The Evolution of Youth Justice

Youth violence and its consequences remain a global challenge, although there has been progress toward reforms in recent decades. Youth experiences with violence, whether gang-related or in homes, schools, or the community, vary by age, gender, place of residence, and socioeconomic status, but they are a global concern. Youth are very frequently victims of violence rather than its perpetrators. 42% of global homicides in 2020 affected youth 10-29 years of age and violence is the fourth leading cause of death in that age group. Even when someone is not killed or badly injured, exposure to violence has lasting physical, psychological, social, and economic impacts on a young person’s life, in addition to the effects of incarceration or contact with the criminal justice system on those who perpetrate violence. These can compound existing forms of social disadvantage or marginalization. 

In recognition of these costs, many jurisdictions are engaged in youth violence reduction efforts and criminal justice reform. For example, in 2015, the World Health Organization released a major report focused on preventing youth violence. In 2019, the United Kingdom introduced dedicated Violence Reduction Units in the areas worst affected by violent crime. As recently as May 2021, the US Department of Justice released a “Comprehensive Strategy for Reducing Violent Crime”, seeking to better integrate work by government and non-government actors all over the United States with a specific emphasis on safer communities.

Whether guided by a human rights or cognitive development approach, criminal justice reforms have also brought increased use of alternatives like diversion programs and changes to the sentencing landscape (including the near elimination of life without parole for youth in the United States). Youth incarceration has decreased accordingly. The total number of youths in custody or confinement in the United States, which has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, has dropped by over 70% since its peak in the mid 1990s, and some countries have almost eliminated youth incarceration. However, those youth that remain in the system (a daily average of 45,000 in the United States and 22,000 in Brazil, also known for its crowded facilities) continue to suffer adverse consequences from incarceration. (The 2019 Prison Policy Report also points out that 4,535, or about 1 in 10, US children were confined in adult facilities, which are less safe and lack age-appropriate services. Czechia by comparison had 76 incarcerated juveniles in 2021, for a population of 10.7m. The US population was 328m in 2019; Brazil’s 203m in 2014.)

The outbreak of COVID-19 and subsequent economic crises and global restrictions changed the landscape again. The severe limitations on daily life reduced home safety, as confinement and additional home stress increased child abuse and domestic violence. These stressors dramatically decreased mental health, particularly for groups who were vulnerable before the pandemic. Youth also experienced an increase in virtual dangers as the internet became one of very few social avenues, but unfortunately one haunted by cyber-bullying, access to hateful or triggering content, and grooming and sexual abuse. The disruption of normal protective factors—school, community groups, sports, and relationships outside home—left youth particularly vulnerable. Additionally, the economic impacts of COVID-19 threaten to disproportionately affect youth, already three times more likely to be unemployed prior to the pandemic, which could increase violence and crime rates. Meanwhile Brazil, South Africa and the United States saw major violent crime increases in 2020 and France saw a sharp rise in gang violence in particular. 

In light of this evidence, there is growing recognition among policymakers and reform advocates in many countries that there is a need to invest more into violence reduction and criminal justice reform. Many jurisdictions are reimagining public safety and criminal justice. Communities are coalescing around visions that consider investments in collective well-being and the appropriate wraparound systems to sustain it. Community members want to see appropriate, effective, and equitable policy reforms that promote safety while minimizing harm to community members, and policy advocates are seeking ways to ensure that those most affected by these reforms are in the conversations shaping them. The effects of COVID-19 join a list of factors influencing the future of these reform efforts, including efforts for greater social equity and inclusion, significant conversations around police reform in the US and the UK, changing demographics and climate, migration patterns, new technologies, and shrinking public budgets. 

Human dignity “recognizes every person’s intrinsic worth and capacity for self-control, autonomy, and rationality”. It is a concept that resonates across many cultures, appearing in the first line of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights, several US Supreme Court decisions, and many national constitutions (e.g., South Africa, Georgia and India) in recognition of its importance to a peaceful and just society. If embraced as a core value, human dignity can be a guiding principle for reform. 

By recognizing and respecting the innate dignity of all humans—regardless of factors like wealth or income, social grouping, and mental health status, or even their role as victim or perpetrator—a society may be able to deliver more lasting justice, leading to less violence and social tension. Today’s criminal justice systems sometimes fail to deliver human dignity, even where it has been enshrined in the existing legal frameworks. Failures including overcrowded, violent and inhumane custodial conditions, as well as excessive delays to the administration of justice. These weaken a society and leave it vulnerable to internal tensions, while returning dignity to the system strengthens individuals and can make a society healthier overall. 

Human dignity implies a degree of individual agency and personal responsibility, often removed by contact with the criminal justice system. As people know their rights and define their own needs, both individually and collectively, they create a society founded on dignity. Policymakers can support this by balancing the needs of individuals and their community to reach the right mixture of individual freedom and collective safety. In a free society, rights come with communal obligations.  

Within the criminal justice system, the custodial system in particular can strip away a person’s dignity along with their freedom, with the former needing to be rebuilt after the latter is returned. Time spent in the system not only reduces a person’s sense of their innate human dignity, but it weakens ties to the outside world and may result in their being more violent than when they were first incarcerated due to the high exposure to violence in prison. Interventions emphasizing identity and life outside prison counteract these effects and help build the life skills required for a return to normal life. A reformed system would allow people, particularly youths who are still developing mentally, physically, and emotionally, to retain more of their dignity. This includes developing or maintaining agency, personal responsibility, and the community ties integral to their identity while they are in the system. Within the current system, one way to achieve this is a limited community release (termed “Release on Temporary License” in the UK), a transitional stage that permits an incarcerated person to spend time in the community working, training, or with family and prepares them for re-entry. (See Youth Violence and Safety section Case Study 4 | Brazil and Parallel Prison System.)

Shifting away from cultures of justice that emphasize punishment and retribution is not easy. This may be particularly true in countries where specific portions of the population—whether delineated by race, social, socioeconomic, or another status—are more likely to be incarcerated. In the UK, for example, Black, Asian, and minority ethnic individuals are much more likely to go to prison and the US, Black youth are four times more likely to be confined than white youth, making Black families much more familiar with the effects of incarceration. Increasing empathy and an understanding of the conditions within the system, as well as the additional effects of racial trauma, by the general population are therefore key factors in achieving reform. 

Whether in the traditional criminal justice system or in the context of alternative justice mechanisms, shaping culture to offer more individuated justice—i.e., determining a given person’s needs and designing their rehabilitation accordingly—may improve outcomes and reduce recidivism. One way to achieve this is greater use of alternatives to adjudication and incarceration as they are often better suited to meeting individual needs and fostering healing. 

Restorative justice seeks to improve accountability and make space for the victim’s experiences, encouraging self-reflection and dialogue about a crime’s impact on both lives. Incorporating restorative justice elements into the mechanisms of justice thus helps the community heal. The focus on dialogue, healing, and genuine apology can better allow both sides to move beyond the harm and toward their futures. Rather than relying on lawyers and the traditional justice actors, mediators and families play key roles. Mediators help identify victim’s needs and the inclusion of both families promotes mutual understanding and humanity. The results are striking: lower recidivism rates, increased victim satisfaction, lower costs, and no reduction of public safety.  

For jurisdictions seeking to shift to this approach, there is no definitive institution for or approach to restorative justice, but there is general guidance. Two core principles that should inform all practice: 

1. Stakeholder participation 
2. Repairing harms 

Beyond those principles, individual forms of restorative justice develop according to a country’s culture, history, and justice structures. Taking this background into account, shifting to a restorative justice approach requires “changing lenses” across the system.  This involves system-wide stakeholder dialogue with police, prosecutors, social workers, etc., and represents an important foundation as these groups embody their new roles. This may also mean addressing cultural tendencies like deference to authority, which is at odds with the collaborative principles of restorative justice. In these cases, emphasizing the avoidance of dominion is particularly meaningful. While there is no “correct” approach, there is helpful guidance, like the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Restorative Justice Programmes in Criminal Matters and Council of Europe recommendations, available to those navigating the shift.  

When setting up restorative justice programs and other community-driven alternatives, working with governments in addition to non-governmental organizations offers benefits in the form of additional resources, wider availability, and more stable financing. Despite being perceived as a “rich country luxury”, restorative justice programs are accessible, typically being less expensive than existing systems of incarceration. (See the example of Restorative Community Conferencing in Alameda County, California.) They do not necessarily require additional external funding, although they do require reallocating resources. Their connection to government may however cause political tensions between political parties or ministries, which can limit their efficacy. Thus, for example, should a social policy ministry decline to participate, it will be more difficult to address the root causes of criminal behavior. 

Good timing and the right supporters are key to introducing and maintaining restorative justice programs. To achieve government support, election or re-election campaigns are opportunities if candidates are interested in criminal justice reform. Restorative justice pilot programs are particularly attractive since they have relatively low overhead costs and can begin to operate quickly. In certain contexts, support from international organizations or religious institutions can also reduce domestic political skepticism and encourage adoption. Once pilot projects have begun, best practice suggests building a record of success with work on low-level crimes before addressing serious felonies. This builds public support and confidence in the method. Finally, prosecutorial support is a key component of a successful, sustainable transition, as prosecutors often need to refer youth to the alternative mechanism. As prosecutors can be over-worked and disliked in the traditional system, support may come from prosecutors finding greater job satisfaction working with restorative justice principles.  

One type of prosecutor is particularly well-placed to support the transition to a restorative justice approach: specialized juvenile prosecutors. In countries like Georgia or Ukraine that use them (and they are a powerful juvenile justice innovation in their own right), juvenile prosecutors are often perceived as more empathetic. They also receive special training in child psychology and brain development, as well as criminal procedure.  This training helps them better understand youth decision-making—which is demonstrably neurologically different from adult decision-making—and the factors that may be driving particular outcomes. Building on this training to engage with victims may be helpful where the focus has traditionally been on engaging the accused.

Finally, the importance of public participation in restorative justice principles should not be overlooked. Low participation rates may be addressed with greater public awareness outside the criminal justice system. When raising public awareness, the use of social media, influencers, bloggers, and even physical initiatives like public transport advertisements may be effective ways to reaching youth and their families, rather than establishing a dedicated website or embedding explanations in the existing justice-related websites. (The relationship between influencers and social activism is complicated. Influencers have significant followings and are highly trusted by their young followers, for an example from the corporate world), but they can struggle with conveying activist messages.)  

As part of transforming the culture of justice, public support of these programs by victims is vital. Many jurisdictions have cultures centered on punishment and retributive principles. In such cultures, the prevailing belief is that accountability comes only through punishment, i.e., sentencing. There is difficulty in understanding that someone may be absolved of criminal responsibility without being absolved of all responsibility. It is counter-intuitive but true that someone can accept greater personal responsibility under these mechanisms than under the formal system. Thus it is important to include victims in the process of educating and ultimately demonstrating to citizens how it is possible to achieve justice without incarceration. This inclusion should never come at the cost of pressuring victims to participate, but be their choice, supporting the healing of the community as a whole. 

Removal of Corruption

Corruption, social discrimination, as well as personal and political interests can be key obstacles to any successful reform. All of these should be addressed to rebuild public trust before conducting system-wide reform. Training in particular will not solve cultural and political problems and will be eroded if the latter go unaddressed. Deeply corrupt societies require deep cleaning. This may temporarily leave the system understaffed but will ultimately improve the country’s ability to deliver justice. If a system is not yet able to address these deeper problems, smaller reforms like faster court proceedings or increased trainings are still possible and they can be valuable ways of increasing momentum. These will however likely be temporary if conducted alone. 

International Support

Sometimes the impetus to reform comes from outside a country. Focusing on improving the rule of law and national institutions is common across reform efforts, but the individual approach and measurement are country dependent. The measurement of progress typically refers to a country’s baseline before the reforms, although the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 16 (Promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies), and Transparency International’s Corruption Index are useful, standardized indicators. When selecting which interventions to replicate, reformers may find it helpful to begin with interventions that were successful in countries with similar histories or social dynamics. 

Conducting internationally supported reform projects in transitional countries can require changing the culture of justice, which in turn requires domestic support and interlocutors across all sectors and levels of society. To achieve government, justice professional, and community buy-in, reforms should consult all parties to identify the existing justice concerns and share their plans for reform. Inter-agency cooperation is very important and may involve unusual players, e.g., it might mean including the Postal Service to improve the speed of legal service and ultimately justice. 

International organizations supporting domestic reform should beware of “tick the box” projects and window-dressing governments unwilling to reform. Tick the box projects are surface-level reforms that look productive but have little to no actual effect. This could for example take the form of building a child-friendly police station without training the police officers on the new equipment or in conducting child-friendly interviews. These projects use funds without lasting impact and should therefore be avoided. Similarly, governments can use the presence of well-known international organizations to present an image of reforming without actually doing so. In both cases, strong domestic support, follow-up, and broad stakeholder engagement protect against such costly, yet ineffective reforms. 

Domestic Support

Domestic political leadership should also support the reforms, which can be challenging if a country has a contested history. Particular difficulties can arise in transitional countries if a key leader and reform ally has an alleged problematic history. Reformers should consider carefully whether to work with such a person. They could be an excellent reformer but also carry baggage that may pose a risk to the integrity of the reforms.

Popular consultations are also important. Reforms should be participatory and as inclusive as possible. If part or all of the community does not identify with their own criminal justice system or believes the reforms will not benefit them, it can be helpful to counter these concerns with concrete sample improvements. For example, faster court proceedings would allow the courts to remove drunk drivers from the road more quickly, thereby benefitting all by reducing traffic deaths. 

Institutional Investment

Leadership matters, but investment should build up institutions rather than only accruing to individuals. While individuals can be replaced, strong institutions can withstand sustained attack and the replacement of individual leaders. A professionalized justice system is less vulnerable to political changes than an elected one, making this the preferred model. Notably strengthening local ombudspeople is a way of strengthening both those individuals and the institutions they seek to keep honest.

Two effective ways of building up local institutions are opening legal resource centers and conducting judicial trainings. These scalable interventions ultimately improve the culture of justice by working through individuals to support the broader system. Legal resource centers provide aid to vulnerable population while training legal professionals in their field. Judicial trainings, like moot court, teach judicial actors about technical aspects of the process while also allowing them to switch roles. This fosters an understanding of the greater system and the challenges or constraints the opposing party may be facing. 

Sustainability 

Internationally supported reform projects have two vulnerabilities: their funding and domestic political changes. Many funded projects do not consider how their work continues after the funding ends, but they should plan for their exits. This means that sustainability, e.g., whether a project may pay for itself, is an important factor to consider. Legal clinics are examples of such initiatives that could be taken on by a local partner, e.g., a university. International organizations invited by a government to advise on reform efforts are also reliant on the host’s political will and may be disinvited under a new government, particularly if reforms are not going well. Therefore, international efforts should work to protect themselves by harnessing the government’s self-interest, by highlighting cost savings, positive press, etc. Finally regime change can affect a reform even if a new government wishes to continue the effort. A new ruling party may re-staff all police and administrative positions, thereby undoing previous training. This is something international reformers should keep in mind in the face of upcoming elections.

Watchdogs

Regardless of who originally encouraged the reforms or how positive or stable a culture appears to have, citizens should remain vigilant. Every system needs a watchdog or several, be they international organizations, domestic civil society, media, or ultimately an engaged public demanding justice. This engaged citizenry should be developed wherever not already present as an additional safeguard once a system has been transformed.

From an individual’s sense of dignity and agency to the broader themes of restorative justice and the key role of prosecutors to the ambitious reforms undertaken in New Jersey and Georgia to the intricacies of working with countries in transition, changing the culture of justice is deeply participatory. Changing culture is equally a project for leaders, for institutions, and for the public to evolve their thinking. It is about demonstrating the human, safety, and financial benefits of a changed system and showing that accountability need not require punishment. It is about locating and addressing the weaknesses in the current system—corruption, bias, inequality—to arrive at systems that offer better safety and community outcomes. Such transformation may be slow and multi-faceted as each piece adjusts, but the depth of change can make a system more resilient in the face of challenge. 

Looking Ahead 

Ultimately however, the criminal justice system alone cannot solve social injustices. Systemic challenges require systemic solutions. Changing the culture of justice is an integral part of violence prevention, but solutions must also ultimately flow from re-shaped social structures and opportunities. A broader approach to transformation—focused upstream of the criminal justice system—will reduce the number of people who come into conflict with the law and the impact of the criminal justice system on their lives. 

One frequent factor when people come into continuous conflict with the law is race or identity. In many societies, disadvantaged social groups—whether defined by race, ethnicity, religion, social status, or another factor—encounter public safety authorities more frequently. In the UK, Black people are stop-and-searched four times more often than white people and Black men have tasers drawn on them at a rate eight times that of white men. In the US, Black neighborhoods often experience high levels of social control and surveillance policing, but are under-served when it comes to emergency services. In India, caste distinctions factored into police treatment, with increased brutality experienced by the Dalit (the lowest caste). These increased interactions with the police can increase a person’s criminal record and increase their likelihood of being incarcerated, triggering serious life consequences that are less likely for those engaged in the same activity without police presence. These disparities are particularly problematic for non-violent offenses like drug possession and where they go so far as to be coded into the criminal justice system.* 

Notably, a history of disadvantage can also infuse interactions with local authorities, particularly police, with tension even if these authorities have undergone additional training and seek to diffuse tensions. This can cause disproportionate stress to these groups and affect community dynamics. The focus in moving forward and designing new systems should be on inclusivity (particularly at leadership levels) and dialogue to allow healing while also holding accountable those responsible for historical systemic injustice. 

Systems like housing, banking, law enforcement, and even access to healthy food can be designed to perpetuate systemic inequalities, generating the causes of some crimes. In the US, housing and banking policies for example contributed to creating majority-minority neighborhoods that experience high levels of policing. These systems can be included in reforms advancing equality. During this process, the culture of policymaking should broaden, so that policymakers and politicians hear from uncommon voices with uncommon experiences to better understand the challenges experienced by affected communities. The knowledge necessary for change resides both in those who experienced the inequalities produced by these systems, as well as in those who control them. Sharing both sets of knowledge with the intent to create a more equitable society can support reforms.

Future Research

One system to highlight as able to accelerate other cultural reforms and act as a force-multiplier is the educational system. Equal educational opportunity is particularly important in improving youth outcomes, but local structures can inhibit those opportunities. Merely having the right to education does not guarantee educational access in practice. Poorer areas often offer lower quality educational opportunities, which can promote negative cycles. The US educational system, for example, relies on property tax funding, which exacerbates socioeconomic disparities. Similarly, despite a constitutional right to education, some rural South African schools not only lack resources and teachers, but adequate sanitation and electricity, negatively affecting the learning environment. 

Access to education or the lack thereof, with the resulting opportunities, plays into the likelihood of a youth becoming criminal. Therefore, investing in education is one way to reduce crime and violence. Additionally, some schools currently interact with criminal justice institutions and processes in a problematic way. In the US, this takes the form of the “school to prison” pipeline, which can rob (disproportionately non-white) children of their access to education as well as their freedom by criminalizing minor infractions. Such interactions should be monitored and reformed to prevent such early transfers to the criminal justice system. Embracing positive discipline strategies instead of punitive ones can improve school safety and academic performance, improving outcomes for all students. (See Case Study 1 | Glasgow and Inter-Agency Collaboration in Public Health Approach section.) Going forward, the question of where educational investments could play a role in violence prevention and how to best teach the contested histories whose legacies shape student identities and experiences with the justice system should be further investigated. 

* Black Americans are four times more likely to be arrested on marijuana charges than their white peers and Black British citizens are significantly more likely to be stop-and-searched and arrested for drugs than their white counterparts, although these report consuming more drugs. Drug laws are also known for their disparate racial impact in the United States where crack and powder cocaine sentencing differences predominantly affected the Black population. 

Several Fellows from the Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety and Justice initiative have been additionally featured on the Salzburg Global website. Please read more below.

Forging a New Way Forward

Tess Peacock, Rosette Sifa Vuninga, Nontsikelelo Dlulani, and Enhle Mpungose reflect on the challenges facing South Africa and possible solutions

Maintaining a Strong Moral Compass in a Complicated World

Goodwin Liu, associate justice of the California Supreme Court shares what inspires him as a leader

Building an Inclusive Justice System in the Philippines

Sha Elijah Dumama-Alba is creating a new legal system for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region with inclusive and restorative justice at the forefront of her work

The Calling of Justice: Approaches Based on Humility, Solidarity, and Kinship

Lourdes Rodríguez talks about how philanthropic practices intersect with issues of power and equity and how the David Rockefeller Fund supports and encourages a holistic approach to justice

The Challenges of Reform From Within the NYPD

Jonathan Blanks writes about one officer's evolution and the problems he faced trying to make a difference for the communities he served

Blogs

Abdinasir, Kadra. “Behaviour and mental health: towards a new approach”. June 4, 2021. Blog. Centre for Mental Health. https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/blogs/behaviour-and-mental-health-towards-new-approach 

Baltimore Youth Arts. “Meet the Youth Advisory Board”. Septeber 14, 2021. Blog. Baltimore Youth Arts. https://www.bmoreyoutharts.org 

Community Works. “Restorative justice diversion: A model for the future.” 2020. Blog. Community Works. http://communityworkswest.org/restorative-justice-diversion-a-model-for-the-future/

Jones, Alexi, and Wendy Sawyer. ““Not just “a few bad apples”: U.S. police kill civilians at much higher rates than other countries”. June 5, 2020. Blog. Prison Policy Initiative. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/06/05/policekillings 

rawatshubhani. “Why public transportation is a good choice for advertising”. June 23, 2021. Blog. Movia. https://movia.media/moving-billboard-blog/why-public-transportation-is-a-good-choice-for-advertising/ 

Sawyer, Wendy. “Visualizing the racial disparities in mass incarceration”. July 27, 2020. Blog. Prison Policy Initiative. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/07/27/disparities 

School of Education. “Inequality in Public School Funding: Key Issues & Solutions for Closing the Gap”. September 10, 2020. Blog. School of Education. https://www.american.edu/soe/graduate/articles/inequality-in-public-school-funding.cfm 

Surr, Tom. “The problems with race in UK policing: Part 1”. July 15, 2020. Blog. Kingsley Napley. https://www.kingsleynapley.co.uk/insights/blogs/diversity-matters/the-problems-with-race-in-uk-policing-part-1 

Widra, Emily. “No escape: The trauma of witnessing violence in prison”. December 2, 2020. Blog. Prison Policy Initiative. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/12/02/witnessing-prison-violence/.

Books

Zehr, Howard. Changing Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Justice. Independence, MO: Herald Press, 2003.

Fawn, Rick, ed. 2014. Georgia: Revolution and War. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.

Chochua, Maia. (2022). Introducing Restorative Practices in the Child Justice System of Georgia. In A. Wolthuis & T. Champman (Eds.), Restorative justice from a children’s rights perspective. Eleven International Publishing.

Government Publications

Government of Canada. 2005. Restorative justice in cases of serious crime. Ottawa: Public Safety Canada. https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/rstjstc-srscrm/index-en.aspx 

National School of Judges of Ukraine. 2008. EU-CoE Joint Programme Transparency and Efficiency of the Judicial System of Ukraine. Kiev: National School of Judges of Ukraine. http://www.nsj.gov.ua/en/international/colaboration/colaboration04 

State of Connecticut. 2017. An Act Concerning Notification To The Police Officer Standards And Training Council. Hartfod, CT: Public Safety and Security Committee. https://cga.ct.gov/2017/FC/2017HB-07093-R000229-FC.htm 

State of New Jersey: Office of the Attorney General. 2020. Creating Connections to Support New Jersey’s Youth. Trenton, NJ: Office of the Attorney General. https://www.nj.gov/oag/newsreleases20/oag-Handle-with-Care-directive_100620.pdf 

State of New Jersey: Office of the Attorney General. 2019. Directive Ensuring the Independent Investigation of Criminal Cases Involving Police Use-of-Force or In-Custody Deaths. Trenton, NJ: Department of Law and Public Safety. https://www.nj.gov/oag/dcj/agguide/directives/ag-Directive-2019-4.pdf 

State of New Jersey: Office of the Attorney General. 2020. Directive Establishing Policies, Practices, and Procedures to Promote Juvenile Justice Reform. Trenton, NJ: Department of Law and Public Safety, 5. https://www.nj.gov/oag/dcj/agguide/directives/ag-Directive-2020-12_Juvenile-Justice-Reform.pdf

State of New Jersey: Office of the Attorney General. 2019. Law Enforcement Interactions with Transgender Individuals. Trenton, NJ: Division of Justice Criminal Justice. https://www.nj.gov/oag/dcj/agguide/directives/ag-directive-2019-3.pdf 

State of New Jersey: Office of the Attorney General. 2018. Supporting Victims of Sexual Assault: Understanding the Services Available to Sexual Assault Victims in New Jersey. Trenton, NJ: Office of the Attorney General. https://www.nj.gov/oag/end-sexual-assault 

Journal Articles

Brewster, Larry. “The Impact of Prison Arts Programs on Inmate Attitudes and Behavior: A Quantitative Evaluation”. Justice Policy Journal, Volume 11, Number 2 (Fall) (2014), 2-4. http://www.cjcj.org/uploads/cjcj/documents/brewster_prison_arts_final_formatted.pdf 

DeGue, Sarah, Katherine A. Fowler, and Cynthia Calkins. “Deaths Due to Use of Lethal Force by Law Enforcement: Findings From the National Violent Death Reporting System, 17 U.S. States, 2009–2012”. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Volume 51, Issue 5, Supplement 3 (November 2016). https://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(16)30384-1/fulltext#secsect0045 

Devlin, Matthew. “Seizing The Reform Moment: Rebuilding Georgia’s Police, 2004-2006”. Princeton University: Innovations for Successful Societies (May 2010). https://successfulsocieties.princeton.edu/sites/successfulsocieties/files/Policy_Note_ID126.pdf 

Green, Bruce A., and Lara Bazelon. “Restorative Justice from a Prosecutors’ Perspective”. Fordham Law Review Volume 88, Issue 6 (2020): 2297. https://fordhamlawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Green-Bazelon_May_S_7.pdf 

Krinsky, Miriam, and Taylor Phares. “Accountability and Repair: The Prosecutor’s Case for Restorative Justice”. New York Law School Law Review Volume 64, Issue 1 (January 2020): 37-38, 45.  https://digitalcommons.nyls.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1449&context=nyls_law_review 

LaPlant, Kristina M., Bailey R. Fairbanks, and Toby Bolsen. “Locked in a Box: How Activist Art Affects Opinions about Solitary Confinement”. New Political Science, Volume 42, Issue 3 (2020). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07393148.2020.1814672?journalCode=cnps20 

Papazoglou, Konstantinos, and Brooke McQuerrey Tuttle. “Fighting Police Trauma: Practical Approaches to Addressing Psychological Needs of Officers”. Journal of Police Emergency Response, Volume 8, Issue 3 (August 22, 2018). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2158244018794794 

Slade, Gavin. “Georgia's war on crime: creating security in a post-revolutionary context”. European Security, Volume 21, Issue 1 (March 12, 2012): 11, 12-14, 40-42. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09662839.2012.656600 

The Marshall Project. “The State of Bail Reform”. The System, Issue 4 (2020). https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/10/30/the-state-of-bail-reform. 

Zwecker, Naomi A., Anna J. Harrison, Leah J. Welty, Linda A. Teplin, and Karen M. Abram. “Social Support Networks among Delinquent Youth: An 8-Year Follow-up Study”. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, Volume 57, Issue 7 (2018). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6561504 

Legal Resources

Constitution of the Republic of South Africa: Bill of Rights, 1996, chap. 2, sec. 10. https://www.gov.za/documents/constitution/chapter-2-bill-rights 

Constitutional Law of Georgia No 2071, 2018, art. 9. https://www.constcourt.ge/en/court/legislation/constitution-text#:~:text=website%2C%202.4.2018-,Chapter%20Two

Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, 1998, art. 17 and art. 18. https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/rightandresponsibility.aspx 

European Convention on Human Rights, 2021. https://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Convention_ENG.pdf 

India's Constitution of 1949 with Amendments through 2015, 2015, Preamble. https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/India_2015.pdf?lang=en 

Legislative Herald of Georgia. 2016. Law of Georgia: Juvenile Justice Code. State of Georgia. https://matsne.gov.ge/en/document/download/2877281/0/en/pdf

Recommendation CM/Rec(2018)8 of the Committee of Ministers to member States concerning restorative justice in criminal matters, 2018. https://search.coe.int/cm/Pages/result_details.aspx?ObjectId=09000016808e35f3 

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Basic Principles on the Use of Restorative Justice Programs in Criminal Matters. https://www.unodc.org/pdf/criminal_justice/Basic_Principles_on_the_use_of_Restorative_Justice_Programs_in_Criminal_Matters.pdf 

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Justice in Matters Involving Children in Conflict with the Law.https://www.unodc.org/documents/justice-and-prison-reform/Justice_Matters_Involving-Web_version.pdf

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights 

Magazine Articles

Landergan, Katherine. “The City that Really Did Abolish the Police”. Politico, June 12, 2020.  https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/12/camden-policing-reforms-313750 

Serhan, Yasmeen. “What the World Could Teach America About Policing”. The Atlantic, June 10, 2020. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/06/america-police-violence-germany-georgia-britain/612820/

Simonite, Tom. “Algorithms Were Supposed to Fix the Bail System. They Haven't”. WIRED, February 19, 2020. https://www.wired.com/story/algorithms-supposed-fix-bail-system-they-havent/ 

Online Articles

Amnesty International. “South Africa: Broken and unequal education perpetuating poverty and inequality”. Amnesty International, February 11, 2020. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/02/south-africa-broken-and-unequal-education-perpetuating-poverty-and-inequality 

Balmforth, Richard, and Natalia Zinets. “Ukraine to launch 'full clean-out' of corrupt officials”. Reuters, October 10, 2014. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-purge/ukraine-to-launch-full-clean-out-of-corrupt-officials-idUSKCN0HZ1NU20141010 

Bell, Brian, Rui Costa, and Stephen Machin. “Why education reduces crime”. VOX EU, October 14, 2018. https://voxeu.org/article/why-education-reduces-crime 

Clifford, Stephanie. “An autistic man was surfing the internet on his dad’s sofa. Then the FBI turned up.” The Economist, November 21, 2022. https://www.economist.com/1843/2022/11/21/an-autistic-man-was-surfing-the-internet-on-his-dads-sofa-then-the-fbi-turned-up

Council of Europe. ''Increasing overcrowding in European prisons.'' Council of Europe, 18 July, 2025. https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/increasing-overcrowding-in-european-prisons 

Khan, Lorraine, Geena Saini, Alex Augustine, Kyle Palmer, Mark Johnson, and Rohan Donald. “Evaluation of the Mind Birmingham Up My Street programme”. Centre for Mental Health, July 5, 2017. https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/publications/against-odds 

KSBY. “With no police shootings in 2020, Newark makes case for consent decrees”. KSBY, May 6, 2021. https://www.ksby.com/national/newsy/with-no-police-shootings-in-2020-newark-makes-case-for-consent-decrees 

Lerman, Rachel. “Social media influencers are balancing ‘authentic’ messaging during protests and the pandemic”. Washington Post, June 12, 2020. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/06/12/influencers-social-media-pandemic/

McKenna, Kevin. “Community Justice Scotland’s Karyn McCluskey on hidden cost of Covid.” The Herald, January 2023. https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/23231585.violence-reduction-units-karyn-mccluskey-hidden-costs-pandemic/

Mualimm-ak, Five. “My Art Got Me Through My Time: Portraits from Solitary Confinement”. The New School, 30 October, 2019. http://www.centernyc.org/portraits-from-solitary-confinement 

Nadar, A. “Inspirational! How Police Reforms First-Time Offenders”. Rediff.com, February 8, 2023. https://www.rediff.com/news/special/paravai-inspirational-how-police-reforms-first-time-offenders/20230208.htm

Napoliello, Alex, and S.P. Sullivan. “N.J. will track police use of force, require licensing cops, AG says as protests roil nation”. NJ, June 2, 2020. https://www.nj.com/politics/2020/06/nj-will-track-police-use-of-force-require-licensing-cops-ag-says-as-protests-roil-nation.html 

O’Dea, Colleen. “All NJ police to get new training on excessive force”. NJ Spotlight News, April 16, 2021. https://www.njspotlight.com/2021/04/nj-police-training-excessive-force-de-escalation-gurbir-grewal-attorney-general 

Page, Shannon, and Karla Jones. “Democratic Hope Fades in the Republic of Georgia”. American Legislative Exchange Council, March 24, 2021. https://www.alec.org/article/democratic-hope-fades-in-the-republic-of-georgia 

Pathfinders. “How improving justice for children in Georgia led to lower reoffending rates”. Pathfinders, March 10, 2020. https://medium.com/sdg16plus/how-improving-justice-for-children-in-georgia-led-to-lower-reoffending-rates-a2088126a3fa 

Pearson, Alexander. “Police shootings: German cops shot dead 14 people in 2017”. Deutsche Welle, June 28, 2018. https://www.dw.com/en/police-shootings-german-cops-shot-dead-14-people-in-2017/a-44451501 

Reynolds, Matt. “One-time jailhouse lawyer creates legal jobs program for the formerly incarcerated”. ABAJournal, April, 2022. https://www.abajournal.com/web/article/former-jailhouse-lawyer-creates-legal-jobs-program-for-the-formerly-incarcerated 

Shockley, Jeffrey. “How to Endure the Winters of a Life Sentence”. The Frontline, January 9, 2023. https://atmos.earth/winter-life-sentence-prison-journalism-project

Smyton, Robin. “How Racial Segregation and Policing Intersect in America”. Tufts Now, June 17, 2020. https://now.tufts.edu/articles/how-racial-segregation-and-policing-intersect-america 

Radio

Doubek, James. “Former Chief Of Reformed Camden, N.J., Force: Police Need 'Consent Of The People'”. Produced by National Public Radio. Aired June 8, 2020, on NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-racial-justice/2020/06/08/872416644/former-chief-of-reformed-camden-n-j-force-police-need-consent-of-the-people 

Morning Edition. “D.C. Prosecutors, Once Dubious, Are Becoming Believers In Restorative Justice”. Produced by National Public Radio. Aired July 2, 2019, on NPR. https://www.npr.org/2019/07/02/735506637/d-c-prosecutors-once-dubious-are-becoming-believers-in-restorative-justice 

Weekend Edition Sunday. “How A Consent Decree Has Changed Policing In Newark, N.J.” Produced by National Public Radio. Aired May 2, 2021, on NPR. https://www.npr.org/2021/05/02/992846138/how-a-consent-decree-has-changed-policing-in-newark-n-j 

Reports

American Public Health Association. Addressing Law Enforcement Violence as a Public Health Issue. Washington, D.C., American Public Health Association, November 13, 2018. https://www.apha.org/policies-and-advocacy/public-health-policy-statements/policy-database/2019/01/29/law-enforcement-violence. 

Aertsen, Ivo. The Idea of Restorative Justice and How it Developed Europe. Leuven: European Forum for Restorative Justice. https://www.euforumrj.org/sites/default/files/2020-01/the_idea_of_restorative_justice_and_how_it_developed_in_europe.pdf 

Cheek, Kendra, and Justin Bucchio. School-to-Prison Pipeline Can Be Dismantled Using Alternative Discipline Strategies. Juvenile Justice, September 7, 2017. https://jjie.org/2017/09/07/alternative-discipline-strategies-for-dismantling-the-school-to-prison-pipeline 

Delaney, Ruth, Ram Subramaniam, Alison Shames, and Nicholas Turner. Reimagining Prison Web Report: Human Dignity as the Guiding Principle. New York: Vera: Institute of Justice, 2018. https://www.vera.org/reimagining-prison-web-report/human-dignity-as-the-guiding-principle 

Elpus, Kenneth. Arts Education and Positive Youth Development: Cognitive, Behavioral, and Social Outcomes of Adolescents who Study the Arts. College Park, MD: Research: Art Works, National Endowment for the Arts. https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/Research-Art-Works-Maryland.pdf

Goodfellow, Pippa, and Viv Francis. Custody to Community: Supporting Young People to Cope with Release: A Practitioner’s Guide. London: Beyond Youth Custody, 2016. http://www.beyondyouthcustody.net/wp-content/uploads/Custody-to-Community-supporting-young-people-to-cope-with-release-a-practitioners-guide.pdf 

Jeiranashvili, Nika, and Gavin Slade. Georgia’s Disastrous Attempt to Bring Prisons Up to “European Standards”. New York: Open Society Foundations, 2015. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/georgia-s-disastrous-attempt-bring-prisons-european-standards 

Kharitonov, Daniel. Police Reform in Georgia. Stanford, CA: Stanford University: Leadership Academy for Development. https://fsi-live.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/police_reform_corrections.pdf

Mendel, Richard. Why Youth Incarceration Fails: An Updated Review of the Evidence. Washington, D.C.: The Sentencing Project, March 1, 2023. https://www.sentencingproject.org/reports/why-youth-incarceration-fails-an-updated-review-of-the-evidence/

Morning Consult. The Influencer Report: Engaging Gen Z and Millennials. https://morningconsult.com/influencer-report-engaging-gen-z-and-millennials/ 

National Association of School Psychologists. Fair and Effective Discipline for All Students: Best Practice Strategies for Educators. https://coachingconnection.weebly.com/uploads/2/6/0/5/26050182/effectivedisciplinestrategies.nasp.pdf 
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Pearl, Betsy. Ending the War on Drugs: By the Numbers. CAP, June 27, 2018. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/criminal-justice/reports/2018/06/27/452819/ending-war-drugs-numbers 

Slade, Gavin, Iago Kachkachishvili, Lela Tsiskarishvili, Nika Jeiranashvili, and Nino Gobronidze. Crime and Excessive Punishment: The Prevalence and Causes of Human Rights Abuse in Georgia’s Prisons. Tbilisi: Civil Society Foundation, 2015 11, 12-13, 17-20, 28. https://csf.ge/en/crime-and-excessive-punishment-the-prevalence-and-causes-of-human-rights-abuse-in-georgias-prisons/ 

Shiner, Michael, Zoe Carre, Rebekah Delsol, and Niamh Eastwood. The Colour of Injustice: ‘Race’, drugs and law enforcement in England and Wales. London: Release. https://www.release.org.uk/publications/ColourOfInjustice 

State of New Jersey: Office of the Attorney General. Use of Force Policy. Trenton, NJ: Office of the Attorney General, December 2020. https://www.nj.gov/oag/force/docs/UOF-2020-1221-Use-of-Force-Policy.pdf.

The Institute for Research on Women. Marking Time: Prison Arts and Activism Resource Guide. New Brunswick, NJ: The Institute for Research on Women, 2015. http://irw.rutgers.edu/images/MT_Guide_RESOURCE_GUIDE_web.pdf 

United Nations General Assembly. United Nations Model Strategies and Practical Measures on the Elimination of Violence against Children in the Field of Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. September 25, 2014. https://www.unodc.org/pdf/criminal_justice/Model_Strategies_violence_children.pdf

U.S. Department of Justice. Guide for Implementing the Balanced and Restorative Justice Model: Report. Washington, D.C.: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 18. https://ojjdp.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh176/files/pubs/implementing/accountability.html 

Vagins, Deborah J., and Jesselyn McCurdy. Cracks in the System: Twenty Years of the Unjust Federal Crack Cocaine Law. Washington, D.C.: American Civil Liberties Union, October 2006. https://www.aclu.org/other/cracks-system-20-years-unjust-federal-crack-cocaine-law 

Wright, Sam, Mark Liddle, and Pippa Goodfellow. Developing Trauma-Informed Resettlement for Young Custody Leavers: A Practitioner’s Guide. London: Beyond Youth Custody, 2016. http://www.beyondyouthcustody.net/wp-content/uploads/Developing-trauma-informed-resettlement-for-young-custody-leavers-a-practitioner%E2%80%99s-guide.pdf

Transcripts

Davis, Fania, and sujatha baliga. “Restorative Justice: Spiritual Resources for Sustainable Peace in Communities”. Transcript of presentations delivered at Cambridge, MA, October 3, 2017.  https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2017/10/03/restorative-justice-spiritual-resources-sustainable-peace-communities#. 

Websites

American Civil Liberties Union. “School-To-Prison Pipeline”. https://www.aclu.org/issues/juvenile-justice/school-prison-pipeline  

Baltimore Youth Arts. “Mission, Vision & Values”. https://www.bmoreyoutharts.org/mission 

Baltimore Youth Arts. “Shop”. https://www.bmoreyoutharts.org/shop-bya# 

Beyond Youth Custody. “About Beyond Youth Custody”.  http://www.beyondyouthcustody.net/about/ 

Council of Europe. “Council of Europe Office in Georgia News: Enhancing the Georgian Police’s Capacity in Juvenile Justice Matters”. February 17, 2020. https://www.coe.int/en/web/tbilisi/programme-news-juvenile-and-adult-detainees-support-jades-/-/asset_publisher/W93QH7qK5QcG/content/enhancing-the-georgian-police-s-capacity-in-juvenile-justice-matters 

European Forum for Restorative Justice. “Values of Restorative Justice”. https://www.euforumrj.org/en/values-restorative-justice 

Human Rights Watch. “The Context of Caste Violence”. https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/india/India994-04.htm 

Independent Office for Police Conduct. “Annual deaths during or following police contact statistics”. https://www.policeconduct.gov.uk/our-work/research-and-statistics/annual-deaths-statistics 

Legal Information Institute. “Plea bargain”. https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/plea_bargain 

Mapping Police Violence. “Police Violence Map”. 2021. https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/ 

New Jersey Courts. “Criminal Justice Reform Information Center”. https://www.njcourts.gov/public/concerns/criminal-justice-reform 

Open Society Foundations. “New Legal Aid Law Adopted in Georgia”. June 26, 2007. https://www.justiceinitiative.org/newsroom/new-legal-aid-law-adopted-georgia. 

Penal Reform International. “IJJO Interview with PRI Georgia’s Regional Director on the evolution of the Juvenile Justice system”. March 28, 2012. www.penalreform.org/news/ijjo-interview-pri-georgias-regional-director-evolution-juvenile/.
https://www.policefoundation.org/race-and-the-police/ 

Prison Trust Reform. “Race”. https://prisonreformtrust.org.uk/project/race/ 

Prison Trust Reform. “Release on Temporary License (ROTL)”. https://prisonreformtrust.org.uk/adviceguide/release-on-temporary-licence-rotl/ 

Prosecutor’s Training Center of Ukraine. “Training course for juvenile prosecutors”. January 29, 2021. https://ptcu.gp.gov.ua/en/2021/01/training-course-for-juvenile-prosecutors

State of New Jersey: Office of the Attorney General. “Excellence in Policing Initiative”. https://www.njoag.gov/programs/excellence 

State of New Jersey: Office of the Attorney General. “Governor Murphy and AG Grewal Announce Continued Progress and New Measures to Strengthen Police-Community Trust”. June 2, 2020. https://www.nj.gov/oag/newsreleases20/pr20200602a.html 

State of New Jersey: Office of the Attorney General. “History of the AG’s Office”. https://www.njoag.gov/about/history 

State of New Jersey: Office of the Attorney General. “Officer Resiliency”. https://www.njoag.gov/programs/officer-resiliency 

Statista. “Police related fatalities in England and Wales in the financial year 2019/20, by type”. September 2020. https://www.statista.com/statistics/319287/deaths-during-or-following-police-contact-causes-england-and-wales 

Transparency International. “Global Corruption Barometer”. https://www.transparency.org/en/gcb#.

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. “Topic three - How cost effective is restorative justice?” April 2019. https://www.unodc.org/e4j/en/crime-prevention-criminal-justice/module-8/key-issues/3--how-cost-effective-is-restorative-justice.html 

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. “Goal 16: Promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies”. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/peace-justice

The interest in a "whole systems approach," initially developed as a "public health approach," arose from a recognition that it may be more effective and ultimately less costly than the traditional public safety- or security-focused approaches. When police are called to address someone experiencing mental health challenges, the situation may escalate and that person end up injured or killed rather than introduced to the relevant services. That response has not only a human, but a financial cost: US law enforcement spent an estimated $918m on transporting people with severe mental illness in 2017. When youth are excluded from schools in a bid to increase school safety, they may instead contribute to rising violence and crime rates in the community.  When more people are arrested or incarcerated for the use of illicit substances, it is very expensive but there is no evidence that it deters drug use, increases community safety, or reduces recidivism. Despite high levels of expenditure, public safety-focused models often struggle to deliver the safety communities have tasked them with. 

In all these cases, outcomes could improve by embedding the public safety component into a larger integrated public health approach. Public safety officials often intervene right before or immediately after violence has occurred and they may not be best placed to address the aforementioned challenges. Public health approaches can however step back and consider all the factors flowing into that final moment, while drawing on a broad range of professions with wide expertise. This improves their ability to intervene peacefully and over time mitigate the causes of violence overall, reducing the need for and cost of public safety officials required to intervene at that final stage. 

Program Design

Key elements for building a public health response to violence reduction include incorporating police and other actors in the criminal justice system into a larger prevention framework. This framework works from senior to junior levels and takes a victim approach, examining an individual’s vulnerabilities and risk factors (e.g., mental health, abuse, adverse childhood experiences, exposure to extremist ideas) to prevent acts of violence before they occur. 

An understanding of these risks and challenges also helps guide the development of partnerships to better support specific vulnerabilities. Some organizations have even gone beyond cooperation to dedicate part of their budgets to commissioning work from local partners, a powerful way of expanding an organization’s expertise. The Wales Violence Prevention Unit, for example, has hired hospital nurses in a busy local emergency department to engage victims immediately and understand root causes of the violence that brought them into the hospital, thereby helping prevent additional violence. Finally, an effective public health response ensures young people are central to a program’s design and part of the partnerships, so that they are given the voice and respect they deserve.

The best public health programs develop organically, with iterative and evaluated community-driven processes. Different challenges and demographics require local solutions. This can cause tensions with funders—whether foundations, international non-governmental organizations, intergovernmental organizations, governments, or even corporate funders—who aim to maximize the efficacy of their intervention and to increase the reach of their funding by prioritizing scalable solutions. Many funding partners also want to see the full program before committing their funding. Beyond building relationships with funders and explaining one’s process, a best practice that addresses this tension is to ensure ongoing evaluation and the modification or termination of initiatives that prove to be chronically ineffective. This is particularly important since each locale’s challenges require tailored solutions. Hence, an intervention that was highly effective in one jurisdiction may be ineffective elsewhere. It is also important for program designers and funders to be mindful that successful initiatives can take decades to complete a cultural shift. Where progress is occurring, programs should not be abandoned prematurely, even if results are slow to unfold. 

Funding

Moving to a public health approach can seem daunting and a luxury reserved for those countries that can afford to invest in prevention. The shift however needs not be a matter of additional financial investment. Successful projects are not a matter of extra layers, but of changed culture and better-connected resources, which means re-allocating existing funds to enable such a cultural shift. This requires a degree of political agency but does not require budgetary authority. In time, a successful public health approach can also to generate savings as the costs of violence and incarceration decrease. 

Successful approaches do require a minimum of sufficient resources to work proactively. Given the centrality of prevention to this work, the long-term success of a public health approach depends on the ability to prevent a build-up of backlogged cases and to respond quickly to new information. 

When entities, particularly governments, are allocating funds, more money should flow to vetted non-governmental organizations. Dedicated groups can be powerful local partners, close to their communities and trusted by families. They may therefore serve as a bridge to statutory services, which are sometimes mistrusted and avoided by those they serve or at risk of imposing a vision without sufficiently consulting those affected.  

Data

One specific tool is central to successful public health approaches: data. It plays a key supporting role throughout the planning and delivery cycle. At the start, it is helpful to use a wide range of data to study social challenges and identify risk and protective factors, as well as promising partners. Some organizations are also exploring the use of algorithms to track violence or identify at-risk members of their community, in order to channel their limited resources most effectively. While these algorithms are useful and can process large amounts of data—including ideally inputs unrelated to the criminal justice system, e.g., struggles in school, to prevent any interaction with the criminal justice system—they are also susceptible to biases and should be reviewed and improved continuously. This is particularly important as the very act of targeting services, although well-intentioned and necessary in light of limited resources, risks labeling recipients of those services. Therefore interventions should benefit a broader population where possible and particular care should be taken whenever identifying and working with subsets of individuals. Finally, data and metrics allow the evaluation of interventions to ensure limited resources help scale the most effective ones.
 

Ultimately the goal of youth violence prevention should not be to control individual behavior at the stage of violence, but to set a context in which violence is not the first or only answer. This requires reaching further back to help children—well before they become young adults—learn and grow without hurting themselves or others. This means building safe resilient communities that can manage pressures from within and afford their children such space. Key factors affecting the resilience of our youth and their communities include housing infrastructure, education, poverty and employment opportunities, adverse childhood trauma and the lack of safety in schools, and physical and mental health. All the agencies responsible for these areas play a role in a successful public health response.

Safe urban spaces are of particular importance. Urban planners are an important partner for densely populated and under-resourced areas as they can assist in developing safe youth spaces. Playgrounds are good examples of dedicated and accessible areas for neighborhood youth. Similarly, outside of their official functions and educational plans, schools offer valuable safe physical spaces wherein it is possible to foster community connections. (See Youth Violence and Safety section, Case Study 1 | UNESCO and Open Schools.) When designing any of these spaces, one simple consideration to keep in mind—build connection and return power to the community—is asking how the community would like to use the space, rather than determining programming externally. 

It is not merely about creating the necessary safe physical spaces, but about building trust between the organizations engaged in violence prevention efforts and the community, so they can build up the members of the community and their children. Community and families must feel respected by and comfortable with the authorities, just as their children must seem the same with teachers. This can be difficult if teachers, police officers, or social workers come from different backgrounds, which is further exacerbated when the representatives of these systems do not look like the people they’re teaching, policing, or treating. Not only should these institutions be more diverse in their hiring, but they must actively work to bridge these divides. A public health approach recognizes these challenges and convenes appropriate representatives with their communities.

Often combating youth extremism lands at the feet of public safety officials or local schools, but it is better suited to the broader public health approach with collaborators from across a person’s environment. (Prevent, the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy, is an example of such a public health approach.) It is no simple matter to deconstruct an ideology once it has taken hold in a person, so preventative measures are preferable to reactive intervention. The range of expertise offered by different agencies can help address the root causes pushing someone towards extremism and engage them earlier. The promotion of critical thinking and use of peer networks can also help build resilience to and ultimately break down extremist beliefs. 

How does a public health approach go about tackling extremism? When it comes to the deconstruction of beliefs, rather than attacking the belief system directly, it can be often less intimidating and more effective to show the ideology’s negative effects on commonly held values, like liberty, women’s rights, freedom from discrimination, or freedom of speech. Having established common ground, it is then possible to build out from that point of passion to a larger set of beliefs. 

When setting out that set of beliefs, it can be more powerful to offer positive alternative messages than counter-narratives. The classic counter-narrative of “this belief is wrong” has the weakness of centering on that belief, but a positive alternative vision offers a different future that can be worked towards together. Here again, the messenger is equal to the message, making credible role models and peer-to-peer support are more effective than external interventions. Particularly in realms as sensitive as religious interpretation, a credible messenger well versed in the subject matter is the best choice to offer the most powerful alternative interpretation.  

Finally, a cautionary note: education is a powerful tool, but it is not a cure-all. Not only are schools’ resources constrained and their mandates broad, but education alone cannot safeguard against violence, extremism, or terrorism if they appear to be a person’s only option to be heard. Therefore initiatives, including creative and performance-based outreach, to build youth awareness of and belief in the available democratic avenues are sorely needed. 

A public health approach both requires and enables the large cultural shifts that build mutual respect and trust between communities and those in positions of power, including teachers, administrators, and police officers. They therefore should be included in the process earlier rather than later. 

As reforms are often seen as “more work”, one natural way of re-training these groups is to involve them in the systemic change, showing them how it aligns with their existing key performance indicators. Another central component of the cultural shift is training on and challenges to these individuals’ biases, conscious or unconscious. Biases or blind spots can be ethnic, sectarian, or power-based and can arise from circumstances as simple as the aforementioned dissimilar upbringings, but all can be confronted, and their repercussions considered.

Building respect and trust may require addressing systemic racial or social biases and working to rectify them, both within the institutions and by holding them accountable from without. While addressing these legacies, people within schools, police departments, and other institutions should consider confronting racist or sectarian comments when they arise, rather than treating these as funny or harmless. Public consequences are particularly important where the differences or biases have undermined public trust. 

Police as specific agents of power can receive additional training in a variety of areas including on trauma-informed practice, on implicit bias, and on interacting with people experiencing acute mental health challenges and substance use disorder (see Culture of Justice | Case Study 1). In particular, it may be helpful to understand how these struggles interact with racial dynamics. In societies marked by racial disparities, these disparities often appear in policing. In the US and UK, disproportionately high levels of people of color are targeted for basic police interactions like traffic stops or stop and searches. This often occurs without evidence of criminal activity, but simply due to increased patrols in majority-minority areas and can cause young minorities to come in contact with the criminal justice system at an early age.  Such over-policing should be curbed, even as police learn to do these stops in a more dignified manner. Simultaneously young people can prepare for these interactions and be empowered to hold police accountable when they are stopped. 

In some contexts, youth can, as exemplified in the Peace Ambassadors Integration Organization in Kenya, also help make their communities safer and more secure by sharing responsibility with the local police. The organization was started as a cooperation between students and the Kenya Administration Police Service to support peacebuilding efforts and it still runs model community policing initiatives. The Peace Ambassadors Integration Organization also serves as platform to mobilize, organize, educate and engage young people to empower them and develop their communities. They are largely coordinated through peace clubs at targeted institutions of higher learning, which serve as anchors. These clubs structure youth engagement and advocacy, teach peace and conflict resolution classes, and organize dialogue forums between students, administrators, and police officers at their local institutions. To reduce the tensions that may lead to violence, they also engage directly with the challenges around resource allocation, racism, and extremism that arise at these institutions. The power of this intervention is reflected in the numbers; violent conflicts have fallen by over 50% in the institutions where Peace Ambassadors operates.  

In addition to facilitating exchanges between their university chapters across Kenya, one of the Peace Ambassadors’ most successful programs has been a mentor/mentee program between their university members and school children.  Facilitating such personal dialogue can help break down many of the barriers and build mutual understanding, as well as facilitate social entrepreneurship training or improved academic performance.  

Just as national histories vary, the means of rebuilding trust and appropriate actors will however vary based on context. Thus for example, placing police officers in schools can be a way to introduce an additional friendly, trusted figure of authority and generate a greater sense of safety. The same action in countries like the US, where schools are more dangerous due to a higher prevalence of guns—there were 130 gun-related incidences with 100 casualties in 2019 alone—and have a history of over-policing in schools, can however cause additional fear and trauma in children. In such cases, the problem and its solution are larger, requiring actions like those taken in New Jersey (see Culture of Justice | Case Study 1).

The public health approach considers carefully risk factors including the social determinants of health like social disadvantage and discrimination. These flow through entire communities to cause adverse outcomes.  Social deprivation, crime, and violence correlate frequently across jurisdictions. These links should be recognized, and communities supported accordingly. Initiatives like the contextual safeguarding approach seek to understand the full context surrounding a young person and to support them accordingly. Similarly, some have called for wider recognition of the compound effects between mental health inequalities and wider socioeconomic inequalities.  

Trauma is omnipresent in the work and often an underlying factor causing further violence. This makes it even more important that police, intervention workers, and other actors in the space are trained in trauma-informed practice and themselves supported in addressing the trauma that comes from the work. This is particularly important for intervention workers with lived experience, who are at a special risk of backsliding if they trigger their previous history. 

Youth in and around gangs experience even more extreme trauma. These young people grow up in the equivalent of a warzone, surrounded by violence. They benefit from learning to process this stress and trauma productively. Programs like the Urban Warriors in Chicago do this by bringing combat veterans together with at-risk youth in a trauma-informed approach that unpacks their experiences with violence, develops coping skills, and helps identify the strengths developed as a result thereof.  

For those suffering from trauma, hospitals, schools, and prisons are promising places for violence interventions, as they provide a natural opening and encourage reflection. People remain long enough in these places that they can begin to rebuild trust in their counselors and to consider new avenues. One excellent example of such interventions comes from New Jersey, which invested $20m into nine hospitals. The program combines medical treatment and recovery services with education, counseling, social services, and case management to break the cycle and prevent future involvement in violence.   

Domestic Violence

Another frequent cause of trauma and one worthy of special attention is domestic violence. Domestic violence is not only itself damaging but unfortunately also often serves as an indicator of and catalyst for future violence. There is a common relationship between violence inside and outside the home. Domestic violence units are thus key components of a public health intervention preventing future violence. 

Project Starlight is the recent cross-collaboration work with domestic violence and countering violent extremism (CVE) practitioners in the UK. It was born out of a recognized frequency of domestic violence around referrals for extremism, with 40% having a history of abuse as perpetrators, victims, or witnesses. By working together, domestic violence and CVE services can learn from each other and better protect those they serve. The additional insights could improve risk assessments and the quality of the interventions, while resulting in better safeguards for the survivors of domestic violence. Similarly, Scotland’s Maracs (Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences) are broad, consistent interventions. Maracs are local meetings where representatives of statutory and non-statutory services—local police, Idaa (a specialist service working with victims of domestic violence), criminal justice social work, children and families social work, education, health, substance misuse services, housing, and adult support and protection—meet to discuss and make action plans for individuals at risk of serious harm, based on the central insight that no single agency has a complete understanding of the victim’s life but that all contribute key insights. The Marac pilot’s results were significant with a 40% reduction in repeat victimization of survivors a year after their Marac referral. 

Public health interventions also consider the broader impact domestic violence can have on children and aim to reduce youth violence by intervening when the affected are still young. California’s Surgeon General has outlined systemic reforms to address early childhood trauma and toxic stress, including a universal screening of all schoolchildren that aims to prevent violence in schools. New Jersey’s Handle with Care program similarly requires the police to notify the schools of children that have had traumatic experiences involving law enforcement (e.g., domestic violence, being the witness to or subject of violence) prior to the following school day. This program is intended to “flag” kids that have experienced trauma in their personal lives so that the schools can “handle them with care” and not exacerbate their trauma through exclusion from the school system.  

Looking forward in people’s lives, the public health approach is also an asset-based approach, recognizing that the difficulty of adverse childhood experiences can be turned into assets for a stronger life later. Having successfully managed such trauma can become a source of a resilience, which is often overlooked in people’s daily lives. 

Substance Use Disorders

Substance use disorders are another significant factor for many young people who become violent. This could be their own, or that of a caregiver or influence in their life and is often a reflection of other system failures, such as their community’s lack of resources. At the point of this person’s interaction with the criminal justice system, many countries, including the US and the UK, have drug courts or family treatment courts that use multi-disciplinary and multi-agency approaches to serve families struggling with substance use disorder and address child abuse or neglect, while reducing the time children spend out of the home. (These courts typically vary from an adult drug court by addressing neglect/abuse rather than criminal charges, typically have larger female representation, and the threat is losing custody, rather than criminal sanction.) These units therefore work with parents to provide access to treatment, removing potential barriers and supporting compliance.

However, as recognized in the Outcome Document from the 2016 United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the World Drug Problem, intervention can and should occur before someone interacts with the criminal justice system. The public health approach takes the form of enhancing society’s understanding of substance use disorders, increasing access to health and mental health services, identifying risk factors, and promoting effective drug treatment and rehabilitation programs. 

The public health approach is a powerful way to draw on a broader set of skills and experiences in addressing violence and its root causes. Whether a reform begins by focusing on the provision of safer spaces and schools or retraining local authorities, or supporting people with substance use disorder, most public health approaches share certain components. 

Looking Ahead

First, it is important to identify all the relevant players and ensure that buy-in to a single mission occurs across the board and all relevant organizations, not only at the top or on the ground-level. This often means consistent training on the overall approach and on related matters like trauma-informed practice and biases. This may also mean sharing budgets with people or organizations who have the necessary expertise and reaching into specific places like hospitals where the cycle of violence can be broken. Close collaboration and broader understanding ensure that all relevant knowledge can be collected and shared effectively, and it may unlock new avenues for prevention. 

Programs should be iterative and closely involve the youth and community they serve. Not only can and should youth be involved in finding their own solutions, these close discussions allow programs to be proactive, to understand local needs and challenges and address them before they turn into violence. Ongoing data collection can also help monitor progress and highlight areas in need of additional attention. 

Finally, context matters. Public health approaches should be organic to their communities and consider any legacies of marginalization or unequal opportunity. These can continue to affect a community’s experience or their relationship with local authorities. Such legacies take time and concerted effort to undo but addressing them contributes significantly to violence prevention. 

Future Research

As researchers seek to develop and evaluate new public health interventions, much of the work remains reactive and many of the traditional models around research and evaluation are US- and Euro-centric. New public health solutions may not be found in health or social care, which reflect the “acute” end of the spectrum, but in the daily ecosystem: in education, the community, and how youth experience the lives they lead. These feedback loops could be developed further to understand and replicate this demonstrated resiliency.

On the development of new research and interventions, experts in this area may benefit from collaborating more frequently with related disciplines to gain a broader perspective. They might also consider new research better incorporating the experience of impacted communities and exploring the interactions between disadvantage, marginalization, and youth violence. This is particularly important in the field of mental health research. Such broader consultations would expand existing data sets and help better tailor interventions to a community’s need.  

Several Fellows from the Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety and Justice initiative have been additionally featured on the Salzburg Global website. Please read more below.

Bridging Divides and Working Together

Lisel Petis, resident senior fellow for criminal justice and civil liberties at R Street, explains what she sees as the biggest gaps in criminal justice reform  

Developing a Whole Systems Approach for a Less Violent Future

Dan Wilhelm, president of the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, discusses the opportunities that have emerged since the creation of the Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety and Justice initiative

Learning from Others and Making Progress

Laurie Garduque, criminal justice program director for the MacArthur Foundation, reflects on her work in criminal justice reform

Additionally, Fellows released a Salzburg Statement for a Whole Systems Approach to Justice.

Articles

Brown, Dayna. “Building effective partnerships: local views”. Humanitarian Practice Network, May 2011. https://odihpn.org/en/publication/building-effective-partnerships-local-views/ 

Cohen, David. “Radical vision that kept troubled children in school — and cut crime”. Evening Standard, January 7, 2020. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/education/radical-vision-that-kept-troubled-children-in-school-and-cut-crime-a4328106.html 

Heaven, Will Douglas. “Predictive policing algorithms are racist. They need to be dismantled”. MIT Technology Review, July 17, 2020. https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/07/17/1005396/predictive-policing-algorithms-racist-dismantled-machine-learning-bias-criminal-justice 

Horn, Chris. “Racial disparities revealed in massive traffic stop dataset”. University of South Carolina, June 12, 2020. https://www.sc.edu/uofsc/posts/2020/06/racial_disparities_traffic_stops.php#.YRGk6hNKjOQ 

Leatherby, Lauren, and Richard A. Oppel Jr. “Which Police Departments Are as Diverse as Their Communities?” The New York Times, September 23, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/23/us/bureau-justice-statistics-race.html 

Meckler, Laura, and Kate Rabinowitz. “America’s schools are more diverse than ever. But the teachers are still mostly white”. The Washington Post, December 27, 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/local/education/teacher-diversity 

Salzburg Global Seminar. “Fellows of the Child in the City - Health, Parks and Play Launch Salzburg Statement”. Salzburg Global Seminar, June 14, 2017. https://www.salzburgglobal.org/news/latest-news/article/fellows-of-the-child-in-the-city-health-parks-and-play-launch-salzburg-statement 

Smith, Joan. “What do many terrorists have in common? They abuse women”. The Guardian, August 5, 2021. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/05/many-terrorists-abuse-women-research-extremist-attackers-violent-misogyny 

State of New Jersey. “Governor Murphy, Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, and Former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords Announce Winners of Grants for Nine Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Programs Across New Jersey”. State of New Jersey, January 29, 2020. https://www.nj.gov/governor/news/news/562020/approved/20200129a.shtml 

State of New Jersey. “AG Grewal and Education Commissioner Dehmer Announce Statewide “Handle With Care” Program to Protect Children Who Experience Traumatic Events: Showcase Program in Videos with Middle Township Police Chief Christopher Leusner and Special Agent in Charge Susan Gibson of DEA’s NJ Division, Who Pioneered Program in State”. State of New Jersey: Office of the Attorney General. October 6, 2020. https://www.nj.gov/oag/newsreleases20/pr20201006a.html 

Tonkin, Samantha. “Heroin addicts enrolled on Switzerland's drug treatment programme will in future have their fixes paid for by health insurance companies”. Swissinfo. June 12, 2002. https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/health-insurers-to-foot-bill-for-heroin/2760382 

Weale, Sally. “Reform school exclusions to tackle knife crime, MPs urge”. The Guardian, October 25, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/oct/25/reform-school-exclusions-to-tackle-knife-mps-urge 

Books

Smith, Joan. Home Grown: How Domestic Violence Turns Men Into Terrorists. London: Hachette, 2019.

Government Publications

Glasgow City Council. June 2016. Every child is included and supported: Getting it right in Glasgow, the Nurturing City: Policy Guidelines. Glasgow: Glasgow City Council, 4. https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/media/4933/Revised-Anti-Bullying-Strategy-2019/pdf/Anti-Bullying_Policy_Revised_2019_FR_1.pdf?m=1684148158463 

Glasgow City Council. April 2018. Included, Engaged and Involved: A Positive Approach to Preventing and Managing School Exclusions. Glasgow: Glasgow City Council. https://www.eis.org.uk/Content/Glasgow/images/MC08_0418.PDF. 

UK Parliament: House of Commons Library. July 22, 2019. How is the Government implementing a ‘public health approach’ to serious violence? London: UK Parliament. https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/how-is-the-government-implementing-a-public-health-approach-to-serious-violence/. 

U.S. Department of Education. July 2016. The State of Racial Diversity in the Educator Workforce. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, Policy and Program Studies Service. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED571989.pdf 

Journal Articles

Calzada Gerard, Julie Giustiniani, Tiago Gois, André Kuntz, Yasser Khazaal, and Danielle Zullino. “Apprentissage de l’élargissement des modalités de prescription de l’héroïne médicale avec le Covid-19”. [Learning to expand medical heroin prescribing modalities with Covid-19]. Rev Med Suisse, Volume 7, No. 742 (June 9, 2021). French. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34106535/. 

Frohlich et.al 2021. "Efficacy of a minimally guided internet treatment for alcohol misuse and emotional problems in young adults: Results of a randomized controlled trial". Addictive Behaviors Reports. Efficacy of a minimally guided internet treatment for alcohol misuse and emotional problems in young adults: Results of a randomized controlled trial - PMC

Johnson, E M, and Belfer M L. 1995. “Substance abuse and violence: cause and consequence”. Journal of Health Care Poor Underserved, Volume 6, Issue 2.  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7795023/. 

Kerig, Patricia K., Cecilia Wainryb, Michelle Sinayobye Twali, and Shannon D. Chaplo. “America's Child Soldiers: Toward a Research Agenda for Studying Gang-Involved Youth in the United States”.  Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, Volume 22, Issue 7 (2013). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10926771.2013.813883. 

Loya, Melody. “Racial Attitudes in White Social Workers: Implications for Culturally Sensitive Practice”. Politics, Bureaucracy, and Justice, Volume 3, Number 3 (2012): 24. https://wtamu-ir.tdl.org/items/fd4237c4-e21a-430a-8785-b01d43412dee 

Plenty, Stephanie, and Carina Mood. “Money, Peers and Parents: Social and Economic Aspects of Inequality in Youth Wellbeing”. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Volume 45 (2016).
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-016-0430-5#citeas. 

Shoffa, Carla, and Tse-Chuan Yang. “Untangling the associations among distrust, race, and neighborhood social environment: A social disorganization perspective”. Social Science & Medicine, Volume 74, Issue 9 (May 2012). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3321124/. 

Uchtenhagen, Ambros. “Heroin-assisted treatment in Switzerland: a case study in policy change”. Addiction, Volume 105, Issue 1 (December 14, 2009). https://www.hoplofobia.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Heroin%E2%80%90assisted-treatment-in-Switzerland.pdf. 

Vomfell, Lara, and Neil Stewart. “Officer bias, over-patrolling and ethnic disparities in stop and search”. Nature Human Behavior, Volume 5, (January 18, 2021).  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-020-01029-w?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nathumbehav%2Frss%2Fcurrent+%28Nature+Human+Behaviour%29. 

Radio

Westervelt, Eric. “Mental Health And Police Violence: How Crisis Intervention Teams Are Failing”. Produced by National Public Radio. Aired September 18, 2020, on NPR. https://www.npr.org/2020/09/18/913229469/mental-health-and-police-violence-how-crisis-intervention-teams-are-failing. 

Reports

Centre for Mental Health. Mental health for all? The final report of the Commission for Equality in Mental Health. London: Centre for Mental Health, November 12, 2020. https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/publications/mental-health-for-all. 

Centre for Mental Health. Fit for Purpose? Addressing inequities in mental health research exacerbated by Covid-19. London: Centre for Mental Health, July 6, 2021. https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/publications/fit-for-purpose. 

Cheatham, Amelia, and Lindsay Maizland. How Police Compare in Different Democracies. Washington, D.C.: Council on Foreign Relations, April 21, 2021. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/how-police-compare-different-democracies. 

Everytown Support Fund. Gunfire on School Grounds in the United States. New York: Everytown Support Fund, November 12, 2021. https://everytownresearch.org/maps/gunfire-on-school-grounds/. 

Hinton, Elizabeth, and Cindy Reed. An Unjust Burden: The Disparate Treatment of Black Americans in the Criminal Justice System. New York: Vera Institute of Justice, May 2018.
https://www.vera.org/downloads/publications/for-the-record-unjust-burden-racial-disparities.pdf. 

Safe Lives. Marac Overview – Scotland. Bristol: Safe Lives, February 2019.  https://safelives.org.uk/sites/default/files/resources/SafeLives'%20Marac%20overview%20Scotland.pdf. 

The Pew Charitable Trusts. More Imprisonment Does Not Reduce State Drug Problems: Data show no relationship between prison terms and drug misuse. The Pew Charitable Trusts, March 8, 2018. https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-briefs/2018/03/more-imprisonment-does-not-reduce-state-drug-problems. 

UK Government. Improving families’ lives: annual report of the Troubled Families Programme 2020 to 2021. London: UK Government, March 26, 2021. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/improving-families-lives-annual-report-of-the-troubled-families-programme-2020-to-2021. 

UK Government. Police Workforce. London: UK Government, January 29, 2021. https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/workforce-and-business/workforce-diversity/police-workforce/latest. 

UK Government: Council Meetings Lewisham. Glasgow Model. London: UK Government: Council Meetings Lewisham, 6-8. https://councilmeetings.lewisham.gov.uk/documents/s61053/Exclusions%20Appendix%20C%20evidence%20from%20Glasgow.pdf

Loft, Philip. The Troubled Families programme (England). London: UK Parliament: House of Commons Library, November 27, 2020. https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7585/. 

Mandaville, Peter and Melissa Nozell. Special Report: Engaging Religion and Religious Actors in Countering Violent Extremism. Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace, August 2017. https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/SR413-Engaging-Religion-and-Religious-Actors-in-Countering-Violent-Extremism.pdf. 

Videos

Newham London. “Geeta Subramaniam-Mooney: Whole Systems Approach at Newham”. April 26, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgOZEWjWgUk. 

Aces Aware. “Roadmap for Resilience: The California Surgeon General’s Report Webinar”. December 10, 2020. https://www.acesaware.org/events/roadmap-for-resilience-the-california-surgeon-generals-report-on-adverse-childhood-experiences-toxic-stress-and-aces/. 

Websites

CAN Reduce. “Willkommen bei CANreduce”. https://www.canreduce.at/ 

CAN Reduce. https://www.canreduce.es/ 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “What is the Cardiff Violence Prevention Model?” https://www.cdc.gov/violence-prevention/php/cardiff-model/index.html#

Contextual Safeguarding. “About Us”. https://www.contextualsafeguarding.org.uk/about-us/

Economic & Social Research Council. “Prevent: UK’s Counter Terrorism Strategy”. https://esrc.ukri.org/public-engagement/social-science-for-schools/resources/prevent-the-uk-s-counter-terrorism-strategy 

Glasgow City Council. “Nurture: Towards the Nurturing City”. https://glasgow.gov.uk/article/4905/Nurture

National Family Treatment Court Program. “Family Treatment Court Best Practice Standards Toolkit”. https://fyjp.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/FTCStandardsToolkit2022_2023.pdf 

Newham London. “Youth Safety”. https://www.newham.gov.uk/children-families/youth-safety 
  
Nurture UK. “London Violence Reduction Programme.'' https://www.nurtureuk.org/our-programmes/london-violence-reduction-programme/ 

Peace Ambassadors Integration Organization (PAMBIO). “Peace Advocacy & Education”. https://www.pambio.org/peaceAdvocasy.html. 

Ready 4 Life. “Die interaktive Coaching-App der Lungenliga”. https://www.r4l.swiss/. 

Rethink Mental Illness. “Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) mental health”. https://www.rethink.org/advice-and-information/living-with-mental-illness/ethnic-minorities-immigration-and-mental-health/ethnic-minorities-and-mental-health/

Second Wave. “Shadow Games…”. https://secondwave.org.uk/outreach/shadow-games 

Scottish Government. “Whole system approach to young offending”. https://www.gov.scot/policies/youth-justice/whole-system-approach 

Treatment Advocacy Center. “Typical AOT Program Costs”. https://www.tac.org/aot_resources/typical-aot-program-costs/ 

The White House: Briefing Room. April 7, 2021. FACT SHEET: More Details on the Biden-⁠Harris Administration’s Investments in Community Violence Interventions. Washington, D.C.: The White House.Fact Sheet: More Details on the Biden–Harris Administration’s Investments in Community Violence Interventions - Wikisource, the free online library 

UK Government: Mayor of London. “Revealed: full links between poverty and violent crime in London”. July 15, 2019. https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/full-links-between-poverty-and-violent-crime. 

Understanding Glasgow: The Glasgow Indicators Project. “Deprivation”. https://www.understandingglasgow.com/glasgow-indicators/poverty/deprivation

Understanding Glasgow: The Glasgow Indicators Project. “Drug related death rates”. https://www.understandingglasgow.com/glasgow-indicators/lifestyle/drugs/glasgow-city-region 

Understanding Glasgow: The Glasgow Indicators Project. “Exploring alcohol-related harm in Glasgow”. https://www.understandingglasgow.com/glasgow-indicators/lifestyle/alcohol/alcohol-deaths-glasgow-city-region

United Nations Children's Fund. “Practice Examples: Protection”. https://childfriendlycities.org/practice-examples/practice-examples-protection-from-violence/. 

United Nations Habitat. “Safer Cities”. https://unhabitat.org/programme/safer-cities 
 
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. “Post UNGASS 2016”. https://www.unodc.org/postungass2016/ 

Wales Violence Prevention Unit. “NHS Violence Prevention Team”. https://www.violencepreventionwales.co.uk/what-we-do/interventions/nhs-violence-prevention-team. 

YMCA of Metro Chicago. “Youth Safety & Violence Prevention: Urban Warriors”. https://www.ymcachicago.org/programs/youth-safety-and-violence-prevention-urban-warriors. 

Metrics must be clearly defined and data accurate and consistent to be analyzed. Having common metrics and robust processes from the local to international levels enables comparison across jurisdictions and the transfer of evidence-backed interventions across countries. Sometimes this might mean re-starting some forms of data collection to ensure comparable data. The ability to compare also relies on the existence of simple metrics that can be collected in resource-poor countries. Measurement tools rely on robust data collection systems capable of collecting and providing data in systematic and ethical ways. Finally, it is essential to determine a metric’s purpose before beginning collection, since the purpose may also drive the level: case, individual, community, policy, or legal. 

What Are the Best Metrics?

Many metrics exist in the criminal justice space, but there is no consensus around the “best” metric to measure success and each metric captures only a sliver of the picture. Crime, arrest, conviction, and recidivism rates, as well as cost are all popular and useful metrics, but none is dominant or complete, making comparison difficult. These are also biased toward the “downstream” effects of social and political structures that lead to violence, as opposed capturing aspects of successful preventative work. Each of these is a surface-level indicator that fails to capture the deeper desired outcomes: ensuring the dignity and respectful treatment of both victims and offenders, the repair of social harm, and the rebuilding of stronger communities. Further work on metrics that operate simply but measure these deeper desired outcomes is needed.

Social Trust

One possible alternative metric is social trust. Social trust is inherently tied to criminal law as the systematized response to social wrongdoing, which relies upon the ability to rebuild trust after a breach. Social trust consists of two components:

1.    How much individuals in a society trust one another. 
2.    How the same individuals view their government. 

Early research indicates that higher levels of social trust correlate with a society’s resilience to crises, lower corruption, and lower crime rates.  More specifically, societies with high levels of social trust appear to have fewer homicides above the baseline observed in across societies. Perhaps therefore measuring social trust might offer deeper insights than those currently in use, though it is unclear how resource-intensive it would be to take this measurement.

What Are the Best Ways to Collect Data?

Even once they know which metrics they wish to track, many entities struggle with data collection. Collecting large amounts of information is expensive and there are several decisions to be made about the type and level of collection, including whether to measure indicators top-down or bottom-up, i.e., from the grassroots perspective. Here extensive stakeholder consultation and ultimately a recognition that data serves a valuable role even when generating questions rather than answers is helpful. 

Top-Down vs Bottom-Up

When designing projects or policies, one key decision is whether to engage in “top-down” and “bottom-up” methods, as there are clear trade-offs. Top-down metrics, e.g., social indicators like “trust”, have the benefit of being comparable across jurisdictions (although they may be subjective measures and thus imperfect comparisons), but they can be narrow and are by definition inflexible. Bottom-up metrics, i.e., developed in consultation with the communities they measure, are often more nuanced and holistic, but they are slower to define, expensive to collect, require more work to analyze, and are, by design community-specific, making them less useful in comparative work, unless they can be aggregated back into a comparable meta-metric. Such meta-metrics are yet to be defined. The most complete picture is offered by a combination of bottom-up and top-down metrics, but requires significant resources to collect and analyze, which will not be available to all jurisdictions.

Stakeholder Consultation

Regardless of whether a top-down or bottom-up method is selected, broad stakeholder input is critical. This applies as much to the definition of the metric as its collection. Such consultations should be a genuine part of the process rather than symbolic. This is not only important for building community rapport and defusing the potential for debates on validity down the road, but it also ensures that as much relevant information as possible is collected. A lesser form of these consultations should continue as analysis begins. Effective data collection is iterative, responding to the initial results. Recent empirical evaluation studies of community courts in Israel—seeking to explore the meaning of individual success in these programs—are an example of such iterative work that emphasizes input from a broad range of stakeholders.  

Another benefit of strong stakeholder consultation is the avoidance of accidentally measuring only one side of the equation. Focus follows measurement, which means that failing to measure the right outcomes increases the likelihood that an intervention will not achieve its goal. This principle was clearly illustrated by the “stop and search” programs, which classically measured arrests but not the amount of community harm or outrage. The program could thus show “success” in the form of high arrest rates but fail in its greater goal: promoting a feeling of community safety.  Similarly, the community court evaluation in Israel confirmed that the common metrics like program completion and reduced recidivism are necessary, but it highlighted that individual success is relative, subjective, and multidimensional.  Rebuilding a life must be understood as a continuum, not as a binary concept. Therefore, even when defendants recidivate, they may also show manifestations of success, such as family and social connections, employment status, mental health, active community involvement, addictions, stable daily routine, quality of contact with government agencies etc.  

Questions Rather Than Answers

For all the difficulty in identifying the perfect metric, data is not always about finding answers. Often it serves the valuable function of raising new questions. Big data can quickly reveal patterns of outcomes, inviting more qualitative analysis. Strong data collection can help uncover implicit bias or disparate outcomes based on key characteristics like ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, religion, political party, or geography. Providing comparisons between locales, groups, or dates naturally prompts an audience to engage with the information and ask “why”. For example, a school analyzing its exclusion data could find a spike in the winter months, when the weather and darkness cause deep frustration to students and teachers alike. If that insight is combined with the fact that most students are only excluded once, it indicates that the weather may be driving the pattern more than student behavior and schools can respond accordingly. As this example illustrates, not all insights are controversial, even if they are surprising. These might be useful starting points for reform. Similarly, data can disprove accusations of bias, which may help overcome historic tensions or distrust between groups. Sharing data broadly reaps these benefits and increases the likelihood that trends will be discussed or resolved if need be.

There is a debate whether some processes defy capture via data and metrics entirely. One example is the independent evaluation of judicial or prosecutorial decisions. Corruption and bias are damaging to the rule of law and often appear in these decisions. It is essential that these processes be evaluated, as they ripple across the criminal justice system and the very tenets of a strong rule of law—judicial and prosecutorial independence—can become tools of impunity in weaker democracies. Setting the right incentives and evaluating these decision-makers are then key safeguards of a fair administration of justice.

But how do we evaluate? Traditionally judicial and prosecutorial independence as well as the necessary expertise have foreclosed externally reviewing legal decisions and confined evaluation to non-legal evaluation and numerical metrics like the speed of decision-making, overturns on appeal, etc. This data is unquestionably helpful in identifying patterns and preserves researchers from wading into detailed review. In the US, researchers have worked with surveys to collect broader insights into a court’s effectiveness, including capturing the culture within judicial or prosecutorial offices. 

However, such summary statistics can be manipulated. They can obscure unfair treatment or bias, which may only appear on a full review of the legal decision. A case’s dismissal or consistent procedural delays which force a claimant to abandon their case may not appear suspect without an investigation of the underlying facts. However impractical from a time and skill perspective, sometimes there appears to be no way around a full investigation. 

The ideal evaluation tool would allow a swift, complete, and simultaneously fair analysis. It would ensure that decisions fall within the bounds of the law, i.e., are congruent with procedural and substantive law, without investigating a judge’s logic or beliefs, thereby preserving the spirit of judicial independence. It is not clear whether such an evaluation is possible. Legal realism warns that decision rationales are not purely the product of abstract rules, but of social and public policy. As legal decisions must be based in law however, the rationale must then sometimes be partially illusory, making it hard to prove bias in outcome. Even with a full review, judges are experts in writing opinions and might adapt their writings to pass this review, without addressing the underlying bias or corruption. Demonstrating bias would then require highly similar cases, with few genuine differences justifying disparate treatment. It is rare to see such similar cases, outside of criminal law which has a high number of co-defendants, making it difficult to apply this method.

Two possible alternative tools are courtroom observations and charting an individual judge or prosecutor’s decisions over time. Courtroom observations could be structured (coding-based ) or ethnographic  and they can provide valuable data including on the dynamics at the courtroom (between the judge and the stakeholders, as well as between the stakeholders themselves), the courtroom ambiance, process characteristics in terms of content, outcome and structure, and on access to justice. Alternatively, a more quantitative approach might be charting an individual judge or prosecutor’s decisions over time to identify incremental changes or different results for different groups. Aggregate forms of such data are also helpful in illustrating systemic bias, or conversely in demonstrating the absence of bias, thereby elevating the public’s trust. 

After it has been collected and analyzed, data should be shared. While public communications recommendations are specifically addressed in the next section of this report, it is necessary to develop better political, fiscal, and communications strategies around data and metrics specifically to ensure policies reflect the data. Developing better metrics without the means to feed the collected data into the policy conversation is less effective for reform. 

Policy-Informed Indicators

Indicators are most useful when they are tied directly to policies. This allows the data to be useful throughout the policy process, from establishing a baseline to measuring progress, and finally to adjusting the policies based on the data. Advocates and researchers should thus work closely together to develop research questions that lead to compelling evidence-backed proposals, and ultimately ensure that they are speaking to the real decision-makers. In the US, the recent reforms in juvenile justice that finally broke the “adult time for adult crimes” mentality were driven by research such as that of the Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice in youth cognitive development. It inquired into the development of young brains specifically to address central legal issues around juvenile competence, culpability, and the capacity to change, showing that youth are different. They perceive risk differently, are more susceptible to peer influence and have more limited self-control, which fundamentally alters the culpability calculus.  

Using Data Defensively

Publicly sharing data is a means of pushing back on critics that make reforms responsible for rising social ills. Currently, some voices, including elected officials, are making recent criminal justice reforms, including bail reform and decarceration efforts, responsible for the spike in violent crime across the US. However, the data shows that decarceration has not negatively affected US public safety and it may even have improved it in some areas. The causes for the spike in violent crime remain unclear. There is correlation with the pandemic, but the spike, unlike the pandemic, is not global. Another theory posits a connection between the pandemic’s effects (including job uncertainty) and the high number of guns in US. When one reviews the data however, there is very little evidence that those released or never incarcerated due to COVID-19 are linked to significant criminal activity however as crime and arrests declined generally in many of the areas where people were released and re-arrest rates low.  

Unfortunately, even the best data and public advocacy cannot inoculate a reform against the powerful, emotionally charged narratives that arise around individual failures. A single murder by a known beneficiary of a diversion program could set off a media storm questioning, incorrectly, the efficacy of these programs. All stakeholders therefore need to be prepared and to have forward-looking conversations to prepare for when—not if—an outlier event happens. 

Privacy considerations follow hot on the heels of most conversations about data collection. Advocates are rightfully concerned about data falling into the wrong hands or being used to limit personal liberties for specific groups under the guise of making society “safer”. Predictive analytics can racially or socially profile even as they seek to save resources by targeting interventions. Furthermore, increased data integration between hospitals, law enforcement, and non-governmental organizations, as well as the use of information people have chosen to make public on their social media, can also be seen with skepticism or raise concerns that some individuals will limit their contact with hospitals and service organizations to avoid appearing on the police’s radar. 

These concerns must be taken seriously. However, there are also gains to be made from integrating this data, particularly if it already exists. Reformers should be sensitive to the ways in which data can be misused and encourage oversight and transparency, while giving additional thought to the ways in which data can be used more effectively while minimizing these risks. For example, not all data needs be connected on the individual/identifiable level and not all parties to a data-sharing system need to have access to all levels of information. 

In all this work, it is also important for researchers to balance objective and subjective measures of success, since oftentimes researchers come from backgrounds dissimilar to those of the people they study.  That can lead to situations where a researcher discounts an individual’s growth or achievements by comparing them to his or her own standards (even outside of larger questions around “de-colonizing” research). The failure to understand subjective standards within a community and to understand that progress may not be linear, even if it is happening, limits the utility of the research. While some growth may not, objectively speaking, appear large, it may nevertheless show significant progress for an individual and therefore demonstrate a broader intervention’s ability to effect change. Engaging the impacted communities in the design and execution of these research areas therefore could improve their utility and ensure that metrics better reflect those they serve. 

Data and metrics are integral to the design, execution, and evaluation of successful interventions, as well as to policymaking more generally.

Looking Ahead

It is essential to develop metrics linked to intended policy outcomes and in consultation with those the policies are intended to serve, with the best systems combining top-down and bottom-up approaches to produce data that is both community-specific and comparable across jurisdictions. Data collection is often seen as a daunting, additional expense since the development of a strong data collection system or the cleaning of existing data can mean high start-up costs. However, these early costs are likely to produce financial and social savings later and can ensure that ongoing investments target the most impactful areas. The public sharing of data can also be a useful advocacy tool, not only in holding institutions accountable from the outside, but also in insulating those institutions against potential false narratives, which may question the efficacy of reform efforts. Data are not a cure-all, but the ability to track inputs and outcomes is an important part of any reform effort.

Future Research

In addition to the need for better metrics, more data may help solve criminal justice puzzles. For example, many have observed that only about 10-15% of people in the criminal justice system cannot be rehabilitated and therefore require the system’s strictest measures. 85-90% of people, however, could with some additional support return to a normal, productive life. Enhancing a jurisdiction’s ability to predict an individual’s future conduct could therefore allow more people to regain their freedom and return to their lives faster, with fewer disruptions, reducing the burden and cost of the system overall.

Similarly, the integration of existing data collected by other fields—those focused on sustainability, nutrition, and sleep to name a few—with data from the criminal justice space may reveal new patterns. These linkages are under-researched but could inform more targeted investment in preventative and supportive work to reduce incidents of violence. (See Public Health Approach.)

Finally, the stagnant fields of gun and gang violence also need motivation to innovate and form closer interactions with their constituencies. Research and interventions on youth violence and gangs struggle to define who is “at-risk” and may not always reach the most affected communities. When this happens, the data gathered is not always accurate to the wider population.

In addition, further research on youth in different contexts is still required to support innovations and methodologies that actually work for strengthening youth safety and reducing exposure to and engagement in violence.

Read more about critical questions for future research, a forward-facing research agenda on a "whole systems" approach, and a systems-based approach to youth violence in Africa.

Several Fellows from the Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety and Justice initiative have been additionally featured on the Salzburg Global website. Please read more below.

Creating a Toolkit to Reduce Youth Violence

Salzburg Global speaks to Peter Henderson and Laura Knight from the Youth Endowment Fund

5 Youth Violence Experts on How Research Can Deliver Real Impact

Salzburg Global speaks to Fellows participating in the Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety and Justice initiative 

How the U.K. Translates Research Into Effective Youth Justice Policy

Jonathan Blanks writes about how What Works Centers serve as models for translating field work into best practices in youth safety

Articles

American Civil Liberties Union. “Decarceration and Crime During COVID-19". ACLU, July 27, 2020. https://www.aclu.org/news/smart-justice/decarceration-and-crime-during-COVID-19/. 

Brodkin, Jon. “LA police ask people they stop for their Facebook and Twitter account info”. Ars Technica, September 9, 2021. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/09/lapd-officers-collect-social-media-account-info-from-people-they-detain/. 

DeBolt, David. “Federal oversight of the Oakland Police Department may be nearing its end, attorneys say”. The Oaklandside, August 25, 2021. https://oaklandside.org/2021/08/25/federal-oversight-oakland-police-department-nearing-end-negotiated-settlement-agreement/. 

Grierson, Jamie. “Predictive policing poses discrimination risk, thinktank warns”. The Guardian, September 16, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/sep/16/predictive-policing-poses-discrimination-risk-thinktank-warns. 

Holton, Jake. “US crime: Is America seeing a surge in violence?” BBC, 7 July. https://www.bbc.com/news/57581270. 

Lybrand, Holms, and Tara Subramanian. “Fact-checking claims bail reform is driving increase in violent crime”. CNN, July 7, 2021. https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/07/politics/bail-reform-violent-crime-fact-check/index.html. 
 
Pereira, Sydney. “Data Contradicts NYPD's Claim That Bail Reform And COVID-Releases Drove Shooting Spike”. Gothamist, July 9, 2020. https://gothamist.com/news/data-contradicts-nypds-claim-bail-reform-and-covid-releases-drove-shooting-spike?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Books

Muhammad, Khalil Gibran. The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America, With a New Preface. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011.

Datasets

City of Oakland. Community Survey ― Reimagining Public Safety in Oakland (Public Responses). Oakland, CA: City of Oakland. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cx-Vd-RzwvtI2QsbD3OAE-M3ToNLgAIa/edit#gid=1153257221. 

Federal Court Management Statistics. U.S. Court of Appeals Summary ― 12 -Month Period Ending June 30, 2021. https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/data_tables/fcms_na_appsumary0630.2021.pdf. 

United States Census Bureau. QuickFacts: Oakland City, California. United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/oaklandcitycalifornia. 

Journal Articles

Dancig-Rosenberg, Hadar, and Tali Gal. “Many Shades of Success: Professionals’ Perceptions of Success in Community Court”, 8-14. (in review, forthcoming).

Datta, Ranjan. “Decolonizing both researcher and research and its effectiveness in Indigenous research”. Research Ethics, Volume 14, Issue 2 (2018). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1747016117733296.  

Feld, Barry. “The Youth Discount: Old Enough to do the Crime, Too Young to do the Time”. Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, Volume 11, Issue 1 (2013). https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1313&context=faculty_articles. 

Gal, Tali, and Hadar Dancig-Rosenberg. “Characterizing Multi-door Criminal Justice: A Comparative Analysis of Three Criminal Justice Mechanisms”. New Criminal Law Review, Volume 23, Issue 1 (Winter 2020). https://online.ucpress.edu/nclr/article-abstract/23/1/139/106860/Characterizing-Multi-door-Criminal-JusticeA?redirectedFrom=fulltext. 

Gal, Tali, and Hadar Dancig-Rosenberg. “‘I'm Starting to Believe in the Word Justice’: Lessons from an Ethnographic Study on Community Courts”. The American Journal of Comparative Law, Volume 68, Issue 2 (2020).

Kleinfeld, Joshua, and Hadar Dancig-Rosenberg. “Social Trust in Criminal Justice: A Metric”, 2. (in draft, forthcoming). 

Rosenfeld, Richard, Eric Baumer, and Steven F. Messner. “Social trust, firearm prevalence, and homicide”. Annals of Epidemiology, Volume 17, Issue, 2 (February 2007). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17178232/. 

Sampson, Robert J., and Stephen W. Raudenbush. “Neighborhood stigma and the perception of disorder”. Focus, Volume 24, Number 1 (2005). https://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/focus/pdfs/foc241b.pdf. 

Radio

Smith, Patrick. “A Program Gives Jobs To Those Most At Risk For Violence; Can Chicago Afford It?” Produced by National Public Radio. Aired June 6, 2019, on NPR. https://www.npr.org/local/309/2019/06/06/730145646/a-program-gives-jobs-to-those-most-at-risk-for-violence-can-chicago-afford-it. 

Westervelt, Eric. “Mental Health And Police Violence: How Crisis Intervention Teams Are Failing”. Produced by National Public Radio. Aired September 18, 2020, on NPR. https://www.npr.org/2020/09/18/913229469/mental-health-and-police-violence-how-crisis-intervention-teams-are-failing. 

Reports

Bradford, Ben, and Matteo Tiratelli. Does stop and search reduce crime? London: Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, UK Justice Policy Review, Issue 4. https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/sites/default/files/Does%20stop%20and%20search%20reduce%20crime.pd 

Center for Constitutional Rights. Stop and Frisk: The Human Impact. New York: Center for Constitutional Rights, July 2012. https://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/08/the-human-impact-report.pdf. 

City of Oakland. Oakland Reimagining Public Safety Task Force: Report and Recommendations. Oakland, CA: City of Oakland. https://cao-94612.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/Oakland-RPSTF-Report-Final-4-29-21.pdf. 

National Council on Crime and Delinquency. Developing a Successful Street Outreach Program: Recommendations and Lessons Learned. Oakland, CA: National Council on Crime and Delinquency, October 2009. http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/DocumentCenter/View/8054/Street-Outreach-Final 

Ostrom, Brian J., and Roger A. Hanson. Understanding and Diagnosing Court Culture. Williamsburg, VA: Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Associations. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/ajacourtreview/305/ 

Rainie, Lee, Scott Keeter, and Andrew Perrin. Trust and Distrust in America. Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center, July 22, 2019. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2019/07/22/trust-and-distrust-in-america/. 

The CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance. Jail Decarceration and Public Safety: Preliminary Findings from the Safety and Justice Challenge. Safety + Justice Challenge, June 22, 2021. https://www.safetyandjusticechallenge.org/resource/jail-decarceration-and-public-safety/. 

The CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance. Reducing the Misuse and Overuse of Jails in Safety and Justice Challenge Sites: An Interim Progress Report. Safety + Justice Challenge, February 9, 2021. https://www.safetyandjusticechallenge.org/resource/reducing-the-misuse-and-overuse-of-jails-in-safety-and-justice-challenge-sites/. 

The JFA Institute. The Impact of COVID-19 on Crime, Arrests, and Jail Populations. Safety + Justice Challenge, June 22, 2021. https://safetyandjusticechallenge.org/resources/the-impact-of-COVID-19-on-crime-arrests-and-jail-populations/. 

Wike, Richard, and Kathleen Holzwart. Where Trust is High, Crime and Corruption are Low. Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center, April 15, 2008.  https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2008/04/15/where-trust-is-high-crime-and-corruption-are-low/. 

Websites

City of Oakland. “Data Information”. https://www.oaklandca.gov/Government/Boards-Commissions/Community-Policing-Advisory-Board/Reimagining-Public-Safety-Task-Force#data-and-information

City of Oakland. “Reimagining Public Safety”. https://www.oaklandca.gov/Government/Boards-Commissions/Community-Policing-Advisory-Board/Reimagining-Public-Safety-Task-Force

Everyday Peace Indicators. “Mission”. https://www.everydaypeaceindicators.org/. 

Legal Information Institute. “Legal realism”. https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/legal_realism. 

MacArthur Foundation. “Research Network on Adolescent Development & Juvenile Justice”. https://www.macfound.org/programs/pastwork/research-networks/research-network-on-adolescent-development-juvenil

Mayor of London. “Data and statistics”. https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/mayors-office-policing-and-crime-mopac/data-and-statistics. 

POKET. “POKET”. https://www.poketapp.com/. 

READI Chicago. “About”.https://crimelab.uchicago.edu/about/

READI Chicago. “Impact”. Impact | Heartland Alliance

READI Chicago. “READI Chicago: A Heartland Alliance Program."https://hhplift.com/pages/copy-of-readi-1?

Safety + Justice Challenge. “Safety and Justice Challenge”. https://www.safetyandjusticechallenge.org/. 

Slalom. “City of Oakland: Creating police transparency and trust with data”. https://www.slalom.com/case-studies/city-oakland-creating-police-transparency-and-trust-data. 

State of New Jersey: Department of Law & Public Safety. “Reducing Use of Force by Law Enforcement”. https://www.njoag.gov/force/. 

Streetwyze. “Streetwyze”. https://www.streetwyze.com/. 

For sample questions, see: Everyday Peace Indicators. “Codebooks & Data”. https://everydaypeaceindicators.org/dataset/

Public communications are distinct from public relations (PR) work and crafting the right messages for the right audiences is key. Unlike in PR work, communications are more than a government selling something. Government must explain why it is conducting reforms to the right constituencies to achieve long-term buy-in. This may mean a narrative change, setting out a new vision of society, or simply orienting on commonly held values.

In telling this story, a reformer should bear three considerations in mind, even before considering messengers or partners:

1. The larger narrative context
2. The power of emotion
3. The importance of language

The Narrative Context 

Reforms should be aligned with the larger social, national, or regional picture and connected to nationally desired outcomes. Connecting to the larger picture does not however mean connecting to current “hot button issues” as these are often too hotly and viscerally contested to allow productive discourse. Tying reforms to such issues risks alienating parts of the population without room for discussion. Instead it can be helpful to reach for broader context, like the historical push to join institutions like the European Union or the North American Treaty Organization (NATO) in Eastern Europe. These also illustrate how international bodies can help advance national conversations. However, national context matters and today connections to “Western” funders and agendas can also damage local initiatives in some contexts. In these cases, avoiding discussing “European” standards in favor of “world” standards may be more effective. The narrative can also avoid international contexts entirely and take the simpler form of practical arguments like cost-savings or enhanced security. 

The Power of Emotion

For all the power of a rational argument, emotional connections are often more powerful than logical arguments. Reforms should be based in logic and founded on data, but they are often communicated most effectively via emotional, personal connections. Stories compel and resonate. This means collecting individual stories during the consultation phase and then highlighting those rather than arguing on numbers alone. These stories help get people emotionally invested in the change. It also serves as a reminder that the natural emotional need for safety is important across contexts and should be considered throughout reform communications. Painting criminal justice reform as enhancing security—perhaps even to the point of being “tough on crime” while being genuinely compassionate in substance—can be helpful and help prepare an initiative against the counter-narrative of being “soft”. 

The Importance of Language and Image

Finally, and very importantly, from the earliest stages of consultation to the final days of a reform, language and images matter. Constant care should be taken with the words used for processes and outcomes as much for the people affected. Most young people will not come in contact with the criminal justice system, and most do not cause the violence from which they suffer, yet these truths can be undermined by media portrayals and dominant narratives. Media and communications should take care to cut through myths and be accurate in their portrayals. 

Communications is not only about sending out the right message, in the right language, and by the right messengers. It is also about how the message is packaged and understood in the current context. As they craft their language, effective communications strategies consider the media environment and potential counter-narratives at the outset and prepare to engage them. 

Closely tied to language is consideration of the images used and the effect they are intended to have upon the viewer. Visuals are powerful. The images shown of and to different communities affect their perceptions of what is customary, of their rights, and perhaps even of how they or others deserve to be treated. Youth are particularly affected as they absorb more images than adults and are typically less critical of the contents, so these may process into positive or problematic thinking. For youth in violent neighborhoods, social media can become a “digital street” on which taunts, arguments, or threats can play out and encourage violence, but images can also capture the imagination much more quickly than text and encourage positive behaviors.  

Effective explanations require authentic messengers engaging the right audience with the right narrative. Messengers need status and credibility in their specific community; those can come from previous experiences, statements, deeds, association, or even their geography. Ideally, they have background in the subject matter, but they do not need to be experts on a given topic if they, like religious leaders, are respected by the target audience. Key values like human dignity translate across subject matter and trust in a person’s values makes them a powerful messenger. 

Conversely, when reformers are messaging back to policymakers rather than out to the public, it is important that these messengers include a broad range of people with lived experience. Since narrative and format still matter, more people with lived experience should be trained as ambassadors to speak with policymakers, reducing the risk of exceptionalizing a limited set of representatives. 

The challenge in today’s polarized context is finding messengers who can speak across audiences to reach a larger public. With polarization comes a greater insistence on “moral purity” and suspicion of those who hold diverging views, even on a single issue. Therefore, messengers should be carefully vetted across issues to prepare in case of backlash. 

Working through messengers is often a multi-stage process with people trusted by the thought-leaders converting those leaders who then convert their communities. In choosing messengers, reformers should beware of false messengers, i.e., those who do not speak for those they claim to represent. Similarly, communications should avoid the “take me to your leader” approach of engaging communities. While such an approach appears efficient and it can be tempting to believe there is a single omnipotent gatekeeper, most groups require more complex engagement. Working through a single individual is risky. 

Partners not only act as messengers in their own right, but they also provide additional expertise and should be chosen carefully. Key partners to consider in a communications strategy include local politicians, grassroots organizations, creative coalitions, and, of course, the media. 

(Local) Politicians

Politicians are important partners in any reform, but communications may be more straightforward and productive on the state or local level. National discourse often lends itself to stagecraft, while the local level may facilitate greater accountability via personal interactions. They are often more trusted than national governments, too. Therefore local politicians are often more dedicated reform partners and better able to communicate to their public. 

When partnering with politicians, political timelines matter. A candidate or recently elected politician may be more willing to publicly back reform if he or she understands the length of time over which they should expect results. A politician is also less likely to back a risky reform or the components thereof, e.g., a survey or government inquiry, if it would fall close to an election cycle and risk their re-election. 

Grassroots Organizations

If politicians represent those in power, grassroots organizations represent those affected by the changes. They are of increasing importance in a world that demands ever more authenticity. It is unclear if all societies are equally prepared to engage in grassroots discussions, but it has several advantages for those that are. Grassroots efforts are often closer to those they serve and can mobilize local resources and community leaders, which reduces the cost for the coordinator. They can also uncover creative solutions. In communities where the traditional justice system is inequitable or barely functioning, communities often develop their own just and effective alternatives, like “women’s courts” in India. Working with grassroots partners can help elevate these local solutions. 

Grassroots partnerships are however harder and riskier to implement than top-down messaging. Due to the dispersed nature of grassroots communication, it is much harder to control the narrative and it may not be implemented as quickly as a central plan. Communicative power may also reside in the local partner, raising risks if the visions diverge. This is particularly relevant in light of new technologies that allow near-instantaneous communication, meaning multiple (conflicting) narratives could spread quickly.

When reformers are working internationally, local grassroots organizations can also be powerful partners, but may need to be treated with more initial caution. If vetted for legitimacy and verity of mission, local non-governmental organizations are close to the population, with higher understanding of and trust by those they seek to serve. Particularly in cases where a reform is being supported by international organizations, they can make strong partners with external financial and technical support. International organizations should be careful however to ensure that their local partners are genuinely dedicated to their missions, rather than fronts for enriching their leaders or for promoting political players. This means establishing grassroots connections to the community in order to understand local challenges before working through local partners.

In countries sensitive to external interference, international funders and partners should also take care not to expose local non-governmental organizations to retaliation from their governments. This is particularly true where there is skepticism of Western liberal funders, as in Russia, Turkey, and certain parts of Eastern Europe or Asia where governments monitor non-governmental activities and recent laws have banned non-governmental organizations from engaging in “political activities”, however defined by the government. Therefore the degree to which external connections are highlighted should be adapted to the local context. 

Creative Coalitions

Sometimes there are not enough large partners to sustain a reform or support is rather diffuse. In those cases, creativity can play a role in unlocking unusual but influential audiences who can partner to build larger coalitions. 

A simple creative strategy is engaging the people closest to those in power, i.e., spouses or children. Reformers in Massachusetts successfully employed this strategy when they worked through the governor’s wife to convince him of the need to close juvenile facilities in the 1970s. Another way to broaden coalitions is what helped secure LGBT* rights in the US: making a concerted effort to show the rest of society that they know and love those affected. This is particularly potent when working on behalf of youth, as most people have young relatives. 

One striking example of coalition building comes from efforts in the US to engage conservatives in criminal justice reform. Conservatives often oppose such reforms, so they are particularly important partners. As demonstrated in the US, a conservative coalition for criminal justice reform can be achieved with careful messages tailored to specific parts of the coalition. Social conservatives are often influenced by moral arguments that highlight the right of all people to humane conditions and a chance at redemption. Fiscal conservatives are more responsive to cost arguments, pointing to the high budget expenditures required to operate systems of mass incarceration.  Security-minded conservatives are most concerned about safety and the possibility that incarceration could increase an individual’s security risk. Finally, libertarians support decriminalization, proportional punishment, and a smaller state with fewer reasons to exert force over its citizens. Reformers can therefore gain allies by highlighting how it is possible to achieve better human outcomes and equal or greater public safety at lower cost and less use of force. 

The Media

Finally, no matter the level, media is a key communications partner. Reformers do well to have open lines of communication with those covering their efforts. Ideally the media serve as tough but fair investigators, who are appropriately critical and surface problems where necessary, but do not highlight minor problems sufficiently to sink an entire reform. Here, having advance discussions with local media about a reform’s goals and an open dialogue can be helpful in ensuring the media plays a productive role. 

In order to support their partners, organizations working in the space should offer the media better support and training on discussing criminal justice topics. Those covering events or even patterns in criminal justice are not always aware of the impact of their coverage, and they may not have learned how to cover topics like domestic violence sensitively. As news outlets have become slimmer and more cost-conscious, fewer journalists specialize, rendering them less familiar with the nuances of a topic. Likewise, there exist tendencies to cover some events and omit others (e.g., crimes committed by recent immigrants vs crimes committed by nationals generally), which can cause the population to misunderstand trends or even inform policy outcomes. With training however, media can report more carefully and respectfully, which in turn can help move a national conversation forward.** 

* LGBT: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender. We are using this term as it is currently widely used in human rights conversations on sexual orientation and gender identity in many parts of the world, and we would wish it to be read as inclusive of other cultural concepts, contemporary or historical, to express sexuality and gender, intersex and gender non-conforming identities.

**For a sample initiative training journalists on juvenile justice reporting, see the fellowship program at the Center on Media, Crime and Justice at John Jay College. For an interesting initiative bridging the media gap and covering the marginalized, albeit in the field of health, see Health e-News. 

The key to putting all these elements together is stakeholder mapping. Once an initiative’s outline is clear and communication begins, it is essential to know who is likely to hold certain views and what other groups they influence. Who follows whose lead? How diverse is a society? What are the respected institutions or people? Mapping these criteria helps prevent falling for false messengers or misunderstanding community dynamics. It also helps identify and avoid “no-go” topics (likely to spark massive public debates that waste energy and time without any progress). Stakeholder mapping is the foundation to forming the aforementioned coalitions of shared interest (See The Power of Partners). 

Widespread consultation is part of this mapping exercise, and it should be genuine. If large parts of the population feel they were not consulted, they are unlikely to view reforms favorably. Therefore, consultations are both intrinsically and instrumentally valuable. Authentic communication and participation, whether in person, by online surveys, or via platforms like Twitter, can build trust. Social media (Twitter in particular) are means of mass communication that can share a message with many people at once. Importantly, they are also seen as a means of news gathering, social activism, and as a place for the public to speak to the people in power directly. (69% of Americans believe social media is an important tool for getting politicians to pay attention to issues. Notably Black and Hispanic users report higher usage of these platforms for expressing their political views than white Americans.) Young people currently show low levels of trust in governments across the world but view Twitter or other platforms as a means of establishing a two-way conversation. 

Current Trends

Even with good messengers and partners, background trends make public communication hard in the current environment. Polarization and extreme skepticism, combined with the lack of a common fact-base present particular challenges.  It has become harder to find credible messengers who are able to span multiple groups, and the demand for ideological purity can be exhausting. The existence of new technology has thoroughly fragmented the discourse and the means of reaching people, which has made it harder to convey a single message to a wide audience. 

These trends are particularly challenging since successful engagement and coalition-building has often meant sacrificing moral purity. In these instances, the ability to avoid public attention is helpful, but made more difficult by the 24-hour news cycle and the omnipresence of social media. Both channels threaten to let the “missing” pieces in a reform loom as large as the progress made, making cooperation with the media an important part of any communications strategy. 

The Origins of Violence

Youth and young adulthood are periods of particular physical and mental vulnerability, but youth violence can arise from propensities developed in earlier life stages. Exposure to violence (particularly if frequent, proximate, and pervasive) during childhood is correlated with a weakened ability to regulate emotions, thoughts, and behavior under stress. Exposure to violence also leads to subconsciously copied behavior, i.e., the acquisition of a learned behavior of violence in response to stressors, which is exacerbated when the environment normalizes violence. If violence has been learned, counter-messaging and opportunities for healthy processing can help counteract it, just as supportive family and school environments can act as protective factors. 

Exposure to violence at a young age is the single most predictive risk factor for further violence. This connection is the reason for screening youth as they enter school (see Public Health Approachs | Social Determinants of Violence and Trauma), to understand their personal histories and offer some students additional support. Critically, violence is ultimately a choice, regardless of previous exposure. Thus in violence-prevention work, it is essential that youth perceive themselves as having more attractive non-violent options, so that they can follow new pathways. 

As a general preventative measure to counteract exposure to violence, violence and sexual harassment prevention can be taught from an early age. This requires establishing a common language and critical thinking around values including respect for self and others, dignity, and equality. By teaching everyone, from all children to teachers and parents, these values and a common language become embedded in society. Just as children learn to advocate for themselves, parents and teachers themselves may reflect on their experiences and begin treating their children differently. 

The Role of Parents

Many parents are powerful influences on their children’s lives, but that influence may be positive or problematic. Adverse childhood experiences, which include exposure to violence, reflect adult experiences affecting the children around them. Like anyone else, parents vary in their experiences, education, and personal trauma exposure. Some parents may be the cause of a child’s initial exposure to violence or trauma, thereby generating an intergenerational cycle of violence these parents do not have the power to stop. Others may not be aware of the risks their children face (particularly as some threats have moved online and onto social media, where many children are unmonitored). The latter are willing to become engaged, learn, reflect, and change their mindset, ultimately serving as valuable partners in countering violence. Intervention should be conscious of these dynamics and seek to support parents as possible. Women are good initial partners in violence reduction programs.

Schools and Vocational Training

Schools and education play a key role in violence reduction, from providing safe physical spaces to developing a person’s interpersonal skills, resilience, and future employability. While different forms of education are available across countries, maximizing the use of this resource always requires cooperation across various bodies (see Public Health Approach | Communities and Schools). It requires support from government leaders, buy-in from school directors and teachers, and the development of community curricula for safety. It also means reaching beyond schools into churches, community groups, and the wider population. This includes the local private sector, which should invest in education not only by providing funding but by offering its resources, expertise in training, and apprenticeships to open new professional pathways. 

Street Outreach

Prevention in the most immediate sense, street outreach seeks to prevent further interaction with the criminal justice system by engaging potential perpetrators of violence before they act. These programs rely on outreach workers, who are often from the community and may have had past experience with local gangs, to reach out to at-risk youth where they live and spend time. These outreach workers then develop relationships with their clients, checking in, mentoring them, or connecting them to services. Street outreach is incredibly challenging however, not least due to the difficulties finding those at highest risk. Interventions can be limited to existing relationships or to reacting after someone has been involved in an incident. Such programs are less effective, despite having paid and trained staff, due to their inability to reach those truly at the highest risk of involvement in violence before they become involved. The difficulty of evaluation can force funders to take work at face value, which makes replication of proven interventions all the more important. 

For all forms of outreach, it is important to remember to support the outreach workers as well. This is one of a few jobs available to people with lived experience and it can offer a sense of purpose and identity, even redemption. However, it also re-exposes people to the chronic issues, trauma, and maladaptive coping mechanisms of their community. These are real risks that can cause backsliding and the “recycling” of outreach workers, unless they are developed and offered the opportunity to advance their own lives and build careers.
 

When it comes to the adjudication and disciplinary stage, the traditional criminal justice system fails young people. Prisons are poor places for youth, teaching violence rather than useful skills and they may cause higher rates of recidivism. Young people need different types of support when they return to society. Nevertheless, older justice structures often keep youth in physical institutions away from their communities and in the US young adults can still receive very long sentences. Even though life without parole has become a very rare sentence in the US, youth can still be sentenced “up to life”. This renders the role of parole boards critical. However, in the US some parole rules still view the youth of an offender as an aggravating, rather than mitigating factor.  Even as these institutions are being reformed, it is better to prevent a youth’s interaction with the system in the first place. 

Youth Courts

One example of a successful alternative to the traditional criminal justice system is a youth court. Youth courts divert youth from regular courts into whole-system case management interventions that work with young adults typically convicted of low-level felonies post-conviction to promote positive life outcomes and reduce recidivism. Judges often are at the center of these systems, as they have the power to convene all other necessary stakeholders. In these courts, district attorneys, defense counsel, probation officers and social services all collaborate to provide these juveniles with a plan and the resources, including mental health counselling, substance abuse treatment and housing and transportation assistance, to succeed. This is particularly important as many participants are in need of guidance after the disruption and stigma associated with arrest and conviction disturb existing structure like education or employment. Successful completion of a young adult court program can result in the removal of a felony from a youth’s record, which is often an important obstacle to future hiring. Early results from courts like Orange County, California show this is an important contribution in the outcomes of lower self-reported offending and higher school enrollment and employment.  

Studies have shown that many of the youth who appear in court have experienced or witnessed victimization. 40% have symptoms of depression or anxiety and struggle with their mental health and studies estimate that between 50-66% have one or more psychiatric disorders. This sometimes appears in the form of substance abuse, which is high even for an age group that generally (regardless of whether or not they have interacted with the criminal justice system) has high rates of alcohol or marijuana use. Therefore these courts offer resources including therapy, food, employment, and housing assistance, as well as help using those resources and consistently checking in to ensure they are on track.

Collaborative and specialty courts are powerful interventions for their participants (although not all diversion attempts are successful ), but they leave gaps for those accused of serious crimes and operate on principles that should ultimately extend to the justice system as a whole. Social services should be available to all, without requiring interaction with the criminal justice system to access them. Additionally, the carving out and amending of legal processes for specific groups risks eroding the integrity of the system. Particularly for juveniles, preventing encounters with the criminal justice system remains the best option.  

Incarceration

Not all youth are diverted however harmful the effects of incarceration. In the US alone, a daily average of about 45,000 children are held in juvenile custody and several thousand more are in adult custody. Even if this number is reduced to the smallest necessary population, some will remain in custody. Therefore reformers should consider what form custody should take, including whether people need to be physically removed from their communities, and ultimately change the institutions that currently harm those entrusted to them. In future, technology may also better allow us to combine physical separation with virtual participation in education, vocational training, or even employment opportunities to begin the reintegration process. (See Culture of Justice | Human Dignity.)

Early childhood experiences, including learned habits of coping with stress of violence, have a lasting impact. It is important for all members of the community recognize this and that institutions like schools—which can serve as safe physical spaces as well as places of discovery, learning, and training—are supported in their work.

Looking Ahead

Supporting educational institutions and embedding them further in their communities can encourage partnerships that allow youth to develop their identities, independence, and healthy ways of coping with stressors. Much work in youth violence prevention builds on the development of relationships with trusted people and on the opportunities afforded by education, vocational training, and employment, which can also bring a positive sense of identity and belonging. While preventative work is always challenging to fund, the social and financial benefits of investing in youth early are considerable, both in preventing the social costs of violence as well as the financial burden of the criminal justice system. 

In cases where youth do interact with criminal justice systems, those systems should remember that youth have different thought processes, needs, and potential than adults. When working with youth, it is important to preserve a sense of accountability while providing the foundations for a future life. These include not only educational and vocational opportunities, but also support services and the possibility of erasing a history of limited criminal activity should not be dismissed, given the disruptive cost of preserving such a history to the youth in question. 

Future Research

There is a need to better connect research around mental health and the effects of trauma on the brain with the workings of the criminal justice system to mitigate the potential for further harm.

Across the spectrum of work, parties engaging in youth violence prevention and criminal justice reform should ensure that all partners—regardless of professional background or role in a particular initiative—share a common vision, approach, language, and understanding of the factors that can contribute to youth challenges. This also means ensuring that leadership colleagues are prepared to engage with and respond to local community needs, hopes, and fears, including by having a historical understanding where appropriate

Finally, this report, in line with the discussions informing it, focused primarily on young men, but it is worth reiterating that young women also experience violence and can take lead roles in preventing it. They are not exclusively victims or guardians, however. Gender stereotypes can reinforce unhelpful responses from violence prevention organizations or even the criminal justice system itself and should be considered carefully going forward.

Several Fellows from the Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety and Justice initiative have been additionally featured on the Salzburg Global website. Please read more below.

What Are the Drivers of Youth Violence - And What Can We Do About Them?

A whole systems approach can help us tackle youth violence, according to Salzburg Global Fellows

Articles

Griffin, Jo. “‘I have no thought of escaping’: inside the Brazilian prisons with no guards”. The Guardian, April 2, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/apr/02/no-thought-of-escaping-inside-brazilian-prisons-with-no-guards. 

Justice Trends. “APAC: Prisons without guards, police, weapons, violence, corruption, drugs and discrimination // Interview: Valdeci Ferreira”. Justice Trends, July 21, 2020. https://justice-trends.press/the-apac-revolution-prisons-without-guards-without-police-without-weapons-without-violence-without-corruption-without-drugs-without-discrimination/.  

Office of the Mayor of London. “Revealed: New report shows violence cost London £3 billion last year”. Mayor of London, January 30, 2020. https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/violence-cost-london-3-billion-last-year. 

Occhetta, Francesco. “Restorative Justice in Brazil: The Educational Method of APAC Prisons”. La Civiltà Cattolica, December 13, 2018. https://www.laciviltacattolica.com/restorative-justice-in-brazil-the-educational-method-of-apac-prisons/. 

READI Chicago. “READI Chicago Evaluation Finds Reductions in Shootings and Homicides”. READI Chicago, May 20201. https://crimelab.uchicago.edu/resources/readi-paper/

The Vine. “OC’s Young Adult Court Offers a Second Chance”. The Vine, 25 January.  https://www.vinecitynews.com/learn/young-adult-court. 

UCI School of Social Ecology. “A second chance”. UCI, November 2, 2020. https://socialecology.uci.edu/news/second-chance. 

UK Parliament. “‘Secure schools’ call as Committee welcomes drop in youth detention”. UK Parliament: Committees, February 10, 2021. https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/102/justice-committee/news/139075/secure-schools-call-as-committee-welcomes-drop-in-youth-detention/. 

Van Ness, Dan. “Dr. Mario Ottoboni | Brazil: A Tribute to the Father of the APAC Prison Methodology”. Prison Fellowship International. https://pfi.org/global-impact/stories-of-hope/mario-ottobonis-story/. 

Journal Articles

Albright, Shelley, and Furjen Denq. “Employer Attitudes Toward Hiring Ex-Offenders”. The Prison Journal, Volume 76, Issue 2 (1996).  https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/employer-attitudes-toward-hiring-ex-offenders. 

Cauffman, Elizabeth. “A statewide screening of mental health symptoms among juvenile offenders in detention”. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Volume 43, Issue 4 (2004). https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2004-12530-009. 

Gilad, Michal, and Abraham Gutman. “The Tragedy of Wasted Funds and Broken Dreams: An Economic Analysis of Childhood Exposure to Crime and Violence”. University of Illinois Law Review, Volume 2021, Number 1 (September 2019): 41-43, 59-60, 88. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3458626. 

Gilad, Michal, Abraham Gutman, and Stephen P. Chawaga. “The Snowball Effect of Crime and Violence: Measuring the Triple-C Impact”. Urban Law Journal, Volume 46, Number 1 (2019): 42. https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/ulj/vol46/iss1/1/. 

Heckman, James J., Seong Hyeok Moon, Rodrigo Pinto, Peter A. Savelyev, and Adam Yavitza. “The Rate of Return to the High/Scope Perry Preschool Program”. Journal of Public Economics, Volume 94, Issue 1 (2010). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3145373/. 

Mauricio, Anna M., Michelle Little, Laurie Chassin, George P. Knight, Alex R. Piquero, Sandra H. Losoya, and Delfino Vargas-Chanes. “Juvenile Offenders’ Alcohol and Marijuana Trajectories: Risk and Protective Factor Effects in the Context of Time in a Supervised Facility.” Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Volume 38, Issue 3 (March 2009). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2779036/. 

Mccoy, Dana Charles. “Early Violence Exposure and Self-Regulatory Development: A Bioecological Systems Perspective”. Human Development, Volume 54, Issue 4 (August 2013): 260, 266. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270279648_Early_Violence_Exposure_and_Self-Regulatory_Development_A_Bioecological_Systems_Perspective. 

Weaver, Chelsea M., John G. Borkowski, and Thomas L. Whitman. “Violence Breeds Violence: Childhood Exposure and Adolescent Conduct Problems.” Journal of Community Psychology, Volume 36, Issue 1 (January 2008). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3124247/. 

Reports

American Civil Liberties Union. False Hope: How Parole Systems Fail Youth Serving Extreme Sentences. New York: ACLU: 50-51. https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/121416-aclu-parolereportonlinesingle.pdf. 

AVSI Brasil. APAC: A Humanização Do Sistema Prisional: Sistematização de processos e fundamentos jurídico-metodológicos que embasam a expansão do método como política pública no Brasil. [APAC: The Humanization of the Prison System: Systematization of processes and legal-methodological foundations that support the expansion of the method as public policy in Brazil.] Belo Horizonte: AVSI (2018). http://www.avsibrasil.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/APAC-humanizacao-do-sistema-prisional.pdf. 

Everytown Support Fund. The Economic Cost of Gun Violence: How to Save $280 Billion During a COVID Recession. New York: Everytown Support Fund, February 17, 2021. https://everytownresearch.org/report/the-economic-cost-of-gun-violence/. 

Healing Justice Alliance. Best Practices for Supporting Frontline Violence Intervention Workers. Healing Justice Alliance. https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/best-practices-supporting-frontline-violence-intervention-workers

Justice Policy Institute. Factsheet: The tip of the iceberg: What taxpayers pay to incarcerate youth. Justice Policy Institute, March 2015. https://justicepolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/justicepolicy/documents/factsheet_costs_of_confinement.pdf. 

National Council on Crime and Delinquency. Developing a Successful Street Outreach Program: Recommendations and Lessons Learned. Oakland, CA: National Council on Crime and Delinquency, October 2009: 5. http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/DocumentCenter/View/8054/Street-Outreach-Final 

Prop, L.J.C., M.G.C.J. Beerthuizen, and A.M. van der Laan. Adolescentenstrafrecht: Effecten van de toepassing van het jeugdstrafrecht bij jongvolwassenen op resocialisatie en recidive. [Adolescent criminal law: Effects of the application of juvenile criminal law in young adults on rehabilitation and recidivism.] The Hague: Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek-en Documentatiecentrum, Cahier, May 2021: 78. https://repository.wodc.nl/bitstream/handle/20.500.12832/3055/Cahier%20-2021-05-volledige-tekst.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. 

Rovner, Josh. Juvenile Life Without Parole: An Overview. Washington, D.C.: The Sentencing Project, 2020. https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/juvenile-life-without-parole/. 

Stubbs, Jessica, and Graham Durcan. Unlocking a different future: An independent evaluation of Project Future. London: Centre for Mental Health, December 2017. https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/publications/unlocking-different-future/

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization: Brasilia Office. Building Knowledge: Conceptual Framework and Methodology for the Open School Programme: Education and Culture for Peace. Brasilia: UNESCO, 2009. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/in/rest/annotationSVC/DownloadWatermarkedAttachment/attach_import_fcaa92d9-a30f-460f-b3fc-6cdee3d67d9c?_=191901eng.pdf 
  
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization: Brasilia Office. Open School: A Step-by-Step Guide for Implementation of the Open School Programme: Education and Culture for Peace. Brasilia: UNESCO, 2009. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000191906/PDF/191906eng.pdf.multi. 

Washburn, Jason J., Linda A. Teplin, Laurie S. Voss, Clarissa D. Simon, Karen M. Abram, Gary M. McClelland, and Nichole D. Olson. Detained Youth Processed in Juvenile and Adult Court: Psychiatric Disorders and Mental Health Needs. Laurel, MD: U.S. Department of Justice: Office of Justice Program: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. https://ojjdp.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh176/files/pubs/248283.pdf. 

Videos

AVSI Brasil. “Além dos Muros - Copa 2014”. June 2, 2014.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zpw6MENNKDQ. 

UCI Social Ecology. “Young Adult Court - FULL VERSION (featuring Beth Cauffman)”. November 3, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGzs5g3l2hM. 

Websites

Child Care & Early Education: Research Connections. “About Research Connections”. https://acf.gov/opre/project/child-care-and-early-education-research-connections-2013-2019 

Children’s Defense Fund. “The State of America's Children 2020: Youth Justice”. https://www.childrensdefense.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/The-State-Of-Americas-Children-2020.pdf

Fundación Reintegra. “Fundación Reintegra”. https://reintegra.org.mx/. 

Justice Policy Institute. “Smart, Safe, and Fair: Strategies to Prevent Youth Violence, Heal Victims of Crime, and Reduce Racial Inequality”. September 4, 2018. https://justicepolicy.org/research/reports-2018-smart-safe-and-fair-strategies-to-prevent-youth-violence-heal-victims-of-crime-and-reduce-racial-inequality/. 

National Association of Youth Courts. “The Significance of Youth Courts: The Mission of the National Association of Youth Courts.” https://youthcourt.net/?page_id=121

READI Chicago. “About”. https://crimelab.uchicago.edu/about/

READI Chicago. “Impact”. https://crimelab.uchicago.edu/?s=Impact

READI Chicago. “Program”.  https://crimelab.uchicago.edu/projects/

UCI: Development, Disorder, and Delinquency Laboratory. “Young Adult Court”. https://3dlab.psychology.uci.edu/young-adult-court/. 

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. “Open Schools Programme”. https://en.unesco.org/fieldoffice/brasilia/inaction/open-schools-project. 

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. “Youth In Brazil”.  https://en.unesco.org/fieldoffice/brasilia/expertise/youth-brazil. 

Youth Justice Resource Hub. “Out-of-court-disposals and prevention”. https://www.barnet.gov.uk/young-people/youth-justice-service

The five key insights that follow reflect the central takeaways from the session held in December 2025 on “Advancing Youth Safety and Justice: Transformative Policies, Community Solutions, and Accountable Practices.” This gathering brought together experts, youth leaders, and those with lived experience of the justice system to address how systems must evolve to handle emerging digital and environmental risks while remaining grounded in lived experience and empathy. The focus of this final session was the consolidation of concrete, actionable outputs, moving from exploration to alignment in order to accelerate meaningful systems change.

Precise, accessible language is vital across all sectors to counter harmful stereotypes and misinformation. By reframing narratives, we can shift institutional culture away from "soft on crime" perceptions toward a focus on human dignity. Effective storytelling directly influences resource allocation and drives the systemic change necessary for sustainable reform.

What’s needed: 

• Investment in narrative change strategies that equip practitioners, advocates, and institutions with precise, human-centered language.
• Support for storytelling that reframes justice around dignity, safety, and long-term impact.
• Data-informed communications that link narrative shifts to policy decisions and resource allocation.

Meaningful reform requires centralizing youth voices in policy frameworks and implementation. Systems must prioritize evidence-based developmental science and child-centered approaches, such as those utilized in Brazil, to elevate lived truths over deficit narratives. Mobilizing youth leadership ensures that those most affected by justice systems are architects of their evolution.

What’s needed:

• Formal mechanisms to embed youth with lived experience into policy design, governance, and evaluation.
• Adoption of child-centered, developmentally grounded frameworks that move beyond deficit-based narratives.
• Sustained funding and capacity-building for youth leadership and peer-led initiatives.

Innovation in justice begins with empathy and a commitment to understanding the "why" behind behavior. Instead of relying on punitive reflexes, practitioners must prioritize root causes, trauma, and community contexts. Challenging labels that define young people by a single action allows for a more nuanced, trauma-informed approach to safety and healing.

What’s needed: 

• Training for justice actors in trauma-informed, curiosity-driven practices that prioritize root causes over punishment. 
• System-wide efforts to challenge labels and language that reduce young people to single actions.
• Time, space, and institutional support for reflective practice and community-based problem solving.

The complexity of modern justice requires multi-disciplinary partnerships between policymakers, practitioners, youth, and corporations. Drawing inspiration from global case studies and cross-country learning strengthens the “whole systems approach.”

What's needed: 

• Multi-disciplinary partnerships connecting policymakers, practitioners, youth, corporate partners, and researchers.
• Structured platforms for cross-country learning and adaptation of promising global practices.
• Incentives for systems to collaborate across silos and adopt a whole-system approach.

Download these key insights as a pdf here.

The conversations and workshops that took place in 2021 formed Phase 1 of the Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety and Justice initiative. Following this initial groundwork, Salzburg Global brought the core network of participants together in Phase 2 through a structured sequence of virtual and in-person programs, navigating the complexities of the post-pandemic landscape in 2022.

Stakeholders identified and spearheaded global examples of violence reduction, evaluating interventions in four specific fields: 

1. New intervention points that could have long-term benefits for reducing violence, injustice, racism, and implicit bias/prejudice in and outside criminal justice systems;
2. Multi-country comparisons, focusing initially on national/subnational jurisdictions that have pioneered successful approaches in criminal justice policy and practice;
3. Direct engagement of marginalized communities to learn from and amplify their voices;
4. New initiatives to change attitudes, behaviors, and investments, responding to racial and social justice protests in the United States and around the world, and to risks and demands driven by the pandemic. 

Notable Milestones: 2022-2025

• 2022: The initiative expanded its reach through a public-facing webinar series and the first post-pandemic in-person session in May, which allowed Fellows to move from virtual synergies to "on-the-ground" action. Sharing experiences across borders opened examples of systemic changes that might be adapted in other contexts. Conversations focused on interventions and big, potentially transformative ideas that could help shape the future of criminal justice systems, and, in particular, on opportunities for further action and next steps on the ground.
• 2023: Fellows participating in this initiative have looked beyond the classic justice system to identify a whole systems approach as the innovation with the most potential to influence approaches to violence reduction and criminal justice reform. In this approach, policymakers have used scientific evidence and the best available research to identify the causes of violence and the interventions that can stop it from spreading. Different organizations, professions, and sectors come together to support youth and to address the causes of violence holistically. Therefore, the next in-person session in February 2023 expanded on the "Whole Systems Approach," leading to the publication of the Salzburg Statement on Youth Violence Reduction. This emphasized looking beyond the classic justice system to address root causes via a holistic, multi-sectoral lens. Following this, a number of Fellows actively promoted the Salzburg Statement at high-level international meetings in their own countries.
• 2024: While progress has been made in many parts of the world, including in the U.S., Fellows recognized that the interlinking challenges of post-pandemic mental health difficulties, education and social development losses, racial and ethnic injustice, climate change, migration, the rise of autocratic states, rapidly advancing technologies and the potential for greater levels of un- and underemployment are having profound effects on the outlook for youth populations and youth justice systems. As a result of these poly-crises, Salzburg Global and the MacArthur and H.F. Guggenheim Foundations agreed on the value of a follow-up phase (2024-2025) to examine whether youth safety and justice systems need to be rethought and reconceived. A further in-person session occurred in December 2024, expanding on the examination of youth safety and justice systems, exploring whether contemporary youth violence trends differ significantly from past patterns, and proposing evidence-based responses that prioritize resilience and justice while addressing systemic inequities. Fellows shared and leveraged insights from diverse jurisdictions and disciplines to co-create solutions, ensuring that policies and interventions are informed by real-world challenges and emerging global trends. Five self-selecting working groups were formed during this meeting to carry work forward.
• 2025: The initiative reached its conclusion in December 2025 with a final session designed to consolidate tangible outputs for the program’s long-term legacy. The final convening served as a critical platform for the initiative’s five working groups to solidify their collective legacy and transition from theoretical discussion to tangible, action-oriented outputs. By the close of the program, the five working groups committed to delivering the following key outputs.

Working Group Collaborations  

• Toolkit for Change: Empowering Youth-Led Reform through Rights-Based Advocacy
  • Mission: To create a practical, youth-friendly guide to help young people, including those who have been through the justice system, lead the way in understanding and reforming how those systems treat children.
  • Key Output: An interactive online platform that translates complex legal and policy frameworks into plain, relatable language. The resource includes rights identification, practical checklists and templates, community asset mapping, and a dedicated framework of "Pathways to Action" to move from identifying a problem to a concrete solution.
• Law Reformers: The Law as a Tool for Transformation​​​​​​​
  • Mission: Focuses on law reform as a means to transform criminal legal systems into child and youth-centered justice systems that promote healthy development, healing, and positive life outcomes. The group leverages international human rights standards and scientific findings on brain development to inform systemic legal reform.
  • Key Output: A curated collection of "think-pieces"—short, anchored essays exploring the promises and challenges of law reform in youth justice. The group pivoted from a theoretical focus to a practical focus on law implementation, utilizing a visual advocacy strategy to translate complex legal concepts into high-impact content.
• Learnovators AI: Youth Safety, Public Violence, and Artificial Intelligence​​​​​​​
  • Mission: To critically examine the growing influence of artificial intelligence on youth justice and safety, exploring both its transformative potential and the systemic risks it introduces.
  • Key Output: A digital platform designed as a “one-stop shop” featuring a Knowledge Hub of curated expert resources, professional development training and toolkits, and a crowd-sourcing space for localized solutions. The long-term vision includes an AI companion chatbot to help users navigate these concepts.
• A Dream-Centered Framework To Advance Strategies For Transformative Change In The Criminal Justice System​​​​​​​
  • Mission: Focuses on how to create the specific conditions conducive to transforming the ways youth safety and justice are approached by investing in and sharing power with directly-impacted people and communities.
  • Key Output: A multi-layered blueprint designed to make systems transformation more likely. Rather than looking for "perfect answers," the group is producing mechanisms for institutional accountability and community co-creation, focusing on transforming narratives, safe proximity, and relational research.
• Youth, Gangs, and Organized Crime
  • Mission: To analyze the socio-political and economic factors that drive global youth involvement in gangs and organized crime, shifting the focus from the "offender" label to the "child" reality.
  • Key Outputs: A generative case study bank focusing on evolving threats, including digital recruitment and "grooming" through methods such as the “boyfriend method.” The group is providing an international response framework to help justice systems balance regional differences with a shared commitment to child rights.

The final convening served as a critical platform for the initiative’s five working groups to solidify their collective legacy and transition from theoretical discussion to tangible, action-oriented outputs. 

Beyond the Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety and Justice initiative, there remain many avenues for future development, ranging from the need for a broader set of allies beyond community advocates, local and national governments, judiciaries, NGOs, and academia—all of whom were represented in the Salzburg Global conversations.

Potential Future Allies

Future allies for justice reform include, first and foremost, members of the law and justice systems, including (but by no means limited to) judges and judicial clerks, public defenders, law enforcement officers, and prosecutors—especially those who would be open to data-driven reforms in the face of rising crime. There is a growing sense among some “tough-on-crime” actors that the punitive system does not work; how can that discontent be harnessed to support justice reform without them dismissing such reforms as being “soft-on-crime”?

Given the role that family trauma plays in exacerbating youth violence, there is scope for allying with organizations addressing domestic violence in order to mitigate youth violence and increase youth safety. In many communities, these sorts of services—as well as other community outreach efforts—are led by churches, mosques, and other religious groups, who could also be co-opted into these prevention and wider reform efforts. 

There exists a clear need to build stronger allyship among local and state governments, as well as with corporations and the private sector. Given the private sector’s resources, training expertise, and access to critical conversations, companies can play an important role in improving youth outcomes. Effective engagement with the business sector requires recognizing that, while advocates are social justice-driven, businesses are often revenue-driven. Bridging this gap requires strategic storytelling that frames justice reform as a core business expectation rather than just an individual charitable choice. The opportunities for investment range from enhancing youth training to changing employment practices. Some firms have already invested in this work, including by helping provide vocational training, mentorship, career opportunities, and reviewing hiring criteria that can be discriminatory. By identifying multiple entry points, such as corporate foundations, legal departments, and executive committees, advocates can foster a "contagious courage" in which industry leaders follow one another in making bold commitments. While these partnerships may start as transactional, they are a necessary first step in incrementally nudging the system toward broader social change.

Another key set of private sector partners could come from the technology sector. Some Fellows highlighted the influence of social media in particular. While the social media companies themselves may have differing roles and variable public perceptions as well, it was seen that, particularly from larger technology companies like Meta, owners of Facebook and Instagram, and ByteDance, known for TikTok, whose platforms today play an inadvertent role in encouraging youth violence, might be repurposed to promote more inclusive and transformative messaging. 

Environmental organizations and city agencies that consider the built environment and the creation of additional green spaces should also collaborate with organizations addressing youth violence to create spaces that are not only safe but also more inclusive, centered on, and perhaps co-designed by the youth they serve. These should be accessible to all, supporting healthier lives.

There is a clear need for investment in back-office support for those working in youth violence reduction and criminal justice reform. Human resources, legal, finance, and other teams can be very expensive, but are essential to doing this work well. Engaging the private sector through pro-bono legal services can provide these essential "problem-solver" teams, though care must be taken to ensure corporate partners understand the local context and the real-time urgency of social justice needs, so they truly help rather than hinder. The development of solutions to lower these costs, be that cooperation, technical solutions, or otherwise, would free up essential resources to deliver this important work.

Similarly, partnering with customer relationship management (CRM) companies like Salesforce could unlock new possibilities for youth interventions, such as street outreach programs, which would benefit from more easily managing individuals in their systems and tracking their progress through vocational training. Similarly, the software can more easily provide and analyze data on weaknesses, e.g., frequently missed days of work. The ability to map social networks and to track patterns across individuals would benefit these organizations as they seek to improve their interventions and maximize their impact. 

The conclusion of this four-year journey in December 2025 marks a strategic transition rather than a final end. What began as a series of global dialogues has turned into a resilient, cross-sectoral community, which has redefined youth justice through the lens of curiosity, empathy, unity, and authenticity. The most profound takeaway from this initiative is not found in the data alone, but in the fundamental shift from transactions to relationships. We have learned that sustainable reform requires a culture where leaders are resourced to work intergenerationally and internationally. Throughout this initiative, we have found that lasting reform is only possible when built upon a foundation of mutual trust and an openness to diverse perspectives. Ultimately, we have recognized that scientific and social research must serve as more than just a reference; it must be a catalyst for systemic change that refocuses the entire justice landscape on supporting the healthy development and future potential of every young person.

As we look toward the future, the core recommendation to policymakers, practitioners, and the private sector is to invest in the heart of the work. The cohort's tangible outputs provide the map, but the enduring global network of Fellows provides the engine. Moving forward, we must move beyond simply "studying" affected communities and instead commit to a "Child First" reality where justice systems are built on compassion rather than retribution.

Articles

Bogert, Carroll, and Lynnell Hancock. “Superpredator”. The Marshall Project, November 20, 2020. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/11/20/superpredator-the-media-myth-that-demonized-a-generation-of-black-youth 

Cohen, Michael and Paul Vecchiato. “South African Murders Increase to Highest in More Than a Decade.” Bloomberg, July 31, 2020. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-31/south-african-murders-increase-to-highest-in-more-than-a-decade 

Cooper, Wilbert L. “People-First Language Matters. So Does the Rest of the Story”. The Marshall Project, April 13, 2021. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2021/04/13/people-first-language-matters-so-does-the-rest-of-the-story

Clifford, Stephanie. “An autistic man was surfing the internet on his dad’s sofa. Then the FBI turned up.” The Economist, November 21, 2022. https://www.economist.com/1843/2022/11/21/an-autistic-man-was-surfing-the-internet-on-his-dads-sofa-then-the-fbi-turned-up

Cox, John, Steve Hendrix & Steven Rich. “A 6-year-old is accused of shooting someone at school. He isn’t the first.” The Washington Post, January 11, 2023. How often do elementary students bring guns to school and shoot someone? - The Washington Post

Ellis, Eddie. “An Open Letter to Our Friends on the Question of Language”.  Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions, January 2020. https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=pp

Ginwright, Shawn. “The Future of Healing: Shifting From Trauma Informed Care to Healing Centered Engagement”. Medium. May 2018. https://ginwright.medium.com/the-future-of-healing-shifting-from-trauma-informed-care-to-healing-centered-engagement-634f557ce69c 

Griffin, Jo. “Is brutal treatment of young offenders fuelling crime rates in Brazil?” The Guardian, March 3, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/mar/03/brazil-crime-rates-brutal-treatment-young-offenders

Gupta, Suparna. “Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway reopens an important conversation on child welfare and separating families”. Scroll.In, April 5, 2023.  https://scroll.in/article/1046091/mrs-chatterjee-vs-norway-reopens-an-important-conversation-on-child-welfare-and-separating-families 

Makooi, Bahar. “What is behind the increase in gang violence in France?” France 24, March 3, 2021. https://www.france24.com/en/france/20210303-what-is-behind-the-increase-in-gang-violence-in-france 

McCarthy, Patrick, Vincent Schiraldi, and Miriam Shark. “The Future of Youth Justice: A Community-Based Alternative to the Youth Prison Model”. Office of Justice Programs, October 2016. https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/250142.pdf 

McKenna, Kevin. “Community Justice Scotland’s Karyn McCluskey on hidden cost of Covid.” The Herald, January 2023. https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/23231585.violence-reduction-units-karyn-mccluskey-hidden-costs-pandemic/

Mueller, Isabelle and Ed Tronick. “Early Life Exposure to Violence: Developmental Consequences on Brain and Behavior”. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, July 9, 2019. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00156/full

“Murders surge in Brazil despite pandemic”. Buenos Aires Times, October 20, 2020. https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/latin-america/murders-surge-in-brazil-despite-pandemic.phtml

Nadar, A. “Inspirational! How Police Reforms First-Time Offenders”. Rediff.com, February 8, 2023. https://www.rediff.com/news/special/paravai-inspirational-how-police-reforms-first-time-offenders/20230208.htm

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. “The Neurocognitive and Psychosocial Impacts of Violence and Trauma: Proceedings of a Workshop-in Brief”. The National Academies Press, April 6, 2018. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK498651/

Reynolds, Matt. “One-time jailhouse lawyer creates legal jobs program for the formerly incarcerated”. ABAJournal, April, 2022. https://www.abajournal.com/web/article/former-jailhouse-lawyer-creates-legal-jobs-program-for-the-formerly-incarcerated

Sawyer, Wendy. “Youth Confinement: The Whole Pie 2019”. Prison Policy Initiative, December 19, 2019. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/youth2019.html

Shockley, Jeffrey. “How to Endure the Winters of a Life Sentence”. The Frontline, January 9, 2023. https://atmos.earth/winter-life-sentence-prison-journalism-project

Tameez, Hanaa’. “The Prison Newspaper Directory finds that the number of prison-based papers is growing.” Nieman Lab, March 14, 2023. https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/03/the-prison-newspaper-directory-finds-that-the-number-of-prison-based-papers-is-growing/

Walsh, Colm. “Common Purpose: A model for enhancing complex service designs in the prevention of high harm youth violence”. Youth & Policy. https://www.youthandpolicy.org/articles/common-purpose/

Blogs

“Juvenile Delinquency Statistics, Risk Factors, And Resources For Helping American Youth”. Blog. Maryville University.https://online.maryville.edu/blog/juvenile-delinquency-statistics/

Datasets

The World Bank. “Population, total – Brazil”. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=BR 

The World Bank. “Population, total – Czech Republic”. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=CZ 

The World Bank. “Population, total – United States”. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=US 

World Prison Brief. “Czech Republic”. https://www.prisonstudies.org/country/czech-republic 

Youth Endowment Fund. “Children, violence and vulnerability 2022”. https://youthendowmentfund.org.uk/toolkit/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=18321404543&gclid=CjwKCAjwhLPOBhBiEiwA8_wJHCuiCmj0k8pXMPM9Sf7SwXR4YNNfiNw3G7A1Hhh0b3dYvW9w-UinqBoCgUQQAvD_BwE

Youth Endowment Fund. “A and E navigators”. https://youthendowmentfund.org.uk/toolkit/ae-navigators/ 

Youth Endowment Fund. “Pre-court diversion”. https://youthendowmentfund.org.uk/toolkit/pre-court-diversion/ 
 

Government Publications

Beard, Jaqueline. April 2022. Youth custody. House of Commons Library. https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8557/CBP-8557.pdf 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. October 2021. What is the Cardiff Violence Prevention Model?  https://www.safestates.org/news/688544/CDC-Releases-the-Updated-Cardiff-Violence-Prevention-Model-Toolkit.htm#:~:text=Violence%20is%20preventable%20when%20everyone,about%20where%20violence%20is%20occurring.

Government of the State of Rio de Janeiro/State Secretariat of Education. 2001. Schools of Peace. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: University of Rio de Janeiro.   http://specialcollections.nust.na:8080/greenstone3/library/sites/localsite/collect/unesco/index/assoc/HASH0173/390d2706.dir/Schools_of_peace.pdf;jsessionid=B78E160E673DA8F3A3D9143E36C65FE2

U.S. Department of Justice. 2021. "Comprehensive Strategy for Reducing Violent Crime". Washington, D.C.: Office of the Deputy Attorney General. https://www.justice.gov/dag/page/file/1397921/download 

U.S. Department of Justice. “Police-Community Relations Toolkit: Importance of Police-Community Relationships and Resources for Further Reading”. Washington, D.C.: Community Relations Service. https://www.justice.gov/crs/file/836486/download 

Journals

Drake, Deborah H., and Andrew Henley. “Victims’ versus ‘offenders’ in British political discourse: the construction of a false dichotomy”. Howard Journal of Criminal Justice. Volume 52, Number 2: 141-157. (May 2014). http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/53845 

Gilad, Michal, and Abraham Gutman. 2019. “The Tragedy Of Wasted Funds And Broken Dreams: An Economic Analysis Of Childhood Exposure To Crime And Violence”. University Of Illinois Law Review. Volume 2021, Number 1: 37-96. (September 2019). https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3458626 

Sinclair, James, Deanne Unruh, and Kim Kelly. “Relationships Matter: The Role Transition Specialists Play in Youth’s Reentry From the Juvenile Justice System”. Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals, Volume 44, Issue 1 (2021). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2165143420948838 

Policy Briefs

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (2020). “Protecting and mobilizing youth in COVID-19 responses”. (Policy Brief No. 67). UN/DESA. https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/publication/un-desa-policy-brief-67-protecting-and-mobilizing-youth-in-COVID-19-responses/ 

Reports

Association of London Directors of Children’s Services. Adolescent safeguarding in London: A handbook for collaboration. https://indd.adobe.com/view/fea3a74c-58d4-4dab-9824-359bedff1e2b 

College of Policing Limited. Policing and health collaboration: landscape review 2021. https://assets.college.police.uk/s3fs-public/2021-09/policing-and-health-collaboration-landscape-review-2021.pdf 

Commission on Young Lives. Hidden in Plain Sight: A national plan of action to support vulnerable teenagers to succeed and to protect them from adversity, exploitation, and harm. November 2022. https://thecommissiononyounglives.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/COYL-FINAL-REPORT-FINAL-VERSION.pdf 

Cresswell, Katie, Emma R. Barton, Lara Snowden, Annermarie Newbury, and Laura Cowley. A Health Needs Assessment: The impact of COVID-19 on children and young people’s experiences of violence and adverse childhood experiences. Cardiff: Wales Violence Prevention Unit, 2021. https://www.violencepreventionwales.co.uk/cms-assets/research/Full-Report_The-impact-of-COVID-19-on-children-and-young-peoples-experiences-of-violence-and-adverse-childhood-experiences_2021-06-03-101247.pdf 

Crest Advisory. Brighter Futures Financial Modelling Cost Benefit Analysis Report. January 2022. https://www.newham.gov.uk/downloads/file/4765/brighter-futures-cost-benefit-analysis-report-january-2022-final 

Elpus, Kenneth. Arts Education and Positive Youth Development: Cognitive, Behavioral, and Social Outcomes of Adolescents who Study the Arts. College Park, MD: Research: Art Works, National Endowment for the Arts. https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/Research-Art-Works-Maryland.pdf 

FosterClub, Inc., 2006. https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/DCF/Adolescents/VITAL-Policies/27-LATEST-combined-5-10-21.pdf 

FosterClub. Permanency Pact: Life-long, kin-like connections between a youth and a supportive adult. Permanency Pact (wisconsin.gov)

Hosking, George & Ita Walsh. Violence and what to do about it. England: Wave Trust, 2005. https://www.wavetrust.org/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=87a00aec-baed-4212-9ad9-9f3deb900403 

Kieselbach, Berit and Alexander Butchart. Preventing Youth Violence: An Overview Of The Evidence. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2015. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/181008/9789241509251_eng.pdf 
 
Maluleke, Gavaza, Adam Mendelsohn, and Thierry Rousset. The Dynamics of Racism, Antisemitism and Xenophobia on Social Media in South Africa. Johannesburg, South Africa: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, 2022. https://www.jhbholocaust.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/The-Dynamics-of-Racism-Antisemitism-Xenophobia-on-Social-Media-in-South-Africa-web-low-1.pdf 

Mendel, Richard. Why Youth Incarceration Fails: An Updated Review of the Evidence. Washington, D.C.: The Sentencing Project, March 1, 2023. https://www.sentencingproject.org/reports/why-youth-incarceration-fails-an-updated-review-of-the-evidence/ 

Models for Change. Research on Pathways to Desistance. Pittsburgh: Models for Change, December 2012: 4-5. https://www.pathwaysstudy.pitt.edu/documents/MfC_RPD_2012_final.pdf 

Natukunda, Pheonah. Women and Domestic Violence in Uganda: A Case Study of Refugee Women in Kyaka II Refugee Settlement in South Western Uganda. University of Zimbabwe, 2008. https://www.chr.up.ac.za/images/researchunits/wru/documents_/articles/pheonah_natukunda_women_and_domestic_violence_in_uganda_a_case_study_of_refugee_women_in_kyaka_II_refugee_settlement_in_south_western_uganda.pdf 

Newham Children’s Commissioner Report. Five Steps to the Best. Newham London. https://www.newham.gov.uk/downloads/file/4342/newham-children-s-commissioner-report 

Newham London. A Whole Systems Approach to Youth Safety. https://www.beautiful.ai/player/-N6NEisZb8FQ6h2qJADO/A-Whole-Systems-Approach-to-Youth-Safety 

Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies & Task Force on Justice. Justice for Children, Justice for All: The Challenge to Achieve SDG16+ Call to Action. Glasgow: CELCIS - Inspiring Children’s Futures, University of Strathclyde, 2019. Justice for Children, Justice for All: The Challenge to Achieve SDG 16 + - University of Strathclyde

Pell, Elena. Relationships Matter: How Agencies Can Support Family and Social Network Development. Baltimore, MD: The Annie E. Casey Foundation, January 1, 2006. Relationships Matter: How Agencies Can Support Family and Social Network Development (issuelab.org)

Penal Reform International & Kingdom of the Netherlands. Women who kill in the context of domestic violence in Uganda: How does the criminal justice system respond? Kampala, Uganda: Penal Reform International, 2021. https://cdn.penalreform.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Women-who-kill-in-the-context-of-domestic-violence_Uganda.pdf 

Roehlkepartain, E.C., K. Pekel, A.K. Syvertsen, J. Sethi, T.K. Sullivan, and P.C. Scales. Relationships First: Creating Connections that Help Young People Thrive. Minneapolis, MN: Search Institute, 2017. https://calgaryyouthjustice.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/RE00F41.pdf

Rosenfeld, Richard, Thomas Abt, and Ernesto Lopez. Pandemic, Social Unrest, and Crime in U.S. Cities: 2020 Year-End Update. Washington, D.C.: Council on Criminal Justice, 2021. https://counciloncj.org/update-pandemic-social-unrest-and-crime-in-u-s-cities/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22295557823&gclid=CjwKCAjwhLPOBhBiEiwA8_wJHEwIMZOUXE0V1Da58cG_y0vVByTQHcy0bG8gLDyEt1nWIswm9R1eURoCEuUQAvD_BwE

Rovner, Josh. Juvenile Life Without Parole: An Overview. Washington, D.C.: The Sentencing Project, 2021. https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/juvenile-life-without-parole 

Saywer, Wendy. Youth Confinement: The Whole Pie 2019. Prison Policy Initiative, December 19, 2019. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/youth2019.html 
 
Svensson, Robert & Dietrich Oberwittler. Changing routine activites and the decline of youth crime: A repeated cross-sectional analysis of self-reported delinquency in Sweden, 1999-2017. Criminology. May 2021. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1745-9125.12273 

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization: Brasil. Making Room: Education and Culture for Peace. Brasilia: UNESCO, 2001. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000125370?posInSet=11&queryId=4602d00c-9a1a-442b-85bd-c33e09fae56e 

United Nations General Assembly. United Nations Model Strategies and Practical Measures on the Elimination of Violence against Children in the Field of Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. September 25, 2014. https://www.unodc.org/pdf/criminal_justice/Model_Strategies_violence_children.pdf 

Vigne La, Nancy, Jocelyn Fontaine, and Anamika Dwivedi. How Do People in High-Crime, Low-Income Communities View the Police? Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute, 2017. https://www.urban.org/research/publication/how-do-people-high-crime-low-income-communities-view-police 

Youth Justice Board of England and Wales: Youth Justice Resource Hub. A Guide to Child First. https://yjresourcehub.uk/images/YJB/Child_First_Overview_and_Guide_April_2022_YJB.pdf 

Websites

Association of Police and Crime Commissioners. "Violence Reduction Units in Focus". 2020. https://www.apccs.police.uk/

Centre for Mental Health. “Covid-19 could widen mental health inequalities for a generation, says Centre for Mental Health report”. 2020. https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/news/COVID-19-could-widen-mental-health-inequalities-generation-says-centre-mental-health-report 

Columbia University Center for Spatial Research. “Million Dollar Blocks”. https://c4sr.columbia.edu/projects/million-dollar-blocks 

HM Inspectorate of Probation. “The evidence base – youth offending services” https://hmiprobation.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/our-research/evidence-base-youth-justice/

JPMorgan & Chase. “The Fellowship Initiative”. https://www.jpmorganchase.com/impact/people/mentoring-skilled-volunteerism/the-fellowship-initiative 

Maryland Youth Justice Coalition. “What Happens When a Child is Charged as a Juvenile or as an Adult”. https://www.sentencingproject.org/press-releases/over-1000-kids-charged-as-adults-last-year-maryland-senate-weighs-major-reform/

Newham London. “Youth Safety.” https://www.newham.gov.uk/children-families/youth-safety 

No Kids in Prison. “Explore Costs per State.” https://www.nokidsinprison.org/explore/costs-per-state 

No Kids in Prison. “What Youth Want”.  https://www.nokidsinprison.org/solutions/what-youth-want 

Premier League Kicks. “Find out more about our flagship community programme which uses the power of football and sport to inspire young people in some of the most high-need areas in England and Wales”. https://www.premierleague.com/en/news/59540

Scottish Violence Reduction Unit. “Who are we?” http://www.svru.co.uk/about-us/ 

Search Institute. “Relational Culture Checkup”. https://searchinstitute.org/resources-hub/relational-culture-check-up 

The Marshall Project. “The Language Project”. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2021/04/12/the-language-project 

United Nations Office On Drugs And Crime. "The Challenges of Protecting Youth From Crime And Violence In A Pandemic". 2020. https://www.unodc.org/dohadeclaration/en/news/2020/11/the-challenges-of-protecting-youth-from-crime-and-violence-in-a-pandemic.html 

World Health Organization. "Youth Violence". 2020. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/youth-violence 

Youth Endowment Fund. “YEF Toolkit”. https://youthendowmentfund.org.uk/toolkit/ 

Youth Justice Resource Hub. “About the Hub.” https://yjlc.uk/resources/legal-updates/yjb-launches-youth-justice-resource-hub-website

Books

Chochua, Maia. (2022). Introducing Restorative Practices in the Child Justice System of Georgia. In A. Wolthuis & T. Champman (Eds.), Restorative justice from a children’s rights perspective. Eleven International Publishing. Restorative justice from a children’s rights perspective | Wolthuis, Chapman | 9789462362277 | Eleven (elevenpub.com)
 
Oatway, James and Alon Skuy. [BR]OTHER. Johannesburg: Jacana Media, 2022. https://www.jhbholocaust.co.za/remembrance/online-publications/ 

UNESCO Office in Brasilia & Brazil Ministry of Education. Building knowledge: conceptual framework and methodology for the Open School Programme: education and culture for peace. Brasilia: UNESCO, MEC, 2009. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000191901?posInSet=2&queryId=4602d00c-9a1a-442b-85bd-c33e09fae5 

UNESCO Office in Brasilia & Brazil Ministry of Education. Open school: a step-by-step guide for implementation of the Open School Programme: education and culture for peace. Brasilia: UNESCO, MEC, 2009. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000191906?posInSet=1&queryId=4602d00c-9a1a-442b-85bd-c33e09fae56e 
 
UNESCO Office in Brasilia & Brazil Ministry of Education. Strengthening competencies: continuing education for the Open School Programme: education and culture for peace. Brasilia: UNESCO, MEC, 2009. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000191903?posInSet=3&queryId=4602d00c-9a1a-442b-85bd-c33e09fae56e 

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Handbook for the Judiciary on Effective Criminal Justice Responses to Gender-based Violence against Women and Girls. Vienna: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2019. https://www.unodc.org/pdf/criminal_justice/HB_for_the_Judiciary_on_Effective_Criminal_Justice_Women_and_Girls_E_ebook.pdf 

Legal Resources

Legislative Herald of Georgia. 2016. Law of Georgia: Juvenile Justice Code. State of Georgia. https://matsne.gov.ge/en/document/download/2877281/0/en/pdf 
 
United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. General Comment No. 24 (2019) on children’s rights in the child justice system, 2019. https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G19/275/57/PDF/G1927557.pdf?OpenElement 

Videos

60 Minutes. “SOLA: Daring to educate Afghanistan’s girls”. February 27, 2023. https://www.cbsnews.com/video/sola-afghanistan-education-60-minutes-video-2023-02-26/ 

Blue Muse Productions. “PURGATORY - Award-Winning Domestic Violence Short Film (Gaslighting, Coercive Control, Abuse)”. May 29, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVTyu1CfVpw 

Buckles, Jr., Edward. “Katrina Babies”. HBO. 2022. https://www.hbo.com/movies/katrina-babies 

Camino Productions NYC. “Unguarded”. Unguarded | Bullfrog Films: 1-800-543-3764: Environmental DVDs and Educational DVDs

Claudio Magnifico. “Escuelas Abiertas Guatemala”. May 9, 2012. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snQw3UHD1wU 

Ellis, Andrew & Ben Stamper. “Second Shot”. Aeon. January 10, 2023. https://aeon.co/videos/thirty-years-after-one-teenager-shot-another-is-it-time-to-forgive 

EqualEducation. “#LongWalkToSchool: The struggle for scholar transport”. June 19, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CcM5FhG0O0 

EqualEducation. “Walking to Learn: Siphilele’s Journey”. June 19, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeiDLPKWXTE 

EqualEducation. “I am an Equaliser”. January 18, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HEZb_Ut5Zc 

EqualEducation. “VICTORY #LongWalkToSchool Scholar transport at last for KwaZulu-Natal learners!” February 7, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpYGPyATIhM 

Got Your Back Sista. “’Silenced’ - A short film of domestic violence through the eyes of a child.” May 2, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-G63appuyE 

Newham London. “Geeta Subramaniam-Mooney: Whole Systems Approach At Newham”. April 26, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgOZEWjWgUk 

Newham London. “The Social Justice Approach” https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p1LCK_8lUlc5LUPzbxk3CTmVFRno6Zka/view 

Wireless Philosophy. “Proportioned verdicts”. Aeon. October 25, 2022. https://aeon.co/videos/beyond-guilty-or-not-guilty-could-a-range-of-verdict-options-be-more-just 

Radio

Kim, Tatiana & Johnson, Christopher. “The Panopticon Effect”. Produced by 99% Invisible. Aired March 28, 2023. https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-panopticon-effect/