The rate of juveniles running into issues with the law has declined by 76% since 1997, according to the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention—which was created to help make that happen.
Naomi Smoot, a senior policy specialist at the office, says it has two principles: addressing racial and ethnic disparities in the justice system and supporting young people and families who have had direct contact with the system.
The office, which was established by the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, features evidence-based prevention programs to help young people build physical, mental and social skills; support school-based violence-prevention efforts; and promote after-school connections to help kids avoid school suspension and expulsion.
Smoot told an NCSL Base Camp session that 85% of the 437,300 delinquency cases referred to juvenile court in 2021 came from law enforcement. Of those cases, 244,100 were addressed through a formal process, while the remaining 193,300 cases were handled informally, thereby keeping young people out of the justice system.
Smoot says the office supports these efforts to keep juveniles out of the legal system by providing grants to states and communities to help them build out their continuums of care. The office also works with federal agencies such as the Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Education, Labor and Agriculture.
“This is all part of OJJDP’s broader work to prevent young people from coming into contact with the justice system, and it’s working,” Smoot says.
Declining Arrests
NCSL criminal and civil justice policy specialist Kate Bryan also reported downward trends in young people getting tangled up with the law. She says from 1996 to 2020, the number of young people who were arrested decreased significantly—declining even more than their adult counterparts. Youths were involved in only 6% of all arrests in 2020.
However, Bryan says there was an uptick in youth arrests from 2021 to 2022, especially in property crimes and carjackings.
Bryan attributes part of the earlier decrease in youth arrests to state legislatures codifying laws that encourage or provide diversion or other sanctions that don’t require young people to spend time in a facility. Despite the small crime spike in 2021-22, probation was the most common disposition ordered in the courts, Bryan says.
Behavioral and neurocognitive research has been informing more policy decisions, Bryan says. Young people’s brains don’t fully develop until they are 25, so many choices they make in their teens or even early 20s are more susceptible to peer pressure. States are taking this into account when creating youth justice legislation, and Bryan says it’s paying off because many young people tend to outgrow rebellious or criminal behavior when they reach adulthood.
Bryan cites a MacArthur Foundation Research Network study in which 90% of the participants ages 14 to 18 demonstrated either decreased or limited illegal behavior in the three years following their initial offense.
“It’s safe to say that policymakers across the nation and on both sides of the aisle are taking both the data and the research into account when addressing matters related to youth justice,” Bryan says.
Young people reentering the community after out-of-home placement might benefit from new funding opportunities under Medicaid. Katheryn Costanza, NCSL’s Medicaid program specialist, says recent changes in federal law now permit states to use Medicaid dollars to pay for health care services provided to youths and adults pre-release, opening up a previously untapped funding source during incarceration.
Marcy Mistrett, a senior policy specialist at the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, says a law effective Jan.1, 2025, will allow Medicaid to support youths transitioning from a period of incarceration. The law changes the restriction on the inmate exclusion policy enacted in 1965, which terminated youth Medicaid coverage upon entry to an incarcerated setting, leaving the financing of health services up to states and localities.
Mistrett says three groups of young people will benefit from this change: those under age 21 who are eligible for Medicaid; those under age 19 who are eligible for the Children’s Health Insurance Program; and those under age 26 who are eligible for Medicaid because they were formally foster youth.
Covered care includes medically necessary physical, dental and behavioral health screenings and assessments; targeted case management services; and linking referrals for behavioral health, social needs and educational needs for the 30 days before release, Mistrett says.
What Can Legislators Do?
Mistrett says that under the new Medicaid provision, states can now do cost reimbursement for a federal match that they may be paying 100%. Other states may be providing limited services upon a young person’s community reintegration because of a lack of funds. This provision will now allow those services to expand.
States can also assess what services are in place in the communities that youth are returning home to and where there are gaps in those services, Mistrett says. Many community partnerships also offer additional funding and can help make billing easier.
“There’s a real need to facilitate cross-system collaboration with oversight authority,” she says. “There are many partners and systems involved in this change. States can also evaluate current Medicaid capacity in your youth and correctional justice agencies.”
Grace Olson was an intern in NCSL’s Communications Division.