Evaluating Race Equity and Family Engagement Strategies to Reform the Deep End of Juvenile Justice
What does it take to reduce out-of-home placements for youth of color in the juvenile justice system? A recent webinar hosted by the Annie E. Casey Foundation shared promising strategies and insights from an evaluation funded by the Casey Foundation and led by the Urban Institute, an economic and social policy research nonprofit, and Mathematica, a partner organization that uses data to solve social challenges.
The hour-long webinar, Evaluating Race Equity and Family Engagement Strategies to Reform the Deep End of Juvenile Justice, described the evaluation, Keeping Youth Out of the Deep End of the Juvenile Justice System, which pinpoints tactics for engaging families and creating strategies that target equitable outcomes for youth of color. These youth are overrepresented in institutions in the so-called deep end of the juvenile justice system, including youth prisons and residential institutions.
The webinar’s panel included Janine Zweig, associate vice president for justice policy at the Urban Institute; Leah Sakala, senior policy associate at the Urban Institute; and Todd Honeycutt, senior researcher at Mathematica. The event was moderated by Casey Foundation senior research associate Jeffrey Poirier, who commissioned the evaluation.
During the webinar, panelists describe:
- the evaluation’s methods and main findings related to probation and other juvenile justice practices, with a focus on how a mixed-methods approach informed findings on racial equity and youth and family engagement;
- activities and approaches that local juvenile justice system stakeholders and community partners used to reduce out-of-home placement for justice-involved youth, particularly youth of color; and
- considerations for building equity and engagement into evaluation.
