Native Youth in the Youth Justice System: What Do We Know? 

Native youth are often overrepresented in state and federal juvenile justice systems. Further, state and federal juvenile justice systems are ill-equipped to facilitate true healing and address the unique needs of the Native youth who get caught up in the system. In California, we are still exploring the scope of Native youth and their families involved in the youth justice system (also referred to as the detention, delinquency or incarceration systems). Beginning in February 2023, the California Tribal Families Coalition began work in partnership with California’s new Office of Community and Youth Restoration (OYCR) to explore the data and story behind Native youth involvement in juvenile justice. 

OYCR was established in 2021 and operates within the California Health & Human Services (CalHHS) Agency. OYCR aims to “promote a youth continuum of services that are trauma responsive and culturally informed, using public health approaches that support positive youth development, build the capacity of community-based approaches, and reduce the justice involvement of youth.” OYCR will promote evidence-based and promising practices to: 

  • Reduce the transfer of youth into the adult criminal justice system; 
  • Reduce racial and ethnic disparities; and 
  • Increase community-based responses and interventions. 

The Coalition and OYCR have hosted tribal listening sessions and interviews over the past two years to develop promising practices for California probation departments and youth justice agencies to better understand how to effectively serve Native youth and engage with tribal communities. 

In the fall of 2025, the Coalition released a report documenting the experiences and recommendations from tribal leaders and representatives, as well as responses from California probation officers about the challenges and successes of working with Native youth in California’s youth justice system. The report, “Native Youth in California’s Youth Justice System: What Do We Know?” offers an overview of the shift occurring within California’s youth justice system and how system partners can engage with tribes to ensure Native youth maintain cultural and spiritual connections and practices while seeking healing and rehabilitation.

The report concludes with recommendations on how system partners,
including tribes, probation officers, counties agencies, the Office of Youth and Community Restoration, advocates, parents, and community members can focus efforts moving forward including:

  1. Strengthen training for placements, probation officers, and systems partners about the history of tribes in California, Native youth in youth justice, and the importance of tribal connection to healing and rehabilitation.
  2. Enhance data collection and analysis to improve understanding of the youth justice population.
  3. Increase community-based support by more robustly including tribes in system development and improvement.

CTFC is now available upon request to conduct trainings and community conversations about the themes in the report, including about the legal protections and promising practices of the Indian Child Welfare Act in youth justice cases. If you are interested in engaging in this work, or having CTFC visit your tribal community or county service providers with a listening session and training, please contact us at contact@caltribalfamilies.org.  

CTFC and OYCR are not the first to embark on the journey of understanding and improving youth justice systems for Native youth in the U.S. Read the resources below that have laid the groundwork for understanding the issues and tribally driven solutions.  

Resources