DCLY is conducting a survey to further identify effective and ineffective juvenile justice policy by soliciting the perspectives and voices of DC juvenile justice stakeholders. DCLY will administer the survey to a sample pool of individuals, including but not limited to DC Family Court judges, court social services, prosecutors, defense counsel, youth advocacy groups, educators, police administrators, and government council members. The qualitative results of the survey will highlight additional areas of focus for DCLY as we continue to expand our advocacy as well as provide the basis for a white paper examining current DC juvenile justice policy.

The following questions represent a sample of the questions we plan to ask selected stakeholders:

1. Identify effective policies within the juvenile justice system, regarding the intake of juvenile cases by law enforcement and the processing of juvenile cases by court social services.
2. What factors contribute to a juvenile’s entrance into the juvenile justice system?
3. How would you define a successful exit from the juvenile justice system?
4. Identify community organizations or institutions where current involvement with the juvenile justice system can be strengthened.
5. Which laws regulating juvenile justice should be reformed?
6. Identifying any general unmet needs that the juvenile justice system could or should respond to.
7. What changes would you like to see within the juvenile justice system?
8. Are there any issues that you have observed related to parental involvement in the juvenile justice system that should be addressed?

We believe this project will increase and enhance the dialogue among juvenile justice policy makers in the District. Without open lines of communication between youth, parents and policy makers, we cannot effectively accomplish our goal of maximizing the potential of all District youth.