RTI uses cookies to offer you the best experience online. By clicking “accept” on this website, you opt in and you agree to the use of cookies. If you would like to know more about how RTI uses cookies and how to manage them please view our Privacy Policy here. You can “opt out” or change your mind by visiting: http://optout.aboutads.info/. Click “accept” to agree.

Focus Areas

Youth Justice

Producing actionable research to guide the development and implementation of policies, practices, and programs for adolescents and early adults.

The prevention, processing, and rehabilitation of individuals between the ages of 10 and 24 has presented complex problems for the United States juvenile and criminal legal system. Research has revealed that evidence informed policies, practices, and programs can result in meaningful reforms to the legal system and, more importantly, limit the developmental impact of system involvement of adolescents (10-19 years old) and early adults (20-24 years old). Continuing research and training and technical assistance (TTA) in this area is substantively important to drive meaningful change to the legal system overall. 

Working in partnership with practitioners, RTI’s juvenile legal system and developmental experts are dedicated to furthering this line of research, with input from youth and families, to address the immediate needs of the juvenile and criminal legal system. In addition to evaluating the effects of policies, practices, and programs, our experience includes guiding the implementation of new efforts to reform the juvenile and criminal legal system and provide training and technical assistance to juvenile justice stakeholders. 

We evaluate the effects of policies, practices, and programs for adolescents and early adults, including research on: 

  • effects of school-based delinquency prevention programs,

  • implementation of School Justice Partnerships,

  • validating assessment tools,

  • impacts and effects of implementing risk needs assessments and rehabilitation programs for adolescents,

  • and examining racial and ethnic disparities. 

Our diverse expertise, including child psychology, criminology, sociology, organizational psychology, criminal justice, public policy and political science, and longstanding partnerships with communities, agencies, and court systems allow us to provide solutions that are responsive to the needs of practitioners working to support positive youth development and outcomes while promoting public safety.

Featured Research Activities for the Juvenile Justice System

Adolescents and Early Adult Court Processing

Adolescents, early adults, and their families have substantive difficulties navigating the court process, harming the potential for it to remain fair and equitable. A human-focused and data-driven approach to court processing for adolescents and early adults is necessary. RTI’s experts are continuously developing, implementing, and evaluating strategies to maintain fairness and equity in the juvenile court system and providing system actors with resources that could benefit both involved youth and the juvenile legal system.

Adolescents Under Community Supervision

Community supervision can be used as an alternative to confinement and as aftercare upon release from a juvenile facility. Community-based supervision can serve as a protective factor to the carceral consequences of confinement, provide rehabilitative benefits, and is more cost-effective. Evidence-informed programs that encourage youth development and family engagement require trained staff and effective service provision. RTI’s experts are conducting research on the implementation of assessment tools used for case planning and assessing the impact of programs to that serve adolescents and early adults under community supervision.

Preventing Problem Behaviors and Legal System Involvement of Adolescents

Adolescent delinquency and involvement with the legal system has long been a concern of communities, governments, and other stakeholders. Understanding risk and protective factors for delinquency is critical to identifying problem behaviors that can lead to involvement with the system. With this understanding, research-based programs and interventions can be developed to target criminogenic needs and reduce the risk of system involvement. School and community prevention programs such as mentoring programs, conflict resolution and violence prevention curriculums, and social competence promotion curriculums have proven to be effective. RTI continues to explore this line of work and provide TTA to stakeholders to diminish the number of adolescents involved with the legal system. 

Adolescents Confined in Juvenile and Adult Correctional Facilities

Adolescent confinement in correctional facilities has decreased since 2000, yet everyday there are still youth being held in detention centers, long-term secure facilities, residential treatment, group homes, adult prisons and jails, and other similar facilities. Oftentimes, Black and Indigenous youth are overrepresented in pretrial detention and confinement. In response to lawsuits filed across the U.S., some states have begun to focus on improving conditions of confinement related to abusive and unconstitutional conditions in facilities. Other efforts to improve conditions, like the Missouri Model, involve closing large institutions and reinvesting in community-based programs or smaller regional facilities. RTI’s experts are conducting research and TTA to understand and improve the conditions of confinement for adolescents involved in the system and help achieve beneficial outcomes of juvenile corrections populations and juveniles incarcerated within the adult system. We partner with practitioners to conduct research on assessment tools, programs, and case management/supervision approaches to improve outcomes for adolescents and early adults making the transition from a facility to their community.