Hawaii County Strategy for Juvenile Justice Fact Sheet

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Hawaii County Comprehensive Strategy for Juvenile Justice OVERVIEW The Comprehensives Strategy is an Organized plan for communities to effectively deal with juveniles who commit crime. This plan covers juveniles who exhibit problem behavior, non-criminal behavior, delinquency, and serious, violent and chronic offenses. Spanning the spectrum from prevention services for all youth to graduated sanctions for the serious, violent and chronic offenders, the plan helps the community identify resources and gaps in the system. Most important, the plan enables members of the community from all sectors both private and public to share resources resulting in greater availability of services for youth. This plan is a data driven, research based, outcomes focused approach to juvenile delinquency that coordinates prevention efforts with the juvenile justice system's response to criminal behavior. This plan brings together both sides of the continuum through a comprehensive strategic planning process that builds on and unifies the efforts of all service and program providers and integrates the full spectrum of prevention and juvenile justice efforts. BRIEF HISTORY The Big Island is the 52nd community in the nation to receive federal technical assistance in creating such a plan. In May 2000, the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney convened a conference of nearly 100 individuals who identified visions, goals and needed services. The success of this plan in part contributed to the more encompassing strategic planning initiative presently underway. CS PARTICIPANTS The County of Hawaii, Office of the Prosecuting Attorney is the sponsoring agency for this effort. The Mayor's Office, Department of Education, Department of Health, Department of Research and Development and many other departments, agencies and private businesses are involved in this effort. WHAT WILL THE END RESULT BE? A planning body recognized by local government will use the community-based systems in place to collect and analyze data, prioritize risk factors and identify gaps in existing resources. A structured decision making system for allocating resources used in prevention and the juvenile justice system will be developed. But most important a five year comprehensive strategy plan will officially be agreed upon with a full continuum of effective services in place for youth, including prevention programs from prenatal through adolescence, community alternatives to incarceration, appropriate confinement programs and effective aftercare. As part of this process a formal evaluation mechanism will also be in place.