Justice Policy Institute (JPI) has high praise for Connecticut. JPI claims, “Perhaps more than any other state, Connecticut has absorbed the growing body of knowledge about youth development and delinquency, adopted its lessons, and used the information to fundamentally re-invent its approach to juvenile justice. As a result, Connecticut’s system today is far and away more successful, more humane, and more cost-effective than it was 10 or 20 years ago.”
JPI’s executive summary of its new report, Juvenile Justice Reform in Connecticut: How Collaboration and Commitment Have Improved Public Safety and Outcomes for Youth, explains how the state:
Reduced Overreliance on Confinement
Built a Continuum of Targeted, High- Quality No n-Residential Programs and Services for Youth
Improved Conditions in Juvenile Facilities
Kept Youth Out of the Adult Justice System
Reduced Arrests of Youth at School for Routine and Non-Serious Misbehavior
Addressed Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Juvenile Justice System’s Treatment of Youth
Update: In keeping with the U.S. Supreme Court's decsion that bars mandatory life sentences for juveniles, a new bill is being proposed in the Connecticut legislature that would allow a juvenile sentenced to a 60-year sentence (Life)to seek parole after serving 30 years. Juveniles sentenced to more than 20 years could seek parole halfway through their sentences. The applicant is not guarnteed parole, but may apply.
To read the executive summary click here to go to website
To read the full report Juvenile Justice Reform in Connecticut: How Collaboration and Commitment Have Improved Public Safety and Outcomes for Youth can be found by clicking on the link below.
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