Orange County, N.C. youth justice efforts eye productive outcomes

Key Takeaways

October marks Youth Justice Action Month (YJAM), a month-long observance that seeks to raise awareness about the challenges young people face within the justice system, and advocates for fair, effective and developmentally appropriate responses. 

YJAM began in 2008 as a 5k race organized by Missouri parent Tracy McClard to raise awareness about youth justice issues and educate lawmakers after her 17-year-old son Jonathan died by suicide while being held in solitary confinement in an adult jail earlier in the year. 

What began as a local grassroots movement in Missouri, spread rapidly across the country. By 2010, more than 20 states, and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) had recognized the initiative. President Barack Obama issued a presidential proclamation recognizing October as YJAM in 2015 and 2016.

In 2026, with YJAM widely recognized across levels of government and a key month for organizations and practitioners across the country, the theme for this year is “Building a Future Where Youth Thrive.” 

At NACo’s 2026 Annual Conference, President George Dunlap announced his presidential spotlight “Building Better Futures,” which calls on counties across the country to examine what they are doing for young people and take at least one concrete action to improve outcomes for youth in their communities. 

County-level systems shape the decisions made at every stage of the youth justice process, influencing whether young people move toward stability and accountability or become more deeply involved in the system. While interventions can occur at multiple points, including intake, adjudication, and disposition, one of the most effective opportunities to intervene is at the very beginning, when a young person first comes into contact with the system.

Orange County, N.C., a county of just more than 150,000 residents and home to Chapel Hill, operates an innovative Youth Deflection Program (YDP) for first-time offenders and youth who commit low-level, nonviolent misdemeanors. Rather than moving these young people deeper into the juvenile justice system, the YDP “deflects” them toward appropriate, community-based services.

The YDP launched in 2021, and was preceded by a county misdemeanor diversion program, which began in 2016, and aimed to divert 16- and 17-year-olds with first-time offenses from formal court proceedings. At the time, under North Carolina state law, 16- and 17-year-olds were automatically charged as adults- underscoring the importance of keeping them out of the system.

In 2019, North Carolina passed the Juvenile Justice Reinvestment Act, known as the “Raise the Age” law, which ended this practice and moved youth instead into the juvenile justice system. At the time, North Carolina was the last state in the country to adopt a Raise the Age law. 

While this legislation was a large step forward, it didn’t stop youth from being charged or contribute to building the systems for identifying and addressing root issues of crime. The responsibility to improve outcomes for youth and families in the juvenile justice system fell largely to local governments. 

Such is the case in Orange County. 

“We began looking at ways to mitigate the circumstances that comes with a formal referral,” said Tami Pfeifer, who serves as the YDP coordinator. Pfeifer, alongside Caitlin Fenhagen, former director of the Criminal Justice Resources Department and now serving as deputy county manager, began exploring how to build a program to keep kids away from the system altogether.

They talked to stakeholders across the county, including the courts, district attorney’s office, sheriff’s office and more to gain buy-in on the importance of the program and what shape it could potentially take.

Law enforcement, however, was the key partnership in the YDPs formation. Law enforcement begins the deflection process when officers first make contact with a young person. 

Officers use their discretion on eligible cases and instead of making an arrest or issuing a formal juvenile petition, will provide the individual and their families with a note instructing them to call the CJRD within 72 hours. They also submit an online form detailing the encounter for the YDP staff handling the case. 

Upon intake, youth are connected with a behavioral health liaison and given a general risk and needs assessment. An open dialogue begins, to give youth and families a chance to talk openly about what happened, who was affected and potential consequences. In these early conversations, Pfeifer added that “it’s important for youth to understand that if they were to be sent to juvenile court, or if something in the future were to happen, how that could impact their lives and their families’ lives, and how those consequences could become a barrier for them.” 

Pfeifer and county staff create individualized deflection plans, which typically last around 90 days and are built around a young person’s needs and interests, subsequently making handoffs to community-support services. 

Recent connections include referrals to school-based therapy and peer mentor groups, family counseling, a local bike nonprofit that provides hands-on learning and maintenance skills, after-school sports programming and more. 

In one case, a youth defaced school property with graffiti, an offense that would normally lead to a court petition and further involvement in the juvenile justice system. Instead, after further conversation and learning more about the youth’s creative passions, they were connected with a local art nonprofit where they worked with a mentor, in addition to completing additional community service. 

In an effort to repair harm that was done to the school, and to display the youth’s creative talents in a positive way, the youth painted a mural of the school’s mascot on the school resource officer’s door — a project they felt proud of and received praise from classmates and the community. 

Since its inception, the program has produced strong results: 97% of youth have completed the program, and 93% have incurred no new offenses. Law enforcement is kept in the loop throughout, receiving updates on each youth’s progress and a final follow-up once the program is complete. 

For at-risk youth, whether in Orange County or elsewhere, these connections, goal-setting and opportunities to own and repair mistakes build the strengths and support they need to move forward. 

“If we can open doors for them… or even if they just meet that one person that can see them a different way, I know how much that can impact a kid,” Pfeifer said. 

In October, as Youth Justice Action Month highlights the challenges young people face, and as President Dunlap’s initiative calls on counties to take concrete action for youth, it’s a reminder that the programs, innovations and systems counties put in place, and the ways youth are viewed and treated within them, have a profound impact on young people’s lives. When responses are built around support, connection and repair rather than punishment, youth are more likely to be given the chance to thrive.