The National Juvenile Justice Network (NJJN) leads a movement of state-based juvenile justice reform organizations and alumni of its Youth Justice Leadership Institute to fight for a youth justice system that’s appropriate for youth and their families. NJJN advocates for policies and practices that treat youth in trouble with the law with dignity and humanity and which strengthen them, their families and their communities. The only organization of its kind in the United States, NJJN is a membership-led organization that exists to support and enhance the work of state-based juvenile justice advocates, and to join and raise their voices in advocating for postive change both locally and nationally. NJJN provides strategic and substantive assistance to state-based juvenile justice reform advocates to help them address a wide array of juvenile justice reform needs.
NJJN recognizes that its work for state-level policy reform must take place in partnership with the larger movement for racial justice. As part of this approach, NJJN purposefully looks to elevate and learn from those individuals and groups that are most negatively affected by our justice systems’ policies and to analyze all reforms in light of the larger systemic barriers to justice. Click on the link to the left to go to their website.
CJJ works to prevent youth from becoming involved in the courts and to uphold the highest standards of care when youth are charged and enter the justice system. Click on the link to the left to go to their website.
Juvenile Justice Links
Links to Juvenile Justice Websites
The Youth Transition Funders Group (YTFG) is a national network of funders that work together to support the well-being and economic success of vulnerable young people age 14 to 25. YTFG seeks to ensure that all young people have lifelong family, personal, and community connections and the opportunities and tools to succeed throughout adulthood.
YTFG provides a vibrant and active community for approximately 100 national, regional, and community funders to learn from each other and other experts in the field, stay abreast of new research and key policy developments, inform and influence policy and practice, and foster collaborative approaches to grantmaking. They support peer networking and sharing, create key partnerships with leaders in the field, and provide strategic opportunities to leverage and extend the efforts of individual members.
YTFG has many resources and other links of interest to those interested in Juvenile Justice Reform. Click on the link to the left to go to their website.
The Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice operates and is responsible for the vast majority of local Court Service Units (often known as juvenile probation offices) across the Commonwealth, as well as the two state-operated Juvenile Correctional Centers, Beaumont and Bon Air. On any given day, the Department has somewhere between 4,500 and 5,000 youth under some kind of supervision, with more than 90 percent of those youth being supervised in their communities through diversion, probation or parole.
Over the last several years, the Department has undertaken a rigorous self-analysis to make sure that we are using taxpayer resources effectively, and getting the outcomes we want for the youth, families and communities we serve. This analysis led the Department to develop a plan to transform their work to get better outcomes for the children, families and communities served. VADJJ's transformation efforts break down into three core initiatives: (1) Safely Reduce the use of the large and aging juvenile correctional facilities; (2) Reform correctional and treatment practices within the facilities and with youth returning to communities; and (3) Develop a plan to ultimately Replace DJJ’s two facilities with smaller, regional, and treatment oriented juvenile correctional centers and a statewide continuum of local alternative placements and evidence-based services.
The Department's website has many resources of interest to those directly involved with the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice. Click on the link at the left to go to their website.
