An Evaluation of JUST Court in Yuma County, AZ

Arizona's Juveniles Under Supervision and Treatment (JUST) Court is a pilot project initiated by the Arizona Governor's office. It is designed to test whether the principles of Swift, Certain, and Fair (SCF) Supervision-clear rules, close monitoring, and swift and certain, but modest, penalties for each violation can succeed when applied to juveniles under community supervision. The Arizona Administrative Office of the Courts piloted JUST in two counties: Yavapai and Yuma. The Yuma program was launched in March 2011. The goal of JUST is to (a) reduce the violation rate so as to reduce the number of petitions filed to revoke probation (the purpose is to reduce the use of juvenile detention), and (b) reduce recidivism overall. All juveniles in Yavapai are supervised under JUST (evaluation using an RCT is therefore unfeasible). JUST in Yuma is now being scaled up, which affords the opportunity for an RCT. The goal of the RCT is to compare the performance of youth supervised under JUST with those supervised under probation-as-usual.

Inclusion criteria

• Newly probated
• At least 13 years old
• No older than 17 years and 3 months
• At least nine months remaining on supervision
• Must be on standard probation with a supervision level of moderate to maximum
• Must be able to participate in the program for at least nine months

Exclusion criteria

• Not meeting all inclusion criteria
• Sex offender
• Dangerous offenses