Interagency information sharing already exists in
some form in every community in the country. Many juvenile justice and
other youth-serving agencies already engage in informal information-sharing
practices. Some agencies share information through hard-copy formats but
are unable or unwilling to establish similar automated arrangements. Many
agencies share information informally over the phone, but never make such
sharing routine or formalized (Soler, Shotton, and Bell, 1993). These
informal approaches usually take place in the context of long-term relationships
between individuals at different agencies and are based on high levels
of trust.
Because sharing information among agencies is an easy and effective
way to confront problems posed by at-risk juveniles and juvenile offenders,
the goal for communities should be to establish a formalized information-sharing
system. Throughout the country, an increasing number of agencies have
developed formalized information-sharing relationships. In some cases,
agencies have implemented an automated system for entering core information
into a database that all parties can access. This shared database eliminates
the need to have each agency grant direct access to its information
system. A number of jurisdictions have gone further and are developing
fully integrated multiagency information systems. The examples below
illustrate three different strategies adopted to foster information
sharing.
Serious Habitual Offender Comprehensive Action Program
Thirty-two counties in Florida and communities in Maryland, North
Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Washington have implemented the Serious
Habitual Offender Comprehensive Action Program (SHOCAP). This program
establishes an interagency information-sharing process through agency
collaboration. Communities adopt shared criteria for identifying serious
habitual offenders and at-risk youth. These criteria allow the agencies
to focus on the same population of juveniles. Information resources
are used to make better decisions regarding control, intervention, and
prevention strategies.
Florida's initiative is a statewide effort that involves the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement, the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice
(DJJ), and the Florida Department of Education. The initiative grew
out of reform efforts begun in 1990 by the State legislature, which
created a commission to monitor and review the implementation of long-range
juvenile justice reforms. However, from 1990 through 1992, efforts were
frustrated by delays in funding and the inability of the human services
umbrella agency responsible for juvenile justice programs at the time
to rapidly implement new programs and provide treatment slots for youth
in need. Significant legislative reforms took place in 1993 regarding
information sharing among public and private agencies that enhanced
the penalties for the use and possession of weapons by minors and allocated
funding ($50 million) to establish additional delinquency, drug, and
mental health placement beds. In 1994, the legislature transferred responsibility
for the delinquency programs from the human services agency to a new
department-level authority, DJJ, devoted solely to juvenile justice.
The reform bill also targeted violent and chronic juvenile offenders
with measures that, among other things, relaxed confidentiality standards
for juvenile records. In 1995, the legislature appropriated funds to
implement the continuum of juvenile justice services it had established
in the 1994 legislation.
Houston's Juvenile Accountability Court Program
In 1998, the Mayor's Office, the Houston Police Department, and the
U.S. Attorney's Office worked together to identify systemwide changes
they felt were needed to enhance the operation and management of the
juvenile and criminal justice systems, to support and link various Federal
initiatives (including JAIBG), and to promote prevention and early intervention
for juvenile offenders in Houston. One outgrowth of this collaboration
was the establishment of Houston's Youth-Focused Community Policing
Initiative (YFCP). The goals of Houston's YFCP initiative are to:
- Improve interagency collaboration.
- Remove legal barriers to information sharing.
- Eliminate service duplication.
- Enhance service coordination.
- Develop a formal structure and process for interagency collaboration.
- Identify processes and data systems for resource collection and
dissemination.
In June 1999, the YFCP initiative implemented the Juvenile Accountability
Court Program (JACP) to identify and intervene with juveniles who have
committed minor criminal offenses before they commit more serious ones.
JACP places counselors, most of whom are social workers, in the Municipal
and Justice of the Peace courts. A juvenile who has committed a Class
C misdemeanor is referred by municipal and peace court judges to a JACP
counselor for a needs assessment. The assessment is conducted before
or at the juvenile's hearing. The counselor makes recommendations to
the judge, and they work together to determine which services will be
provided to the juvenile. The juvenile is then ordered by the court
to attend these services. Several different types and levels of support
are available. JACP provides both direct services and workshops to juveniles.
The programs range from less to more intensive. They include prosocial
behavior programs, gang intervention, drug and alcohol intervention,
parenting classes, and anger management. In addition, JACP can refer
a juvenile to outside nonpaid mental health programs.
The JACP contracts with community-based nonprofit organizations to
provide services. In addition to the contracted service providers, JACP
has established relationships with other nonpaid service providers who
donate their services. Each service provider is required to outline
and implement a well-defined program. Moreover, each service provider
is required to report information concerning the juvenile's participation
and progress back to JACP. In addition to the information JACP receives
from service providers, it also has access to county and city arrest
records, gang records, and juvenile probation records. Similarly, JACP
has formed informal relationships with the Houston Independent School
District and Operation Weed and Seed to share information regarding
juveniles in their programs.
Over the first year of the program's operation, JACP counselors have
faced a number of challenges. First, they found that the workshops they
provided were too large. They not only needed to provide smaller workshops,
but they also needed to provide more monitoring. They also had to face
the reality that a large percentage of the juveniles they treat have
drug and alcohol problems. Additionally, they discovered that many of
the juveniles with whom they deal are under the jurisdiction of multiple
courts. And finally, an unexpectedly large number of the juveniles for
whom they provide services are in need of anger management training.
JACP began operation in June 1999. The counselors see approximately
100 juveniles a week. Since its inception, the program has formally
served more than 400 juveniles and has referred many more who do not
fall within the program guidelines to other service providers.
Missouri Juvenile Justice Information System
In 1995, the Missouri Legislature mandated that the Office of the
State Courts Administrator (OSCA) and the Departments of Social Services,
Mental Health, and Health coordinate their information systems "to allow
for tracking of individual children by the juvenile court and the departments
of social services, mental health and health" (Mo. Stat. Rev. §
210.865). Consequently, a statewide effort was begun to implement an
"information sharing network between juvenile offices/courts and executive
branch youth service agencies" (Missouri Office of the State Courts
Administrator, 1998b). The developers of the Missouri Juvenile Justice
Information System (MOJJIS) began their efforts by identifying existing
system deficiencies. The problems they identified included (Missouri
Office of the State Courts Administrator, 1998a):
- The lack of a uniform data collection process pertaining to individual
youth as they proceed through the juvenile justice system.
- The lack of a statewide database to track juvenile offenders or
allow for the systemic reporting of offender dispositions.
- The difficulty in determining the duration, effectiveness, or costs
of youth programs across the State.
- The dependence on a system of juvenile/family self-reporting which
leads to duplicate services among agencies.
- The absence of an immediate method through which the State can
notify agencies about an offender's circumstances and family history.
- The lack of a means for law enforcement agencies, sheriffs, the
Missouri Highway Patrol, schools, and social service agencies to request
a record check in order to determine if a juvenile or family is known
to the juvenile justice system.
The MOJJIS developers established two primary goals: (1) allow juvenile
offices to have online access to pertinent juvenile data gathered from
cooperating executive agencies and (2) establish a cooperative information-sharing
system among juvenile justice agencies. Then, they took the following
preliminary steps:
- A coordinated juvenile information-sharing workgroup representing
OSCA; the Departments of Social Service, Elementary and Secondary
Education, Mental Health, and Health; and the Missouri Juvenile Justice
Association was formed.
- A draft of a cooperative information-sharing agreement was completed.
- Agency information needs and common data elements were identified.
According to the MOJJIS grant administrator, the first jurisdictions
came online in mid-1999. To date, juvenile justice agencies are able
to communicate with each other online, sharing confidential information
through a secured network. Other participating agencies, including the
40 school districts, the Division of Youth Services, the Department
of Mental Health, and others, are able to share nonconfidential information
with each other via e-mail. MOJJIS is supported by a $6 million grant
from the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing
Services and additional funding from the Missouri State Legislature.
Efforts to procure additional funding are currently under way.
