New Research Highlights Opportunities to Strengthen Services for Justice-Involved Youth
Youth violence and crime have fallen dramatically in New York City, which over the past decade has embraced an approach to juvenile and criminal justice that prioritizes community-based services over punitive responses. Two recent reports highlight investments from the Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity (NYC Opportunity), the Young Men’s Initiative (YMI), and City partners that have expanded the continuum of innovative community-based programming for justice system-involved youth and young adults.
NYC Opportunity has released Considerations for Justice-Involved Youth Programming, a research brief outlining lessons learned from evaluations of three programs for justice-involved youth: Arches Transformative Mentoring; Advocate, Intervene, Mentor (AIM); and NYC Justice Corps. Prepared by the Urban Institute Justice Policy Center, this brief highlights promising programmatic strategies, best practices in program design and management, and opportunities to strengthen current and future services for justice-involved youth.
Key findings include:
- Program operations and participant engagement are strengthened when youth and frontline staff play a role in programmatic decision-making.
- Risk and needs assessments are valuable tools to tailor services and guide individual case management.
- Providing services to participating youth’s family members helps to stabilize their home lives and support success in programs.
- Investments in staff professional development, technical assistance, and cross-site collaboration enhance service delivery, but additional training and resources are needed to support data collection and monitoring.
NYC Opportunity has also released Bridges to Education and Employment for Justice-Involved Youth, the implementation and outcome evaluation of NYC Justice Corps. Launched in 2008 by NYC Opportunity and expanded in 2012 by YMI, NYC Justice Corps was a cohort-based workforce development and recidivism reduction program for justice-involved young adults that operated from 2008 to 2018. The evaluation examines a 2015 redesign of the NYC Justice Corps program model, which was found to have improved service delivery by increasing provider flexibility and autonomy over recruitment strategies and service provision, and by expanding options for post-program placement.
The findings and recommendations in these releases come at an opportune time. New York City is currently embarking on significant justice reform efforts, including New York State’s “Raise the Age” legislation and a move to close the Rikers Island jail complex. Both of these initiatives will divert justice system-involved young people toward rehabilitative and community-based services.
NYC Opportunity remains committed to partnering with City agencies, service providers, and other stakeholders to develop and strengthen innovative and evidence-based services to help justice system-involved young people. These efforts will continue to focus on helping justice system-involved young people to successfully reintegrate with their communities, pursue their education and career goals, and avoid recidivism.
To learn more, read the research findings on community-based programming for justice system-involved youth and young adults:
- Considerations for Justice-Involved Youth Programming: Lessons Learned and Recommendations from the Arches, AIM, and NYC Justice Corps Evaluations
- Bridges to Education and Employment for Justice-Involved Youth: Evaluation of the NYC Justice Corps Program
- NYC Justice Corps Program: Findings at a Glance
- Arches Transformative Mentoring Program: An Implementation and Impact Evaluation in New York City
- Arches Transformative Mentoring Program: Findings at a Glance
- Evaluation Report on New York City’s Advocate, Intervene, Mentor Program
- Advocate, Intervene, Mentor: Findings at a Glance
