Vera Institute of Justice

Overview

A growing body of research has persuaded most experts and many practitioners that punitive responses to juvenile offenders—particularly those placed in secure facilities—yield poor results for the youth involved and for public safety. Informed by this consensus, in 2005 officials in Washington, DC’s Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) began planning a comprehensive reform of the agency’s responses to youth in secure placement. This report presents findings from a year-long process evaluation of the reforms, in which Vera researchers explored both the strategy the agency used and factors that affected the implementation process.