As a critical step in New York State’s juvenile justice reform process, Vera is assisting the Cuomo administration in examining and identifying strengths and weaknesses in the state’s juvenile justice funding structure. The aim is to create an effective funding system that will support and encourage best practices in juvenile justice on the ground, ensure positive outcomes for youth, families, and communities, and save money for both the state and counties.

To create better outcomes for youth, families, and communities, the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) has partnered with Vera’s Center on Youth Justice (CYJ) and the Missouri Youth Services Institute (MYSI) to design a new model for state juvenile justice custody that is therapeutic, community-based, and grounded in national best practices. Through the “Brooklyn for Brooklyn Initiative” (B4B), Vera has assisted OCFS in planning and implementing a pilot of the model that is tailored to the needs of youth in Brooklyn, and is working with OCFS to expand the model statewide.

In 2007, Vera was awarded a grant by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to participate in the Models for Change initiative, an effort to create successful and replicable models of juvenile justice reform through targeted investments in key states. The initiative seeks to accelerate progress toward a fairer, more effective, and more developmentally sound juvenile justice system that holds young people accountable for their actions, provides for their rehabilitation, protects them from harm, increases their life chances, and manages the risk they pose to themselves and to the public.

CYJ has been working with four New York Counties—Erie (Buffalo), Onondaga (Syracuse), Monroe (Rochester), and Albany County—to develop a reliable way for judges to decide whether arrested youth should be released, referred to community-based programs under supervision, or detained before trial. CYJ staff are also helping these counties develop a continuum of community-based supervision options for arrested youth. This reform is intended to reserve juvenile detention for youth who pose a risk of re-offending or failing to appear in court and keep youth who do not pose these risks connected to their communities, without compromising public safety.

In 2011, Vera’s Center on Youth Justice (CYJ) began providing research and technical assistance to help New York State juvenile justice officials develop a strategy to reform detention practices and policies statewide. These reforms include the development of an risk assessment instrument (RAI) to be implemented in upstate counties by 2012.