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Using staff demographic characteristics to predict two important issues in juvenile confinement facilities: (1) the use of restraints during behavioral incidents and (2) staff perceptions of safety. Specifically, we investigated whether individuals who belong to racial and ethnic groups that have experienced systematic and individual oppression (referred to as minoritized staff) differ in their use of restraints during incidents than non-minoritized staff. Then, we investigated whether the proportion of female staff predicts staff perceptions of safety in the facility.

Contributing to the national vision of reentry success, PbS analyzes the survey responses of young people in secure facilities, community residential programs, and community supervision. This snapshot shares the voices of 4,620 system-involved young people responding to surveys about their current experiences, quality of life, preparations for reentry, and outlook for their futures. 

On November 15, 2022, Performance-based Standards (PbS) hosted a webinar featuring a panel of the coordinators currently receiving training and technical assistance through the Improving Juvenile Reentry Programs Capacity for Data Collection, Analysis, and Reporting project. Panelists discussed how they improved their agency's reentry data capacity and how the work they have done can be applied in other juvenile justice settings. This panel was moderated by Kim Godfrey Lovett, Executive Director of PbS, and Melissa Sickmund, Director of the National Center for Juvenile Justice.

This brief looks at family visitation, staff safety, and behavioral incidents before (April 2019) and after (April 2021) the start of the pandemic. There are two aims: 1) to assess if facility-level family visits, staff perceptions of safety, and behavioral incidents post-pandemic significantly differ from pre-pandemic expected levels, and 2) to assess the relationship between family visits and behavioral incidents as well as the relationship between behavioral incidents and staff safety.

Contributing to the national vision of reentry success, PbS analyzed the survey responses of more than 1,100 young people exiting secure facilities, community residential programs and community supervision between November 2021 and April 2022. This snapshot shares the perceptions of young people regarding their preparedness and readiness for reentry.

To add to nationwide efforts to reduce confinement, PbS looked at more than 2,000 records of young people exiting secure correction and detention facilities between November 2021 and April 2022. In this PbS Data Snapshot, we share Youth Record data to describe the characteristics of young people and committing offenses according to length of stay.

When Akin Fadeyi began working at Performance-based Standards (PbS), gas prices were $1.51 per gallon, Apple was launching iTunes, revolutionizing how we consume digital media, and George W. Bush was on the cusp of being inaugurated as the 43rd US President after a close and highly controversial victory over Al Gore. That was January 2001. Travel, technology and politics all ...

More than 70 juvenile justice professionals from across the country gathered for a session at the 2022 PbS Agency Coordinators Training and described their challenges like the strain of having too few staff and employee burnout. They talked about the demanding jobs, inadequate pay, lack of respect, and difficulties recruiting and retaining individuals who want to help young people. They share their strategies and welcome additional creative and innovative solutions to the current staff shortages.

Performance-based Standards (PbS) invites academics, researchers and students to access our comprehensive database to help us better understand the practices in juvenile facilities that result in positive outcomes. Research team, Kaylee Noorman, MS and Julie Brancale, PhD of Florida State University, College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, evaluated educational reentry preparedness among youth being released from a residential program or facility using PbS Youth Reentry Survey data between October 2019 to April 2022.

In conjunction with the annual PbS Agency Coordinators Training (ACT), the PbS Awards Night took place in New Orleans on Friday, Aug. 5, with nearly 100 guests donning their best attire to recognize and celebrate each other. Sponsored by the PbS Education and Employment Foundation, the PbS Awards Night honors juvenile justice professionals as well as young award recipients. Am ...