Improving Community-based Juvenile Justice Programming

For this project, New York City Mayor’s Office, The Center for Innovation through Data Intelligence (CIDI), partnered with Division of Youth and Family Justice at New York City Administration for Children’s Services (ACS). ACS oversees Close to Home initiative, which paved the way for youth found to have committed a delinquent act to be placed by the New York City Family Court in group homes or close to their communities in the City. Close to Home builds on the City’s legacy of juvenile justice reform, which includes reducing the use of detention and placement, increasing community-based alternatives and lowering recidivism rates, while making the City even safer.

Using data from Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS) survey, the Capstone team identified the strengths and needs of youth in Close to Home, analyzed how communities are already working to support program participants, and identify any gaps that are left unaddressed. To accomplish this, the team developed a thorough understanding of “best practices” in juvenile justice, identified youths’ home neighborhoods, and learned the process by which participants are linked to community resources.  The team produced a comprehensive summary of the YLS data and developed a database that can continue to be updated as ACS receives additional YLS data.