RESEARCH & AI ETHICS
Addressing Procedural and Tooling Challenges in Juvenile Justice: Towards Responsible and Human-Centered Design
This study examines how systemic inefficiencies in the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) constrain care for youth and burden staff. Through 15 semi-structured interviews with DJJ employees and subcontractors, analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis and informed by Critical Race Theory, we surface breakdowns in inter-agency coordination, case management processes, and fragmented documentation across tools, all exacerbated by workforce shortages. Participants described how these conditions contribute to misdiagnoses, unsafe placements, delayed responses, and missed opportunities to recognize youth progress, envisioning future Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to mitigate the negative impacts. We situate participants' cautious hopes for AI within a Human-Centered Responsible AI lens and present researcher-generated design fictions as provocations that imagine advisory tools for pattern detection, trend identification, and documentation support while preserving human judgment. By centering staff experiences and systemic inequities, this work lays the groundwork for the design of future socio-technical interventions in juvenile justice.
Key Insights at a Glance
Our research uncovered critical areas for improvement and opportunities for human-centered AI intervention in juvenile justice.
15
Interviews Conducted
75%
Youth with Trauma Exposure
55%
Correctional Officer Vacancy
65%
Youth Mental Health Needs
Deep Analysis & Enterprise Applications
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Challenges in Appropriate Care Placement
"Our availability of placements is sometimes an issue. Getting a kid in the correct placement oftentimes is an issue...this isn't a DJJ issue. This is a DMH [Department of Mental Health] issue. But the bane of my juvenile justice existence is that we have kids that are Department of Mental Health kids that shouldn't be juvenile justice kids."
P4, County Director
Interagency Collaboration Deficiencies
"Sometimes it's about these other agencies having a better understanding of what the DJJ does and how we do this. Like I said, when nobody else can find a placement for a kid, the answer is always a judge with a court order that locks the kid up-and that isn't always the best option. But other agencies oftentimes see that as the magic answer to resolve all the problems... It's not a good idea. And for a lot of these kids, that can be very detrimental."
P12, County Director
75%
of DJJ Youth with Trauma Exposure
Enterprise Process Flow
Law Enforcement Contact
→
Intake Process
→
Detention Decision
→
Adjudication
→
Disposition
→
Aftercare
Impact of Fragmented Documentation on Diagnosis
"He was so misdiagnosed, because he just had random outbursts all of the time. But he was autistic, and no one had ever diagnosed it as such. And so his treatment team plan reflected that of someone who had the same light capabilities of an have a regular, like 14-year-old child, not someone who had autism."
P1, Interim Staff Attorney
65%
Youth with Diagnosable Mental Health Needs
Harm Caused by Delayed Information Updates
"I gotta girl in my caseload right now. She didn't like to take her medication. Usually, you can catch it within about 3 or 4 days you just start to see where she starts to mess up in school a little bit... But by the time we actually catch it... it might be a month before we get that final update... At that point, she's picked up another charge, or she's ran away, or she's done something else."
P14, Probation Supervisor
Missed Opportunities for Preventative Care
"[I was previously with] the Department of Corrections as a [redacted]... 'what kind of intervention could I provide prior to them becoming an adult to be in here, in this current system'... I feel like we're able to put interventions into play now. That could potentially prevent some kids getting into the adult system, which I think is important..."
P5, Probation Supervisor
Systemic Focus on Negative Compliance
"Because we work in the negative so much, that's all we tend to pick up on,"
P3, Regional Administrator
Compliance-Centric Monitoring vs. Holistic Support
"I wanna try my best to [understand the situation] because sometimes transportation is an issue and other things like that."
P6, Probation Officer
55%
Juvenile Correctional Officer Vacancy Rate
Staff Burnout and Lack of Systemic Support
"I think that the final straw for me was I had a case that I was getting physically threatened by parents and I did not feel supported in in that situation... I think the reason there's a lack of support is because people [DJJ staff] leave, but also people can't stay when it's in that position where it is so emotionally, physically, spiritually draining."
P2, Caseworker
Need for Evolving Training & Competence
"We certainly have case managers that when I found out that they work with an LGBT client, it just makes my heart sink for that client. Because I know that... everything is going to be looked at as a mental health problem. That's not a mental health problem. It's an ignorance problem."
P5, Probation Supervisor
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Phase 1: Discovery & Strategy Alignment
Detailed needs assessment, stakeholder workshops, initial data audit, and strategic AI roadmap development. Focus on human-centered design principles.
Phase 2: Pilot Design & Development
Iterative design and development of AI prototypes for key pain points (e.g., pattern detection, summarization). Includes data preparation, model training, and integration planning.
Phase 3: Controlled Rollout & Feedback
Phased deployment to a subset of users, rigorous testing, and continuous feedback loops. Emphasis on transparency, interpretability, and ethical oversight.
Phase 4: Full-Scale Deployment & Optimization
Expansion across the organization, ongoing performance monitoring, and adaptive refinement based on user needs and evolving contexts. Staff training and support remain central.
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