We Are the YJI

A partnership between the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services and the University at Albany.

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D I S C O V E R t

Discover the New York State Youth Justice Institute (YJI), a partnership between the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services and the University at Albany.

At the nexus of academia and government, we are shaping the future of youth justice by nurturing the next generation of scholars, practitioners, and policymakers.

Since 2017, the YJI has been at the forefront of innovation, offering cuttingedge research, in-depth training, and expert technical assistance to professionals in our field. We empower organizations and agencies across New York State to adopt, enhance, and evaluate transformative practices and policies that uplift youth voice, support families, and strengthen communities.

Learn more about our work!

WE ARE youth-focused.

YOUTH JUSTICE PEER ADVISORY COUNCIL

The PAC is an advisory body of young adults with varied systems experiences that engage with and make recommendations to youth justice stakeholders regarding their policy and practice reforms.

PAC members are pivotal in ensuring that youth viewpoints are heard and considered in critical conversations about youth justice They come from different regions across our State and represent diverse perspectives in terms of gender, SOGIE, and race/ethnicity

YJI’s Young Artists in Residence work with our PAC members in developing ‘avatars’ that symbolize how they see themselves –and help us protect their anonymity.

These are a few examples of their collaboration.

YJI’s team supports the professional development and mentoring of PAC members, whose time and expertise are remunerated

Join our PAC

Request advice from the PAC

ThePAChastaught methat change begins with you.When a groupof likemindedindividualsinitiate,changeis evoked.Experience andinsight can helpchange systems,families, communities,and relationships. -R

YJI

Scholars Scholars

INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

The YJI Scholars program provides UAlbany students from diverse backgrounds and majors with paid opportunities to work directly with professionals in the Youth Justice field. Since its inception in 2019, the program has graduated over 60 Scholars. YJI Scholars comprise undergraduate- and graduate-level students from many departments within the University, including Criminal Justice, Data Sciences, Social Welfare, Business, Psychology, Anthropology, and Political Science.

Our Scholars have assisted in designing and publishing the YJI’s website and microsites, organized monthly and ad hoc events that attract hundreds of registrants each and receive thousands of views on YouTube, created and published several interactive dashboards, and assisted in grant writing. They participate in high-level meetings with stakeholders and are actively involved in research projects, from planning to diverse output and dissemination.

The YJI Scholars program ultimately prepares the future generation of youth justice professionals and researchers through training, networking opportunities, and close collaboration on various projects.

...the data and project management skills I acquired at the YJI have translated seamlesslyinto my new leadership role...

Jacob Nielson, YJI Scholar, 2020-21

Jacob Nielson, a Scholar from 2020-2021, now works as a New York State Trooper out of Ulster County. “My experience at the YJI makes me reflect on areas that we worked on together regarding youth justice when I am in situations where I am dealing with youth in a law enforcement capacity. It is also interesting to see how policies worked on in Albany affect how I, as a Police Officer, have to navigate when interacting with young persons,” Nielson recently reflected.

One of them, Gianna Fiorello, a YJI Scholar from 20212023, now uses her experience as an after-school director of a New York City program serving over 100 youth. “Staying organized is essential regarding student registrations, parent and faculty communication, and handling last-minute operational changes. Thus, the data and project management skills I acquired at the YJI have translated seamlessly into my new leadership role. My experience at the Institute has been invaluable and helped me become well-equipped to tackle any challenges ahead,” she shared.

WE ARE data-savvy.

YOUTH IN NEW YORK STATE: A SNAPSHOT

We often take a siloed approach when discussing youth, their needs, and what we know about them.

Each of our systems, disciplines, or vantage points captures some fact about our young people but fails to bring the whole picture into focus.

That was the impetus for this tool; to curate a holistic, multidisciplinary collection of data and resources that offers a high-level, yet comprehensive, snapshot of youth in New York and beyond.

Our Snapshot contains information on key areas of youth well-being: demographics, education, health (physical, mental, and behavioral), community, family, and economic indicators.

Available as a user-friendly website or a video presentation, the Youth Snapshot allows interested parties, from doctoral researchers to elementary school book-report writers, to explore a host of facts about New York’s youth population, which is defined as “young adults between the ages of 0 and 24.”

What can you learn from our Youth Snapshot? Did you know adolescent birth rates can directly correlate to family living arrangements? According to the CDC, the probability of giving birth before age 20 is lower for those who lived with both biological parents at age 14 compared to those with other living arrangements.

Another fact? Youth of color & youth with disabilities experience exclusionary discipline at school, including expulsion due to zero tolerance policies, at higher rates than their white peers and peers without disabilities.

Our Snapshot is not static and will evolve with updates that reflect New York’s ever-changing youth population. We hope the tool will cross-pollinate focus areas and help the public understand how their environment molds youth. B I T . L Y / Y O U T H S N A P S H O T

Y-FACTS DATA CENTER

The YJI is proudly the institutional home of a new center, the Youth, Family and Community Together for Successor Y-FACTS.

Sponsored by the NYS Juvenile Justice Advisory Group, the Y-FACTS is an initiative designed to provide data literacy support to communities and organizations throughout New York State.

A DATA CENTER SUPPORTING YOUTH, FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES TOGETHER FOR SUCCESS.

WE ARE conveners.

DEFINING THE PATH FORWARD 2025 YOUTH JUSTICE SUMMIT:

Between experiencing a global pandemic and the emergence of generative AI, the last five years will have a lasting impact on our young people.

How do we meet this moment? How do we define the path forward? And what does that path look like for youth impacted by the justice system?

To answer these questions, the New York State Youth Justice Institute, in partnership with the state Juvenile Justice Advisory Group, convened youth with lived experience in the justice system, pracademics and academics, luminaries, policymakers, and other key partners to craft, collaboratively, the top 10 priorities in youth justice, their underlying core principles, and a participatory call to action.

This data- and narrative-rich event also offered a day-long training opportunity for youth with experience in systems delivered by Canary Impact. The Summit also marked the launch of our new Y-FACTS Data Center, a data literacy initiative led by the NYS Youth Justice Institute and funded by the Juvenile Justice Advisory Group.

LUNCH & LEARN WEBINAR SERIES

Launched as a pivot from a scheduled live seminar during the COVID-19 pandemic, the New York State Youth Justice Institute’s Lunch & Learn series is now a nationally recognized resource and forum for those practicing in the youth justice field. For five years, the Lunch & Learn webinar series has brought together youth justice professionals from diverse stakeholder groups to engage with and learn from researchers in various fields, including education, social work, and juvenile justice.

Our thousands of participants come from major New York State agencies like the NYS Office of Child and Family Services, NYS Probation Departments, NYS Unified Court System, and the NYS Department of Criminal Justice Services, as well as distinguished academic institutions and government agencies from around the world. Those attending the series have joined us from 43 states and Puerto Rico and twenty-six nations, including Bahrain, Brunei Darussalam, Estonia, Lithuania, Nigeria, the United Kingdom, and Uruguay.

INTERVENTIONS TO IMPROVE MENTAL HEALTH OUTCOMES FOR YOUTH OF COLOR.

Presented by:

Jocelyn Meza, PhD, Principal Investigator and Director of the Health Equity and Access Research and Treatment (HEART) Lab at UCLA

Drawing nearly three thousand registrants a year, our Lunch & Learn series garners thousands of views on YouTube and is utilized in university classrooms. Some of our most popular presentations include: ·

PSYCHOPATHIC TRAITS IN YOUTH: SEPARATING MYTH FROM SCIENCE

Presented by: Cortney Simmons, PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Psychology at Yale University

YOUTH INITIATED MENTORING: WHAT IT IS AND HOW IT CAN TRANSFORM THE MENTORING PROCESS

Presented by:

Dr. Renée Spencer, EdD, LICSW, Professor at Boston University School of Social Work

Our series is free and most of our 50 webinars (and counting!) are available on our website.

Watch our previous Lunch & Learn webinars

WE ARE an info-hub.

NYS MENTORING DASHBOARD

The YJI’s Mentoring Dashboard serves as a hub for connecting young New Yorkers with mentoring programs. It features over one hundred unique mentoring programs offered in 24 counties across the state. Our dashboard was created based on findings showing that mentored youth are:

6% less likely to begin using drug

52% less likely to skip school

33% less likely to start a physical fight

This resource provides contact information for programs across New York and is searchable by program goal (e.g., career building, education, friendship, etc.), age range, and delivery style (e.g., online, in school, afterschool, etc.).

Explore the dashboard

The YJI is your go-to hub for interactive youth justice resources, trainings, research, and much more!

ON THE SAME PAGE: A MONTHLY ROUNDUP

Each month, YJI staff curate the latest youth justice research, resources, trainings, and news articles into an information-rich, web-based newsletter.

Scan the QR code to join our listserv!

Sign up for our newsletter

WE ARE the YJI

MEET THE YJI TEAM the

Our team is a dynamic mix of seasoned professionals and dedicated students, each bringing unique backgrounds and experiences that enhance our collective skills and expertise.

We are mission-driven social scientists, practitioners, livedsystems experts, life-long public servants, and mixed-methods data enthusiasts.

We are passionate about equity.

We understand New York State and its justice system. Let us partner with you to elevate your research, provide technical assistance, and meet your training needs.

Together, we can make a meaningful impact in systems, communities, and the lives of our young people.

Giza Lopes, PhD Executive Director

Dr. Giza Lopes joined the New York State Youth Justice Institute as its Executive Director in the Fall of 2019. Her appointment marked the beginning of a vibrant growth period in the Institute's trajectory. An innovative leader, she brings years of experience to the YJI in academia and the public sector, which are matched only by her strategic visioning skills and implementation track record. Since her appointment at the YJI, the Institute's portfolio of projects has expanded exponentially, as have its operational budget and staff.

Dr. Lopes' scholarly work has focused on various topics, particularly the collateral consequences of youth interaction with the criminal justice system, including impacts on employment, education, and interpersonal relationships. Her research in these areas has been featured in prestigious academic journals such as Justice Quarterly and Crime and Delinquency and in multiple edited volumes, encyclopedias, and media outlets. Dr. Lopes has served as a mentor to dozens of undergraduate and graduate students, most notably many of the YJI Scholars who have joined the Institute since she founded the internship program.

Before joining the YJI in 2019, Dr. Lopes held positions at the University at Albany and in the NYS Office of Indigent Legal Services. Throughout her career, she has overseen data infrastructure implementation in multiple settings, including local government and non-profits across New York State.

She has provided training and technical assistance to multiple audiences in strategic planning, empirical approaches to data collection, analysis and action, translational efforts, and more.

Dr. Lopes earned a PhD and an MA from the School of Criminal Justice at the State University of New York at Albany. She grew up in Brazil, speaks multiple languages, and has authored a book titled Dying with Dignity: A Legal Approach to Assisted Death. Dr. Lopes has served on many prestigious committees, including, most recently, the NYS Permanent Judicial Commission on Justice for Children.

Michele Ellis Director of Finance and Grants

Meera Bhat YJI Research Fellow

Carla Corina Senior Data Literacy and Evaluation Specialist

Sean Brown Director of Training & Technical Assistance

Alysha May Project Manager

Kathy Graubart Administrative Assistant Amy Secor Senior Technical Assistance and Training Specialist

Nicole Collazo Youth Empowerment Specialist

Subhajit Pal YJI Graduate Research Assistant

David Howard King Assistant Director of Communications

La-Meik Taylor Senior Technical Assistance and Training Specialist