Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative (JDAI)

The Greene County Juvenile Office is hosting a JDAI State Replication Site visit March 5 - 6. Juvenile Justice professionals and community partners from the 2nd, 5th, 13th, 23rd, 24th, 44th, and the Office of State Courts Administrator will be visiting Greene County to learn more about JDAI and our local reform efforts.

Last Quarter Report

Year 7 Work Plan

Cabinet meeting on April 24, at the Emergency Management Building 330 Scott, Springfield, MO

Vision

All youth involved in the Juvenile Justice System have opportunities to develop into productive adults through competency-building, corrective-actions, and community-based alternatives; while being accountable to the needs of victims and the community.

JDAI Brochure

What is JDAI?

The Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) was designed and launched in 1992 to support the Annie E. Casey Foundation's vision that all youth involved in the Juvenile Justice System have opportunities to develop into healthy and productive adults. The purpose of JDAI is to demonstrate that jurisdictions can establish more effective and efficient systems to accomplish the purposes of juvenile detention without jeopardizing community safety. JDAI is in over 23 states and is a "Best Practice" in over 100 Juvenile Justice Systems across the nation. After more than a decade of innovation and replication, JDAI is the nations most effective, influential, and widespread juvenile justice reform initiative in the United States.

JDAI is a process where Juvenile Justice Systems are rethinking their approaches with goals to make sure that secured detention is only used when NECESSARY, which are those youth that will:

1. Pose community safety issues if released until their appointed court date,
2. Fail to show up for their appointed court date,
3. Re-offend or get re-arrested if released until their appointed court date.

JDAI established eight (8) strategies to insure Annie E. Casey Foundation's original vision that all youth involved in the Juvenile Justice System have opportunities to develop into healthy and productive adults. These 8 Strategies reach far beyond detention reform alone.

Greene County's JDAI's 8 Core Strategies

• Strategy #1: "Collaboration" - Greene County believes that when stakeholders (Community Supports, Law Enforcement, and Judicial) partner, positive outcomes for youth will occur.
• Strategy #2: "Use of data" - Greene County uses data as the driving force in decision-making by raising awareness of trends, resulting in work-plans.
• Standard #3: "Objective Screenings Tools" - Greene County uniformly uses a validated screening instrument (MJDA form) to objectively assess all youth presented for detention.
• Strategy #4: "Alternatives to Secure Detention" - Greene County believes that alternative services to secure detention are critical to address youth, not fitting criteria for detention however, needing supervision to ensure court appearance and decrease re-offense rates.
• Strategy #5: "Expedited Case Processing" - Greene County believes that the least amount of time between the delinquent youth's behavior and their consequence, the lower the rate of recidivism.
• Strategy #6: "Special Cases" - Greene County believes in utilizing evidence-based practices and researched programs to address the needs of special populations of youth.
• Strategy #7: "Eliminate Disproportionality" - Greene County believes that with intentional focus on Race, Ethnicity, and Gender through our data and uniformed use of our objective screening tool (MJDA Form), awareness is raised.
• Strategy #8: "Improve Conditions of Confinement" - Greene County believes when safety, security, health, and a positive culture are combined with appropriate living spaces and competency-building programs, youth experience a higher level of success when released.

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