CJJR is pleased to announce that the following states (and demonstration sites) have been selected for JJSIP implementation:

Maricopa County, Arizona
Hartford, Connecticut
Pinellas County, Florida
Berks County, Pennsylvania

The Juvenile Justice System Improvement Project (JJSIP) is designed to help states improve outcomes for juvenile offenders by better translating knowledge on "what works" into everyday practice and policy.

The JJSIP takes the vast amount of knowledge gained through Dr. Mark Lipsey's meta-analysis of effective juvenile justice programs and embeds it within the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders as developed by Dr. James C. Howell and John Wilson. In doing so, the JJSIP provides a framework for improving juvenile justice practice throughout the entire juvenile justice continuum. The JJSIP will train jurisdictions how to implement such a process without undermining their current service delivery model. In this regard, it has the potential to support a groundbreaking shift in how juvenile justice systems are operated and how those systems both achieve and are held accountable for accomplishing their mission.

Dr. Mark Lipsey discussing the Standardized Program Evaluation Protocol (SPEP)--a key component of the JJSIP--with Benjamin Chambers, editor of Reclaiming Futures Every Day.

Georgetown University has selected four states (Arizona, Connecticut, Florida and Pennsylvania) to participate in an intensive training and then receive 18-months of technical assistance to implement this approach. An evaluation of the program will be completed to measure the effectiveness of the training and technical assistance in changing practices and policies in the participating states. At the end of the 18-month technical assistance process, participating states will have implemented the JJSIP fully in one demonstration jurisdiction/county and begun to spread it statewide.

Ultimately, the goal of the JJSIP is to reduce crime and delinquency and improve positive outcomes for youth in the juvenile justice system through the implementation of efficient and effective juvenile justice administration. This initiative will help jurisdictions improve outcomes for juvenile offenders through a process of research-based decision-making, better targeting of risk and needs in service provision, improved risk reduction, program improvement though the implementation of evidence-based practices and more cost-effective use of scarce resources. More on the expected outcomes of JJSIP implementation can be found on the Expected Outcomes and Evaluation page.

For more on the JJSIP please see the links to the right.