As the recipient of the Smart on Juvenile Justice Initiative grant from the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), the Crime and Justice Institute’s Tessa Upin and Kristin Bechtel recently planned and completed the first site visit to Hawaii, one of three states identified in the grant.
Tessa was on site with Shanetta Cutlar, Chief of Staff at OJJDP, to complete a week-long visit filled with trainings and meetings with key leaders and staff to problem solve and identify implementation goals.
While on site, CJI, in partnership with OJJDP, facilitated presentations to probation officers in three of the four circuits across the state related to the history and background of House Bill 2490, progress of implementation, and technical assistance priority areas. CJI staff also presented information on implementation science related to the risk and needs assessment tool requirement in Hawaii’s juvenile justice legislation. Next steps were identified in each of the policy areas including: promoting the research on sanctions and incentives as well as broadly addressing the training needs in-state. During the next site visit, CJI will facilitate trainings with judiciary staff on evidence-based practices with a focus on juvenile justice research and what works for juveniles.