Advocates, courts, law enforcement, community groups, elected officials. Every juvenile justice agency leader answers to all of them at once. Behind that pressure is a constant push-pull over how to respond to offenses committed by teenagers. On one side, a law and order focus on secure confinement, removing young offenders from their victims and communities. On the other, a rehabilitative focus on long-term change through behavioral health, education, and community support.
The agency leader stands in the middle of that balancing act. One misstep, and a public fall is all but assured. But through strategic leadership, that same leader can strike the balance and improve the lives of youth and families.
Stuck in the Middle
Adolescents are not quite children and not quite adults. Teenagers have the physical development to cause adult-level harm but not the cognitive development for adult-level judgment. That gap makes any agency working with youthful offenders a lightning rod for scrutiny and controversy.
On the public safety side, law enforcement, community groups, and prosecutors lean toward adult-oriented responses to adolescent offending, particularly violent acts. On the advocacy side, youth advocacy groups, public defenders, and watchdog groups lean toward a child-focused, developmental approach. Elected officials and the courts can land on either side, depending on the case.
The agency leader stands in the middle, responsible for both public safety and developmentally-appropriate treatment of adolescent offenders. It is a delicate balance with virtually no margin of error.
A Force to Change Lives for the Better
The good news: juvenile justice agency leaders have a unique opportunity to improve young lives at a scale nothing else can match.
A juvenile justice agency has access to resources, political leverage, and funding that youth advocacy groups, local courts, and law enforcement simply do not have at the same scale.
As an agency leader, you can strategically implement services and programs that balance public safety with developmentally-appropriate treatment. Secure juvenile facilities will still exist to remove youth from the community for a period of time, but they should operate differently than an adult secure facility. And developmentally-appropriate strategies backed by research and data, community-based treatment, behavioral health, and educational achievement, can and should be the central focus of a juvenile justice agency's strategy.
Here is what often gets lost in the "public safety" versus "developmentally appropriate treatment" debate: developmentally-appropriate strategies benefit public safety in the long run. Adolescents whose mental health needs are addressed, who have strong community supports, and who complete at least a high school degree carry a dramatically lower risk of reoffending. The developmental approach is backed by science. It works.
The Critical Building Blocks for Success
Build the Team
If you were appointed from outside the agency, it can be tempting to build your team from your previous lines of work. Bringing trusted outside talent is not a bad instinct. You will be working with these people daily, and it helps to have colleagues you already trust and enjoy working with.
But take the time to evaluate the talent already in your agency. You may find a superstar performer languishing in a low-performing unit or under an incompetent manager. Look for the diamonds in the rough, and let them shine.
Lead with Data
Without reliable data, an agency leader is flying blind. One of the first moves a new leader should make is to assess the agency's data infrastructure: where the data lives, and what reports it can produce. Some agencies have a dedicated data unit; others rely on one housed elsewhere. Data can be recorded electronically or on paper. Data can exist outside the agency too, in reports generated by courts and law enforcement.
Reliable data lets agency leaders make proactive decisions instead of reactive ones. When a decision or policy is questioned, data is the first and best defense.
Execute a Strategic Plan
Access to data is not enough. It has to form the foundation of a strategic plan that aligns the agency, from the leader to field staff, around a unified vision.
Early in their tenure, a juvenile justice agency leader should run a data-based, intentional strategic planning process: vision and mission statements, plus a reasonable number of strategic objectives and goals. But this has to be an agency-wide effort led by the executive team. A strategic plan goes nowhere if the rest of the agency does not buy in.
Data, staff input, and, most critically, committee follow-up tracking progress toward those objectives at least twice a year, turn a "strategic plan" into "strategic success."
Find Your Champions
This is an overlooked but critical part of any agency leader's ability to implement reforms, improve operations, and weather inevitable controversy.
Leadership is often lonely but no leader does it alone.
This is where champions come in. Cultivate relationships with people who believe in you and are willing to defend and support you. An internal champion might be a long-tenured supervisor who openly backs your reform efforts and can influence reluctant staff. An external champion might be a respected judge, elected official, or youth advocate, any of which are especially valuable when you need someone to testify before the legislature or speak to the press during a crisis.
Then there is the "Ace-in-the-Hole" champion: someone with influence in the Governor's office, whether a Deputy Chief of Staff or a colleague of the Governor with justice-field experience. Being a juvenile justice agency leader can be perilous and a champion with access to the Governor is invaluable when things get tough.