RD79 - The Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice Data Resource Guide Fiscal Year 2007


Executive Summary:
The Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) published the first Data Resource Guide in 2001. It was the first comprehensive summary of data relating to juveniles who enter into our justice system. For the first time, both researchers and the public had easy access to information detailing the numbers and types of young people to whom we provide services, their demographics, the many family and delinquency matters that come before the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Courts, the array of programs and services provided, as well as statistics for each locality in the Commonwealth.

In addition to facts, this Guide provides a narrative overview of Virginia’s juvenile justice system and includes information that allows us to assess the extent to which the tax dollars we spend make a difference in the safety and quality of life for our citizens. You will find spending summaries, recidivism rates, and an explanation of how we determine the amount of time that a juvenile will spend in our centers if he or she is committed by a judge to our care. This document, as well as other and more detailed information, can also be found on our website (www.djj.virginia.gov).

While we are always accountable for the programs we operate, this year presented special challenges due to slowing revenue growth. In order to maintain and improve those programs that work, and identify others that are not producing desired results, we need to be able to define and measure the impacts that these services have on the safety of our communities. Data allows us to do that. The strategic plan that this agency developed last year clearly defines what outcomes are expected of us, and the information included in this Guide, as well as more detailed data that we capture, allows us to know, and to inform the public, whether or not we are achieving what our agency was charged and created to do.

While this publication consists primarily of numbers, we know that our job is to improve the lives of people – the young people entrusted to our care and supervision, as well as the residents of and visitors to Virginia. But it takes information and analysis to know what needs we have to address and, in the end, to know whether or not we are meeting those needs.

DJJ staff are committed professionals who share a desire to make Virginia the best place to live and work. We have many partners, which include other state and local agencies who serve youth as well as non-profit, faith-based, and volunteer groups, who share the same goals. To the extent that we succeed; we do it together.

I would like to acknowledge and thank the Department of Criminal Justice Services and our federal partners at the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention for grant funding that allowed us to publish this Guide. I also want to thank the staff of our Research and Evaluation Section whose hard work made this report possible and whose talents enable those of us who are not methodologists to understand what the numbers really mean.

I hope that you will take a moment to complete the enclosed survey form so that we can better serve your needs in the future. Thank you for taking the time to learn more about the young people of this great Commonwealth.

Sincerely,

Barry R. Green
Director