Juvenile Justice Training Needs Assessment: A Survey of Law Enforcement.

摘要

In early 2011, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) conducted the Juvenile Justice Training Needs Assessment Survey of law enforcement around the nation to identify challenges and training needs facing law enforcement in addressing juvenile crime, delinquency and victimization. The survey identifies law enforcement needs and priorities, and will enable IACP, as well as the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), to assist the law enforcement community in their efforts to address juvenile justice issues. The results will inform IACP when making decisions on future initiatives, new workshop selection, promising practice brief topics, and enriching existing training curricula. The results of this survey will also be used to further develop the IACPs new, proactive, evidence-based, youthfocused policing strategy that raises juvenile justice issues to new priority levels in law enforcement agencies, reduces juvenile disorder and criminal behavior, decreases youth victimization, and increases community wellness. There were 672 responses to this national survey from participants representing 404 law enforcement agencies from 49 states and the District of Columbia. Participants represented agencies of varying sizes from rural, suburban, and urban geographic areas. The Juvenile Justice Needs Assessment Survey revealed various challenges that law enforcement face within their departments and the broader criminal justice system that are barriers to effectively addressing juvenile crime, delinquency and victimization. For instance, the survey revealed that the primary reasons prohibiting law enforcement agencies from receiving juvenile justice training are lack of funding and agency resources (manpower). In fact, over half of all agencies that responded had a decrease in, or abolishment of, training budgets in the last five years.