Realigning Youth Justice

Realignment is the process of diverting offenders from state facilities and shifting interventions to community-based programs, often under the direct or indirect management of local government. Beginning in 2000, youth justice realignment attracted growing attention in New York and elsewhere due to inefficient facilities, strained budgets, and the persistent failure of the justice system to reduce recidivism. The concept of realignment, however, is much older than 20 years. The Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College of Criminal Justice reviewed the state of the art in justice realignment. Researchers compiled the literature on realignment and other related initiatives and used the results to report on the best approaches to practice and policy. Results from the project were published by John Jay College and presented at meetings and conferences.