Butts, Jeffrey A. (2015). New York’s “Close to Home” Initiative – Did it Work? [Research Brief 2015-03]. New York, NY: Research & Evaluation Center, John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Recent trends in youth justice suggest that Close to Home succeeded in lowering the number of New York City youth placed in the State’s non-secure facilities. Critics of the reform initiative warned that making these changes could widen the net of intervention and even increase the use of placements and detention at the local level, but these predictions did not materialize. It will take several more years before additional research will be able to assess whether Close to Home also protected public safety and accomplished critical goals related to treatment and behavior change among young offenders. In the early years of Close to Home, however, the effort appears to be working as promised. State and City policymakers succeeded in meeting their stated goals without the negative effectrs of net-widening and system expansion.