Juvenile Law Center

Juveniles for Justice, one of our youth engagement programs, offers young people who have been involved in the juvenile justice system the opportunity to assess the system’s strengths and weaknesses and develop advocacy projects to improve the system. 

This year’s group has selected an area of focus for its 2011-2012 advocacy campaign: improving the process of “re-entry,” in which youth transition from the juvenile justice system back into their homes and communities. Members of Juveniles for Justice selected this topic after discussing their own experiences with re-entry, researching the issue, and seeking information and advice from Juvenile Law Center’s staff.

Najiy M., a Juveniles for Justice youth advocate, sees re-entry as a critical point. “Re-entry is a second chance. You have matured and grown since your placement and are a little more receptive to people placing you in the right direction,” he said. Najiy feels that re-entry must be handled as smoothly as possible in order to help youth become successful in their communities.

With that in mind, Juveniles for Justice members identified a way to make re-entry a smoother process:  by implementing the “single-case plan,” where a youth’s treatment and services in the juvenile justice system are coordinated. This allows the youth, the probation department, and the placement facilities to work together toward the same goal of successful re-entry after the youth is out of placement and off probation. The probation officer and the youth would work together to set specific goals for education, job readiness, housing, and other needs to ensure the youth is working toward those objectives while in placement.

“The single-case plan focuses on you and only you,” says Shirkey W., who’s been a youth advocate for four years. “It focuses on all the things that are beneficial to your life. If you don’t have a plan, you are destined to fail.” 

Adoption of a “single case plan” was a core part of Juvenile Law Center’s work in Models for Change, the juvenile justice reform initiative supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.  Pennsylvania has been moving toward policies and practices that support a single case plan since the publication of the late Pat Torbet’s 2008 publication, Building Pennsylvania’s Comprehensive Aftercare Model Probation Case Management Essentials for Youth in Placement.

In upcoming weeks, Juveniles for Justice youth advocates will meet with key stakeholders involved in the probation process to gather more information, identify allies, and build the foundation for their campaign.