Thought Leadership

CJJA conducts bi-annual in-person meetings with our membership, one of the objectives during these meetings is to identify thought leadership topics and strategize solutions relevant to the juvenile justice field.

Current Thought Leadership Topics:

• Behavior health/mental health services/system in the community and facility
• Educational Landscape
• Enhancing Career Tech Opportunities
• Gun violence and impact on JJ facilities
• Handling the Increase of Juveniles with Mental Health Issues
• Hiring formerly incarcerated/lived experience individuals
• Incompetent to stand trial/tasks to get them competent
• Managing Younger Youth Population
• Mental Health Resources
• Mental Health In-Patient Residential Beds Referral Process
• Operational Capacity
• Population Levels and Emerging Needs
• Programming for Older Youth
• Reentry
• Re-imaging Secure Facility Operations in the Midst of a Staffing Crisis
• Resources for Youth with Mental Health Needs
• Respite program models
• Technology
• School based arrest/referrals
• Specialized/Episodic Treatment Plan Development
• Staff Recruitment and Retention
• Stakeholder Communication
• Strategies for Older Youth
• Waived Youth Programming

Trending Topics

CJJA members frequently request information between the bi-annual in-person meetings (via email, during regional and committee meetings). Below are a collective list of topics that have been trending with our members and the juvenile justice field.

• Age commitments by statue
• Alternatives to detention/secure placement, including electronic monitoring
• Approaches to recruiting and retaining clinical staff
• Assessment tools
• Effective approaches in family therapy
• Engagement of social entrepreneurship/commercial enterprise that benefits programming and the justice system involving youth and families
• Facility classification systems
• Family advisory board/committee
• Fentanyl related trainings for juvenile justice staff
• Food services
• Gang interventions
• Grievance policies and procedures
• Organizational flow of providing mental health services in secure facilities
• Parenthood programs
• Residential treatment centers/facilities specifically for justice involved youth with complex needs
• Risk, Need, Responsivity (RNR)-informed case management process and reporting systems
• Software programs that support staffing schedules
• Smart watches or cell phones in facilities
• Tablet systems
• Tattoo removal policies and programs
• Tracking staff retention/turnover
• Treatment curriculums for youth with gun-related charges or exposure to gun violence
• Urinalysis policies and procedures
• Utilizing videos for orientation videos for intake youth at juvenile facility
• Visitation policies and procedures
• Youth phone calls – recording conversations and charges to youth/family
• Youth who are accused of committing violent offenses who are deemed to be incompetent
• Youth work program policies and procedures