Mission Statement
“Community protection” refers to the right of all Pennsylvania citizens to be and feel safe from crime.
“Victim restoration” emphasizes that, in Pennsylvania, a youth who commits a crime harms the victim of the crime and the community, and thereby incurs an obligation to repair that harm to the greatest extent possible.
“Youth redemption” embodies the belief that youthful offenders in Pennsylvania have strengths, are capable of change, can earn redemption, and can become responsible and productive members of their communities.
The juvenile justice system for youth is different from the criminal system for adults.
- The juvenile justice system deals with youth whose offenses occur between the ages of 10-18. Supervision of a youth can continue until age 21.
- Offenses are considered delinquent acts rather than crimes.
- Most hearings are not open to the public and are presided over by a Judge or Hearing Officer.
- The juvenile justice system is intended to focus on treatment, rehabilitation, and supervision.
- There is no jury trial in Juvenile Court.
- Youth are adjudicated delinquent, rather than found guilty.
- Language used in the juvenile justice system and the adult criminal justice system is different.
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The enactment of Act 33 of Special Session No. 1 of 1995 statutorily established the goals of balanced and restorative justice (BARJ) as the mission of Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice system. Passage of Act 33 required that Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice system “provide for children committing delinquent acts programs of supervision, care and rehabilitation which provide balanced attention to the protection of the community, the imposition of accountability for offenses committed and the development of competencies to enable children to become responsible and productive members of the community.” Stakeholders needed to learn new skills to translate these changes into practice. Consequently, a partnership of key agencies, known as the Juvenile Advisory Committee, formed to guide and educate stakeholders in BARJ, and created a mission statement to reflect these profound changes.
Since 1995, Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice system has operated under the tenets of BARJ.
To protect the community (with a particular emphasis on known delinquent youth). The public has the right to a safe and secure community. Community members and organizations can take an active role in juvenile crime prevention and intervention efforts through partnerships with juvenile justice practitioners. Schools, employers, and other community groups can offer opportunities to youth so that their time in the community is structured around education, community-valued work, and service. Through these joint endeavors, the community works to reintegrate youth. In addition, there is a wide range of supervision and control options that address youths’ risk of committing future illegal acts.
To hold youth accountable for offenses committed. Delinquent youth in Pennsylvania incur obligations to their victims and the communities they harmed. Victims and communities assume active roles in defining both the harm and the appropriate response. Youth exhibit true accountability by learning about and acknowledging the harm caused by their behavior, actively assuming and fulfilling their responsibilities for making reparation, paying restitution, and participating in structured activities that benefit the community. Courts and communities support, facilitate, and enforce reparative agreements.
To assist youth in developing competencies. Youth should leave the juvenile justice system more capable of being productive and responsible members of their communities. Priority is attached to activities that build skills, strengthen relationships with law-abiding adults, and offer opportunities to contribute to the community. These activities build on youths’ strengths and allow them to practice and demonstrate competent behavior. In addition, fostering competencies in youth increases self-esteem and reduces behaviors that put them and their communities at risk.
The first concrete step in developing Pennsylvania’s Juvenile Justice System Enhancement Strategy (JJSES) was to create a Statement of Purpose. The Statement of Purpose was designed to reflect the underlying goals of balanced and restorative justice (BARJ) and of the JJSES initiative:
- Enhancing the capacity of our juvenile justice system to achieve its balanced and restorative justice mission through the implementation of evidence-based practices;
- Demonstrating an ongoing commitment to data collection, analysis, and research; and
- Demonstrating a commitment to continuous quality improvement in every aspect of the system.
JJSES Statement of Purpose
We dedicate ourselves to working in partnership to enhance the capacity of Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice system to achieve its balanced and restorative justice mission by:
- Employing evidence-based practices with fidelity at every stage of the juvenile justice process;
- Collecting and analyzing the data necessary to measure the results of these efforts; and with this knowledge,
- Striving to continuously improve the quality of our decisions, services, and programs.
Pennsylvania’s JJSES was implemented in 2010 and rested on two interlinked foundations: the best empirical research available in the field of juvenile justice and a set of core beliefs about how to put this research into practice. First, Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice stakeholders began implementing strategies that are grounded in evidence-based practices (EBP) and aim to enhance youths' competencies and to change youthful behavior that leads to unlawful acts. Consistent with Pennsylvania’s BARJ mission, EBP seeks to prevent delinquency and out-of-home placement by working with youth to reduce their risk of recidivism and to enhance those protective factors that result in a law-abiding life. Second, the set of core beliefs asserted:
- Children should be diverted from formal court processing whenever appropriate;
- Meeting the needs of victims is an important goal of the juvenile justice system;
- We need to develop and maintain strong partnerships with service providers; and
- We can, and should, do a better job of involving families in all that we do.
The JJSES is the framework within which EBP and the set of core beliefs became a reality in Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice system.
Since 2012, Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice system has operated based on the framework of the JJSES.
The Juvenile Justice System Enhancement Strategy (JJSES) Leadership Team is led by the Deputy Director of the Juvenile Court Judges’ Commission (JCJC) and consists of members of the JCJC, Pennsylvania Council of Chief Juvenile Probation Officers, and Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. The Leadership Team leads decision-making and the implementation and sustainability of JJSES activities. The JJSES Leadership Team strives to meet all juvenile courts, including their juvenile probation departments, where they are engaged along the stages of the JJSES and to encourage the implementation of further JJSES initiatives and the sustainability of previously implemented JJSES initiatives. These initiatives are grounded in evidence-based practices. The implementation and sustainability of JJSES initiatives often requires additional actions, discussions, reviews, and/or approvals by the JJSES Leadership Team about topics related to Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice system.