OKPOLICY.ORG
Learn more about youth justice in Oklahoma from OK Policy’s report Better Tomorrows: A Landscape Analysis of Oklahoma’s Youth Justice System and Suggested Reforms
The Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs (OJA) has received a $1.1 million grant from the National Institute of Justice to examine the effects of Oklahoma’s legislative and administrative reforms in the field of juvenile justice, which have resulted in an increased utilization of community-based services.
According to OJA, the study also aims to identify opportunities for improvement in the service continuum, highlight successful program elements, and focus on data literacy to enhance service delivery.
The National Institute of Justice is the research, development, and evaluation agency of the U.S. Department of Justice, dedicated to improving knowledge and understanding of crime and justice issues through science.
There was a time in Oklahoma during which the state relied heavily on several juvenile institutions to incarcerate young people who had committed acts that would be crimes if they were adults and even some children who had committed no criminal acts but were considered “out of control” of their parents.
Thankfully, most of those institutions in the state have been replaced by community-based services that seek to treat troubled kids in the community and prevent them from further penetration into the juvenile or adult justice system.
The state now has only one institution, Central Oklahoma Juvenile Center in Tecumseh, a state-of-the-art therapeutic campus for young people requiring secure treatment that will accommodate up to 144 youth. OJA has recently been able to increase funding for youth services agencies, local juvenile detention facilities, and children’s emergency shelters to better meet the needs of troubled kids and families in the community.
But, given the increase in depression, anxiety, suicide ideation, and substance use among youth, all of which can manifest in interaction with the juvenile and criminal justice system, there is a continued need to measure the success of current programs and plan for future needs.
The expected outcomes of the study include advancing policy and practice in the juvenile justice field, increasing access to services for underserved populations, and incorporating young people with lived experiences as key partners in making change.
Oklahoma has made progress in juvenile justice and treatment, but modern life continues to produce new challenges for kids and families. It is heartening to see those responsible for juvenile justice planning are looking to the future and identifying needs and resources.
