The Essential Role of Juvenile Diversion

In 2016, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention began awarding grants to states seeking to revamp their juvenile diversion policies and practices, with the goal of reducing formal system contact, improving youth outcomes, and reducing racial and ethnic disparities. In this webinar, presenters will share lessons learned from this and other juvenile diversion improvement initiatives, including:

• How to identify and expand the population of youth who can benefit most from diversion services while protecting public safety;
• What research shows as the key elements of effective juvenile diversion, including clear eligibility criteria, the use of validated risk and needs screening tools to guide diversion decisions, cross-systems collaboration, family engagement, and restorative justice;
• How to overcome challenges that states and counties often experience in adopting these best practices; and
• Examples of innovative diversion programs and approaches, including Choose 180 in the state of Washington and the Juvenile Civil Citation Program in Delaware.