Juvenile Justice Reform policy objectives stemmed from a review of local Utah data and national evidence-based research. Changes in policy and practice impacted the front end of the justice system within schools and the general community to the back end of the Juvenile Court and Juvenile Justice Services. This 4th annual report provides an update on reform policies that were passed in Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 and subsequent years. Findings take into account the growth in Utah’s youths population.
Similar to prior years, Utah continues to see a consistent decline in court referrals throughout all judicial districts and perseveres in the reinvestment of savings to front end services. However effects of COVID-19 should be taken into consideration while contextualizing the performance metrics of School-based Offenses, Court Referrals, Nonjudicial Adjustments, Locked Detention, Community Placement, Secure Care, and Child Welfare.
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Referrals to Utah’s juvenile court system continued to decrease in FY 2020. Overall, there were 15,712 referrals to the Juvenile Court in FY 2020. This represents a decline of 9% from FY 2019 and a continuation in the general trend of decreasing referrals.
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Youths continue to be diverted from the system through the use of Nonjudicial Adjustments. Though the numbers are slightly down similar to petitions, the share of youths entering into an Nonjudicial Adjustment remained around 56%. These findings are consistent among nonminority and minority youths.
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The use of Locked Detention continued to decrease in FY 2020. Youths admitted to Locked Detention continued its downward trend, with a 64% decrease when compared to FY 2015. This trend was consistent among youths who identified as nonminority and minority.
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Utah has witnessed for the first time the daily enrollment of youth on home detention being greater than those in locked detention in FY 2020. This daily trend has remained consistent, of times seeing over 50% higher nightly bed count for home detention versus a locked setting.
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Court supervision through Intake or Formal Probation are guided by a youth’s level of risk and needs. For FY 2020, the rate for Intake and Formal Probation were fairly similar, with both Intake and Formal Probation orders decreasing. The share of Intake and Formal Probation orders increased for youths identified as nonminority.
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Community Placements have reduced the share of youths being ordered to out of home placements.Youths admitted to Community Placement continued its declining trend in FY 2020, with a 65% decrease when compared to FY 2015. This decline was similar for youths who identified as nonminority and minority.
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The rate of admissions to Secure Care remained similar between FY 2015 and 2020. Secure Care admissions have hovered between .5 and .6 per 1000 youths in recent years with Minority youths continuing to make up a disproportionate large share of these admissions.
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Court Ordered Assessments to determine whether in‐home family preservation services were appropriate decreased in FY 2020. Removing youths from their homes for delinquency cases not involving abuse, neglect, or dependency remained at zero in FY 2020 while assessments decreased.
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Reinvestment into the front-end of the system includes the JJS Youth Services Model. The Youth Services Model is a “no wrong door” approach to early intervention. Through this model, Utah delivers evidence based, individualized youth and family plans with early screening, assessment, plan management, and comprehensive access to services–all driven by the youth and family strengths and needs.
Policy changes focused on preventing deeper involvement in the juvenile justice system for youths who are referred for lower-level offenses, protecting the community by focusing system resources on youths who pose the highest risk to public safety, and improving outcomes through reinvestment and increased system accountability.