New Jersey is the national model in the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI). Advocates for Children of New Jersey’s Juvenile Kids Count Report shared the data collected through the JDAI process. The report on available at www.acnj.org. Despite these efforts, regrettably, the story of these accomplishments is largely unknown to the citizens of our state.
In order to continue building on this success, ACNJ is coordinating a forum on Tuesday, March 18, 2014 to bring experts, policy makers and community advocates together to engage in a dialogue about additional reforms designed to improve outcomes for children, families and communities impacted by the juvenile justice system. Making family-focused, community-based interventions the norm, eliminating reliance on the justice system to access needed treatment services, and breaking down barriers to successful community reentry for youth, are all areas we hope to explore. Your voice is needed in this conversation.
The forum will begin at 9 a.m. with continental breakfast available at 8:30 a.m. The forum will take place at the National Conference Center, 399 Monmouth Street, East Windsor, NJ 08520. The Conference Center is adjacent to the Holiday Inn of East Windsor and right near exit 8 on the NJ Turnpike. Parking is available at the location.
Bart Lubow, director of the Juvenile Justice Strategy Group at the Annie E. Casey Foundation who has led the foundation’s Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative for the past 20 years will provide a national overview and discuss strategies to address remaining challenges. Nationally Bart Lubow guides efforts to improve outcomes for young people who enter the juvenile justice system and to reduce disparities in the treatment of young people of color, which continue to be problematic here in New Jersey.
Laurence Steinberg, Ph.D., who is one of the world’s leading authorities on adolescent psychological development and a frequent consultant to state and federal agencies and lawmakers on juvenile justice policy, will describe the research on adolescent brain development and its broad implications for how we deal with adolescents and young adults.
These informative presentations will be followed by a panel of distinguished New Jersey officials including:
Ø Allison Blake, Commissioner, Department of Children and Families
Ø Kevin M. Brown, Juvenile Justice Commission Executive Director
Ø Judge Glenn A Grant, Acting Director, Administrative Office of the Courts
Ø Joseph E. Krakora, New Jersey Public Defender
In addition to ACNJ, other event sponsors are the New Jersey Council on Juvenile Justice System Improvement, the Governor’s Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention Committee and the Future of Children Journal, which is a collaboration of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and the Brookings Institution.
We would like people to register in advance. Please contact Mary Coogan at mcoogan@acnj.org or 973-643-3876 to register for this event.
Your input is important to this process. We hope you can join us on March 18.