Our Timeline

POLICY

Connecticut creates JJPOC

Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee establishes goals to reduce reliance on juvenile justice system and to reform policies that hinder youths’ opportunities to success

POLICY

Connecticut aligns JJ laws with US Supreme Court ruling in Miller v. Alabama to:

• Retroactively eliminate life without parole • Shorten time to parole Passes legislation that prohibits out-of-school suspensions and expulsions of children in pre-K through 2nd grade and includes behavioral health and disciplinary issues in school health screenings

POLICY

Connecticut reforms JJ by:

• Extending restrictions on use of restraint and seclusion to all public school students • Passing legislation to decriminalize status offenses such as truancy, defiance of school rules, running away from home • Consolidating all oversight and juvenile justice functions within the Judicial Branch Court Support Services Division

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

TYJI develops new approaches to youth justice and best practices training for youthoriented professionals

• Launches Transforming Youth Justice Program • TYJI collaborates with the Child Health and Development Institute to begin training school faculty and administrators in restorative justice practices

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

TYJI creates advisory council of experts and advisors

First TYJI Issue Brief released

POLICY

JJPOC sets policy goals to address conditions that cause youth to enter the system:

• Develop community-based diversion plan • Create school-based diversion framework • Focus on trauma approach to suspensions and expulsions • Develop prearrest diversion plans

POLICY

JJPOC monitors the closing of Connecticut Juvenile Training School

POLICY

JJPOC establishes education unit to oversee transition of educational credits for youth in confinement

JJPOC launches Improving Outcomes for Youth (IOYouth) Task Force to assess juvenile justice reform implementation and impact

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

TYJI receives OJJDP Cooperative Agreements and works with partners to:

• Reduce racial and ethnic disparities • Increase community-based diversion

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

TYJI begins restorative practices training

for Youth Service Bureaus, Manson Youth Institute, Bridgeport Public Schools, and other organizations through OJJDP funding award

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

TYJI launches Social Justice Program in New Haven high schools

POLICY

Connecticut raises the minimum age of juvenile arrest from seven to ten years old

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

TYJI creates Fact vs. Fiction series:

• Shaping a Service Approach in JJ Facilities • Raising Up Our Youth • Hearing the Truth About Car Theft in Connecticut