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“To work jointly with others in an intellectual endeavor.”

“Key juvenile justice stakeholders, both internal and external, coordinate detention reform activities and conduct joint planning and policymaking under a formal governance structure. They work together to identify detention bottlenecks and problems; to develop common understandings and solutions; to generate support for proposed reforms and routinely monitor reform progress.”

Las Vegas Sheriff Douglas Gillespie, Clark County School Superintendent Dr. Walt Rulffes and representatives from Juvenile Justice Services hosted a joint news conference to release a new report showing the connection between high school dropouts and violent crime. (30 Sept, 2008)

As a true collaborative, the governance structure of D.J.J.S.’s reform initiative consists of an Executive Committee, a Steering Committee, and several workgroups, all comprised of a combination of committed internal and external stakeholders.

Our Executive Committee is made up of the key decision-makers that impact children’s lives in Clark County. The members of the Executive Committee set the policies that affect our children.

The Steering Committee represents our community. It consists of concerned citizens who have a stake in the future of youths in Clark County.

The individual workgroups consist of dedicated individuals working together toward specific goals:

The Data Workgroup works to access and analyze statistical information about the youths we come in contact with, to diagnose problems within the system, and to measure change.

The Racial Disparities Workgroup seeks to engage community stakeholders to address Disproportionate Minority Contact and to identify, assess and eliminate bias so that the juvenile justice system does not contribute or exacerbate unfairness.

 The Case Processing Workgroup is committed to supporting the ongoing improvement of delinquency case processing in the juvenile court from the time of initial law enforcement contact with the youth through final disposition of the case.   

The Special Detention Workgroup examines the circumstances of the special populations of all races in detention and works to improve their placements in terms of timeliness and appropriateness. 

The Pre-Disposition Workgroup works towards modifications of juvenile court procedures to accelerate the movement of delinquency cases.

The Girls Initiative Workgroup examines gender-specific issues and works to develop innovative, gender-responsive system reform policies and programs.

Collaboration has enabled D.J.J.S. to pursue multiple strategies across many agencies simultaneously and to impose the accountability essential to effective system reform. It has enabled various concerned community stakeholders whose work is about juveniles to stay focused on what would work best, both for youth and for community safety.

Collaboration has helped to beat down long-standing barriers and to create a more seamless system for the young people of Clark County.

“In my opinion, collaboration has been one of the biggest accomplishments to come from JDAI. When we began, the concept was still very new to us. There is no doubt that the initiative had an impact on our juvenile justice system. The initiative provided a forum for everyone to come together regularly and build consensus on issues.”