Wyoming is a combination state. With the exceptions of secure detention and limited local probation services, the state operates most delinquency services for youth in Wyoming. The district/county attorney's office is responsible for delinquency intake screening.

How is detention organized? 

County law enforcement agencies administer secure detention. Law enforcement officers screen admissions and contact the Department of Family Services' "on-call" worker for a placement decision on admission. By statute, the district attorney may also review the need for a juvenile's detention and may order a juvenile's release from detention. There is no state-mandated risk assessment instrument that is used at detention screening.

First-time juvenile offenders or those charged with minor offenses may be diverted to such programs as teen court, community service programs, and counseling. Diversion programs may be run by the Department of Family Services, Division of Juvenile Services; the juvenile court; or prosecutors' offices.

The statutory rights of victims of juvenile offenders in Wyoming reside in §14-6-502. Victim rights in Wyoming include but are not limited to, the right to be notified of the status of the case, scheduled hearings, disposition, and detention or release of the offender; attend and participate in all juvenile court proceedings and make victim impact statements.

The Department of Family Services (DFS), Division of Juvenile Services administers community-based probation through regional and county offices. Juvenile probation officers' caseloads consist only of juveniles. The Department of Family Services' administrative code specifies that the "goals of probation are a safer community, reparation to the victim and a better equipped and more responsible juvenile".

Juvenile probation officers must have at least bachelor's degrees or the equivalent. New probation officers attend a 32-hour orientation within 6 months of their hire.  All field staff who works with troubled and delinquent youth receives certification training within one year of hire.

Wyoming has implemented "progressive sanction guidelines" in the State's Juvenile Justice Act (Article 2). Five sanction levels are defined in the Wyoming Juvenile Justice Act, Secs. 14-6-245 through 14-6-252.  The juvenile court decides where to place a committed juvenile.  In addition to being supervised by a staff in the various placements, juveniles continue to have a designated juvenile probation officer from DFS assigned to them.

The juvenile court makes release decisions with input from placement and Department of Family Services (DFS) staff, as well as non-DFS county probation staff if originally involved in the case. Release recommendations are made by the multi-disciplinary team.

The Department of Family Services (DFS), Division of Juvenile Services supervises youth in aftercare. DFS juvenile probation officers supervise youth returning from residential placements, including juveniles originally from a county in which DFS does not run the juvenile probation department.

Wyoming’s Purpose Clause emphasizes community protection, offender accountability, crime reduction through deterrence, or punishment. It also shares some traces of a more elaborate, multi part purpose clause contained in the Legislative Guide for Drafting Family and Juvenile Court Acts, a publication issued by the Children’s Bureau in the late 1960’s.

Lower Age: None specified

Upper Age: 17

Extended Age of Delinquency Jurisdiction: 20

There is no state-mandated risk assessment instrument that is used at detention screening. Juvenile probation officers in some counties use the Youth and Family Services Screening Instrument (a risk/needs assessment created in Wyoming) to prepare predisposition reports on juvenile delinquents and children in need of supervision (CHINS) who are supervised by the Department of Family Services.