Juvenile Justice Archives - National Wraparound Initiative (NWI)
Recommendations to Center Young People and Families in Youth Probation
April 27, 2025 | NWI
In this report, young people and their families who have experienced probation offer insights into the youth probation system’s strengths and areas for improvement. They share recommendations for transforming probation into a model focused on accountability, personal growth, positive behavior change, and long-term success.
What Happened When America Emptied Its Youth Prisons?
February 23, 2025 | NWI
Between 2000 and 2020, the number of young people incarcerated in the United States declined by an astonishing 77 percent. Over the same time period, arrest rates and serious violent crimes by juveniles fell equally dramatically. What lessons can be drawn from this 20-year experiment and quiet triumph of public policy?
Stories of Navigating Youth and Family Systems
January 13, 2025 | NWI
This podcast series features authentic stories shared by individuals who have navigated various youth and family systems. Each episode offers a unique perspective on their encounters within these systems and solutions to the challenges they faced.
Youth Detention: Reversing Widening Gaps by Race and Place
October 30, 2023 | NWI
This report discusses what the post-pandemic juvenile justice system looks like, how a young person’s racial identity affects their odds of being detained, how the risk of detainment for youth varies by location, and what juvenile justice systems can do to make better, safer and fairer decisions.
Why Youth Incarceration Fails: Evidence Review
July 23, 2023 | NWI
This publication summarizes the evidence documenting the serious problems associated with the youth justice system’s continuing heavy reliance on incarceration and makes recommendations for reducing the use of confinement. It details how the harms of incarceration fall disproportionately on Black youth and other youth of color – despite well-established alternatives that produce better outcomes for youth and community safety.
Youth Incarceration in the United States
February 24, 2022 | NWI
This infographic from the Annie E. Casey Foundation shows that public agencies made enormous progress reducing youth incarceration between 1995 and 2019, reflecting the deep declines in juvenile arrests over the same period. However, some harmful practices remained stubbornly entrenched, such as an overreliance on incarceration once youth are referred to the juvenile justice system, especially for Black and Native American youth.
Preventing Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare Involvement
September 12, 2021 | NWI
This report explores a variety of approaches to prevention, hoping to promote “upstream” efforts and work across systems and in partnership with youth, families and communities in a new and impactful manner.
Study Finds Psychiatric Disorders Persist 15 Years After Youth Are Detained
April 18, 2021 | NWI
A new study shows that youth arrested as juveniles with psychiatric disorders that remain untreated continue to struggle with mental health and successful outcomes well beyond adolescence. The research shows nearly two-thirds of males and more than one-third of females with one or more existing psychiatric disorders when they entered detention still had a disorder 15 years later.
Racial Disparities in Youth Incarceration Persist
March 15, 2021 | NWI
In an era of declining youth incarceration, Black and American Indian youth are still overwhelmingly more likely to be held in custody than their white peers.
Diversion more effective than detention for youth in juvenile justice
February 8, 2021 | Maria Hermsen-Kritz
A new study from Case Western University shows that Ohio’s diversion system is producing better outcomes for youth with behavioral issues than punishment.