Youth Summits
OJJDP and Youth Summits
In recent years, the Youth for Justice program of the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice
and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has focused growing attention on youth summits. Youth
for Justice is a unique national law-related education (LRE) initiative that uses the
power of active learning about the law to help youth address the risks of being young in
today's society. The Youth for Justice program was designed with the goal of giving young
people a better understanding of the law and equipping them with strategies for active
involvement in solving national problems, particularly violence by and against youth.
Early exposure to the principles and practices of law provides young people with insights
into the legal system, which can ultimately lessen the chances of their becoming involved
in crime, as perpetrators or as victims, both as children and later in life. Research on
national, state, and local law-related education programs has shown that LRE helps to
prepare young people for participation in civic life and helps prevent delinquency. An
important element of a successful LRE program is providing opportunities for interactive
learning through which young people can reach a more tangible understanding of legal
issues through discussion with adults (e.g., lawyers, judges, police officers, government
officials) and their peers.
Youth summits are an important part of law-related education, especially violence
prevention. To know something of another group promotes understanding of that group-youth
summits bring together students from diverse backgrounds and ask them to work together.
Youth summit participants have a chance to present their ideas and opinions to policy
makers, and see themselves as members of a process that can influence law, government, and
the way things are done. By involving young people in solving the problem of youth
violence rather than imposing a "treatment" on them, youth summits have a real
impact on young people's behavior by showing them how they can be part of the solution.
Youth summits also offer new skills and knowledge to participants. They instill in young
people a sense of their own responsibility for developing and participating in solutions
to the challenges facing their communities.
The Youth for Justice program of OJJDP has been sponsoring and supporting youth summits
since 1995. In that first year, approximately 11,000 persons participated in youth summits
across the country; of those, 80% were students, 10% were teachers, 2% were
administrators, and 8% were other adults. Summits ranged widely in size, from the smallest
with less than 50 participants, to the largest with over 3,500; average attendance in 1995
was 159 persons. Two years into the program, with reduced federal funds, these numbers
were already diminished.
The models used in many states include pre-summit activities for students and/or teachers,
including law related education lessons, surveys, background research, and assignments
focusing on youth violence. During many summits students are asked to develop "action
plans" to prevent violence in their schools and communities. Follow-up summit
activities include service learning projects, school-based summits, and reports. Youth
summits bring diverse experts and speakers from a variety of backgrounds, including police
chiefs, juvenile justice officials, college and university professors, congressmen,
attorneys general, lawyers, and judges from various courts through the state supreme
court, television personalities, and many others.
>>OJJDP and Youth Summits
>>Lawyers Lead, Participate, and Support
>>Young People Across the U.S. Confront the Problems That
Affect Their Lives
>>Profiles: Addressing Concerns of Young Women; Solving
Problems in the Virtual World
>>Profile: The International Youth
Environmental Summit
>>A Closer Look at Exemplary Youth Summits: Delaware
>>A Closer Look at Exemplary Youth Summits:
Minnesota
>>A Closer Look at Exemplary Youth Summits: Oregon
>>A Closer Look at Exemplary Youth Summits: Illinois
>>Conclusion: The Future of Youth Summits; Best
Practices
>>Resources and Links
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