April 16, 2021

Rep. Howard Appointed to CT Juvenile Justice Committee

This article was archived from the previous WordPress site. Formatting and media should be close, but may not match the original post perfectly.

HARTFORD- State Rep. Greg Howard (R-43) has been appointed to the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee (JJPOC) this week by the Ranking Republican on the Appropriations committee State Rep. Mike France (R-42).

“I want to thank Rep. France for the confidence he has shown in me. With my many years of experience working in law enforcement and as youth sports coach, I think I can bring a unique prospective to the Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee,” said Rep. Howard. “We must be willing to think outside the box to address the needs of our youth as to ensure they stay out of the system. And if they end up in the system how can we best assist them in finding their way out.”

The Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee was established in 2014 to evaluate policies related to the Juvenile Justice system and the expansion of juvenile jurisdiction to include persons sixteen and seventeen years of age. Besides an Executive Board the Committee is broken down into several working group to find concrete solutions and best practices in overseeing our juvenile justice system in the state.

Diversion Work Group which is committed to diverting youth from the formal justice system through the use of community-based programs and supports by exploring ways to minimize/eliminate youth contact and right-size the justice system.
Incarceration Work Group which is committed to ensuring age appropriate services are provided to confined youth, proper staff training, and standards are met, and ultimately achieve the goal of decreasing incarceration among youth and emerging adults.
Cross-Agency Data Sharing Work Group which is a group that looks to coordinate the process of data integration process to link data related to children across executive branch agencies for purposes of evaluation and assessment of programs, services and outcomes in the juvenile justice system. This will better assist in the development of measures and provide insight into their efficacy and feasibility and identify any barriers in funding needs.
Education Committee Work Group which looks to propose concrete, specific and actionable solutions to improve the education for youth in an out-of-home placement in the juvenile justice system.
Racial and Ethnic Disparities Work Group is committed to reviewing and addressing disparities in CT’s juvenile justice system based on race and/or ethnicity through police trainings and analysis of judicial practices.
The Group to Integrate Community Voice is a working group committed to the collaboration between the JJPOC and members of the community as well as justice involved youth and their families. In order to understand some of the problems that need to be addressed in the area of juvenile justice, we need to reach the populations that are directly affected by the problems and solutions.

In a written letter to the JJPOC recommending Rep. Howard for the appointment, Rep. France said, “I am confident that your experience and knowledge will be of great value to the Committee. I appreciate your willingness to make this commitment to public service.”