Policy Memo

PMAP 8531 Case Study #2 – Juvenile Justice in Georgia

You are the Public Safety Policy Analyst for the Governor of the State of Georgia. He is deeply invested in improving the effectiveness of Juvenile Justice in Georgia as part of his legacy as a criminal justice reformer. He is preparing a proposal on Juvenile Justice Reform to be presented to the Georgia General Assembly for legal and budgetary approval. The final details of the plan will be worked out between the Governor’s Office, the legislature’s Criminal Justice Reform Committee, the Department of Juvenile Justice, and a contracted consultant that has proposed the alternatives. Having received a satisfactory proposal from the contracted research agency for Juvenile Justice Reform, the Governor has asked you to review your currently collected data on the state of Juvenile Justice in Georgia and provide a policy memo to serve as the basis of his proposal. He has asked for you to carefully weigh the risks and benefits and recommend a starting proposal for this reform initiative.

In a 3-5 page single space memo you should provide the following:

1. A 1-2 paragraph summary of the background of the Department of Juvenile Justice and policy concerns created by that background. Note that most of the background and definitional material provided is for your own education, you do not need to provide explanations of the entire system as the stakeholders are aware of the legal and regulatory structure of the Department of Juvenile Justice and Juvenile Offenders.

2. A summary analysis of the most important issues facing the Department of Juvenile Justice based upon the section “Current Situation and Issues in the Department of Juvenile Justice” and in spreadsheet: Appendix C Juvenile Justice Data for Analysis.Data in the spreadsheet should be presented in the form of charts and graphs within the body of
the memo. You do not have to use all data from all tabs of the spreadsheet, but you do need to make sure that you illustrate the trends that you identify as most important. You should provide a succinct explanation of the trends presented in your graphs and identify why they are important. Statements of problems from the body of the case study should be addressed in bullet points, or in another clearly demarcated manner. The most vital component of this section (the bulk of your paper) is to carefully analyze all of the information provided and identify the links between the trends. As an example, recidivism rates are very likely linked with events described in the case, and with issues like backlog of offenders awaiting placement.

3. A recommendation on the allocation of the $25 million allocated to begin addressing the problem. This allocation is not sufficient to carry out all of the corrections needed to improve the current department or implement the new proposed system. Based upon your analysis, identify roughly how the funds should be split between the two proposals. Keep in mind that the Department of Juvenile Justice has proposed savings that are separate from the cost of reforms.

4. Identify the trade-offs in your recommendation. This means acknowledging the risks created by needs you choose to not fund and identifying consequences caused by lack of a full implementation.

Notes for Obtaining Maximum Grade

 Look for trends and apparent correlations in your data.  IDENTIFY WHY THOSE TRENDS AND CORRELATIONS MATTER

 Remember that implementations can be staged rather than initiated all at once.

 Remember that you’ll often only have the resources to address the most critical problems, and that some situations may be forced to remain unresolved in the short term.  There are a lot of distinct issues in this case study. ORGANIZATION and a careful and well thought out approach is absolutely key.