University of New Haven
EN-14: Participation in Public Policy

The Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee (JJPOC) was created in 2014 by the State of Connecticut House Bill No. 5597, Public Act 14-217 and is charged with evaluating policies related to the juvenile justice system and the expansion of juvenile jurisdiction to include persons 16 and 17 years of age. The University of New Haven was designated, through legislation, to staff the JJPOC. The Tow Youth Justice Institute (TYJI) of the University of New Haven is responsible for all staffing support activities of the JJPOC. In this role, the university advocates for policy change and legislative action. These efforts are implicitly supported through the highest levels of university leadership, including President Kaplan. Specific advocacy is driven by and the result of scientific research and support, oversight and official testimony. The strategic plan of the JJPOC identifies four specific goals that are facilitated through the Tow Youth Justice Institute: Goal 1: Limit youth entry into the justice system (reserving the formal justice system only for cases that cannot be diverted or otherwise appropriately served by alternative means or systems). Goal 2: Reduce incarceration. Goal 3: Reduce racial and ethnic disparities of youth in Connecticut’s juvenile justice system. Goal 4: Right-size the juvenile justice system by setting appropriate lower and upper age limits. The long-term goal for the JJPOC, in coordination with the Tow Youth Justice Institute, is to identify opportunities for policy change and legislative action through: Research and evaluation that informs policy, planning, development, and implementation to elevate evidence-based practices and programs for youth involved in the juvenile and criminal justice system. Engagement with youth-serving organizations that focus on youth justice reform such as advocacy groups, community agencies, state agencies, national juvenile justice organizations, public school systems and more, to collaborate on evidence-based youth justice reform. To date, the following legislation in the state of Connecticut has been implemented: • P.A. 16-147 - Legislation in 2016 mandated that Connecticut Juvenile Training School would close July 1, 2018. • P.A. 16-147 - Implementation of the Community-Based Diversion System Plan. The plan focuses on identifying and addressing the underlying needs/symptoms of the behavior and putting early intervention supports in place. • Changes in status offenses—runaways, truants and those out of control of parents  P.A. 16-147, eliminating truancy and defiance of school rules as status offenses in order to divert youth from the juvenile justice system, effective August 2017.  P.A. 16-147 called for implementation of the Community Based Diversion System Plan in which the Youth Services Bureaus are identified as the primary agent for diversion of children from the juvenile justice system.  P.A. 17-2 in 2017, legislation mandated that effective July 1, 2019, children identified as Families with Service Needs (FWSN) will no longer be referred to the courts. This recommendation addresses the remaining categories (Beyond Control, and Runway) under the FWSN law. • P.A. 17-02 - Transfer of juvenile oversight from DCF to Judicial branch/CSSD P.A. 18-31 created a new Education Committee on improving the educational services to youth in out of home placement. • P.A. 18-31 Justice Reinvestment Plan that will allow for the reinvestment of a portion of the savings from the decreased use of incarceration and congregate care programming to become strategic investments in home, school and community based behavioral health services for children diverted from the juvenile justice system. • Public Act 19-187  Removes the remaining categories (runaways and out of control of parents) of status offenses from referral to the juvenile courts effective July 1, 2020.  The policy and practice areas include suicidal and self-harming behaviors, the use of solitary confinement, the use of chemical agents, and the use of prone restraints of juveniles.  The adoption of policies that promote developmentally healthy and appropriate activities and recreational opportunities for the detained juveniles and their families during visitation periods to strengthen family bonds and minimize separation trauma  Requires full compliance with the National Prison Rate Elimination Act (PREA) which provides for the prevention, detection, monitoring and response to sexual abuse in all adult prisons and jails, and juvenile facilities.  Requires “independent ombudsperson services” in all facilities where juveniles are incarcerated.