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Press Advisory: First
Comprehensive Juvenile Justice Plan Released
The Connecticut Judicial Branch,
the state Department of Children and Families and
stakeholders representing parents, advocates, and public and
private agencies today released their first comprehensive
strategic plan for juvenile justice in Connecticut. The
five-year blueprint focuses on prevention and partnerships with
parents, schools and the community.
A copy of
The Connecticut
Juvenile Justice Strategic Plan: Building Toward a Better Future
is available through the Judicial Branch’s website at
www.jud.ct.gov.
“This report offers concrete
recommendations for improving services to children who are in
the juvenile justice system,” Chief Court Administrator William
J. Lavery said. “As important, it also provides a blueprint for
reaching out to at-risk children, before they see the inside of
a police station or juvenile court facility.”
William H. Carbone, executive
director of the Judicial Branch’s Court Support Services
Division, added: “Significantly, stakeholders in the juvenile
justice process agreed to one
vision, one
mission and one set of
guiding principles. This shared view is essential if we are
all to move together to help our kids.”
DCF Commissioner Darlene Dunbar
said the plan “represents the collaboration of many partners in
the juvenile justice system. It is meaningful in that it
provides a framework for improvements in how we, as a state,
meet the needs of the children and youth in our state.”
Many of the strategies presented
in the plan require no additional funding. Others will require
funding, and an implementation team will develop a budget impact
report.
The report, facilitated by the
Child Welfare League of America, outlines several goals and
strategies, including:
- Partnering with parents and
communities for delivery of locally based services;
- Reducing the number of
children entering the juvenile justice system through
prevention services, and partnering with parents for better
outcomes;
- Eliminating minority
overrepresentation in the juvenile justice system, in part
through the establishment of juvenile review/diversion
boards in urban areas;
- Developing and enhancing
programs, policies and procedures for children and youths
already involved in the juvenile justice system, and in
particular, for girls;
- Partnering with education
professionals to address disruptive behaviors in school and
to avoid court involvement when appropriate;
- Improving services for
status, or “Family With Service Needs,” offenders (children
who have run away from home, for example). Access to safe,
secure alternative programs and centers is essential in this
area since as of Oct. 1, 2007, legislation will prohibit
judges from ordering that these children be detained;
- Providing age-specific and
developmentally appropriate services for 16- and
17-year-olds.
For further information, please
contact Rhonda Stearley-Hebert, manager of communications at the
Judicial Branch, at 860-757-2270, or Gary Kleeblatt, DCF
director of communications, at 860-550-6305.
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