Vera Institute of Justice

Overview

Over the past three years, child welfare and probation leaders in New York State have been transforming the state's status offender system to provide timely support to troubled teens and their families in their communities and rely less on courts, law enforcement, and detention. This Issue in Brief, produced by Vera's national Youth Justice Program, examines how this dramatic shift is helping get disobedient, but not delinquent, children back on track while yielding significant cost savings. Jurisdictions looking to better serve their own status offender populations will find useful models in this report's summary of the lessons learned in New York State.