The Stepping Home Model: The Transformation of Youth Incarceration in California

• In Event: Keeping Kids Out: Strategizing Alternatives to Juvenile Detention

Abstract

In accordance with Senate Bill 823, the beleaguered California Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) closed in 2023 to allow youth with serious charges to be placed in the care of their home counties rather than in ineffective state youth prisons. A team of researchers, practitioners, and policy makers created the “Stepping Home Model” to guide the devolution of youth incarceration from the state to California’s 58 diverse counties. The Stepping Home model is designed to optimize healing and accountability of system-impacted youth by providing developmentally aligned care that strengthens youth, families, and communities. This model is based on science, evidence, and community wisdom to forge standards for the care of incarcerated youth closer to their homes and communities. In this presentation, we will present the Stepping Home Model and the science and literature undergirding its various components, including least restrictive programs (LRPs), trauma informed care, credible messenger mentoring, restorative justice, behavioral health, reentry and gender/sexuality. For each domain, we will present the evidence base, shortcomings of the literature, community evidence and emerging practices. We will also situate the model in the larger lens of youth justice reform and the transformation of the juvenile legal system in California.

Authors

• Laura S. Abrams, University of California, Los Angeles

• Elizabeth Barnert, University of California, Los Angeles

• Katherine Lucero, California Office of Youth and Community Restoriation

• Reese Howard, University of California, Los Angeles