Seven Sites Selected for Juvenile Probation Certificate Program With Georgetown University

In Novem­ber 2019, teams from sev­en sites gath­ered in Wash­ing­ton, D.C. to learn about trans­form­ing juve­nile pro­ba­tion cul­ture and prac­tice as part of the Trans­form­ing Juve­nile Pro­ba­tion Cer­tifi­cate Pro­gram.

The new pro­gram, sup­port­ed by the Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion, was devel­oped in part­ner­ship with George­town University’s Cen­ter for Juve­nile Jus­tice Reform and the Coun­cil of State Gov­ern­ments Jus­tice Cen­ter. It offers inten­sive instruc­tion, dis­cus­sion and plan­ning sup­port to select­ed juris­dic­tions that are ready to ques­tion the pur­pose and goals of probation.

The sev­en sites select­ed for the pro­gram rep­re­sent juve­nile jus­tice juris­dic­tions in:

• Cado Parish, Louisiana
• Char­lottesville, Virginia
• Mar­i­on Coun­ty, Indiana
• Mult­nom­ah Coun­ty, Oregon
• The State of New Hampshire
• San Diego Coun­ty, California
• Stark Coun­ty, Ohio

“This pro­gram is an oppor­tu­ni­ty for juris­dic­tions to ful­ly shift the role of pro­ba­tion offi­cers away from sur­veil­lance and sanc­tions and toward a focus on pro­mot­ing per­son­al growth, pos­i­tive behav­ior change and long-term suc­cess for youth,” says Steve Bish­op, a senior asso­ciate with the Casey Foundation’s Juve­nile Jus­tice Strat­e­gy Group.

At the Novem­ber 2019 ses­sion, teams lis­tened as prac­ti­tion­ers, researchers and pol­i­cy­mak­ers spoke on:

• incor­po­rat­ing prac­tices for equity;
• youth, fam­i­ly and com­mu­ni­ty engagement;
• diver­sion and dis­po­si­tion decisions;
• the role of the pro­ba­tion offi­cer; and
• lead­ing trans­for­ma­tion­al change.

Watch a three-minute video on Casey’s vision for pro­ba­tion transformation

Each team, capped at eight mem­bers, was required to have a chief pro­ba­tion offi­cer, judge and pros­e­cu­tor on its ros­ter. Dur­ing the appli­ca­tion process, sites were also asked to demonstrate:

• a com­mit­ment to com­pre­hen­sive pro­ba­tion transformation;
• a his­to­ry of effec­tive imple­men­ta­tion of juve­nile jus­tice reforms;
• a his­to­ry of suc­cess­ful col­lab­o­ra­tion among agen­cies, pub­lic sys­tems and stake­hold­ers; and
• the orga­ni­za­tion­al and data capac­i­ty to sup­port pro­ba­tion transformation.

Over the course of the pro­gram, each team will receive tech­ni­cal assis­tance — vir­tu­al­ly and local­ly — as they devel­op a cap­stone project that iden­ti­fies a clear action for trans­form­ing juve­nile pro­ba­tion in their juris­dic­tion. Once the project is approved, par­tic­i­pants will earn an exec­u­tive cer­tifi­cate from George­town Uni­ver­si­ty and join CJJR’s net­work of more than 1,200 Fellows.

The Trans­form­ing Juve­nile Pro­ba­tion Cer­tifi­cate Pro­gram’s cur­ricu­lum is based on the prin­ci­ples and prac­tices out­lined in Casey’s Trans­form­ing Juve­nile Pro­ba­tion: A Vision for Get­ting it Right and a sec­ond pub­li­ca­tion, Trans­form­ing Juve­nile Jus­tice Sys­tems to Improve Pub­lic Safe­ty and Youth Out­comes, pro­duced by the Cen­ter for Juve­nile Jus­tice Reform and the Jus­tice Center.