In an April 2024 speech at an Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) awards ceremony in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, OJJDP Administrator Liz Ryan commented on the profound challenges that impact today’s young people’s health and well-being. “Too many suffer trauma and victimization. Gun violence continues to shatter communities,” she said, citing an OJJDP study that indicates that youth victimization trends are especially high.

But she countered this distressing reality with good news as well, adding that OJJDP is making great progress in preventing youth crime and helping those who become involved in the juvenile justice system find a path to a positive future through OJJDP’s Continuum of Care initiative (CoC).

“We are diverting greater numbers of young people from the justice system—providing them with community-based resources and treatment,” she said, adding that the CoC framework of services prioritizes the safety of both youth and their communities with programs rooted in the science of adolescent development. “Our continuum of care framework takes a holistic approach that focuses on prevention and early intervention, supporting both youth who are at risk for delinquency and those at risk for victimization. For those at high risk for deeper involvement in the juvenile justice system, the continuum emphasizes intensive, targeted, evidence-based programming.”

Four Stages of Support

The CoC framework is divided into four stages of support services, each developed to meet the individual needs and risk factors of the child:

1. The prevention stage protects and supports children at risk of becoming involved in delinquent behavior or being victimized. These efforts include mentoring, community violence intervention and prevention, support for children of incarcerated parents, and programs for children exposed to violence.


2. The intervention stage of support is provided at three levels. At the lower level, efforts are focused on preventing or disrupting a youth’s involvement in the juvenile justice or child welfare system with pre-arrest diversion or mediation services.
   
   If a stronger or medium level intervention is required, CoC provides services to support youth who are involved in a court process or in some form of system oversight while also holding them accountable. These efforts can involve services such as juvenile and family treatment courts or restorative practices to repair harm done to victims.
   
   

   CoC’s high level of intervention engages high-risk youth involved with the justice system through intensive pre- and post-adjudication supervision and services while they are on probation or subject to in-home monitoring. These wraparound models of service can include community violence intervention (CVI) and cognitive behavioral therapy.

3. The out-of-home placement stage of CoC supports youth placed by the child welfare or juvenile justice system in a residential facility or other housing outside of their family home. These services are provided in group homes, shelters, or foster care, as well as in secure care for those who pose a serious risk to public safety.


4. The community re-integration stage, often called re-entry or aftercare, prepares youth to re-enter the community and return home. These services—which are provided according to the needs of the youth, family, and community—include education, housing, and family support. In partnership with volunteer service organizations, they also offer employment programs and mental health and substance use treatment.

Evidence-Based Services

All of the services included in the CoC framework address the root causes of youth involvement with the juvenile justice system through evidence-based or promising programs that are trauma-informed and designed to meet the needs of youth who are at risk of becoming or who are already involved in unlawful activity. This framework also fosters cross-system coordination of services to meet the needs of these young people and their families.

Another hallmark of the CoC program is the direct involvement of young people and their families in its design. “We developed our framework after holding numerous listening sessions and town halls around the country,” Ryan said. “Scores of youth justice stakeholders attended, including many young people and families with firsthand experience of the juvenile justice system. We listened as they told us what works, what doesn’t, and why.”

Benefits to the Community as Well as Youth

According to Ryan, the CoC approach to juvenile justice has proven to be not only effective in decreasing crime and advancing public safety but cost-effective, too, because most youth receiving CoC crime prevention and intervention support are diverted from entering the juvenile justice system—thereby reducing their number at the following stages of the continuum. Redirecting youth away from long-term involvement in the criminal justice system not only enhances the community’s public safety but also leads to long-term economic benefits.

Ryan cites research from the Justice Policy Institute that demonstrates that the average state cost for the last stage of the continuum, secure confinement, is $588 per day, which amounts to $214,620 per year. In contrast, a community-based program CoC program can cost as little as $75 per day.

Noting that OJJDP is not the first agency to adopt a continuum of care approach, Ryan also says that decades of research and success in other fields—including the housing and health care sectors— support its use because of its efficiency as well as its effectiveness. “Communities implementing a continuum of care approach are better able to assess youth needs, identify gaps in programs and services, and allocate resources accordingly. In doing so, they can prevent young people from entering the juvenile justice system and help those involved in the system find positive paths for the future.”

Building Local Continua of Care

Further enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of OJJDP’s CoC framework is its emphasis on local programs, services, and resources, which enables synergy among providers as well as convenient access for youth and their families at every stage of the juvenile justice system.

To promote this accessibility, OJJDP introduced the Building Local Continuums of Care to Support Youth Success initiative in 2023. This initiative provides funding to state and local jurisdictions with high rates of youth incarceration to plan, develop, and assess a community-based CoC that focuses on positive youth development, prevention, diversion, and treatment services.

Launched to support promising and evidence-based prevention and intervention services for those at risk of becoming or who are already involved in the juvenile justice system, this initiative has awarded CoC funding to 26 grantees in six states and 17 jurisdictions, including three training and technical assistance providers. Created to support sustainable, research-based, and data-informed recidivism reduction policies, practices, and programming through the CoC framework, the initiative’s goal is to enable effective prevention and intervention programs for young people throughout the nation.

In Ryan’s words, “An effective continuum of care for young people involved in the juvenile justice system ensures that youth receive the support they need to turn their lives around and become productive members of their communities. And everyone benefits from that.”

Faye C. Elkins
Sr. Technical Writer
COPS Office

Image courtesy of Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).

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