Systems in Crisis: Rethinking the Juvenile Justice Workforce and Foundational Strategies for Improving Public Safety and Youth Outcomes

The Issue

Juvenile corrections and probation agencies have long struggled to recruit and retain front-line staff. But since the inception of the COVID-19 pandemic, these challenges have reached unprecedented levels.

Public agencies are struggling to provide youth with even basic supervision and services and to safeguard the well-being of their staff and the youth they serve. Juvenile justice staffing shortages extend to public defenders and prosecutors, forcing youth to go without counsel and causing court delays. And service providers can’t maintain adequate staffing, which results in overcrowding, waiting lists, or leaving youth and families without viable options to get their critical needs met.

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A Call to Action

We call on policymakers and juvenile justice system leaders nationwide to wrestle with three critical questions that sit at the heart of ongoing juvenile justice staffing instability:

1. Who are the individuals who should be responsible for protecting community safety and working with the most vulnerable adolescents in your state or community?
2. What treatment environments best support improved public safety and outcomes not only for youth but for the professionals who are responsible for their safety, supervision, and rehabilitation?
3. What interventions matter when it comes to reducing recidivism and supporting youth to transition to a crime-free, productive adulthood?   

Grounded in research and lessons learned on “what works” from the past two decades, our brief, Systems in Crisis: Revamping the Juvenile Justice Workforce and Core Strategies for Improving Public Safety and Youth Outcomes, and the accompanying fact sheets that detail shorter-term hiring and retention best practices can help jurisdictions rethink their juvenile justice staffing and workforce.