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THE VALUE OF JUSTICE-INVOLVED YOUTH: ACCOUNTABILITY THROUGH TECHNOLOGY-DRIVEN POLICIES AND PRACTICES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 June 2022

Sally Stevens*
Affiliation:
Gender and Women’s Studies, Southwest Institute for Research on Women, University of Arizona, USA

Abstract

The United States juvenile justice system has primary oversight of youth who come into contact with legal authorities. This system is purposefully distinct from the adult system given the presumption of youths’ reduced culpability for delinquent behavior and increased potential for rehabilitation. Some juvenile court policies and practices are supportive of youth while others may drive youth further into the juvenile justice system. Today, we are at a point in which we can—and should—use information technology to accrue data to unpack the impact of these policies and practices on and across youth. Moreover, technology-driven policies and practices such as electronic monitoring may be detrimental to the well-being of youth, whereas others such as video conferencing could be more widely used to benefit youth. While juvenile courts hold youth accountable for their behavior, courts also need to be accountable to youth by employing data-informed policies and practices that advance the health and well-being of youth.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2022 Social Philosophy & Policy Foundation. Printed in the USA

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Footnotes

*

Department of Gender and Women’s Studies, Southwest Institute for Research on Women, University of Arizona, [email protected]. Competing Interests: The author declares none.

References

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32 Arnett, “Virtual Shackles.”

33 Charron, Floren, Ward, and Whitcomb, “Measuring What Really Matters in Juvenile Justice.”

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36 Feierman, Goldstein, Haney-Caron, and Columbo, “Debtors’ Prison for Kids?”

37 Ibid.

38 Stevens and Sargus, “Well-Being of Justice-Involved Youth in Arizona.”

39 National Juvenile Defender Center, “A Right to Liberty: Reforming Juvenile Money Bail,” Washington, DC, 2019. https://njdc.info/wp-content/uploads/2019/NJDC_Right_to_Liberty.pdf

40 Feierman, Goldstein, Haney-Caron, and Columbo, “Debtors’ Prison for Kids?”

41 Stevens and Sargus, “Well-Being of Justice-Involved Youth in Arizona.”

42 Powell, Borror, Curry, Scali, and Simpson, “Arizona Bringing Gualt Home.”

43 Stevens and Sargus, “Well-Being of Justice-Involved Youth in Arizona.”

44 Ibid.

45 Ibid.

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47 Arnett, “Virtual Shackles.”

48 Ibid.

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54 Ibid.

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59 National Juvenile Defender Center, “A Right to Liberty.”

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70 Stevens and Sargus, “Well-Being of Justice-Involved Youth in Arizona.”

71 Ibid.

72 Powell, Borror, Curry, Scali, and Simpson, “Arizona Bringing Gualt Home.”

73 Justice Policy Institute, “Sticker Shock: Calculating the Full Price Tag for Youth Incarceration,” Washington, DC, 2014. http://www.justicepolicy.org/research/8477

74 Chambers and Balck, “Because Kids Are Different.”