An Evaluation of JUST Court in Yuma County, AZ

NCT ID: NCT02449057

Last Updated: 2018-04-10

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 150 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2014-03-31
• Study Completion Date: 2016-06-30

Brief Summary

Arizona has created a pilot program for juvenile probationers called Juveniles under Supervision and Treatment (JUST), which includes swift and certain, but modest responses, to technical violations of the terms of juvenile probation. JUST targets high- and medium-risk juvenile probationers and its stated objective is to reduce violations and overall incarceration of youth in the program. The JUST pilot is being implemented under the authority of the Arizona Governor's Office for Children, Youth and Families (GOCYF) and the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC).

Detailed Description

Arizona's Juveniles Under Supervision and Treatment (JUST) Court is a pilot project initiated by the Arizona Governor's office. It is designed to test whether the principles of Swift, Certain, and Fair (SCF) Supervision-clear rules, close monitoring, and swift and certain, but modest, penalties for each violation can succeed when applied to juveniles under community supervision. The Arizona Administrative Office of the Courts piloted JUST in two counties: Yavapai and Yuma. The Yuma program was launched in March 2011. The goal of JUST is to (a) reduce the violation rate so as to reduce the number of petitions filed to revoke probation (the purpose is to reduce the use of juvenile detention), and (b) reduce recidivism overall. All juveniles in Yavapai are supervised under JUST (evaluation using an RCT is therefore unfeasible). JUST in Yuma is now being scaled up, which affords the opportunity for an RCT. The goal of the RCT is to compare the performance of youth supervised under JUST with those supervised under probation-as-usual.

Conditions

Substance Abuse; Adolescent Behavior; Juvenile Delinquency Unspecified

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: OTHER
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

JUST

Juveniles Under Supervision and Treatment. This entails swift, certain, and modest sanctions for violations of terms of community supervision.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

JUST

Intervention Type: OTHER

Swift, certain, and proportionate sanctions for violations of terms of community supervision.

Probation-as-Usual

Juvenile probation-as-usual.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

JUST

Swift, certain, and proportionate sanctions for violations of terms of community supervision.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Newly probated
• At least 13 years old
• No older than 17 years and 3 months
• At least nine months remaining on supervision
• Must be on standard probation with a supervision level of moderate to maximum
• Must be able to participate in the program for at least nine months

• Sex offender
• Dangerous offenses

• Minimum Eligible Age: 13 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 17 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

University of California, Los Angeles

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Pepperdine University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Angela Hawken, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Pepperdine University

Locations

Yuma County Juvenile Justice Center

Yuma, Arizona, United States

Countries

United States

Other Identifiers

SPP1014F01

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id