The Probation Experience Project (PEP), funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, is a research-to-practice partnership that utilizes participatory methods to shift the purpose, culture, and practice of youth probation systems. We aim to drive fundamental reforms in partnership with youth, families, and communities to learn from their experiences and identify policy and practice recommendations for transforming youth probation systems and ensuring equitable access to resources in the community. This project ended in June 2024.
Probation is the most common outcome for young people whose cases reach the juvenile court. Once children and young people are placed on youth probation, they must typically adhere to rules and court-imposed conditions, such as curfews, regular communication with their probation officers, community service, or paid restitution. Probation requirements are significant drivers of punitive outcomes like probation fees and removal from home, especially for youth of color and youth in underserved and marginalized communities. Further, probation can serve as a pipeline to deeper involvement in the juvenile justice system, as technical violations of probation rules may lead to placement in out-of-home settings (such as incarceration in a correctional facility).
Youth probation systems’ reliance on punishment and surveillance-oriented probation can negatively impact our youth, families, and communities. To dismantle this unjust system that drives and reinforces systemic inequities, we need to recognize the harms of the current framework and the potential for transformed practice.
386,600 delinquency cases were handled formally by juvenile courts nationwide in 2019. Of these cases, more than half were placed on probation. Black youth were placed on probation at a rate almost three times higher than that of White youth.
The Probation Experience Project consists of a Core Team (comprised of Annie E. Casey Foundation staff, family members of youth who experienced probation, and young adults who have experienced probation), local research partners, and Child Trends as a technical assistance partner. Our approach to driving reforms is to:
Each of our partners shares the vision to learn from youth and families’ probation experiences and to co-create policy advocacy strategies that will help bring about probation transformation. Our research findings inform a probation model that aims to promote youth’s personal growth, positive behavior change, and long-term success through the following goals:
Learnings from this project were shared in a report and webinar facilitated by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Core Team, local research partners, and Child Trends.
For more information about this project, contact us at youthjustice_outreach@childtrends.org.
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