Research

This interactive ArcGIS StoryMaps was produced to introduce important concepts behind spatial analysis for juvenile justice. This interactive policy and mapping tool was created to propose future spatial studies and to promote data-driven spatial thinking among relevant stakeholders serving youth across Utah. This was originally prepared for Utah's Juvenile Justice Oversight Committee. 

The interactive Juvenile Non-Judicial Adjustment Data Dashboard was created to supplement the full policy report to help support relevant stakeholders identify juvenile justice disparities across Utah's geography and demographic groups. This policy tool was created to help support data-driven policy work across agencies and legislators across Utah. 

Nonjudicial Adjustment Juvenile Financial Sanctions: A Guide For Policy and Reform for Pretrial Diversion in Utah’s Juvenile Justice System, was prepared for the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, including the Utah Juvenile Court (UJC) and Juvenile Justice Oversight Committee, to support ongoing and future juvenile justice policy that is equitable and effective for youth and their communities across Utah.

The Davis County Jail Diversion Program aims to provide an alternative to traditional arrest or citation for adults who have engaged in certain lower-level drug crimes and misdemeanor offenses. Instead of traditional paths, the program allows for referral to appropriate treatment services with the goal of avoiding the stigmatizing and often costly criminal justice track. This policy brief highlights the results of a difference-in-difference approach to account for general time trends to estimate a treatment effect for those that were referred to the program.  

To make the Pro-Equity Policy Framework more accessible to different social institutions and stakeholders interacting with youth, we developed 3 policy toolkits for each stakeholder representing the Front-end, Gatekeeper, and Back-end process of the juvenile justice system. 

Prepared for the Racial and Ethnic Disparities (RED) Advisory Committee of the Utah Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice (UCCJJ). We present an evidence-based pro-equity policy framework to address the racial and ethnic disparities across the juvenile justice system in Utah. The report presents policy recommendations to shape interventions and research for juvenile justice.