An Evaluation of JUST Court in Yuma County, AZ (JUST)

An Evaluation of JUST (Juveniles Under Supervision and Treatment) Court in Yuma County, AZ

Arizona has created a pilot program for juvenile probationers called Juveniles under Supervision and Treatment (JUST), which includes swift and certain, but modest responses, to technical violations of the terms of juvenile probation. JUST targets high- and medium-risk juvenile probationers and its stated objective is to reduce violations and overall incarceration of youth in the program. The JUST pilot is being implemented under the authority of the Arizona Governor's Office for Children, Youth and Families (GOCYF) and the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC).

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Substance Abuse; Adolescent Behavior; Juvenile Delinquency Unspecified
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: JUST

Detailed Description

Arizona's Juveniles Under Supervision and Treatment (JUST) Court is a pilot project initiated by the Arizona Governor's office. It is designed to test whether the principles of Swift, Certain, and Fair (SCF) Supervision-clear rules, close monitoring, and swift and certain, but modest, penalties for each violation can succeed when applied to juveniles under community supervision. The Arizona Administrative Office of the Courts piloted JUST in two counties: Yavapai and Yuma. The Yuma program was launched in March 2011. The goal of JUST is to (a) reduce the violation rate so as to reduce the number of petitions filed to revoke probation (the purpose is to reduce the use of juvenile detention), and (b) reduce recidivism overall. All juveniles in Yavapai are supervised under JUST (evaluation using an RCT is therefore unfeasible). JUST in Yuma is now being scaled up, which affords the opportunity for an RCT. The goal of the RCT is to compare the performance of youth supervised under JUST with those supervised under probation-as-usual.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 150
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Arizona
    • Yuma, Arizona, United States, 85364
      • Yuma County Juvenile Justice Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 13 years to 17 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Newly probated
• At least 13 years old
• No older than 17 years and 3 months
• At least nine months remaining on supervision
• Must be on standard probation with a supervision level of moderate to maximum
• Must be able to participate in the program for at least nine months

Exclusion Criteria:

• Not meeting all inclusion criteria
• Sex offender
• Dangerous offenses

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: JUST; Juveniles Under Supervision and Treatment. This entails swift, certain, and modest sanctions for violations of terms of community supervision.	Other: JUST; Swift, certain, and proportionate sanctions for violations of terms of community supervision.
No Intervention: Probation-as-Usual; Juvenile probation-as-usual.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of days served in detention	Number of days served in detention	followup at 6 months
Recidivism	Number of new arrests (overall, and by type)	followup at 6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Truancy	Number of days truant	followup at 6 months
Failure to appear	Number of no-shows for probation appointments	followup at 6 months
Other technical violations	Number of other technical violations	followup at 6 months
Substance use	Results of urinalysis screens from routine testing and research-based testing	followup at 6 months
New dispositions	Number of new dispositions, by (type)	followup at 6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Pepperdine University
• Collaborators: University of California, Los Angeles

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 1, 2014
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 1, 2016
• Study Completion (Actual): June 1, 2016

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 10, 2015
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 15, 2015
• First Posted (Estimate): May 20, 2015

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 10, 2018
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 6, 2018
• Last Verified: April 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Chemically-Induced Disorders; Substance-Related Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: SPP1014F01