Youth Today Exchange

Question and Answer Session Part 1 (Questions 1 through 5)

(Click here for Part 2; view all the event videos here.)

1. Advice for the next administrator

Assistant Attorney General Laurie Robinson

The gist: If you had one piece of advice to give the new administrator … what would that be?

2. Dealing with competing influences at OJJDP

Asked by Tara Andrews, Coalition for Juvenile Justice

The gist: You hear from all sides: you hear from Congress, state-based advocates, you hear from the White House, state officials, law enforcement and practitioners. How should OJJDP sort through all of those different voices and opinions and find its own voice and be the leader on issues that are of importance to the field?

3. Call to eliminate Valid Court Orders

Asked by Debby Shore, Sasha Bruce Youth Work

The gist: I want to bring up something that I think was part of the original [act] and has not met its promise. And this the locking up of status offenders. The original idea was there was going to be a complete change in this way. Services were going to be in place. Unfortunately [in] some places this hasn’t happened enough. It was really a roll back on the idea of not placing young people in secure detention. The valid court order issues are before us again.

4. The earmarks scourge

Asked by John Wilson, former OJJDP staffer and acting administrator

The gist: Over the last decade we’ve seen a real reduction in the commitment of funding protection program, yet we’ve learned a tremendous … through research and analysis and demonstration programs that there are lot of great detention programs that are out there that can be consecutive. Yet we’ve whittled them down to virtually nothing. What can we do to change that?

5. The integrity of OJJDP’s grant-making process

Asked by Mark Soler, Center for Children’s Law and Policy

The gist: The previous administrator had been severely criticized for favoritism and I guess irrationality in awarding discretionary grants. Could you tell us what the next administrator should do to restore integrity to the office.

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