The Miami-Dade Juvenile Assessment Center National Demonstration Project

Evaluation of an Innovative Post-Arrest Diversion Program: 12-Month Recidivism Analysis

“…Opened in 1997, the JAC is a centralized facility offering 24 hour a day services in collaboration with local juvenile justice stakeholders (e.g., Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office, Miami-Dade Public Schools, Miami-Dade Department of Corrections, etc.) to which all juvenile offenders are brought upon arrest, processed (i.e., fingerprinted, screened and assessed, assigned case numbers, arrest=charge information recorded), and disposed (released, detained, or diverted) (for details regarding the development of the JAC see Walters et al, 2005). The PAD program is a voluntary diversion program that offers an alternative to adjudication for first-time, non-violent misdemeanant offenders brought to the JAC.…”

Collaboration as Process: The Making of a Partnership to Serve At‐Risk Youths of Haitian Descent

“…For example, partners from the JSD wanted to apply best practices proven successful elsewhere but could not grasp the Haitian community migration histories, their sociocultural and economic marginalization in Miami-Dade, which shaped families' avoidance and mistrust of government authorities . Likewise, partners from community-based organizations and social workers wanted to find ways to first address community mistrust and avoidance of authorities in order to instill willingness in families to engage the JSD on behalf of their criminalized adolescents (Walters et al 2005). Finally, activist partners operate with an urgency that necessitates highlighting stories with clear victims and villains, whereas the anthropologist's emphasis on "context and structure" does not immediately compel others to act nor "serve well as the basis for political mobilization" (Merry 2005, 252).…”

“…Details of the successful NDP experience, and its program enhancement products, have been described in numerous publications (e.g., Dembo et al 2005;Walters et al 2005). A key feature of the Miami-Dade JAC collaboration was researcher sensitivity, rapid response, and staff-identified screening, assessment, and service delivery issues.…”

“…A key feature of the Miami-Dade JAC collaboration was researcher sensitivity, rapid response, and staff-identified screening, assessment, and service delivery issues. This experience had the effect of increasing staff confidence in the research effort, reinforcing the team's commitment to improving their work effectiveness, and establishing a link between research activities and state-of-the art improvements in JAC operations (see Walters et al 2005). The NDP supported the JAC's efforts to improve coordination among Miami-Dade juvenile justice agencies, practitioners, and stakeholders representing diverse organizations, including the Florida DJJ, the Offices of the Public Defender and State Attorney, courts, school system, law enforcement agencies, and community behavioral health and delinquency service programs.…”

Court Diversion for Juveniles with Mental Health Disorders

“…The quality of services obtained through a mental health diversion is paramount but, as yet, not typically a principal concern of diversion programs; emerging systems are primarily focused on the identification of need and setting up referral protocols [24,25]. However, decades of research on effective treatment for justice-involved youth as well as meta-analyses of effective treatment components demonstrate that the quality of treatment is essential for achieving desired outcomes [26][27][28][29].…”