OKPOLICY.ORG
OK Policy recently released Reimagining Youth Justice in Oklahoma, which provides an overview of Oklahoma’s youth justice system by detailing the environment that youth in Oklahoma face, synthesizing data and reporting findings on the state of the youth justice system today. It also offers recommendations for reform to create impactful and transformative change for youth.
• Report Release (video)
• Understanding and Reforming Oklahoma’s Juvenile Justice System | September 2024 Interim Study Presentation (video)
Timothy Tardibono, who was appointed last week by Gov. Kevin Stitt to be the new director of the Office of Juvenile Affairs (OJA), should prove to be a good appointment. His background, education and experience all point toward progress for troubled children, youth and families in Oklahoma.
OJA is the state agency responsible for programs and services for youthful offenders and juveniles (children under 18 years of age) alleged or adjudicated to be delinquent or in need of supervision. Delinquent means a juvenile who has committed an act that would be a crime if the perpetrator were 18 years old or older. In need of supervision means a juvenile who is beyond the control of their parents, a runaway or habitually truant, sometimes called a “status offender.”
When a juvenile is adjudicated by a court to be delinquent or in need of supervision, one of the options for the court is to order services from OJA. The juvenile may be placed in custody of OJA or left in custody of their parents or guardian, depending on what the court finds is in their best interests, considering the safety of the community.
Juveniles in custody of OJA may be placed in OJA’s secure facility located in Tecumseh, in a non-secure residential facility such as a group home or placed in their own or another home.
OJA also has an important prevention role in keeping youths out of the juvenile justice system. It contracts for community-based facilities, services, and programs, including children’s emergency resource centers, community intervention centers, crisis intervention, counseling and school-based prevention programs, diversion programs for first-time offenders, all with emphasis on keeping youth out of the traditional juvenile justice process.
Core services are provided by Youth Services Agencies throughout the state via contracts and funding from OJA. OJA also licenses and contracts for beds in juvenile detention facilities for youthful offenders and juveniles detained while awaiting trial or placement.
Tardibono has spent the last six years involved in criminal justice reform, specifically regarding the Oklahoma County jail, as executive director of the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Advisory Council (CJAC). CJAC envisions an economical, efficient, and smart justice system in Oklahoma County, reflecting fairness, compassion and good governance, with a safe and humane adult pre-trial detention facility (jail) that prioritizes public safety through data-informed and evidence-based practices. Much of that work will translate well into juvenile justice.
Before that, Tardibono was an assistant general counsel at the Oklahoma State Department of Health, counsel to former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, and a policy analyst focusing on juvenile affairs and the Office of Health and Human Services in the administration of Gov. Frank Keating. He holds an undergraduate degree in history from Oklahoma Christian University and a master’s degree in public policy and a J.D. from Regent University in Virginia.
