The Miami-Dade Juvenile Assessment Center National Demonstration Project: An Overview

The Miami-Dade Juvenile Assessment Center National Demonstration Project (NDP) is serving as a national model for the transformation of front end services in the juvenile justice system in a unique sociocultural setting. We discuss the background and vision of the NDP, its implementation and accomplishments in six major programareas: (1) screening and assessment, (2) post-arrest diversion, (3) gender specific services, (4) a new service for the younger siblings of serious habitual offenders, (5) Haitian juvenile arrestee services, and (6) an information resource center. We end our discussion by presenting current and future plans for the NDP. We hope the experiences of, and procedures, protocols and program designs developed by, the NDP will be helpful to other jurisdictions with centralized intake facilities in improving their screening, assessment and intervention services. (C) 2005 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.