Building on Strength: Positive Youth Development in Juvenile Justice Programs
A new study conducted by researchers at the Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago looks at six juvenile justice programs that have attempted to improve their intervention approaches by utilizing a strength-based, positive youth development (PYD) approach. The report, Building on Strength: Positive Youth Development in Juvenile Justice Programs (66 pages, PDF), found that those who attempt to implement such practices face several daunting challenges. Indeed, it is unlikely that a strength-based PYD approach can be accomplished without effective and prolonged collaborations between the many public and community-based agencies involved in the juvenile justice system, which are difficult to manage and sustain. Despite these challenges, the report found that there is growing interest in programs that implement strength-based PYD concepts.
