Strategies for achieving compliance with the DSO Core Requirement vary. Many entail a comprehensive DSO plan for system change that addresses the legal, political and social challenges involved in DSO.  In the short term, one strategy often used for achieving DSO is to establish community-based alternatives to secure detention and incarceration that help noncriminal youth and their families avoid the harmful effects of secure confinement.  For more information, see Alternatives to the Secure Detention and Confinement of Juveniles.

Other strategies include:

·     Introducing new direct services programs for youth, and

·     Effecting system change through jurisdictional reforms (e.g., new objective screening criteria, case processing procedures, specialized courts such as girls’ courts or drug courts) or new laws and ordinances.

OJJDP stresses that DSO-related system change needs to occur at the local level, beginning with the development of an oversight body of representatives of all stakeholder groups forming a strong partnership. DSO efforts should be based on local data regarding the extent and nature of the institutionalization of status offenders and nonoffenders; resource availability and resource gaps; and a locally developed DSO plan. Systematic execution of this plan requires top-down support from local agency directors and bottom-up support from all staff in all juvenile justice agencies. Implementing a balanced, comprehensive DSO effort is a complex process that typically occurs in stages, and uses a variety of strategies to address the different aspects of the problem and the different stakeholder groups (i.e., youth, families, community agencies, law enforcement, the courts, and juvenile justice).

In summary, a local DSO initiative can include a variety of programs, services, and other activities (e.g., training in the use of a new risk assessment instrument) to prevent and reduce the institutionalization of status offenders. In the DSO Best Practices Database, the universe of DSO strategies has been organized into two categories: direct services programs and strategies, and system change activities. Ideally, the strategies in the DSO Best Practices Database should be carried out as part of an integrated, comprehensive approach that is driven by a State- or jurisdiction-wide data collection, needs assessment, and planning process. However, the strategies also can be very effective as standalone efforts.

To learn more about DSO direct services programs and strategies, click here.

To learn more about system change strategies and jurisdictional reforms, click here.