Dual Jurisdiction Youths

Overview: Research suggests that youths involved in the juvenile justice system and the child welfare system are one of the most vulnerable populations. This is study describes the limited resources available to the dual jurisdiction population, transition from the systems into adulthood, and recidivism rates.Proposal text: Individuals within the juvenile justice system and/or the child welfare system are extremely vulnerable populations and have been often overlooked. In 2019, 251,359 children entered the foster care system (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2021), and 696,620 youth entered the juvenile justice system (Puzzanchera, 2021). Recent studies reflected those entries into either system have decreased over the years. Although there is a degression of entries, there are three common factors, in which contributes to individuals becoming involved in the juvenile justice system and the child welfare system. According to Neely-Barnes and Whitted, “there are three different ways that youth become dually involved in both systems: 1) youth enter the child welfare system due to abuse or neglect and then go on to commit a delinquent act which brings them into contact with the juvenile justice system; 2) youth initially enter the juvenile justice system because they committed a delinquent act and the youth later discloses abuse and neglect; or 3) the youth was adjudicated through the juvenile justice system and upon being dismissed from state custody, the youth’s family is unable or unwilling to welcome the youth back home upon being released from a residential treatment facility (2011).” Frequently, youth involved with the Department of Social Services are exposed to delinquent behaviors. According to Whitted, Delavega, and Dearing, the dual jurisdiction is a marginalized population and have a high risk of committing delinquent behaviors in the future (2013).