Violence among youth is one of the most common, socially transmittable, and personally destructive problems faced in Tuscaloosa County. Research supports the premise that most violence is not random or uncontrollable but predictable and preventable. Violence is learned behavior; therefore, it can be modified.

In response to this research, CSP and the Tuscaloosa County Juvenile Court have developed a partnership that intervenes with youth experiencing their first contact with the juvenile justice system to interrupt the cycle of violence. CSP provides a proven violence prevention curriculum that builds skills to resolve problems nonviolently and develop decision-making skills that improve social outcomes for participating youth.

The CSP Juvenile Justice Intervention project is designed to build skills that enable youth to avoid violence. The skills gained through JJI (such as anger management, problem-solving, and decision-making) will also build resiliency among youth to avoid other risky behaviors that are directly linked to violence. Therefore, JJI has the potential to not only reduce violence among youth, it can impact related issues such as substance abuse, juvenile crime and delinquency.

The JJI project conducts regularly scheduled sessions to youth who have a first encounter with the Tuscaloosa County Juvenile Court. The curriculum helps students to pause and keep cool, to understand what is going on before jumping to conclusions, to understand other perspectives, to define their problems and goals in ways that will not lead to fights, and to generate and act on solutions that have positive outcomes for themselves and others.