Public Health Considerations in Juvenile Justice Policy and Practice

There are a number of health and developmental issues central for consideration in juvenile justice policy development and practice. Two of these issues are: the impact of early trauma and exposure to violence on risk for future involvement in violence and involvement with the juvenile justice system; and the growing understanding of the dramatic neurological, cognitive, physical and emotional changes that occur during adolescence that have major implications for how youth could or should be handled and served by the juvenile justice system. Understanding these issues and modifying policy and practice accordingly could greatly affect and improve the outcomes for many youth especially those living in inner cities and other high risk communities; failure to do so has the risk of the system's response actually doing harm or being ineffective in altering a trajectory of a lifetime of dysfucntion. This presentation will describe and layout the framework of these issues that are key to establishing healthy and effective juvenile justice and violence prevention efforts in both the juvenile justice and public health realms.