Recidivism report

DJJ RECIDIVISM REPORT UPDATE 20190205V2.4

RECIDIVISM QUICK FACT
GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF JUVENILE JUSTICE
2018 RECIDIVISM
REPORT
WITH FY 2011-2014 RECIDIVISM RATES

2018 GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF JUVENILE JUSTICE
RECIDIVISM REPORT
Avery D. Niles, Commissioner Contributing Authors
Joseph Vignati, Assistant Commissioner Shawanda Reynolds-Cobb, Deputy Commissioner
Lisa Mantz, Assistant Deputy Commissioner Eugene Gaultney, Assistant Director of Information Technology
Bill Webb, Statistical Research Analyst Joan Sumowski, Programmer Analyst
This report contains data compiled from only dependent and shared courts.

2018 RECIDIVISM REPORT
F Y 2 0 1 1 T O F Y 2 0 1 4 R E C I D I V I S M R A T E S EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Georgia Juvenile recidivists decreased by almost 900 youths in a four-year span
Short Term Program (STP) releases declined 48% between 2011 and 2014
14-16 year-olds (3,348 / 75%) continue to represent the highest percentage of releases
14 year-olds (299) represented the age with the highest one-year juvenile recidivism rate at 36.9%
The increased share of probation releases (81%) in 2014 placed upward pressure on recidivism rate
Georgia's recidivism definition: A new charge within three years of the initial post-adjudication community placement which results in a juvenile court delinquency adju-
dication or adult criminal conviction
This report contains data compiled from only dependent and shared courts

RECIDIVISM QUICK FACTS

RISK ANALYSIS BY AGE GROUP

14-year olds are 1/5th of the release population

14-year-olds are at almost twice the risk than 16 year-olds

14-year-olds present the highest recidivism risk
Over half the release population is 15-16 years old
16-year-olds had the highest release population

SECURE CONFINEMENTS AND GEORGIA'S POPULATION

DJJ experienced a 10% increase in confinements in 2018 (497), a rate still lower than that of the last pre-reform year (515) of 2013

Georgia's 10-14-year-old youth population grew by an additional 10,000 youth, since the 2011-2014 time period

OFFENSE CATEGORIES

FY 2011 2012 2013 2014

Releases
Felony 41.31% 42.49% 39.62% 41.10%

Misdemeanor 58.69% 57.51% 60.38% 58.90%

YDC SECURE

CONFINEMENTS BY

FISCAL YEAR

2011

469

2012

449

2013

515

2014

357

2015

362

2016

455

2017

450

2018

497

PREDISPOSITION RISK ASSESSMENT SCORING
Approximately 50% of the 2014 released youth participated in the PDRA assessment. Juveniles with STP, STP + Probation, or Criminal convictions trended consistent with expectations: High PDRA-risk youth trended with the highest recidivism rate Low PDRA-risk youth trended with the lowest recidivism rate

2018 RECIDIVISM REPORT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary OVERVIEW KEY FINDINGS RECIDIVISM TRENDS FY 2014 COHORT DEMOGRAPHICS RELEASE AND RECIDIVISM POPULATION PREDICTING RECIDIVISM OFFENSE ANALYSIS SECURE COMMITMENTS SUMMARY EPILOGUE GEORGIA DEPARTMENT of JUVENILE JUSTICE RECIDIVISM METHODOLOGY KENNESAW STATE UNIVERSITY'S LETTER TO THE COMMISSIONER ANNEX A: DEFINITIONS
FIGURES AND TABLES
Table 1. One, two, and three-year recidivism rates for the FY 2014 Release Cohort Figure 1. Comparison of three-year recidivism rates across FY 2011 to FY 2014 Cohorts Figure 2. Georgia 10-14 year-old population versus release and recidivist count Figure 3. Release populations by race from FY 2011 to FY 2014 Figure 4. Release populations by percentage of race from FY 2011 to FY 2014 Figure 5. Release populations by gender from FY 2011 to FY 2014 Figure 6. FY 2014 Age distribution by severity of offense Figure 7. FY 2014 Release population by percentage share of age distribution Table 2. FY 2014 Release and Recidivists Population by Age Table 3. FY 2014 Release population by PDRA risk level percentage share Table 4. PDRA risk level versus commitment type (legal status) and one-year recidivism rate for the FY2014 release cohort Figure 8. Release population by Event Legal Action Type from 2011 to 2014 Table 5, Originating Offense Prior to Release FY 2011 through FY 2014 cohorts Figure 9. FY 2011 to FY 2018 Secure Commitment Trend Table 5. DJJ Secure Commitment History by Year from FY 2011 to FY 2018 Table 6. 4-Year Recidivism Events by Year from FY 2011 to FY 2014

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4, 5 & 6 7 8
9 & 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
1 2 3 4 4 5 6 7 7 8
8 9 10 11 11 12

PROLOGUE
The Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice 2018 Recidivism Report highlights the achievements that have been made as a result of the Justice Reform Act of 2013 (HB 242) and the agency's use of the Pre-Disposition Risk Assessment (PDRA) instrument.
The Department of Juvenile Justice initiated implementation of Justice Reform practices in early 2014 with the agency seeing partial results of these efforts. The agency's next publication, the 2019 Recidivism Report will contain DJJ's first full year analysis of the reform efforts.
DJJ's new PDRA tool, which started in 2014, has replaced the old Comprehensive Risk Needs Assessment (CRN) tool and has maximized the agency's efforts in helping to ensure consistency of juvenile decision-making across the state. Approximately half of the released youth in 2014 were administered the PDRA tool and, since that time, DJJ sees the initial effectiveness of our efforts to make the best decisions on treatment for the juveniles in our care. The effectiveness of the PDRA will not be fully realized and documented until the 2019 Recidivism report (FY 2015 cohort) is released.
The DJJ has partnered with the Kennesaw State University's (KSU) Analytics and Data Science Institute (http://datascience.kennesaw.edu/) to validate and assist with the preparation of this year's report. KSU performed a review of our methodology and calculations as well as provided guidance with the report presentation. We are looking forward to working with KSU's Analytics and Data Science Institute in the upcoming years to further enhance our recidivism reporting.

OVERVIEW

In 2017, DJJ reviewed the methodology used to calculate recidivism and used this practice to enhance models to reflect post-reform changes in the juvenile justice system.
The 2018 Recidivism Report includes the first full glimpse of data generated by Juvenile Justice Reform, including the first six months of 2014 after the reform was enacted. In coordination with Kennesaw State University, the review of our calculations led to some minor modifications which resulted in a slight change to our previously published rates.
Over the four year reporting period, the release cohort count declined consistently in FY 2012 (892), 2013 (545), and 2014 (928). The last reporting year of this report ended with 4,479 juveniles released.
The number of recidivists have followed a downward pattern similar to the release cohort. Recidivists numbers declined each year after FY 2012 (304), 2013 (248), and 2014 (336). The recidivists cohort has reached a low of 1,690 in FY 2014.
Recidivism rates remained in a narrow range during FY2011 through FY2014 with a low of 36.3% (2013) to a high of 37.2% (2012). The 4 year (FY2011-2014) percentage rate reduction in the release and recidivists population was very close. The reduction in recidivists (35.3%) edged out the release population (34.6%) by three-tenths of a percent. In the fiscal year 2014, calculations indicated an increase in the recidivism rate including the first six months of Juvenile Justice Reform, see table 1.

Fiscal Year Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

Recidivism Rate
26.90% 34.20% 36.39%

Year 2
7.30% -

Year 3 2.19%

Table 1. One, two, and three-year recidivism rates for the FY 2014 Release Cohort rounded to one decimal place.

Georgia Recidivism Methodology is located on page 14

Georgia's recidivism definition: A new charge within three years of the initial post-adjudication community placement which results in a juvenile court delinquency adjudication or adult criminal conviction.

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KEY FINDINGS
Release Information for the FY 2011 - 2014 Cohorts In 2014, fewer than 5,000 juveniles were released to the community by Georgia's Juvenile Courts. Over a three year follow up period on those released, 1,690 juveniles recidivated. Most of the delinquent youth (74%) re-offended within the first year, which moved the recidivism rate to 26.9%. An additional 327 juveniles re-offended in year two, which increased the rate to 34.2%. In year three, 98 additional youth re-entered the juvenile justice system with a new adjudication, increasing the recidivism rate of the final year of the report to 36.3% (see figure 1). Juveniles released to the community declined 34%, between FY 2011 and FY 2014. Recidivism rates fluctuated throughout the four year reporting period, but remained in a narrow range between 36% and 38%.
Figure 1. Comparison of three year recidivism rates across FY 2011 to FY 2014 Cohorts
A strong emphasis is placed on one-year recidivists. This first group of recidivists can make up anywhere from 70%-90% of the three-year recidivists share in the first year. In 2014, almost 75% of the juveniles that re-offended did so within the first 12-months of being released. In 2014, all the release offense categories decreased (on a percentage basis), except for youth released on probation (see page 9). The increased share of probation releases in 2014, with the third highest 1-year delinquency rate, placed upward pressure on the recidivism rate. However, only half of the probation releases received a Pre-Disposition Risk Assessment (PDRA). In future reporting, a larger PDRA sample will enable DJJ personnel to better access the risk of these youth, prior to being released.
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RECIDIVISM TRENDS
Georgia's youth population (age 10 -14) increased by an additional ten thousand youth in a 4-year period (2011-2014), an increase of 1.5%1. DJJ's release population declined during the same time frame, a reduction of 35% (2,365) in 4-years from 6,844 to 4,479. The group of one-year repeat reoffenders reached a total of 1,741 recidivists in 2011 before declining 31% to 1,205 in 2014 (see figure 2 below).
Figure 2. Georgia 10-14 year old population versus releases and recidivist count. The estimates are based on the 2010 Census and reflect changes to the April 1, 2010 population due to the Count Question Resolution program and geographic program revisions.
SB 440 youth were omitted from Georgia's recidivist population. They are generally incarcerated for extended periods and are typically processed through the adult criminal justice system.
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FY 2014 COHORT DEMOGRAPHICS
Combined, African-American and Caucasian juveniles made up the majority of the youth released by Georgia Juvenile Courts from 2011 until 2014. These two groups were responsible for 92%-95% of the juvenile releases throughout the four-year reporting cycle. However, in 2014, the two majority groups share of releases declined below 93%.
Figure 3. Release populations by race from FY 2011 to FY 2014
The release of Caucasian youth declined to 37% (969) during the four year period. Releases dropped from 2,585 in 2011 to 1,616 in 2014. Youth in this group represented 27% of the juvenile releases in 2014. The percentage share of Caucasian youth being released remained between 36% and 38% of the releases, over the four reporting years. Juvenile releases for youths with Hispanic decent remained below 5% during the four year reporting period. Releases remained in the 100 and 300 range throughout. Other combined races (Asian, American Indian, Pacific Islander, and Alaskan Native) accumulated less than 3% of the juvenile releases during the four-year reporting time cycle (see figure 4 below).
Figure 4. Release populations by percentage of race from FY 2011 to FY 2014
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Releases by gender remained on a downward trend for males and females alike. For the 2014 cohort, 3,443 (76%) of the juvenile releases were males, and 1,036 (23%) were female (see figure 5 below). However, females were less likely to recidivate than their male counter parts. Female recidivists made up less than 16% of the three-year recidivist's population in 2014. Males comprised 84.4% of the three-year recidivists' population, reaching a four-year high in 2014.
Figure 5. Release population by gender from FY 2011 to FY 2014.
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The release cohort of 14-16-year-old youth made up 75% of the 4,435* juvenile releases in 2014 with most of the releases held for property or violent offense (58%-65%), see figure 6 below. Public Order and Traffic offenses were the next leading offense category (17%-22%)2. 14-year old youth accounted for 18% (810) of the 2014 releases with property and violent offenses accounting for 65% of the total offenses. 15-year old youth accounted for 26% (1,188) of the releases in 2014 with property and violent offenses, capturing 59% (705) of the releases. 16-year old juveniles had the largest number of releases by age at 1,350 (30%) of the 2014 releases. The majority of the youth had a property (38%) or violent (20%) offense at the time of release.
Figure 6. FY 2011 - 2014 Age distribution by severity of offense (* excluding 9, 19, 20 & 21 year-olds).3
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Release and Recidivists Population by Age
The one-year recidivism rate began at 30.8% for DJJ admitted youth at age 10, peaked for age 14 admitted youth (36.9%), then steadily declined until youth admitted at 17 years of age recidivated at the lowest rate (8.2%). Recidivism rates increased to 16% for the next age group, which is 18-yearold admitted youth (see figure 7).
Juveniles in the 12-14 age range (of all the age released cohorts) experienced the highest recidivism rates after one year of being released. The three combined age groups (12-14) accounted for a release number of 1,469 juveniles in 2014 with 506 (34.4%) of the juveniles recidivated within 12 months of being released to the community.
After one year period of release, 60 of the 186, 12-year old juveniles encountered a recidivistic event that generated the second highest recidivism rate of the release age groups at 32.3%.
In 2014, 473 juveniles reaching age 13 were released, with 147 of the youth recidivated within one year. This equated to a recidivism rate of 31.1%.
The 14-year-old releases reached the highest one year recidivism rate (36.9%) of all the released age cohorts, with a total of 810 releases and 299 recidivists (see table 2).
The trend suggests that older released youth tend to recidivate at lower rates than younger youth. Therefore, additional programs should target youth in the 12-14 year age range.

Figure 7. FY 2014 Release population by age distribution, and 1 year recidivism rate .

Releases

FY Age Count

9

4

10

13

11

51

12

186

13

473

2014

14

810

15 1,188

16 1,350

17

328

18

36

19

20

20

11

21

9

1- Yr Recidivists

Count Rate

-

4

30.8%

10

19.6%

60

32.3%

147 31.1%

299 36.9%

381 32.1%

264 19.6%

27

8.2%

6

16.7%

4

20.0%

2

18.2%

1

11.1%

Table 2. FY 2014 Release and Recidivists Population by Age. Data rounded to the nearest tenth of a percent PAGE 7

PREDICTING RECIDIVISM

In 2014, the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice in collaboration with the National Council on Crime & Delinquency (NCCD) developed a new standard assessment tool, the Pre-Disposition Risk Assessment (PDRA). Replacing the Comprehensive Risk and Needs Assessment (CRN) tool, the PDRA assessment tool helped the courts determine the risk levels of juvenile offenders and decide their best sentencing options. The PDRA also assisted the juvenile justice authorities in placing youth in the least restrictive environment needed to ensure public safety. While only half of the juveniles released in 2014 received a PRDA, the instrument provides a starting point and some interesting insight during the start of Juvenile Justice Reform.

Of the 4,479 juveniles released in 2014, the PDRA was applied to 50% (2,247) of the juveniles. Youth classified as low risk made up the largest percentage share 19.7% (884), of the risk assessed youth. Medium risk assessed youth generated 18.6% (831) of the PDRAs during the same year. High risk youth received the lowest percentage share of PDRAs administered to youth at 11.9% (532), see table 3.

PDRA Risk Level

FY

Release Population No PDRA Low Medium High

2014 PDRA Distribution by Risk 49.8% 19.7% 18.6% 11.9%

Table 3. FY 2014 Release population by Pre-Disposition Risk Assessment (PDRA) risk level

RISK LEVEL DISTRIBUTION

The PDRA matrix provides a limited view into the dynamics of the risk levels segregated by legal action. For a large share of the youth released on probation, the risk levels were skewed to the lower risk levels, low and medium (43%), see table 4. This reinforces the logic of the PDRA, which places youth in the lower risk categories with a minor first offense and suggests that these youth are less likely to be detained and re-offend.

For youth in the three other legal actions categories (STP, STP + Probation, and Committed), the risk level distribution shifted to the higher risk classifications (medium and high), see table 4. This shift illustrates that youth that commit an offense dangerous to the general public will receive higher risk levels and should be detained. However, most of the youth (61%-72%) with non-probation legal release action did not receive a PDRA. Therefore, results may be inconclusive until obtaining a full year of post reform data.

PDRA Releases by Risk Level (FY 2014) Recidivists

FY

LegalAction

No PDRA Low Medium High 1-Yr Rate

Committed

63.7% 3.7% 9.5% 23.1% 27.8%

2014

STP + Probation

61.9% 6.7% 13.8% 17.6% 42.5%

STP

71.9% 5.3% 7.0% 15.8% 17.5%

Probation

46.7% 23.1% 20.3% 9.9% * Da2t5a.r5o%unded to the nearest tenth

1 Year Recidivism Rate by Risk 28.18% 12.44% 28.28% 43.42%

Table 4. Most current PDRA risk level versus commitment type (legal status) and one-year recidivism rate for the FY2014 release cohort.

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OFFENSE ANALYSIS
In 2014, of the 4,479 juveniles were released, a majority of the juveniles, 81% (3,649) were given probation upon release and tended to be low-risk youth*. Almost 10% (432) of the youth released received a committed legal action and were placed under DJJ's care by the court. These youth stay under DJJ's care for a two year period on average and have higher programming needs.
Juveniles released with a STP or STP + Probation legal action types made up the other 9% (398) of released youth, see figure 8 below.

* PDRAs were administered to half of the release population in the 2014 release cohort.

100% 75%

9.7% 1.6%

9.8% 1.7%

9.2% 1.9%

7.6% 1.3%

50% 25%
0%

79.6%

77.8%

79.2%

81.5%

9.1% FY2011

Committed

10.7% FY2012
Probation

STP

9.8% FY2013 STP + Probation

Figure 8. Release population by Event Legal Action Type from 2011 to 2014.

9.6% FY2014

The 2012 release of formerly confined youth at 10.7% represents the highest release rate for this population over the four years studied.

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The 2014 release population remained consistent with a release pattern that resembled historical distributions. Misdemeanor offenses captured the majority (59%) of juvenile releases as felony offenses gathered the remaining 41%. Misdemeanor offenses reached a count of 2,638 juvenile releases as felony offenses were responsible for 1,841 releases in the last fiscal year of this report, see table 5.

FY
2011 2012 2013 2014

Releases (numerical)

Felony Misdemeanor

2,827 2,529 2,142 1,841

4,017 3,423 3,265 2,638

Releases (percentage)

Felony Misdemeanor

41.31% 42.49% 39.62% 41.10%

58.69% 57.51% 60.38% 58.90%

Table 5. Originating Offense Prior to Release, FY 2011 through FY 2014 cohorts.

The 2014 cohort exhibited an increase in the release percentages of felons and a decrease in the release percent-
age of misdemeanants.
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SECURE COMMITMENTS
Over the next four reporting cycles, DJJ expects to see more secure committed youth enter in the report's release cohorts. An increase in secure commitments will move the number of longterm secure juveniles close to 500 by the end of the 2018 fiscal year, see figure 9. Committed youth currently represent less than 11 percent of the 2014 released population and hold the second highest 1-year recidivism rate 34.7 percent. This information serves as an early indicator, which will help the agency prepare for more long-term youth in its facilities in the near future.

Figure 9. FY 2011 to FY 2018 Secure Commitment Trend.

FY 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

YDC Secure Confinement Commitments 469 449 515 357 362 455 450 497

Table 5. DJJ Annual Secure Commitment History by Fiscal Year (FY 2011 to FY 2018).

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SUMMARY

DJJ examined the FY 2014 cohort consisting of 1,690 recidivists in terms of offense type, variance, demographic representation and change-indicators of the DJJ business model. FY 2014 is the first view into the effectiveness of the Justice Reform Act (HB 242) legislation. It is important to remember that this report only reflects a partial year's activity during FY 2014 as the new reform policies were just being implemented by the agency during this fiscal year.
The most current three-year recidivism rate for the FY 2014 cohort is 36.3 percent which represents a 0.03% increase over the previous year. In 2014, the one-year recidivism rate was the highest for 14-year-old juveniles (36.9%). In comparison to FY 2013 detention which was an activity that saw 515 youth placed in secure confinement. The fiscal year of 2014 saw 357 youth committed to secure confinement. This significant drop was a result of the new Juvenile Justice Reform Act, which removed status offenses and certain misdemeanants from being placed in secure detention.
Georgia's youth population of age 10-14 years old expanded an additional ten thousand youth in a four-year period (2011--2014), but continues to diminish the number of adjudicated youth committed and released. As compared to FY 2011 when Georgia released 6,884 youth into community placements, the FY 2014 cohort only yielded 4,479 which is a 34% decrease, see table 6 below. The 14-16-year-old age group remains the highest population of releases (75%). Juveniles who were 16 years of age had the largest number of releases by age (1,350 / 30%) of the 2014 release count.
The FY 2014 cohort saw a decrease in the number of misdemeanants released (41%) and an increase in the number of felons released (59%) back into the community. Although these observations only reflect a partial year of reform activity, they do suggest improved placement decisions consistent with juvenile justice reform legislation.
The majority of recidivism events occurred within the first year of release (74%), suggesting that new releases constitute an at-risk population. The early PDRA score comparisons reveal that the PDRA is somewhat of a predictor of the likelihood of a youth recidivating. As highlighted in the report, only 50% of the youth released in the community in the 2014 cohort utilized the PDRA score as DJJ began implementation of this new risk assessment tool during that year.

Fiscal Year 2011 2012 2013 2014

Release Cohort 6,844 5,952 5,407 4,479

First Year
1,741 1,542 1,392 1,205

Recidivists

Second Third

Year

Year

529

248

478

194

397

177

327

98

1-3 Year
2,518 2,214 1,966 1,630

Table 6. 4-Year Recidivism Events by Fiscal Year (FY 2011 to FY 2014).

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EPILOGUE
The reporting of the 2014 release cohort reflects a transitional period of justice reform for the agency. DJJ eagerly awaits the first full year of complete data to adequately gauge the progress made as a result of Georgia's Juvenile Justice Reform. With the combination of removing status offenders (and certain misdemeanants) from the secure detention population as well as implementing the PDRA assessment in fully, DJJ expects to see a positive impact on the efforts to properly serve the juveniles under its care.
END NOTES
1. Source: US Census, Georgia population forecast. Retrieved from www.census.gov. 2. Note: 19, 20 and 21 year olds were excluded from this graph as these metrics were visually
indiscernible and because they represented only 1 percent of the release population. 3. Note: Information provided from the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDOC) data query,
generated by GDOC July 2018.
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GEORGIA RECIDIVISM METHODOLOGY
This report analyzes juvenile release cohorts by fiscal year. Each release begins with the first day a youth becomes available for reoffending in the community and ends after three years (or the day a new qualifying re-adjudication occurs). One and two-years of monitoring are conducted on these cohorts as well as a final count when the cohort reaches its three-year maturity.
Figure 12. Special representation of release and recidivism monitoring
Once a juvenile is released into the community, the recidivism monitoring period begins within that fiscal year. This monitoring may begin at the start of a new probation or community commitment or when a juvenile is released from secure confinement. Measurement begins at the point of release into the community because this is when the youth has the opportunity to commit a new offense and impact public safety. Most offenders are still under DJJ supervision when they are released to the community on probation, in aftercare, or in residential placements. Recidivating Events Georgia's recidivism measurement methodology counts multiple recidivating events for the same juvenile as a single recidivism count. Recidivism is measured for a period of at least one year from time of release into the community and then out to three years. The majority of recidivism, as observed by Georgia DJJ and other states, occurs within the first year, marking an important window for analysis. The extended follow-up period of three years describes and details long-term outcomes. This method of examining all releases to the community during a single year (while following juveniles for a three-year at-risk period) currently is ongoing for the FY 2015 through FY 2016 cohorts. By definition, a full three-year follow-up period has not occurred for youth released in the fiscal year 2015, before the completion of this publication. Linking to Adult Corrections A juvenile may legally be defined as an adult during the at-risk follow-up period after release into the community. Juvenile records are linked with adult conviction data. As a result of this linkage, adult recidivating events are captured in our analysis. The data provided by the Georgia Department of Corrections provides the offense date for young-adult offenders who were previously adjudicated by a Juvenile Court. For this population, DJJ's recidivism calculation uses the date of offense in our analysis for those young-adults sentenced to an adult prison and any combination of adult offenses constitutes a singular recidivism count.3
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December 5, 2018
Commissioner Avery D. Niles Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice 3408 Covington Highway Decatur, Georgia, 30032
Dear Commissioner Niles,
Kennesaw State University's Analytics and Data Science Institute greatly appreciates the opportunity to review the logic and provide input on the 2018 Recidivism Report. The report summarizes the recidivism rates between fiscal years 2011 and 2014. The relationship between the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) and KSU's Analytics and Data Science Institute was developed by Barry Olgetree and Eugene Gaultney from the DJJ and Herman "Gene" Ray from KSU. The Analytics and Data Science Institute reviewed the logic and the associated computer code that created the summaries presented in the Recidivism Report. The computer code was reviewed line by line ensuring that the logic worked as expected. A near final draft of the publication was also reviewed, looking for improvements in organization or presentation of the materials. The Analytics and Data Science provided an outline the suggested changes, many of which were adopted. The Analytics and Data Science Institute is very proud to be part of the final product and welcomes future collaborations with the DJJ. Sincerely,
Herman E. Ray Director, Center for Statistics and Analytical Research
Town Point Suite 2400 MD 9104 1000 Chastain Road Kennesaw, GA 30144 Phone: 470-578-2865 www.kennesaw.edu
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ANNEX A:

DEFINITIONS

Adjudication The process for determining if allegations brought forth in the juvenile court petition are true. An adjudicatory hearing is held to determine the facts of the case and an appropriate course of action.

Commitment A juvenile court disposition that places a youth in the custody of DJJ for

su-

pervision, treatment and rehabilitation. Under operation of law, the commitment order is valid for

two years. DJJ makes the placement determination of whether the youth should be placed in a

Youth Development Campus (YDC) or on an alternate placement. Most often, a youth is

committed when probation and/or other services available to the court have failed to prevent a

youth from returning to the court on either a new offense(s) or violation of probation.

Designated Felony Commitment A juvenile court adjudication that a youth has committed certain felony acts and is a disposition in which a youth has met certain criteria, which indicates the youth requires restrictive custody. The juvenile court judge determines whether or not a youth requires restrictive custody as well as the length of time (from 12 to 60 months) a youth must be placed in a YDC. Commitments with restrictive custody have restrictions on terminations and reduce the intensive level of aftercare supervision. Under operation of law, the commitment orders with restrictive custody are valid for five years or until a youth is 21 years old.

SB 440 Refers to the School Safety and Juvenile Justice Reform Act of 1994 (SB 440). Among other things, this legislation modified the jurisdiction of juvenile courts to provide that superior courts have exclusive jurisdiction over children ages 13-17 who are alleged to have committed one of the following offenses (commonly referred to as the "Seven Deadly Sins"): aggravated child molestation, aggravated and sexual battery, aggravated sodomy, murder, rape, voluntary manslaughter, or armed robbery with a firearm. Prior to indictment, a district attorney may elect to send the case to juvenile court.

Youth Development Campuses (YDCs) Residential institutions providing academic, recreational, vocational, medical, mental health, counseling and religious services for those youth committed to DJJ, or convicted of an offense under Senate Bill 440.

Short Term Program (STP) - Programs operated by the Department for youth sentenced by juvenile court judges to serve up to a maximum of 30 days or for youth screened for the program as a result of an Administrative Revocation.

Pre-Disposition Risk Assessment (PDRA) - The PDRA is an assessment instrument that helps juvenile justice systems identify the system-involved youth on whom they should focus. The tool helps to classify those youth who are most likely to be involved in future adjudications, allowing agencies to know how intensively to intervene, or what, if any, intervention is necessary.

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