http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2017/03/5_takeaways_from_effort_to_re-.html
This article talks about an attempt to re-design the juvenile justice system in Muskegon, Michigan. The county has hired an expert from the University of Cincinnati Correctional Institute to re-design the system to apply more evidenced-based practices. The expert is working with court employees, judges, politicians and other public officials for this re-design. The main things Muskegon is trying to incorporate are treatment versus punishment, identifying high-risk offenders based of the likeliness to re-offend versus the seriousness of the offense committed, and focus on criminal thinking patterns that lead to committing crimes.
This article does not go into depth about the specific strategies that will be implemented to make these changes, but I think the county is at least on the right track in recognizing that the current juvenile justice system is broken and needs re-designed to better serve the youth. One statement I really appreciated from the article when talking about treatment for youth offenders rather than punishment was the expert "encourages juvenile parole officers to view themselves as coaches, rather than referees, always concerned with enforcing the rules". I think just that simple shift in the way parole officers approach their jobs and their youth could have a huge impact on the youth in this system.
When I first saw this blog post, I thought redesign was more along the lines of an HGTV redesign than a more programmatic, evidence-based redesign (I guess I might be losing it). Now that I am all straightened out, I think this is a good idea. Sometimes it seems like juvenile justice is one of the last frontiers for evidence-based practices when it is one of the areas that needs it the most. I agree with you, I wish there was more information about what these EBP are and what it will look like. I will definitely follow this story with interest. I think it is worthwhile and important effort.
ReplyDeleteHannah, I totally thought it was like architectural redesign at first too! I feel like there is a theme emerging with a handful of the articles posted this week in redesigning the juvenile justice system to more accurately reflect EBPs. I really like the quote you included and I think the analogy of parole officers viewing themselves as coaches rather than referees is a really important one. I think it also speaks to the important role that all staff interacting with delinquent youth play in creating a culture. I think at all levels, staff working with these youth need the mindset of coaches rather than referees. I would be interested to know what these 'treatments' are for the youth, and the specifics of the redesign.
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