/expulsion, admit responsibility for their behavior, and agree to accept the sentence imposed by a jury of their peers, including participation in RESOLVE or other community services deemed necessary by the TC Coordinator and parents/custodians. Parents/custodians are empowered to take responsibility tbr dealing effectively with their children's behavior and must cooperate with CCMC staff in seeing that their children succeed in TC. Two RESOLVE slob to be open for non-TC participants, space permitting; however, priority given to lC youth. Measurable Objective(s): State in measurable terms the intended effect of the program on specific undisciplined an~'or delinquent behaviors. At a minimum, state anticipated reduction~ in court referrals, r~tnaway behavior, and school suspensionx andexpulsiorkv. For 99/2000 FY: (1) 48 youth referred to TC; 40 accepted; 32 successfully complete TC and have no contact with OJJ for delinquency/truancy, receive no school disciplinary actions ( school suspensions or expulsions), and show significant improvements in home behavior, within one year of sentence completion; (2) additional 12 youth referred to RESOLVE by various sources to prevent future involvement with TC or OJl; 10 accepted; 8 successfully complete RESOLVE, resulting in same improvements as above. (3) maintain 50% of TC volunteers already trained; train an additional 49, 50% volunteering for at least two TC sessions, 2 serving on the TC Advisory Board, and serving in other capacities; (4) offer TC to the community as an alternative to the traditional judicial system, at least 50% of referrals from O J J, remainder from law enforcement and certain school personnel; DSS (Home-Based Services, Treatment, Family Preservation Units allowed to refer to RESOLVE, space permitting. Information Maintained for Effectiveness Measurement: List the data elements and records the program will maintain to document its effectiveness. The TCC maintained files to include: referral logs, responses to referring parties about referrals received, referral forms, release forms, assessment forms, agreements to participate, liability waivers for community service requirements, documentation of community service placement, notices to appear for TC sessions, RESOLVE sessions, or for Truancy Mediation, sentencing dispositions, documentation of contacts with TC participants, parents/custodians, and the referral sources, documentation ora Successful Completion Plan or Truancy Mediation Agreement, documentation of referrals to other community resources, notification to referral sources about program compliance/noncompliance, exit interviews/questionnaires, termination forms, follow-up contact documentation, youth volunteer files, training evaluations, and JCPC client tracking forms/batch reports.