Often these programs emphasize mentoring relationships for youth who are early in their engagement in the juvenile justice system or diverting them from involvement altogether ⎯ after an initial arrest or in lieu of sentencing for a minor crime. Recent years have also seen substantial investments, particularly from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the U.S. Department of Justice more broadly, to provide mentoring as a support service for youth (and adults) who are leaving periods of incarceration (or preparing to do so) and re-entering their communities. See below for a listing of investments OJJDP has made in this area in recent funding cycles.
The UNITY Peer Guides and Healing Indigenous Lives Initiative is dedicated to spreading awareness of available resources to Native youth to help increase community safety, protective factors and reduce youth risky behaviors contributing to juvenile delinquency.
All programs of this type also place a premium on outcomes related to avoiding recidivism (i.e., being re-arrested for criminal activities or otherwise deepening their engagement with the juvenile or criminal justice systems). Diversion-focused programs often emphasize providing youth who have been arrested with activities and relationships that engage or reengage them in existing systems of support that can help them build resiliency and avoid future criminal involvement. Examples include services to support high school graduation and college access, job training and career planning, substance abuse and mental health treatments, and broader youth development opportunities that promote healthy relationships and decision-making. Programs serving youth reentering communities after periods of incarceration, while frequently cover these same domains, often provide services that are more intense and that include additional areas of emphasis on creating a stable foundation for ongoing success and on compliance with terms of probation or post-release supervision. In many instances, reentry-focused programs work closely with juvenile justice professionals as part of a broader transition team.
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