Assessing the current state of juvenile probation practice: A statutory analysis

ABSTRACT

The 2002 Desktop Guide to Good Juvenile Probation Practice indicated that a state's juvenile justice system should reflect a “balanced and restorative justice” (BARJ) model. Over a decade has passed since this publication, yet little is known about whether juvenile probation followed the BARJ. This study employed a statutory analysis to examine the differences between the legally prescribed roles of juvenile probation officers and the BARJ model across 50 states and the District of Columbia. Results indicated that even with significant reforms and statutory changes overtime, juvenile probation practices still fall short of meeting the basic tenets of restorative justice.

KEYWORDS:

• Community corrections
• juvenile
• law enforcement
• probation officer
• rehabilitation
• restorative justice
• statute

Notes

There are two primary well-trained raters who are responsible to read statutes and classify content into different task orientations. They work independently in order to maintain interrater reliability. In order to make sure the raters understood the research purpose and design, we held group meetings regularly to review and check on each rater's interpretation in consistent ways. If there was a disagreement event, we asked the third rater who would reexamine statues and audit the results for obtaining the final agreement for interpreting legally prescribed functions.