JRB/Diversion
What is a JRB?
A Juvenile Review Board (JRB) is a community-based diversion process for youth that may otherwise be referred to the Juvenile Court for minor violations of the law. Although there is no specific enabling statute establishing a JRB, the Youth Service Bureau (YSB) JRB model has been in existence for 50 years in Connecticut.
Although state agencies, courts, legislators, child advocates, academics and other juvenile justice professionals have only more recently fully discovered the benefits and advantages of the diversion of youth to a JRB, the concept, in the form of the YSB JRB model, has been ongoing for decades in Connecticut with much success.
One of the features of the JRB model that sets it apart from other programs designed to assist youth and families, and one of the reasons for its success, is that each JRB program is unique to the community it serves. Absent a law mandating how a JRB must be established and operated, each community is able to establish and operate their program in a manner that meets the needs of the community, including the ability to amend the program as each community’s needs change.
While it is critical to the continued success of the JRB model that such flexibility in the establishment and operation of JRBs be permitted, it is recognized that some consistency should exist throughout the state and additionally, some core components and principles should be adopted and incorporated into all existing and future JRBs. The membership of CYSA, led by our Juvenile Justice Consultant, has worked to develop documents aimed at identifying those core components and principals to guide the JRB process.
For more information on JRBs (including how to start one in your community) please contact Erica Bromley, Youth Justice Consultant for CYSA at ebromley@ctyouthservices.org.
JRB Protocols and Procedures Manual - Click Here
JRB Protocols and Procedures Manual Appendix - Click Here (printable sample contracts, forms, surveys, etc.)
JRB Data Collection Form - Click Here
JRB Survey Report - COVID19 - Click Here
RBCH Presentation (Jan 2024)
