City watchdog says Chicago's arrest diversion program for youth can't be evaluated due to poor record keeping and lack of collaboration

Juvenile detention usually leads to worse outcomes for youth in the future, while Juvenile Detention Alternatives allow for decreases in detention populations and the likelihood that youth will stay trapped in the system for life.

Philadelphia has made a concerted effort toward reducing the number of youth being arrested in schools. Leadership, including the school police commissioner and district attorney, changed procedures so that youth, instead of getting arrested, are enrolled in diversion programs. While there’s been pushback from some law enforcement, early studies have pointed to a decline in arrests without a decline in safety.

Alternative programming that involves "restorative justice" models - such as having youth within the criminal justice system create art as a means of self expression instead of detaining them in a prison-like facility - are much more effective at preventing antisocial and criminal behavior in youth than involvement in the juvenile-justice system.

Cleveland has struggled through the years to reduce youth violence. But important lessons have been learned, here and elsewhere. City officials say they are factoring those lessons into their latest plans to reduce violence among young men in the city.

The approach of some state detention directors to juvenile justice has evolved at Henley-Young Juvenile Justice Center. Research shows that traditional detention is simply not working as a deterrent to youth crime—and can actually increase it. Administrators, county and special-interest groups have chipped away at antiquated practices to make room for rehabilitation and therapy. These efforts attempt to address the core issues that culminate in youth crime, delinquency and recidivism.

Juvenile Hearing Boards in Rhode Island divert first-time youth offenders from traditional detention to community-based volunteers who assign restorative sanctions like community service and counseling, resulting in a recidivism rate of less than 10% compared to the state's overall 33% three-year recidivism rate.

Marin County's Peer Solutions program is a youth court designed to help keep students out of the juvenile justice system. In addition to attending personal development classes and completing volunteer hours, teens in the program attend "hearings" where other participants act as the jury to facilitate discussions around accountability and ways to move forward.

As part of a revamp of its juvenile justice system, Connecticut launched youth treatment centers where residents meet regularly with counselors and mental health professionals. The centers focus on providing individualized care and a more welcoming atmosphere than traditional juvenile detention programs.

"Policing the teen brain" is a training regimen devised by Strategies for Youth that teaches police officers to de-escalate conflicts with adolescents to avoid unnecessary incarceration. Youth detention has dropped significantly since Tippecanoe County put most of its officers through the training. Police learn how to account for teens' lowered impulse control and undeveloped problem solving skills. The county decided to pay for the expensive training because detention, which hits Black youth hardest, can be even more costly – and leave lasting damage in the lives of young people.

New Hampshire's 40-year-old system of diverting many juvenile prosecutions away from courts and incarceration, and into community-based restorative justice programs, has saved public money, lowered youth crime rates, and changed lives. By addressing root causes of lower-level offenses, the programs provide treatment to youth who apologize and atone for their offenses, and who then often perform community service projects to erase their arrest record. But there are many fewer resources now than at the program's start, creating an uneven and inequitable patchwork of available services statewide.