In a new blog post, OJJDP Administrator Liz Ryan discusses her recent program site visits to Salt Lake City, Utah, to gain insight into Utah's juvenile justice reform efforts. The Administrator and several OJJDP staff met with grantees, stakeholders, and state officials, in addition to staff and youth representing several youth-serving programs.
The blog details the OJJDP team's visit to a Utah leadership convening, which focused on efforts to reform and reinvest in Utah's juvenile justice system. The blog highlights the team's visits to the Salt Lake Valley Youth Center and Day Skills Intervention program and a non-secure youth residential program.
"We witnessed OJJDP's values in action," Ryan writes. "The programs we visited listen to and learn from youth, and they are committed to real reform, emphasizing intervention and prevention services over punishment."
The blog also describes the OJJDP-funded Enhancing Youth Defense program that supports Utah's 2019 law that requires all youth in Utah's juvenile justice system have equal access to high-quality legal representation.
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