Too busy to start a prosecutor-led juvenile program?

APRI's Juvenile Program Compendium can help.

You don't need to start from scratch or reinvent the wheel to get a successful juvenile program up and rolling in your jurisdiction. We know you are busy! SO, through funding received form Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Juvenile Justice Prosecution Program at APRI has developed a Juvenile Program Compendium. The Compendium is a computerized database of juvenile programs run by prosecutors or in which prosecutors' offices have substantial responsibility. Many prosecutors have teamed with other juvenile justice professionals to create innovative programs to prevent and solve juvenile delinquency problems, streamline juvenile prosecution and address offense-specific needs of juveniles.

The Compendium is an Access database that is searchable by all database fields. APRI can search any one or all of these fields to find the specific information that you need. Through searches of the database, APRI can locate programs that may help your jurisdiction in developing programs that target particular problems. In the future, the database may be accessible via our website. (www.ndaa-apri.org). A sample of the Compendium "page" is on the reverse of this newsletter. The database includes information on the jurisdiction, state, size of jurisdiction, program inception date, program description, legislation, publications, media, measurement of success, contact name, address, telephone number, fax number and e-mail address. All programs entered in the database are identified by their subject area (primary and secondary).

Some programs provide accountability for juveniles who commit delinquent acts. Other programs work to prevent juvenile crime and steer juveniles who are at risk of becoming chronically delinquent away form such behavior. A county in Arizona has a program for graffiti offenders where they must perform 200 hours of community service painting over graffiti, picking up trash, and other tasks. The prosecutor usually recommends that the court revoke the juvenile's driver's license until age 18, order the juvenile to a few days in detention, and require the juvenile to pay restitution for the damage. In California, specially assigned district attorneys actively minitor and prosecute truancy offenses (including prosecution of parents whose children fail to attend school).

Many jurisdictions have diversion programs (pre-and post- adjudication) which can be tailored for use by your office to meet your particular needs.

The programs described above are just a sample of those contained in the Compendium. APRI can search the Compendium database for you to find the type of program you need as a model to start your own program. At this point, the Compendium database have over 200 entries from jurisdictions of all sizes and from almost every state. Although a significant number of programs are already listed in the Compendium, APRI would like to add more to the database. In order for APRI to add your program to the database,CLICK HERE, fill in the requested information and attach any pertinent documents. Then mail or fax your completed Compendium entry to:

Juvenile Justice Prosecution Program
APRI
99 Canal Center Plaza, Suite 510
Alexandria, VA 22314
Fax (703) 836-3195

If you have any questions or would like further information on the Compendium, please contact Caren Harp at (703) 518-4386 or e-mail juvenilejustice@ndaa-apri.org.