APRI Highlights - Spring 2002

National Juvenile Justice Prosecution Center

Caren Harp, Director

In its efforts to provide state of the art training and technical assistance to the nation’s prosecutors, APRI’s National Juvenile Justice Prosecution Center (NJJPC) ventured into technology-based training in December 2001. NJJPC presented “Prosecuting Juvenile Sex Offenders,” broadcast over the Internet and accessible through the NJJPC Web page. Video streaming of the hour-long training was available for 500 viewers, and 490 viewers successfully logged on to watch the presentation live. The Web cast was archived on our Web site where another 198 visitors viewed the presentation. NJJPC continues to get requests for the Web cast and its accompanying power point slides.

NJJPC continues to present courses at the National Advocacy Center and at other sites around the country. The Juvenile Justice Leadership Summit attracted 46 participants, including five elected prosecutors. The summit focused on the prosecutor’s role in developing innovative programs to address juvenile justice problems. During the course of the week, prosecutors developed programs or management strategies to implement upon return to their jurisdictions. From the Leadership Summit, NJJPC has received numerous requests for its Compendium of Programs, as well as technical assistance in other areas. Our publications, specifically our Topical Resource Guides, are being requested via the NDAA/APRI Web page and via calls to NJJPC staff. The list of available Topical Resource Guides appears on the NJJPC page of the APRI Web site.

NJJPC recently conducted a multidisciplinary problem-solving workshop. Teams of juvenile justice professionals from four different jurisdictions attended the pilot program in Alexandria, VA, to identify, discuss and commit to solve specific problems that plague their jurisdictions. Each team developed a plan with immediate and longer-term action steps to guide implementation in their communities. NJJPC will also be participating in the NDAA/NCJFCJ National Conference on Juvenile Justice in Houston, Texas, coordinating a track for prosecutors. Some workshops in this track include Waiver, Transfer, and Blended Sentencing; Megan’s Law and the Juvenile Sexual Offender; and the Link Between Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice.

In the next few months, NJJPC will present a course on Juvenile Delinquency Prosecution and two additional Jumpstart workshops. For more information about APRI’s National Juvenile Justice Prosecution Center and a complete training calendar, please consult the Web site or contact juvenilejustice@ndaa-apri.org.