The Council of Juvenile Justice Administrators (CJJA, formerly Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators) is a partner in the Stop Solitary for Kids campaign. CJJA is a national non-profit organization representing the youth correctional CEOs in 50 states, Puerto Rico and major metropolitan counties. CJJA works to improve local juvenile correctional services, programs and practices; to provide national leadership and leadership development for those responsible for the systems; provides educational programs; and conducts research and technical assistance projects. CJJA has taken an active role in reducing the use of isolation in youth facilities.
CJJA Issue Brief on Supporting Youth in Custody During COVID-19 (2020). Read more here.
NOT IN ISOLATION REPORT: How to Reduce Room Confinement While Increasing Safety in Youth Facilities (2019)
This report prepared in partnership with CJJA and CCLP provides concrete examples of how four jurisdictions reduced room confinement without compromising the safety of staff or youth. Read more here.
Read a Fact Sheet on the report for administrators and staff.
CJJA TOOLKIT: Reducing the Use of Isolation (2015)
Prepared by the Council of Juvenile Correction Administrators (CJCA) with support from OJJDP through the Center for Coordinated Assistance to the States, the Toolkit presents an overview of the use of isolation in juvenile facilities. It also includes a summary of the research on the negative impacts of isolation and guidance for reducing the use of isolation.Click here to read the Toolkit.
CJJA WEBINARS ON ISOLATION
- Reducing Isolation in Youth Facilities: Strategies & Lessons Learned, May 2015
- Reducing Isolation in Facilities: Working With Your Most Challenging Youth, Sept. 2016
- Reducing Isolation in Youth Facilities: Strategies & Lessons Learned, Feb. 2017
- Reducing Isolation in Youth Facilities: Strategies & Lessons Learned, Feb. 2018 (also presentation)
- Applying Positive Youth Development (PYD) Strategies to Reduce the Use of Isolation and Ensure Youth Safety, June 5, 2018 (slides also available)
- Reducing Isolation in Youth Facilities: Strategies for Working With Your Most Challenging Youth, Sept. 25, 2018 (slides also available)
CJJA and PbS Issue Briefs
CJJA Issue Brief on Supporting Youth in Custody During COVID-19, 2020.
PbS Report: Reducing Isolation, A Report on the Key Findings of National Isolation Data, June 2019
Reducing Isolation in Youth Facilities (RIYF) & Training and Technical Assistance, June 2019.
Sustaining the Gains: Altnernative Tools to Isolation, June 2019.
PbS Perspective, July 2016.
PbS Perspective, July 2017.
Performance-based Standards
Performance-based Standards is a program developed by the Council of Juvenile Justice Administrators for the Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. It is a voluntary program, with more than 200 participating facilities across 36 states. PbS collects data on the use of isolation and sets best practice standards for the field. Under PbS Standards, isolating or confining a youth to his/her room should be used only to protect the youth from harming himself or others and if used, should be brief and supervised.” Isolation should not be used as punishment.
CJCA Blog Posts
Read the CJCA Blog Post on Reducing Room Confinement While Increasing Safety in Facilities (June 2019)
Read the CJCA Executive Director’s blog about CJCA’s efforts to reduce the use of isolation in the CJCA Newsletter (July 2016).