HIV/STI Service Delivery within Juvenile Community Supervision Agencies: A National Survey of Practices and Approaches to Moving High-Risk Youth through the HIV Care Cascade

Justice-involved youth (JIY) are at considerable risk for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), but are disconnected from treatment and prevention. Juvenile justice agencies providing community supervision (CS) are well positioned to provide HIV prevention, testing, and prompt referral to treatment for JIY. However, we lack an understanding of juvenile CS agency responses to HIV/sexually transmitted infection (STI) needs among JIY. We conducted a nationwide systematic assessment of how juvenile CS agencies identify, refer, and move youth through the HIV care cascade using a nationally representative sample of 195 juvenile CS agencies across 20 states. Two-thirds of CS agencies did not offer any HIV-/STI-related services, and 82% reported no collaboration with health agencies. Screening or referral for HIV risk behaviors was reported by 32% of the CS agencies and 12% for any intervention or prevention for HIV/STI risk behaviors. Between 21% and 30% of agencies were unaware of the location of local HIV/STI services. HIV/STI prevention training was not a priority for directors and was ranked second to last out of 16 training topics. Agencies where staff expressed need for HIV risk training and where specific court programming was available were more likely to provide or refer for HIV/STI screening and/or testing. Agencies were more likely to provide or refer for services if they provided pre-trial/pre-adjudication supervision, parole, or court programming. Considering the low provision of HIV/STI-related services and limited collaboration between health and justice agencies, interventions that promote cross-system collaboration designed to minimize barriers and facilitate identification, referral, and linkage to HIV services for JIY are necessary.