Services Offered and Regions Served
Comprehensive Community-Based Correctional Programs
Model Reentry Programs
Trainings and Presentations
Sentencing Service Program (SSP) Work
More About CJCJ’s Technical Assistance
Sample Projects
Contact Information

Services Offered and Regions Served
The Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ) offers a wide array of technical assistance services. We offer technical assistance on a national level to state and local jurisdictions looking to improve their criminal or juvenile justice systems as well as to agencies in need of training and information, and to individual clients on a case-by-case basis.

Services Offered
The following is a non-exhaustive list of fields in which CJCJ is well equipped to provide technical assistance:

With a professional staff from a range of backgrounds, CJCJ offers a unique capacity to offer culturally competent expert services to various criminal and juvenile justice systems. In addition to the above listed primary technical assistance services, CJCJ also offers technical assistance in the following areas to various entities around the country:

Comprehensive Community-Based Correctional Programs
Over the past 20 years, CJCJ has taken the leadership role in promoting major juvenile and criminal justice reform efforts to jurisdictions across the country. CJCJ’s technical assistance services have contributed to the successful reforms of state and local jurisdictions from Hawaii to Maryland. CJCJ is a national leader in the development, implementation, management, and assessment of community-based correctional programs. CJCJ programs have proven successful in reducing recidivism rates and promoting public safety. Read the evaluations performed on CJCJ’s programs for more information.

Adult and juvenile correctional facilities in most states in America are struggling with the pressures and repercussions of overcrowding. In many instances, jurisdictions are forced to rely on secure custody facilities for juveniles due to the absence of appropriate non-institutional programs. Dealing with the overpopulation of adult and juvenile correctional facilities is a matter of public health, safety, and in many cases, legal responsibility. For these reasons, many counties and states have sought CJCJ's services to alleviate population pressures. CJCJ uses a correctional model that takes advantage of a full range of community-based options and reserves jail and prison space for only the most serious offenders. One way CJCJ has succeeded in reducing jail and prison overcrowding is by expanding the range of community-based program options to include services for hard to serve populations like mentally ill, homeless, and/or drug-addicted offenders, while also recognizing the need for girl specific services. CJCJ also realizes the necessity of using blended funding strategies to serve the special needs of their clients.

Serving Mentally Ill Offenders
CJCJ has demonstrated success in reducing jail and prison overcrowding by expanding the range of options communities offer. Among the greatest challenges confronting correctional agencies is the absence of adequate community-based services for mentally ill offenders. Without specialized interventions, mentally ill offenders often cycle through the criminal justice system only to be returned to the community without proper services.

The lack of mental health services is usually the result of poor coordination between criminal justice and non-criminal justice agencies, and/or due to the reluctance of community providers to work with criminal justice involved clients . CJCJ helps alleviate this problem by facilitating interagency agreements and coordinating case management services.

Mentally ill offenders also have difficulty independently complying with supervision terms, accessing treatment, and addressing areas of their lives that are disrupted by incarceration. These problems are compounded when the offender is also dealing with a co-occurring substance abuse problem. CJCJ has a long history of advocating for these special needs clients and has developed successful strategies in working with this population, such as using peer advocates to accompany clients to their appointments.

CJCJ also promotes the use of benefits advocacy, including reinstating SSI funding, which is crucial in helping clients access housing and health care, which is often blocked due to previous incarceration or outstanding warrants.

Serving Homeless Offenders
Many jurisdictions are currently struggling with a growing number of homeless inmates. Homeless offenders typically lack ties to community resources, which typically undermines their ability to comply with court demands. CJCJ is well experienced in knowing how to properly serve homeless offenders. We have developed strategies around aggressive street outreach to make sure that homeless people find the appropriate treatment, are able to access services, and successfully attend all court dates.

Serving Drug-Addicted Offenders
Many criminal justice jurisdictions suffer from a lack of appropriate treatment options for drug-addicted offenders. To be effective with this population, agencies need to tailor services according to individual needs and addiction levels. Tailoring services requires a continuum of options that range from therapeutic communities to outpatient treatment. CJCJ works with jurisdictions to develop and implement screening, assessment, and client service strategies that ensure the most effective use of already available resources, thus maximizing what the community already has to offer.

Gender Specific Services for Girls
The special needs of girls within the juvenile justice system causes a perplexing problem for many jurisdictions. Sexual abuse, prostitution, pregnancy, chronic running away, drug addiction, and family relationships are among the specific issues of girls that are rarely addressed in the criminal justice system. CJCJ is nationally recognized for its pioneering research on problems affecting girls in the juvenile justice system. As in other areas, CJCJ works closely with jurisdictions to identify service needs and resources to expand specialized services for girls.

Blended Funding Strategies
CJCJ realizes how essential it is to work closely with local jurisdictions to identify and develop new funding opportunities to address the special needs of their clients, while simultaneously helping the jurisdictions implement innovative programming. Recent changes in regulations regarding state and federal foster care, mental health, and special education funding, give juvenile courts greater flexibility to fashion innovative and individualized interventions. However, too often jurisdictions do not have the time or the resources to take advantage of these opportunities. Fortunately, the CJCJ staff has many years of expertise in identifying and developing creative funding options.

Disproportionate Minority Confinement
In recent years minority youths including African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans have constituted a growing and disproportionate percentage of the population in correctional facilities. This disparity has led many to question current disposition practices within the juvenile court, and arrest policies within local police departments. CJCJ assists jurisdictions in identifying existing practices that may contribute to the problem and provides tools to help communities develop consensus around potential solutions.

The Technical Assistance Process
Once CJCJ has been sought to work on a technical assistance project to promote major juvenile or criminal justice reform through the development of comprehensive community-based correctional programs, CJCJ works with the correctional facility to assess their current programs and determine their individualized needs. CJCJ technical assistance teams create population projections so jurisdictions can plan for future growth and prepare comprehensive implementation plans to help jurisdictions institute needed reforms. Special emphasis is placed on the development of integrated service delivery systems. CJCJ can also provide ongoing expertise and support services to client jurisdictions upon request.

Model Reentry Programs
CJCJ has developed numerous programs that have been used as models around the country.

Adult Model Reentry Programs
Along with the rapid growth in jail and prison populations over the past 20 years, there has been an unprecedented increase in the number of parolees returning to the community. Inmates now serve longer sentences in correctional facilities with fewer resources. As a result, parolees are too often ill equipped to confront the challenges of free society.

CJCJ assists jurisdictions in designing reentry services that meet the needs of this growing population, and can also provide individualized parole service plans. Read about our Sentencing Service Program if you are interested in individualized services plans, or read about the success of our Supportive Living Program, helping drug addicted parolees successfully reenter society. Lastly, our No Violence Alliance Program offers violent offenders an opportunity to receive violence prevention services, case management, and much needed transitional/residential housing support.

Juvenile Model Reentry Programs
CJCJ is a leading innovator in the development of juvenile justice reentry services. Reentry in the juvenile justice system is a growing concern as youths continue to be committed to state correctional institutions. Upon release, many of these high-risk youths have few job skills or social supports to promote proper reintegration. To promote community reintegration and reduce recidivism rates, CJCJ assists jurisdictions in the development and implementation of specialized reentry services.

CJCJ's Detention Diversion Advocacy Program (DDAP) is an exemplary example of just such a program. DDAP targets the highest risk youth in the juvenile justice system and offers them intensive case management and a comprehensive range of community services. DDAP has won numerous national and regional awards including an Innovations in Government, semi-finalist award from Harvard University. Evaluations by the United States Department of Justice found that CJCJ's San Francisco-based Detention Diversion Advocacy Program significantly reduced recidivism rates among program participants by 50% when compared to a matched sample of detained youth. Similar results were also found in an evaluation of CJCJ's Philadelphia DDAP program. Learn more about our Detention Diversion Advocacy Program or our Independent Living Program which provides clients with intensive case management and furnished apartments where they can begin building all the necessary skills for independent living.

Trainings and Presentations
CJCJ provides trainings and presentations to groups all over the country. The following is a non-exhaustive list of training and presentation topics we offer upon request:

Sentencing Service Program (SSP) Work
SSP develops individualized sentencing reports, finds private placement for individual clients, along with a variety of many other services. For more information on CJCJ’s SSP services, go to the Sentencing Service Program.

Specialized Sentencing Plans
Since 1985, CJCJ has provided over 1,000 sentencing reports upon special request from judges, defense counsel, probation staff, or prosecutors. Agencies seeking sentencing reports in special cases can contract with CJCJ on a case-by-case basis.

Private Placement Assistance
Juvenile court personnel often require special assistance in finding suitable placement options for special needs youth who cannot be served through traditional programs. CJCJ conducts regional and national searches to locate the most appropriate programs and access new and different funding options.

To learn more about SSP or to request SSP services, please contact:
Catherine McCracken, Program Director
Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice
440 9th Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
Tel: (415) 621-5661 ext. 309
Fax: (415) 621-5466

More about CJCJ’s Technical Assistance
If you are interested in viewing a sample CJCJ technical assistance report, originally completed for the District of Columbia Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, read the Sample CJCJ Technical Assistance Report. Additionally, if you would like to review a list of sample projects in which CJCJ has provided technical assistance, view the Sample Projects list. Finally, below is a list of clients whom have taken advantage of our agency’s technical assistance services over the years.

Satisfied Clients
CJCJ has worked with the following clients to successfully establish community-based systems that have reduced recidivism while promoting public safety:

Sample Projects
Some sample technical assistance projects include:

California State Senate Report on California Youth Authority Aftercare Services
CJCJ was commissioned by the California State Senate to complete an assessment of reentry services for youths paroled from the California Youth Authority. This report became a basis for legislative policy initiatives to reform the State’s youth corrections system.

California Drug Policy Reform Project
In partnership with the Drug Policy Alliance, CJCJ provided analysis and evaluation of California’s drug policy enforcement. CJCJ’s analysis created a basis for the passage of Proposition 36 – the most sweeping change to drug law enforcement in the state’s history. Following the passage of Proposition 36, CJCJ and the Drug Policy Alliance crafted a model county-based implementation plan.

Oakland Safe Passages Initiative
CJCJ developed and implemented a comprehensive violence prevention initiative as the part of the Oakland Safe Passages Initiative. The project led to the creation of Pathways to Change which provides advocacy and intensive case management services to Oakland’s highest risk youths. CJCJ developed the project in collaboration with five community-based agencies and served as the lead agency for two years. At the end of the two year development phase, the project was successfully transitioned to the Oakland-based Mentoring Project.

San Francisco District Attorney’s Street to Work Project
CJCJ provided technical assistance to the District Attorney’s Office on program design, development, implementation, and evaluation of a model work force development program for drug offenders.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defense and Education Fund (NAACP/LDEF) Los Angeles County Juvenile Justice Project
Under contract with the NAACP/LDEF, CJCJ provided a strategy to restructure the Los Angeles County juvenile probation system in response to a lawsuit over discriminatory practices. CJCJ staff provided a proposal for expanding the range of services available to high-risk neighborhoods and monitoring consent decree with Los Angeles County.

Hawaii Technical Assistance Project
Under contract with the Hawaii Department of Corrections, CJCJ staff were commissioned to develop a strategy for reforming Hawaii’s youth corrections system. CJCJ’s recommendations were adopted in full by the Hawaii State Legislature. The following year, CJCJ established, under contract with the Hawaii Department of Corrections, the Hawaii Youth Advocacy Project. The project trained correctional staff in the provision of community-based services, established a system of case management and tracking, and developed a range of community-based treatment and aftercare options. Prior to its transfer to a local community-based agency, the project reduced the population in the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility by over half.

Contact Information
To learn more about our technical assistance services, or to inquire about obtaining any of CJCJ’s vast technical assistance services, please contact our national office in San Francisco using the contact information below.

Daniel Macallair, Executive Director
Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice
440 9th Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
415-621-5661 ext. 310