Juvenile Justice in Pennsylvania: Mission‐Driven; Performance‐ Based; Outcome‐Focused

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jfcj.12127
• Date: 01 March 2019
• Published date: 01 March 2019

Juvenile Justice in Pennsylvania: Mission-Driven;

Performance- Based; Outcome-Focused

By Susan Blackburn

ABSTRACT

Since 1995, Pennsylvania’s Balanced and Restorative Justice Mission has been

the driving force behind Pennsylvania’s reform and system improvement efforts.

Pennsylvania has made strong and steady progress towards advancing this statutory

mission and the related operational goals through policy, practice and programmatic

enhancements over these past 20+plus years. Three key events spurred forth this

advancement: the legislative passage of Act 33 in 1995 that statutorily established

the goals of Balanced and Restorative Justice (BARJ), the Models for Change

Juvenile Justice Reform Initiative–Additional Reform Momentum (2004) and the

Juvenile Justice System Enhancement Strategy–Evidence-based Approach to the

Reforms (2010).What follows is the story of how it all unfolded.

Key words: Balanced and Restorative Justice, juvenile justice, system reform, accountability,

community protection, competency development, evidence –based practices.

INTRODUCTION

Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice system has been influenced by three distinct periods

of reform since the mid-1990s. These can be characterized as:

•Balanced and Restorative Justice in Pennsylvania–The Passage of Act 33 (1995)

•Models for Change Juvenile Justice Reform Initiative–Additional Reform

Momentum (2004)

•Juvenile Justice System Enhancement Strategy–Evidence-based Approach to the

Reforms (2010)

Susan Blackburn is a recently retired Policy and Program Development Specialist for the Pennsylva-

nia Juvenile Court Judges’ Commission. She was Pennsylvania’s first Balanced and Restorative Justice Coor-

dinator and central point of contact for balanced and restorative justice. She remains involved in juvenile

justice as a Juvenile Justice Training and Development Consultant.

This article is based on the myriad of publications that have been written by and for practitioners of

the Pennsylvania Juvenile Justice System.

Juvenile and Family Court Journal 70, No. 1

©2019 National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges

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