Publications

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. 

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.

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.

PbS looked at more than 6,000 surveys between April 2020 and October 2021 to understand the impact of COVID-19 on young people leaving residential care and rejoining communities. In this PbS Data Snapshot, we share Youth Reentry Survey responses to some of the questions and issues posed by the pandemic.

The pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus and its variants continues to dominate public discussions and exacerbate already difficult situations in neighborhoods, schools, places of work and of worship and in homes and institutions. Because of the nature of the virus and the reality of asymptomatic infections, it is impossible to know the exact number of positive cases that occur within these various contexts. Widespread testing, however, has proven to be the most useful tool for shedding light on the prevalence of the virus and the effectiveness of interventions.

There were some positive changes during the pandemic that we want to learn more about: There were fewer uses of restraints in facilities and more youths reported positively about their relationships with the staff.