NCJ Number
230981
Date Published
April 2008
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This paper outlines the goals of the Pennsylvania Juvenile Justice System.
Abstract
The goals of Pennsylvania's juvenile justice system are established by statute. The three primary goals of Pennsylvania's Juvenile Justice System are community protection, offender accountability, and competency development. Community protection is the process of contributing to safe communities through prevention, supervision and control. This process includes: identifying the risk, managing the risk, and minimizing the risk. Second, a juvenile offender who commits a crime harms both the crime victim and the community and incurs an obligation to repair the harm. Accountability is the process of helping offenders understand and acknowledge the harm inflicted. The accountability process includes: tools for increasing offender understanding and awareness and offender activities that repair harm. Lastly, competency development is the process by which juvenile offender acquire the knowledge and skills that make possible for them to become productive, connected, and law-abiding members of their communities. Areas that matter most for success in school, work, and life and outlined in this paper include: pro-social skills, moral reasoning skills, academic skills, workforce development skills, and independent living skills.