Juvenile Assessment Center
| National Center for Missing & Exploited Children |
Purpose
The Jefferson county Juvenile Assessment Center is a dynamic program that provides a wide range of services through a collective effort between Juvenile Assessment Center Staff, JCMH, DHS, the First Judicial District's Attorney's office, and the R-1 School District. There are three basic categories of services: at-risk youth in contact with the criminal justice system, Jefferson County Law Enforcement Agencies, and the Jefferson County Court System.
Mission
“We
are an assessment center responsive to the safety and well being of youths,
families, victims, and the Jefferson County Community.”
Pursuant to the I.G.A. and in recognition of our obligation to be responsive to the best interests of children, victims, and the community-and to protect, restore and improve the public's safety, it is the mission of the Juvenile Assessment Center to provide and maintain a single point of entry utilizing a centralized facility for individualized processing, assessing, screening, and referring of at-risk juveniles and juvenile offenders.
Goal
The goal of the JCJAC is to:
Minimize
individual and community harm by keeping youths from becoming more involved
in the juvenile justice system.
We do this by:
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Assessing and responding to the crisis and ongoing needs of youth and families
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Increasing law enforcement availability to the community through provision of timely services
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Partnering with community based agencies to provide coordinated responses for youth and families
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Providing resources to juveniles and their families
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Providing information on how the juvenile justice system functions
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Offering referrals on available ‘best practice’ and cost effective services
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Assisting community leaders by providing information on trends, both criminal and social, to partner agencies and the community
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Providing case specific information to appropriate decision makers
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Providing aggregate case information to policymakers