Message from the Executive Director Fall/Winter 2013

Juvenile Justice Institute
Fall/Winter
IN THIS ISSUE:

2013 Accomplishments
What is Restorative
Justice?
North Carolina Juvenile
Justice Updates

JUVENILE JUSTICE INSTITUTE

Dept. of Criminal Justice
North Carolina Central University
1801 Fayetteville St.
208 Whiting Criminal Justice Bldg.
919-530-7092

Message from the Executive Director

2014-2016 Research
Agenda

Durham, NC 27707

2013

It has been a busy year for the Juvenile Justice Institute. In this edition of our newsletter we
have highlighted some of our notable accomplishments. We also updated our research
agenda and have shared a summary on the following page. Our most exciting news is that
we have launched a collaborative HIV and substance abuse prevention project funded by
SAMHSA. This project involves collaborative efforts by the Juvenile Justice Institute,
Departments of Psychology, Public Health, Social Work, Student Health and Counseling
Services and our community partners of Durham TRY and the Durham County Department
of Public Health. This project will offer a comprehensive array of universal, selected, and
indicated evidence-based substance abuse and HIV prevention strategies. The mission of the
Campus Community Coalition Program (C3P) is to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS
and to prevent substance abuse among African-American young adults (ages 18 - 24) on the
campus of North Carolina Central University and in the surrounding community. The goals
of the project include: reduce new HIV infections; reduce alcohol consumption and
substance use; reduce tobacco use; increase access to care and improve health outcomes for
people living with HIV; reduce HIV-related disparities and health inequalities; and assist in
the development of a coordinated national response to the HIV epidemic. Over the next few
months the project team is conducting a community needs assessment and a strategic
planning process and has a goal of implementing interventions in the spring of 2014.
The problem of over representation of minorities in the Juvenile and Criminal Justice
Systems still remains a problem for the Juvenile Court. In NC the percentage of school
based referrals exceeds 40% of the total number of referrals to the juvenile court. The
referrals from individual counties vary depending on the location. In Durham County the
rate of minority complaints referred to the Juvenile Court from schools and law enforcement
in 2010 was a ratio of 6 minorities to 1 white. In response to this high rate, the Durham
Juvenile Crime Prevention Council established a subcommittee on Disproportionate
Minority Contact (DMC) to monitor and address the problem. Two interventions were put
in place in 2010: Community Education about DMC and a Juvenile and Family Resource
Manual developed by JJI. It is too early to determine what impact these interventions have
had, but it is clear that the Durham community seems more aware of DMC and is interested
in addressing the problem. For example, Durham Public Schools is currently discussing
ways to reduce its out of school suspensions and referrals to the Juvenile Court, both of
which involve a disproportionate number of minorities. Although this problem is a long way
from being resolved, Durham seems to be moving in the right direction. The Department of
Public Safety /Division of Corrections and Juvenile Justice is also assisting Durham with
community education about DMC and tracking the number of
minority referrals to the Juvenile Court. The Division and JJI have
been involved with DMC efforts in several NC Counties and have
shared with them possible interventions to better address their
DMC problem. We applaud Durham and the Department of Public
Safety for their good work in this area. We ask for your continued
support as we continue our effort to address the many challenges
facing Juvenile Justice in North Carolina.

http://www.nccu.edu/academics/institutesandcenters/jji/