Juvenile Assessment and Guidance (JAG) Program
Philosophy
The JAG program is guided in part by the risk, needs, and responsivity factors in which the juvenile presents with. All interventions provided with the JAG program address the major causal factors identified by the assessments and information made available at the time of the Pre-Dispositional Report (PDR).
Core Intervention Strategies
- Deliver or access a range of programs and services guided by continuously monitored individualized case plan.
- Develop a constellation of relationships among the youth and law-abiding persons, groups, and organizations that can provide alternative role models, a network of community support, and a vehicle for disengagement from delinquent peer groups.
- Teach youth the interpersonal skills necessary to maintain positive involvement with family, school, work, prosocial peers, and community institutions.
- Develop youth competence in life skills, education, and employment.
- Arrange and advocate for access to opportunities in education and employment that provided meaningful rewards in the short and long term.
- Address individualized risk factors that impede functioning or that have weakened the youth’s prosocial attachments.
- Consistently provide graduated rewards and sanctions that recognize the juvenile’s achievement, and provide immediate accountability for violations.
Target Population
The target population for JAG Level I is as follows:
- Juveniles who have entered the Criminal Justice System for offenses that are serious, but non-violent.
- Juveniles who enter the system and are not considered to be high risk via the Indiana Youth Assessment System (IYAS).