Justice in their Own Words: Youth Reshaping Research to Keep Peers Out of the Criminal Justice System

Could stronger coordination between school- and community-based services help keep young people out of the criminal justice system? The Youth Voices project -a Wisconsin-based study launched by AIR in 2024 with support from the AIR Opportunity Fund-is taking a unique approach to answering that question: Having youth work with adult researchers to co-create, conduct, and evaluate the research.

According to AIR Senior Researcher Jameela Conway-Turner, who is leading the Youth Voices project, recent trends potentially highlight a need for coordinating services for young people who are both navigating the criminal justice system and in school, especially for youth who are experiencing consistent involvement with the justice system.

One of these trends is that youth arrests, or "referrals," have risen in Wisconsin in recent years. While youth justice referrals in Wisconsin dropped significantly in 2020 due to COVID-19 related disruptions, they are now increasing. According to a Wisconsin Department of Children and Families report, there were 8,630 youth referrals in 2023, up from 8,229 in 2021. This increase follows a pandemic-era dip, when referrals dropped significantly in 2020 due to COVID-19-related disruptions.

The 2023 report also noted growth in felony offenses, including armed robbery, possession of a firearm, verbally threatening violence, and taking/driving vehicles without consent. Notably, a substantial portion of these referrals involved youth with prior contact in the justice system, underscoring the need for targeted interventions and support for young people.

Conway-Turner said, "We want to offer recommendations to improve how schools and community organizations serve young people in the cities of Wisconsin. But, we want these recommendations grounded in the reality of young people's experiences with these dual systems."

The Youth Voices project takes inspiration from participatory action research methods, where individuals with lived experience co-shape the research from start to finish with researchers, ensuring that the findings and recommendations center on an authentic and realistic experience. Typically, researchers who focus on juvenile justice have not partnered directly with young people, but the Youth Voices project prioritizes collaborating with young people ages 18 to 25 who are indirectly and directly affected by the criminal justice system.

"This is potentially a proof of concept. This will show that young people can not only be the subject of research but also can have a much more active role in conducting it, informing it, and making sense of the data," said Reyhan Reid, an AIR senior technical assistance consultant who leads youth engagement on the project.

To recruit young people to be part of the research team, the AIR research team initially relied on Marlo Reeves, a former AIR researcher and Milwaukee resident. Conway-Turner noted, "Marlo has deep relationships in Milwaukee, more so than most of us do even within our own communities, and her ability to develop meaningful relationships was a really important part of the recruitment process."

The youth researchers also have deep connections to communities in Wisconsin. "I've lived in Milwaukee my whole life," Milton, a 19-year-old youth researcher, said. "Grew up on the north end and west side. There's so much diversity in my neighborhood. I loved it. I was cool with all the block kids. We would play basketball all day." Youth researchers' knowledge of local neighborhoods, networks, and how their neighbors and loved ones have experienced the criminal justice system offered the AIR team valuable perspective they may not have gained otherwise.

The youth and adult researchers meet weekly to advance the project. Youth researchers have learned about existing work on juvenile justice and schools, as well as the process of conducting research and its key concepts. Youth and AIR researchers also collaborated on interview protocols and strategies to recruit interview subjects, with youth researchers offering insights on language and interview questions to ensure they resonate with other young people.

With this foundation set, the research team is actively recruiting young people from Milwaukee to participate in interviews and is beginning to interview them. Youth and AIR researchers will then meet to discuss and interpret the interview data, as well as draft recommendations for Milwaukee school districts and justice system agencies.

"What I like about this project," Milton said, "Is that you're gonna get information from people who have been through the criminal justice system or who are in it right now. You gotta go actually talk to them to make a difference."

Stay tuned for additional updates on the AIR Youth Voices. This project is expected to be completed in February 2026.

This blog post was created in collaboration with Shannon Magnuson and Basil Soper of Justice System Partners . Illustrations by Franco Zacha of Justice System Partners.