NCJ Number
230973
Date Published
2008
Length
35 pages
Annotation
This white paper focuses on Pennsylvania's community protection goal and takes a position on policy implications and practical applications surrounding the goal.
Abstract
Pennsylvania's three juvenile justice goals are community protection, offender accountability, and competency development which reflect complementary and reinforcing values for responding to young people who break the law. This white paper, the third in a series, advances the community protection goal and takes a position on policy implications and practical applications surrounding the goal. The paper was commissioned and sanctioned by the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Committee of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. The primary audience for this white paper is law enforcement, courts, and probation, but it is relevant for engaging other partners, systems and communities to support the juvenile justice system in meeting its community protection goal. The paper is divided into several sections which include: community protection: the mandate; controlling crime and managing offenders; what risk do young people pose to public safety; mission-driven, performance-based, outcome-focused juvenile justice; identifying the risk; managing the risk; minimizing the risk; responsibilities and limits of the juvenile justice system; roles and responsibilities; measuring community protection; and next steps. Future efforts in community protection efforts will be directed toward improving compliance with existing State law regarding the taking and storing of fingerprints, photographs, and DNA samples of juveniles and increasing the timeliness, completeness and accuracy of the information captured by statewide data systems in order to support effective offender identification and control. Perhaps most significant are the efforts to support probation in fulfilling its responsibility to assist youth toward behavior change and accountability. 17 endnotes