Creating Opportunities for Youth Impacted by the Justice System

By Liz Ryan, OJJDP Administrator

For many of us, a new year means a fresh start. Whether we strive to work out more or work a little less, the new year is a great time to set new goals and establish realistic milestones. The dawning of a new year is also an opportunity to refocus on the priorities that drive youth justice. One of our most imperative duties in the youth justice field is to ensure that we provide meaningful opportunities for youth impacted by the justice system.

Young people who come into contact with the juvenile justice system deserve the same opportunities as their peers who have never faced system involvement. Youth justice stakeholders must recognize and address the barriers to success that come with a young person's involvement in the juvenile justice system. OJJDP is expanding opportunities for youth leaving confinement through initiatives such as:

• Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. OJJDP collaborates with its fellow members of the federal Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention-which comprises more than a dozen federal agencies and youth justice experts appointed by the President and Congress-to open up opportunities for youth impacted by the justice system. During the past year, the Council has adopted OJJDP's Continuum of Care framework, which emphasizes prevention and intervention efforts to keep more youth out of the justice system and divert system-involved youth from moving deeper into the system. The Council also co-sponsored OJJDP's National Conference on Youth Justice this past November and hosted a workshop track supported by Council members. In December 2024 the Council issued recommendationsto Congress and the White House, in support of a comprehensive federal strategy to prevent and reduce delinquency. These recommendations are grounded in direct input from youth and families with lived experience and youth justice stakeholders, and draw on insights from our partners across federal agencies and from jurisdictions nationwide that are putting best practices into action.
  
• Partnership with AmeriCorps. Young people tell us that one of the most devastating consequences of confinement is the difficulty they have finding employment after release. This year, OJJDP launched a partnershipwith AmeriCorps to co-invest in both reentry services for youth leaving detention and opportunities for justice-impacted youth to serve with AmeriCorps. As AmeriCorps members, these youth will help to improve lives and strengthen communities while also gaining critical work experience. The OJJDP-AmeriCorps partnership is a true win-win for public safety.
  
• Second Chance Youth Reentry. OJJDP's Second Chance Act programs continue to serve as an essential bridge between confinement and reintegration into the community for youth released from residential placement. In 2024, OJJDP invested $7.2 million in the Second Chance Act Youth Reentry Program, helping to provide young people with educational, vocational, and job placement services while still in confinement and after their release.
  
• Fines and Fees. In the past, young people faced exorbitant fines and fees imposed by juvenile courts-too often leading to debt that followed them into adulthood. OJJDP is proud to promote a letterissued by the Justice Department in April 2023 that instructed juvenile courts and judges to presume all youth indigent and unable to pay fines and fees. Removing these fines and fees takes a significant burden off young people, their parents, and guardians.
  
• Mentoring Programs. Mentoring programs also provide opportunities to support the success of young people who have been involved in the justice system. Every January, OJJDP joins with practitioners and youth-serving organizations throughout the country to mark National Mentoring Month. For many young people, mentoring programs provide a consistent, prosocial relationship with an adult-and researchshows that kids need a caring adult in their lives. Mentoring has been shown to improve self-esteem, academic achievement, and peer relationships and to reduce substance misuse, aggression, depressive symptoms, and delinquent acts.

OJJDP's longstanding commitment to mentoring programs includes grant funding for programs throughout the country, as well as training and technical assistance for practitioners. In 2024, OJJDP provided more than $89 million to support a wide variety of mentoring efforts, including programs targeting children of incarcerated parents, youth affected by opioids and substance use, and youth in the juvenile justice system.

Our Office launched a new mentoring programfor justice-involved youth in 2023. This program funds organizations that focus on keeping system-involved youth from moving deeper into the system through diversion or as a complement to community-based probation services. To effectively engage young people, the program promotes the use of credible messengers. Because credible messenger mentors share-and have overcome-many of the same challenges, including involvement in the justice system, young people find them trustworthy. These relationships have the potential to be truly transformative.

At OJJDP, we are committed to partnering with the youth justice field to create opportunities for youth leaving confinement. Together, we can deliver the supports young people need to transition back to their homes and communities and to overcome the obstacles they encounter, in order to ensure that youth are able to grow and thrive.