Juvenile Justice Model Courts

Since the publication of the Juvenile Delinquency Guidelines, the focus of the project has been to disseminate the document and encourage its use by jurisdictions to help guide system reform and improve practice in delinquency cases. To this end, the project sought to mirror the successful NCJFCJ Victim Act Model Courts Project (dependency court) effort and began recruiting implementation sites across the nation. These Juvenile Justice Model Courts work closely with NCJFCJ staff to implement the 16 Key Principles and numerous recommendations for practice in the Juvenile Delinquency Guidelines to help achieve improved delinquency case processing and outcomes for youth, families, and communities. Participation is an intensive effort, involving all stakeholders in the system for which NCJFCJ provides training, technical assistance, assessment, and strategic planning so that “Model” Courts can serve as laboratories for systems change and improvement. As part of this effort, judicial leadership and effective collaboration are viewed as essential for project success.

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