Our juvenile delinquency expertise spans a focus on prevention, intervention, and policy efforts. Our research includes understanding the life trajectories of youth involved with the juvenile legal system and the programs available to prevent their involvement, survey design, and participation on the Research Board for the OJJDP National Mentoring Resource Center.  Our researchers are committed to uncovering evidence-based practices in delinquency prevention through evaluation, measurement design, training and technical assistance, and survey research.  We value the policy and practice implications of our research and focus on the development of dissemination products that are accessible to broad range of stakeholders. 

Project Highlight

Redisgn Study of OJJDP's Juvenile in Corrections Data Collections

Over the past 2 decades, the juvenile justice environment has experienced significant changes – shifting from larger, state-run facilities to smaller local facilities.  The questions used in some of the established data collections for juvenile institutions no longer reflect current contexts. The Redesign Study of OJJDP’s Juveniles in Corrections Data Collections represents a study that leverages our juvenile delinquency subject matter, survey design, and data collection expertise. 

The OJJDP-funded Girls Study Group, an interdisciplinary group of scholars and practitioners, collaborate to develop a comprehensive research foundation for understanding and responding to girls’ involvement in delinquency. The group includes experts from the fields of sociology, psychology, criminology, and gender studies, as well as legal practitioners and girls’ program development coordinators. The group’s aims include obtaining a better understanding of girls’ involvement in delinquency and guiding the development, testing, and dissemination of strategies designed to reduce incidents of delinquency and violence among girls.