Smart, Safe, and Fair: Strategies to Prevent Youth Violence, Heal Victims of Crime, and Reduce Racial Inequality
Date
2018
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Publisher
Justice Policy Institute
Abstract
In Smart, Safe, and Fair, the Justice Policy Institute (JPI) and the National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC) explore how to build more effective approaches to serve youth involved in a violent crime in the community. JPI started by researching strategies for maintaining public safety when a youth is involved in violent crime and examined the barriers to serving more youth involved in these behaviors at home. JPI also solicited input from a diverse spectrum of stakeholders, including young people directly impacted by the justice system, public defenders and prosecutors, advocates and policy-makers....After the initial research, JPI partnered with NCVC to gain insight into, and recommendations for, how best to serve youth charged with violent crime. This includes assessing whether the field supports serving youth involved in violent crime in a community setting. As part of this effort, in December, 2017, NCVC invited victims and victim advocates from across the country to a roundtable to consider and discuss these issues. The purpose of the conversation was to engage the two communities—juvenile justice researchers and advocates with crime victims and victim advocates—in a dialogue around the research and policy solutions. Victims were consistent in their views, including the fact that they: Do not equate accountability with confinement; Want a voice in the process that resolves young people’s behavior; Want opportunities for youth to get what they need so they no longer engage in crime; Support eliminating some of the barriers that prevent youth involved in a violent crime from being served in the community; Want more resources designated to support youth rehabilitation in the community; Say that whether the youth was involved in violent or nonviolent crime is far less important to them than whether the youth is served effectively, held accountable, and the victim(s) are safe and their needs are met; Want the youth justice system to address the reality that young people involved in violent crimes are often victims of violence themselves and need trauma-informed services for successful rehabilitation; Are concerned with how racial and ethnic disparities affect the treatment and services provided to both youth offenders and victims; and Believe that serving youth involved in violent crime should not be built around the current philosophy of confinement. Instead, it should be built around a set of principles that focus on rehabilitation, victim safety, and the provision of ample services by both parties. [CVRL Note: see pages 10-11 for consensus found through roundtables with crime victims, and the longer section on victims' perspectives is pages 34-41.] (Author Text)
Description
Report
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Other
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Keywords
Focus Group, Victim Input, Victim Services, Community Perceptions, Criminal Justice, Youth Violence, Prevention, Rehabilitation, Victim Protection, Victim-Offender Overlap, Policy Analysis, Recidivism, Community-based, Restorative Justice, Accountability, Victim Needs, Victim Perspectives, Survivors, Crime Reduction, Sentence, Supervision, Case Disposition
Citation
(2018). Smart, Safe, and Fair: Strategies to Prevent Youth Violence, Heal Victims of Crime, and Reduce Racial Inequality. Justice Policy Institute and National Center for Victims of Crime, 83 pgs.