Juvenile Justice Advocates International

Juvenile Justice Advocates International (JJAI) created our Alternatives to Detention Project to address these abuses. The Alternative to Detention Project focuses on systemic reforms to justice system processes and practices in four areas 1) reducing time to trial for detained children, 2) filtering out low-risk youth so they are not detained awaiting trial, 3) creating networks of community-based alternatives, and 4) monitoring conditions in detention centers.

Juvenile Justice Advocates International (JJAI) created our Alternatives to Detention Project to address these abuses. The Alternative to Detention Project focuses on systemic reforms to justice system processes and practices in four areas 1) reducing time to trial for detained children, 2) filtering out low-risk youth so they are not detained awaiting trial, 3) creating networks of community-based alternatives, and 4) monitoring conditions in detention centers. JJAI subsequently started our Mobilize Mexico Project, which works with local volunteers and churches to provided direct assistance to the most impacted children, including providing basic supplies to children from extreme poverty (underwear, shoes, and toiletries), providing transportation to families to visit and attend court hearings, presenting workshops and classes in detention and special events.

JJAI currently works in Mexico with the Mexican National government and a number of state governments. We hire, train and equip local teams in each of the jurisdictions where we work to walk along side local governments in implementing our strategies.

Our projects in our pilot site of Chihuahua, Mexico had the following results:
• Reduction of time to trial for detained children from 291 days in 2016 to 90 days in 2017.
• Demonstration of a 40 percent reduction in detention admissions.
• Development of a National Detention Filtering Instrument based on our Chihuahua pilot, that is now being implemented in 5 additional states in Mexico.
• Detention center conditions audit showing a 42% compliance with international standards, which resulted in developing 12 recommendations and the creation of an inter-agency team to improve detention center policies and conditions.
• Delivery of 120 Care Packages (representing 100% of the need met in 2017).
• Transportation for 44 family visits (representing 100% of the need met in 2017).
• “Know Your Rights” workshops for 135 teens and 52 family members.
• Creation of a Family Round Table for families to advocate on their children´s behalf.
• Network of 7 community volunteers and 6 church partners.
We also are collaborating with the National Government to develop a National Juvenile Justice Model for treatment of children in the justice system.
We published the first international study on the duration of child pretrial detention, "Children in Pretrial Detention: Promoting Stronger International Time Limits” and presented it before the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child.
We have started three new projects replicating our model from Chihuahua, Mexico, in three additional states in Mexico.