Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Health & Society
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Health & Society

Reducing Adolescent Involvement in the Juvenile Justice System

Wednesday, June 4, 2014, By News Staff
Share
CommunityFalk College of Sport and Human Dynamics

A Falk College research team is helping Onondaga County identify risk factors that indicate when children and youth will cross over from the child welfare system into the juvenile justice system. The team includes oncareCFS associate professor Matthew Mulvaney, the project director; Rachel Razza, assistant professor of child and family studies; Nancy Mudrick, professor of social work; Keith Alford, associate professor of social work; and Carrie Jefferson Smith, director and associate professor of social work. All bring diverse perspectives and areas of expertise to the project. Suzanne Soule, Falk College computer consultant, is developing the database.

Kimberly Raymond, a doctoral student in child and family studies, directs the research at the OnCare site to integrate the information from the various agencies. “She spent a lot of time looking to see what was available and how we can best approach this,” says Mulvaney.

The researchers will integrate data from all agencies involved in the Onondaga County System of Care (OnCare) into a single database. The researchers’ data analysis will help the county improve its services to children, youth and families.

“This is an opportunity for us to use our research skills in a way that engages with the community and potentially makes a difference,” says Mulvaney. “We want to identify the adolescents before they get involved with the system.”

Matthew Mulvaney

Matthew Mulvaney

The effort is part of a national initiative that uses “system of care” principles and strategies to reduce the crossover involvement of children and families receiving mental health services with the juvenile justice system, Mulvaney says. OnCare—a federally funded community initiative developing partnerships among various social service agencies serving children and youth to age 21—contacted Syracuse University seeking research assistance to combine data systems and identify families at risk. The federal grant to Onondaga County from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration covers the Falk team’s participation.

“The primary purpose is to utilize data that exist across systems and across agencies,” says Mulvaney. “We are basically dealing with the task of taking information that exists in client records, which originally didn’t have a research purpose, and identifying how we might be able to compile that data into a meaningful dataset and proceed with analyses.”

The county’s human service agencies are reorganizing, says OnCare’s director, Linda Lopez. “Many of the children and families are served by more than one component of the service system and we currently have no mechanisms to identify those children so that we can provide a more intensive, coordinated response,” she says.

That’s where the Falk team’s work will pay off.

“The research shows that there is a much higher risk if the family is already receiving mental health services, and we want to identify the specific processes that might be responsible for it,” Mulvaney says.

The initial outcomes of this work were presented in April at the National Society for Research in Child Development Special Topic Meeting: Strengthening Connections Among Child and Family Research, Policy and Practice.

 

  • Author

News Staff

  • Recent
  • Meet Michael Bunker, the New Leader of Campus Safety and Emergency Management Services
    Tuesday, August 5, 2025, By Kiana Racha
  • Rethinking Research Through Visual Storytelling
    Tuesday, August 5, 2025, By Dan Bernardi
  • A Legacy of Caring: Robin Berkowitz-Smith’s 38-Year Journey at Syracuse University
    Tuesday, August 5, 2025, By Kelly Homan Rodoski
  • Syracuse University and University of Bergen Host Transatlantic Alliance for Law, Outreach and National Security Conference
    Monday, August 4, 2025, By Robert Conrad
  • National Grid Summer College Scholars Program Invests in Energy Literacy
    Thursday, July 31, 2025, By Hope Alvarez

More In Health & Society

Bringing History to Life: How Larry Swiader ’89, G’93 Blends Storytelling With Emerging Technology

Instructional design program alumnus Lawrence “Larry” Swiader ’89, G’93 has built a career at the intersection of storytelling, education and technology—a path that’s taken him from the early days of analog editing as a student in the S.I. Newhouse School…

4 Maxwell Professors Named O’Hanley Faculty Scholars

The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs announced the appointment of four new O’Hanley Faculty Scholars: Brian Brege, Sarah Hamersma, Yüksel Sezgin and Ying Shi. Selected in recognition of their exceptional teaching, scholarly achievements and service to the institution,…

The Racket About Padel: Newhouse Students Partner With Global Media Firm to Track Rise of Sport

Why all the racket about Padel? Students and faculty in the Newhouse School of Public Communications collaborated with a global communications consulting firm to release a report about the emerging sport’s rapid rise in popularity. The report, “Celebrities, Community, Content,…

Fact or Fiction? The ADHD Info Dilemma

TikTok is one of the fastest-growing and most popular social media platforms in the world—especially among college-age individuals. In the United States alone, there are over 136 million TikTok users aged 18 and older, with approximately 45 million falling within…

Lab THRIVE: Advancing Student Mental Health and Resilience

Lab THRIVE, short for The Health and Resilience Interdisciplinary collaboratiVE, is making significant strides in collegiate mental health research. Launched by an interdisciplinary Syracuse University team in 2023, the lab focuses on understanding the complex factors affecting college students’ adjustment…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.