A key factor in effective policymaking in juvenile justice is not grounded in what we see, but in what we don’t see.
After introducing the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) model to my county, a judicial colleague came to me frustrated and in a depressed tone said, “Steve, it seems that about every kid I see in court these days has done something really bad.”
After a pause and a deep sigh of exasperation, she asked, “Are we doing something wrong?”
I smiled and said, “No, you should only see the kids who scare you — not those that make you mad.”
I reminded her of the JDAI core strategies, with emphasis on objective assessment tools to help us separate the sheep and wolves so the two shall never meet. We discussed how the wolves go to court, but the sheep are shepherded to alternative programs in our restorative justice division.
[For more of this story, written by Stephen Teske, go to http://jjie.org/op-ed-why-you-...-in-my-court/108608/]
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