A crit­i­cal ques­tion for the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s emerg­ing adult jus­tice pilot has been: What if pro­ba­tion offi­cers and defense attor­neys adopt prac­tices and poli­cies that seek to sup­port emerg­ing adults’ healthy development? 

Three juris­dic­tions test­ing a devel­op­men­tal approach for young adults involved in the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem are find­ing that expand­ing buy-in among judges, attor­neys and oth­er stake­hold­ers is essen­tial to imple­men­ta­tion success.