Goals for Change

Fundamental Fairness

All participants in a model system—including juveniles, their victims, and their families—receive fair and unbiased treatment. The system is scrupulous in guarding against the three basic kinds of unfairness to which justice systems are historically prone:

• Decision-making is free of bias.
• Procedures give the accused a fair chance to be heard and understood.
• Views and concerns of victims, family members, and others who have a valid stake in the just resolution of each case are respected.

Real-life juvenile justice systems aiming at the broad goal of fundamental fairness will not all look alike. But all will present certain characteristic features and practices:

Nondiscrimination

• Use of structured guidelines to limit arbitrary decision-making at all stages
• Monitoring of differential impact of decisions on minorities
• Gender-appropriate, developmentally appropriate, culturally competent interventions
• Minority recruitment, hiring, participation in planning and policy-making

Due process

• Access to counsel
• Continuity of representation through all stages
• Realistic caseloads
• Prompt trials/timely process
• Specialized professional training

Inclusion

• Open hearing practices
• Mechanisms (plain-language notification, courtroom orientation, interpreters, etc.) that encourage broad hearing participation
• Scheduling practices that reserve adequate blocks of time for inclusive hearings
• Victim notification, accommodation, and advocacy

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