Juvenile Justice Jeopardy:
Testing Youth Understanding of the Law

Juvenile Justice Jeopardy helps youth navigate interactions with peers and police and understand the legal consequences of their actions.

SFY's Juvenile Justice Jeopardy Game

The Game

Juvenile Justice Jeopardy™ (JJJ) teaches youth how to navigate interactions with police and peers, understand the legal consequences of their actions, as well as strategies for desistance from peer pressure to engage in risky behavior. The game also teaches youth the short and long term legal consequences of having arrest and court records. The game takes 90 minutes to play and is aimed at being realistic: that is, it focuses on what happens in police/youth interactions.

Derived from the television Jeopardy game, JJJ offers youth an opportunity to explore what they think they know about the juvenile justice system and how the media portrays teen violence and criminality to them—and how much they believe it. The game is customized to each jurisdiction’s laws.

Kids Know the Law, Right? Wrong!

Many adults assume youth know what is right or wrong, legal or illegal. Many youth are certain they know the law, their rights, and how to interact with law enforcement. 

All too often, both assumptions are wrong.

These views can lead to an escalation of interactions with officers and assumptions by officers and other authority figures that youth are intentionally defying the law when, in fact, they are often doing what they perceive is legal.

Download JJJ Game Overview to learn more.

What Do People Say About JJJ?

GAme Content is Customized

SFY typically develops two versions of the game for each jurisdiction. One version focuses on “street” issues youth are likely to encounter. The second version uses school districts’ school code of conduct to explain rules and laws that apply in the school setting.

SFY develops an ad hoc group of stakeholders to focus questions on issues that lead to the greatest number of arrest of youth. Once consensus is reached, SFY provides on-site game leader trainings.

Download The JJJ Game Process to learn more.

Interested in offering JJJ at your organization?​

For more information or to find out how you can offer JJJ at your organization contact Strategies for Youth.

Why Kids Like JJJ

  • It brings out their competitive spirit.
  • They like to test what they think they know about the rules—and are surprised at how wrong they are!  
  • After playing the game, youth feel more empowered about how to successfully interact with officers.
  • Youth learn new strategies to avoid risky activities with peers.

Why Youth-Serving Organizations Like JJJ

  • JJJ gives youth practical advice about how to behave when interacting with police officers.
  • Through playing the game, youth get a better idea of the serious consequences that arrest and a juvenile record can have on their future.
  • Young people are getting a lot of misinformation from friends, family, and the media about the law and how to interact with police. JJJ helps set the record straight.

Why Officers Like JJJ

  • JJJ helps kids understand how laws in their state might apply to their conduct.
  • Youth who have played JJJ are more open to talking with officers when they have a problem.
  • Officers learn how youth perceive the law.

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