New Hampshire

2019 TJP New Hampshire Team

Contacts:

Susan Ashley, Judge, Circuit Court Judge

Pamela Jones, Staff Attorney, New Hampshire Public Defender

Amy McCormack, Juvenile Probation and Parole Officer VI; State of New Hampshire, Division of Children Youth and Families, Bureau of Juvenile Justice

Moira O'Neill, Director, State of New Hampshire DCYF

Steven Ranfos, Attorney- Juvenile Prosecutor; City of Manchester, New Hampshire

Joseph Ribsam, Director, State of New Hampshire DCYF

Nicole Rodler, Juvenile Division Coordinator, Rochester Police Department

Richard Sarette, Administrator II, State of New Hampshire DCYF

Capstone Description:

The New Hampshire team seeks to maximize diversion and transform Juvenile Probation to a purposeful intervention targeting youth who pose significant risk for serious re-offending through individualized, positive, pro-social approaches with racial, ethnic, socio-economic, and geographical equity. Key goals of the Capstone Project include:

1) Building a community of support for probation reform by conducting focus group meetings in geographically representative districts, which will include, but not be limited to, youth, families, law enforcement, court personnel, attorneys, and DCYF staff. Part of this community of support will also be establishing permanent youth and family groups to advocate for and inform your reform efforts.

2) Creating a robust database to assess current needs, service capacity, and youth outcomes in juvenile justice services by taking an inventory of available data to serve as a baseline, identifying gaps in data collection, and enhancing long-term data collection and reporting to be incorporated into a new data management system.

3) Developing a risk and needs assessment process around the CANS, including validation and ensuring race neutrality, training for stakeholders who will administer the assessment, interpretation of the data, and appropriate referral to services.

4) Expansion and standardization of equitable, statewide diversion opportunities by mapping and identifying gaps in existing diversion programs and community resources, and leveraging current reforms to expand community-based diversion interventions and evidence-based treatment alternatives.

5) Revising Court Rules on Juvenile Probation to reflect an individualized and race, ethnicity and trauma- informed response.

6) Advocating for legislative initiative and statutory changes to support changes to diversion, assessment, and probation practices.

Capstone Update (2024):

Over the past five years, the team has conducted the focus groups as intended, utilized a database to assess needs and gaps, developed a strengths and needs assessment process utilizing the CANS, revised rules of probation to be more individualized, expanded and standardized their diversion programs, and advocated for legislative and statutory changes to propel the work forward.

2013 RED New Hampshire Participant

Contact:

Andrew Smith, DMC Coordinator - New Hampshire DHHS

Capstone Description:

Mapping out demographics of "unknown" racial backgrounds in the state women's prison.

2012 ISCP New Hampshire Team

Contacts:

Jay Apicelli, Administrator, John Sununu Youth Services Center - New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services

Kenneth Goonan, Planning Analyst/Data Systems - New Hampshire Division for Juvenile Justice Services

James Panzer, Juvenile Probation and Parole Officer IV - functioning as Policy Program Specialist - New Hampshire Division for Children, Youth and Families

Nastia Anastasiya Vanyukevych, Senior Management Analyst - New Hampshire Division for Children, Youth and Families

Heidi Young, Organizational Learning Team Lead/Program Specialist - New Hampshire Division for Children, Youth and Families

Capstone Description:

Begin a collaborative, longitudinal study between the NH Division for Children, Youth, and Families and the NH Department of Corrections to analyze adult recidivism rates among juvenile offenders.

Capstone Update (2015):

The team has formed an ongoing information sharing team that meets monthly. The information sharing team has conducted a study to understand the characteristics of youth recidivism and developed a data sharing agreement between DCYF and DOC. In addition, the team has developed an information sharing guide, and the draft is circulating through DCYF's internal resources for feedback and review. Once the guide is completed, a plan will be put in place to include the guide in Core Academy training for newly hired staff.

Capstone Update (2024):

The Bureau continues to share information with the child welfare agency to assist youth and young adults in locating and maintaining housing options with rental assistance, supportive services, or both. They meet regularly to troubleshoot and find more opportunities to serve youth and young adults in an integrated way.

2014 Diversion Raymond Coalition for Youth Team

Contacts:

Celeste Clark, Executive Director, Raymond Coalition for Youth

Mary Duff, Paraprofessional, Raymond School District SAU33

Susan Frotton, Police Officer/School Resource Officer, Raymond Police Department

Tricia Wentworth, Guidance Counselor, Raymond High School

Capstone Description:

Reduce recidivism specifically related to youth's drug and alcohol involvement through the restructure of an existing diversion program. The team will redefine the current My Choice Diversion Program, establish a formal diversion review committee, develop MOU with key partners, revamp the data tracking system, and develop a toolkit/manual for implementation, replication, and marketing.