The University of New Mexico will strengthen their partnership with the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Santa Fe to address racial and ethnic inequalities in the juvenile justice system through a deflection and diversion program that seeks to prevent engagement with the system. Using an implementation science, community-based participatory approach, the team will implement and evaluate a diversion and deflection program developed with prior support from the William T. Grant Foundation. The program enacts two routes to prevent youth engagement with the juvenile justice system: youth will be diverted by the District Attorney’s office from prosecution through case dismissals or deferrals or deflected by a community organization in which at-risk youth participate. The partnership will enhance the capacity of the District Attorney’s Office to integrate research into their work. For example, funds will support the hiring of a program coordinator to facilitate the program and trust-building activities and continued work on improving the office’s data system. At the university, the team will work to remove barriers to faculty participation in research-practice partnerships by addressing a deep gap between the siloed North and Main campuses; enhancing interdisciplinary collaboration; and developing guidelines for revised tenure and promotion policies that account for engaged research.
This grant will strengthen the partnership between The University of New Mexico and the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Santa Fe.
