Guiding Principles
We, the undersigned individuals and organizations, commit to a juvenile justice system in Minnesota based on these guiding principles. We hold each other accountable to develop and maintain a juvenile justice system with policies and practices that reflect the values expressed in this document. The principles provide the foundation for Minnesota to create an effective juvenile justice system that promotes the well-being of youth while holding youth accountable for their actions and promoting public safety. Minnesota’s guiding principles correlate with nine tenets of reform developed by the Youth Transition Funders Group, a national network of grant makers, for improving America’s juvenile justice system.
Community Safety
The safety of communities and individuals is a primary goal of Minnesota’s juvenile justice system.
Accountability
The juvenile justice system encourages youth to accept responsibility for their offenses and make amends to victims and communities. Families, communities, and juvenile justice institutions are responsible for helping juvenile offenders achieve crime-free, productive, and meaningful lives through research-driven and outcome-based policies, practices, and treatment.
Responsiveness
The juvenile justice system responds to each individual youth’s strengths, needs, risk to re-offend, race, culture, psychological development, age, and gender. It recognizes the developmental differences between youth and adults and responds to youth issues in ways which are proportional to the risks and need of the individual youth, family, and community. The system is committed to remaining informed on current trends and needs and to using data to inform policy decisions.
Fairness
While taking into account each individual’s unique circumstances, the juvenile justice system treats youth and families in an unbiased manner.
Mutuality
The juvenile justice systems’ agencies value interconnectedness and collaborate to meet collective goals through shared information, responses, and commitments to youth, families, and communities.
Competency
The juvenile justice system helps families and youth develop independent living skills, provides opportunities for academic and work force development, and maintains a competent professional staff through on-going training.
Equity
The juvenile justice system ensures equal protections granted to victims and accused youth under the U.S. Constitution and Minnesota law.
Inclusivity
Youth, family members, and communities are involved in the design, decision-making and implementation of system policies and programs. These constituents hold the juvenile justice system accountable.
Transparency
The juvenile justice system is accessible, understandable, and user-friendly to families, community members, youth, and other key stakeholders.
Sustainability
Elected officials, public and private entities, and community stakeholders commit to an investment of leadership, resources, and fiscal support to maintain a juvenile justice system based on these guiding principles.