Publications

Juvenile Justice System Risk Level and Response Risk in the Juvenile Justice System is defined as the risk to reoffend — or the risk of repeating similar or more serious behavior. When youth are brought to Juvenile Court or Juvenile Justice and Youth Services (JJYS), they are assessed using a validated risk (or risk/need) assessment (PSRA or PRA). Other youth-serving

How might we use spatial tools to better understand where to support youth and the challenges they face in their communities? How can we use these tools to work with the communities? We are using geospatial data and analysis tools to build a compass 🧭 for juvenile justice policy. We believe spatial data can be used as a community asset.

Overview: This report evaluates the characteristics and outcomes of individuals under AP&P supervision that are classified as habitual offenders, as defined by SB213. Senate Bill 213 (SB213) classifies individuals with six or more felony convictions within the past five years as habitual offenders. This report examines the characteristics and outcomes of habitual offenders under AP&P supervision using data from the

The Utah Prison Projection Project (UPPP) is a collaborative effort between the Utah Department of Corrections (UDC) and the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice (CCJJ). This initiative aims to develop a Utah-specific prison population forecasting tool to support criminal justice resource planning and analyze the impact of new legislation and policy on prison populations.

Policy zones identify neighborhoods with the greatest opportunity for impact on youth outcomes. We analyzed all 751 Utah neighborhoods and identified the top 100 where strategic investment will help the most young people. These are opportunity neighborhoods – places where coordinated support can significantly improve outcomes for youth, their families, and the communities they live in. 🏘️ See which neighborhoods

Background Similar to other states, recidivism continues to be a central measure in Utah’s criminal justice system. This site shows trends in 3-year recidivism rates for individuals that served time in prison on a leading felony weapon offense that were released on parole between 2014 and 2018. Four types of recidivism rates are included: 1) any return to prison 2) a return based on one

Overview: Since the early 2000’s, 40 US states have passed criminal justice reform legislation, often formally called the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI). These reforms, while varying by state, aim to improve system performance while controlling costs. Research Question: Critics of justice reform initiatives often argue that the “softer” policies in these reforms may negatively impact public safety, with recent concerns

The work of the Utah Juvenile Justice Working Group laid the foundation for research-based, data-driven policy changes. Moving forward, the state could benefit from making efforts to: 1) understand and adopt research-based approaches to generate positive outcomes for youths diverted from a petition via an NJA, and 2) ensure that NJA practices are implemented with substantial fidelity and quality. As

This data dashboard summarizes the key empirical findings from the full report, Nonjudicial Adjustments Juvenile Financial Sanctions: A Guide for Policy and Reform for Pretrial Diversion in Utah’s Juvenile Justice System.Explore the dashboard:NJA Dashboard▸Utah’s NJA ProcessJuvenile justice reform policies in 2017 included criteria for offering youths nonjudicial adjustments (NJA). NJAs are agreements between a youth, their parent or guardian, and

Like many other states, Utah invests substantial resources in its juvenile justice system to address delinquent behavior. The goal of these efforts is to address and correct delinquent behavior among youth to prevent further criminal behavior as they mature into adults. Up to this point, Utah has lacked a mechanism for determining the share of juvenile justice-involved youth that reaches