We live in a data-driven world
PbS combines juvenile justice research, best practices and extensive field experience to offer a data-driven continuous improvement process customized for youth facilities, residential programs and reentry services. PbS provides goals and standards that set expectations for conditions of confinement, quality of life, staff-youth relationships, healthy cultures and effective services and an on-line system of data collection and reporting to continually monitor performance. Our work focuses on three main areas:
Making Facilities Safe
Public safety and the safety of the youths, staff and visitors is the primary responsibility of confinement facilities. PbS standards and performance data focus on management practices that promote safety and wellbeing and minimize the risks of harm.
Achieving Positive Outcomes
Time in custody can and should be a catchment opportunity to help youths prepare to return to living with their families and community. PbS standards and performance measures focus on what research has shown are the most likely outcomes to prevent reoffending and give youths a meaningful second chance when they leave.
Monitoring Program Effectiveness
The challenge for youth facility leaders is to provide programming and services that both keep youths engaged and out of trouble and puts them on the path to becoming productive, purposeful citizens. PbS standards and performance measures focus on education and employment opportunities, health and behavioral health services and building life skills and competencies.
Making a National Impact
Listen to Acting Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), Chyrl Jones' message on the efforts of OJJDP, PbS and juvenile justice facilities to drive practices and services that improve safety, develop effective programming and achieve positive outcomes for young people.
CONNECTING JUVENILE JUSTICE PROFESSIONALS
Peer-to-Peer Networking
Each year, PbS strives to provide quality training and technical assistance to participating agencies, in order to build agencies’ internal capacity to use PbS’ continuous improvement model.