NCJ Number
88244
Date Published
1982
Length
96 pages
Annotation
The Dane County (Wisconsin) juvenile justice system needs to emphasize comprehensive assessment of clients and related family needs, define individual treatment objectives, and identify services capable of meeting those objectives.
Abstract
An efficient data recording and retrieval system should be developed to permit individual client tracking. Requirements should be developed for reporting specific client-service goals. The high percentage of cases handled informally that are not helped should be examined, and recommendations for alternative approaches should be developed. Basically, the Dane County juvenile court system and its available services are among the finest in Wisconsin. Its judiciary has been a leader in seeking to avoid incarceration of young people in distant State correctional institutions in favor of the development of alternative community services. This approach has led to the evolution of a richly diverse network of private agencies and programs which provides most of the direct services available to the court and the Dane County Social Service Department in their dispositional planning. To enhance such community-based services, an annual forum should be held which would allow key professionals in the juvenile court system and administrators of these services to address pertinent issues, including technical assistance and training needs, funding capability of the county for court-related services, changes in court procedure or personnel, coordination problems, changing client needs and new priorities or service gaps, and other barriers to effective service delivery. Diagrams, tables, and footnotes are provided. Information on truants and returnees to the system is appended. (Author summary modified)