Applying the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges’ resolution to juvenile probation reform.


In 2017, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) passed a resolution advocating for empirically supported juvenile probation reform nationwide. Here, we review the adolescent development and behavioral decision-making research underlying the principles enumerated in the NCJFCJ resolution and describe several of its critical elements. Then, to provide guidance to jurisdictions seeking to revise local policy and practice, we suggest a series of steps that would help juvenile justice professionals translate NCJFCJ resolution principles into innovative probation reform. Finally, we describe how two jurisdictions–Pierce County, Washington and Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania–have engaged in ongoing juvenile probation reform efforts to provide real-world models of how this translational work can be carried out successfully. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)