By Elizabeth S. Barnert, JAMA Pediatrics, February 10, 2020

Research shows that incarcerated youth are at risk of poor health and social outcomes.1 Interventions that focus on keeping youth out of the juvenile justice system are more likely to affect long-term outcomes.1 To create systems that prevent youth incarceration and improve youths’ trajectories, we must use evidence to inform public policy.

By applying the scientific method through community-engaged scholarship,2 pediatric researchers can generate evidence to support policy change. Evidence provided by pediatric researchers to policy makers can potentiate the voices of community members and may identify solutions not previously visible or expected. The case study below presents an example of linking research to legislative changes that protect children who have been sex trafficked from harmful exposures to the justice system.

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