The John Jay College of Criminal Justice Research and Evaluation Center published a series of short briefs that looked at thousands of youth in Youth Advocate Programs’ community-based alternatives for justice involved youth from across the country, including one right here in Baltimore. The children in these programs were high-risk youth and they have very complex needs. Yet, nearly all of them succeeded in the program with 86 percent remaining arrest free and 93 percent still living in their communities, not back in a facility. One example from a separate study that looked at 1,851 youth found that 95 percent of youth studied were still living in the community six to 12 months after discharge from YAP’s non-residential community-based program. Continue reading Youth Placement is Overused

Not so fast, says Jeffrey Butts, director of the Research and Evaluation Center at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “There are a lot of assumptions being drawn.” And those assumptions are based on very little hard evidence, he adds. The ADL has released numbers, but no statistics, Butts points out. There is an extended press release but no statistical report detailing the organization’s methodology. Continue reading Washington Jewish Week—Numbers are not Statistics…

Many people are seeing the assaults through the “prism of race”, said criminologist Jeffrey Butts, director of the research and evaluation centre at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, but it is more likely to be as a result of “bored, disconnected young people” looking for excitement. “We’re not really sure whether this is a real and growing phenomenon, or just an incredibly rare event that is just now getting a lot of attention,” Mr Butts told The Irish Times. “The strangest thing about it, if the stories are to be believed, is that this is a very serious, violent offence that is committed for no reason other than the thrill of doing it – sort of like A Clockwork Orange.” Continue reading The Irish Times—US Police Examine ‘Knockout’ Assaults

“This idea comes up every time somebody begins to pay attention to crime, especially youth crimes,” said Jeff Butts, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. “People start looking around for solutions, and curfews come up routinely. Stopping someone who looks young means that somewhere else in your city a 911 call is getting a slower response time. It uses up a lot of resources.” Continue reading Atlanta Journal-Constitution—Stepped-up Enforcement of Curfews Targets Adults