What Would a More Effective, Accountable, Equitable Approach to Juvenile Probation Condition Enforcement Entail?
This section of the toolkit can help you identify and come to consensus on condition setting and enforcement policy and practice improvements. Use the information to review a continuum of potential reform options and determine which strategies are best for your agency and system.
Enforcement Approaches
Below is a continuum of strategies for enforcing conditions and responding to technical violations. Options range from traditional approaches to research-based strategies and are not mutually exclusive.
Punitive responses
- Stricter conditions, extending probation, or detention/incarceration
Surveillance responses
- Increased monitoring and reporting such as more frequent case contacts and court reviews
Standardized graduated responses
- Continuum of incentives and sanctions applied to all youth in the same manner
Individualized graduated responses
- Developed in collaboration with youth and their families
- Based on youth’s risk to community safety; frequency, nature, and root causes of their behavior; and their circumstances
Developmentally appropriate responses and intervention plans
- Reviewed and updated the case plan based on current challenges and successes
- More intensive services, coaching or mentoring, and skill-building opportunities
Incentive-based responses
- Incentives and rewards for condition compliance, progress improvements, and goal attainment
Continuum in Practice: Enforcement Approaches
To illustrate the continuum, example responses related to absconding are outlined below, a common issue for youth on probation.
Punitive responses
- Youth has earlier curfew and community service.
Surveillance responses
- Institute increased reporting.
Standardized graduated responses
- Institute increased reporting and earlier curfew; if youth reports consistently thereafter, movie tickets are provided.
Individualized graduated responses and incentives
- Host a team discussion with youth and family members to discuss why the youth doesn’t feel comfortable staying home.
- Outline consequences for absconding and identify a short-term goal and incentive to promote communication and alternative behaviors.
Developmentally appropriate responses and intervention plan
- Host follow-up conversation with youth and family to reflect on progress and discuss why the youth doesn’t feel comfortable staying at home.
- Develop a safety and service plan to address the reasons why a youth absconds and how to ensure the youth is safe if they do leave home.
- Youth, family members, and probation officers set new clear goals for communicating during stressful times, including creating a “stress pass” so youth can stay at a family member’s or friend’s home.
Incentive-based responses
- Establish a set of realistic milestones for youth related to their absconding behavior and provide ongoing incentives—including family time and prosocial/recreational activities—as they achieve these goals.
An Enforcement Checklist: Effectiveness
Below are key criteria to ensure that revised enforcement strategies effectively promote behavior change, including the following:
- Expectations and enforcement mechanisms are readily understandable, communicated clearly, and expressly acknowledged by youth and families.
- Responses are meaningful, motivating, proportional, and timely.
- Responses are developed and administered collaboratively with youth and families.
- Enforcement strategies identify and address the root causes of behavior and match youth with related services and supports.
- Enforcement strategies rely heavily on incentives and ongoing positive reinforcement.
- Enforcement strategies position officers to engage in relationship building, problem solving, skill building, and service connections.
- Enforcement strategies position families to strengthen their own ability to promote positive youth behavior change.
- Enforcement strategies are nested within agency and systemwide commitment and training on risk, need, responsivity, and developmentally appropriate approaches.
An Enforcement Checklist: Accountability
Below are key criteria to ensure that revised enforcement strategies help support probation staff, families, and other caring adults hold youth accountable, including the following:
- Support youth to understand the impact of their behavior through restorative justice and therapeutic approaches.
- Support youth to understand and address the underlying causes of their behavior to mitigate future occurrences.
- Limit the use of surveillance and punitive sanctions with youth, particularly detention and incarceration, to instances when community safety is at risk.
- Limit the use of surveillance and punitive sanctions with families; focus on family engagement, partnership, barrier reduction, and supports.
- Foster community-based accountability partners such as a credible messengers, mentors, caring adults, and positive peers.
- Incorporate accountability processes for all case partners to help youth improve their behavior.
- Track the use of incentives, sanctions, violations, and the consequences; use data for performance improvement and accountability purposes.
- Fit within agency and systemwide commitment and training on youth and family engagement, motivational interviewing, and restorative justice.
An Enforcement Checklist: Equity
Below are key criteria to ensure that revised enforcement strategies are rooted in equity to advance positive outcomes for all youth:
- Recognize and account for youth’s circumstances, culture, and community.
- Eliminate sanctions for actions or decisions resulting from things outside of youth’s direct control.
- Recognize and reduce practical barriers to behavior change such as transportation limitations, work or home obligations, and safety concerns.
- Measure, through qualitative and data methods, whether conditions and responses are applied in an equitable manner.
- Ensure progress reports and court hearings describe the nature and reasons for youth’s behavior in an objective manner and account for external circumstances and resources.
- Fit within agency and systemwide commitment and training on system equity, implicit and explicit bias, and cultural competency.
Enforcement Process Approaches
When working to implement enforcement strategies, consider how these strategies are identified and who is involved in the process. Below is a continuum of options.
- Court requires automatic filing of a technical violation or take into custody order/warrant.
- Probation policies require automatic filing of a violation and/or court hearing.
- Judges or officers determine responses at their own discretion.
- Judges and officers determine responses guided by agreed upon principles, policies, and tools, such as graduated response matrices, and supervisory oversight.
- Responses are determined outside of court whenever community safety is not at imminent risk, and collaboratively with youth, family members, service providers, community supports, and others.
- Case challenges result in a broader family-team meeting to review the case plan, youth’s progress and challenges, and needed adjustments and related responses and supports.
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