- About two thirds of youth in detention or correctional settings have at least one diagnosable mental health disorder, compared with an estimated 9 to 22 percent of the general youth population. 25
- Academic progress and high academic performance weaken this relationship between early violence-related trauma and juvenile justice involvement, serving as a protective factor against involvement with the juvenile justice system. 27
Despite the exceedingly high proportion of youth within the juvenile justice system who experience mental health disorders, referral rates for mental health treatment within justice facilities remain low. 33
Targeted trainings for juvenile correctional facility professionals regarding mental health screening and treatment referrals would point more youth toward the necessary treatment for their unique needs. Particularly, mental health diversion initiatives and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) which helps patients adjust their thinking and behavior patterns have shown positive results in reducing delinquency and recidivism among justice-involved youth. 34
Resources for Justice-Involved Youth and Their Families
Respect Youth Stories: A Toolkit for Advocates to Ethically Engage in Youth Justice Storytelling (PDF, 15 pages)
The National Juvenile Justice Network (NJJN) and its member organization Citizens for Juvenile Justice (CfJJ) partnered with youth to create the following toolkit. The toolkit assists advocacy organizations in establishing ethical and youth-informed practices for facilitating young people sharing their stories in public, including through the press, legislative testimony, digital media, publications, or panel discussions. The toolkit aims to help young people understand their right to establish boundaries while sharing their experiences in public.
Improving Outcomes for Youth with Disabilities in Juvenile Corrections
This toolkit includes evidence- and research-based practices, tools, and resources that educators, families, facilities, and community agencies can use to better support and improve the long-term outcomes for youth with disabilities in juvenile correctional facilities. The toolkit focuses on four key areas of juvenile corrections: facility-wide practices, educational practices, transition and re-entry practices, and community and interagency practices.
Model Programs Guide: Substance Abuse
The Model Programs Guide contains evidence-based juvenile justice and youth prevention, intervention, and reentry programs. Each program is rated either effective, promising, or no effect. Users can search the database for programs and interventions based on the age range of the child or young adult or can use other search filters to search for programs addressing substance use.
National Technical Assistance Center for the Education of Youth Who Are Neglected, Delinquent, or At-Risk (NDTAC)
This website serves as an information hub, technical assistance center, resource for program evaluation and data reporting, and a facilitator of information and peer-to-peer learning in relation to educational programming for youth who are neglected, delinquent, or at-risk of entering the juvenile justice system. Users can access webinars and conferences on the site and explore resources for parents, families, and service providers for neglected or delinquent youth.
Roadmap to Behavioral Health—A Guide to Using Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Services (PDF, 25 pages)
This guide can help people understand how to use health insurance coverage to improve their mental and physical health. It provides an eight-step road map for understanding behavioral health, finding and accessing appropriate providers, and staying on the road to recovery.
Transition Toolkit 3.0: Meeting the Educational Needs of Youth Exposed to the Juvenile Justice System (PDF, 60 pages)
This report provides five guiding principles recommended by the federal government to provide high-quality education to youth in juvenile justice secure settings. The suggested principles create environments conducive to teaching, learning, social-emotional supports, and positive educational outcomes for youth that lessen likelihood to reenter the justice system.
Vulnerable Population: Incarcerated Youth
For youth, parents, community members, or practitioners who need a starting point to familiarize themselves with the juvenile justice system and processes, this fact sheet may be a good place to start. It provides basic definitions and fast facts as well as links to various government reports and publications focusing on the juvenile justice system.
You Got This! Educational Pathways for Youth Transitioning from Juvenile Justice Facilities (PDF, 12 pages)
This guide offers a framework of tips and resources for youth transitioning from the juvenile justice system back into their schools and communities. It informs youth and professionals working closely with incarcerated youth of juveniles’ rights both within the system and at school and includes a roadmap of juvenile detention to school re-enrollment, a re-enrollment checklist, community resources and organizations, a student bill of rights, and more.
Resources for Community Partners
Easy Access to the Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement, 1997-2019
This database allows users to view and analyze statistics on nearly every cross-section of youth populations present in residential placement over the span of 22 years. Developed to facilitate analysis of national data on delinquent youth held in these out-of-home facilities, this website provides yearly information on youth demographics and characteristics, including sex, race/ethnicity, age, length of stay in residential placement, nature of offense, and more.
Fact Sheet Template: Complex Trauma in Juvenile Justice-Involved Youth (PDF, 7 pages)
This fact sheet contains a detailed description of the path from complex trauma exposure to involvement in the juvenile justice system. The source also provides recommendations for judges and juvenile justice program administrators, parents and family members, and adults who supervise youth regarding how to best serve and understand justice-involved youth.
Intersection between Mental Health and the Juvenile Justice System (PDF, 13 pages)
This literature review focuses on the scope of mental health challenges of at-risk and justice-involved youth, the impact of mental health on justice involvement as well as the impact of justice involvement on mental health, and disparities in mental health treatment in the juvenile justice system. Evidence-based programs that have been shown to improve outcomes for youth with mental health issues are explored.
Education for Youth Under Formal Supervision of the Juvenile Justice System (PDF, 18 pages)
This literature review discusses the intersection of the educational and the juvenile justice systems. It outlines the academic characteristics and challenges of youth in the juvenile justice system (including those in detention and long-term secure residential facilities, and under probation supervision) and interventions aimed at improving educational outcomes for this high-risk population.
Model Programs Guide: Substance Abuse
The Model Programs Guide is an online resource of evidence-based juvenile justice and youth prevention, intervention, and reentry programs. Each program is rated either effective, promising, or no effect. Users can search the database for programs and interventions based on the age range of the child or young adult or can use other search filters to find programs addressing substance use.
Preventing Child Abuse & Neglect
This webpage features a list of resources related to child abuse prevention, protecting children from risk of abuse, and strengthening families.
Technical Assistance Center for the Education of Youth Who Are Neglected, Delinquent, or At-Risk (NDTAC)
This website serves as an information hub, technical assistance center, resource for program evaluation and data reporting, and a facilitator of information and peer-to-peer learning in relation to educational programming for youth who are neglected, delinquent, or at-risk of entering the juvenile justice system. Users can access webinars and conferences on the site and explore resources for parents, families, and service providers for neglected or delinquent youth.
Resources for Practitioners
NEW! Youth and the Juvenile Justice System: 2022 National Report (PDF, 226 pages)
This is the fifth edition of a comprehensive report from the National Center for Juvenile Justice on youth victimization, offenses committed by youth, and the juvenile justice system’s response. The report — previously called “Juvenile Offenders and Victims” — provides juvenile justice practitioners and policymakers with information on youth and their involvement with the juvenile justice system through the 2019 data year.
Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Racial and Ethnic Minority Youth: A Guide for Practitioners (PDF, 28 pages)
This guide addresses reasons for differences in mental health etiology and outcomes among youth. While some racial and ethnic minority youth experience lower rates of lifetime mental health disorders, their disorders tend to have a more chronic course.
Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach (PDF, 27 pages)
This paper introduces SAMHSA’s concept of trauma and offers a framework for how an organization, system, or service sector can become trauma informed by integrating the perspectives of researchers, practitioners, and people with experience of trauma.
Practical Tips for Juvenile Drug Treatment Courts to Implement (PDF, 13 pages)
This guide describes the objectives outlined in OJJDP’s Juvenile Drug Treatment Guidelines (PDF, 60 pages) and provides suggested short-term and long-term actions related to each objective. Juvenile drug treatment courts can use this information to guide the implementation, operation, and evaluation of their practices.
Child Abuse Training for Judicial and Court Personnel
This project trains judicial, legal, and social service professionals to improve their response in child abuse and neglect cases. It also teaches practitioners how to coordinate information and services across the juvenile justice and child welfare systems.
In Focus: Children’s Advocacy Centers (PDF, 1 page)
This brief details the important work of children’s advocacy centers and their multidisciplinary teams of child abuse prevention and intervention professionals.
Tool Kit for Creating Your Own Truancy Reduction Program (PDF, 229 pages)
This toolkit provides a comprehensive analysis of the causes of truancy, the extent of the issue, evaluation measures for truancy reduction programs and barriers to accurate progress measurement, as well as best practices for managing truancy reduction among youth.
Understanding Child Trauma
This infographic provides key statistics and information to help the public recognize the signs of child traumatic stress. This infographic can be downloaded as a whole or by the three key subject areas and is available in English and Spanish.
Wraparound Process Literature Review (PDF, 7 pages)
This literature review explains how the wraparound process addresses gaps that delinquent youth with severe emotional and behavioral disorders previously experienced in the justice system, provides ten key principles of the wraparound process, and describes positive impacts of such programming.
