BIO
Scott Bernard Peterson
BIO
Scott Bernard Peterson
CEO/Owner, Global Youth Justice, LLC
July 30, 1969 -
Scott Bernard Peterson – Short BIO
Scott has worked as a Juvenile Justice Specialist in the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)/U.S. Department of Justice, served as a Senior Advisor to UNICEF and United Nations on behalf of the U.S. Department of State, USA National Director for Criminal Justice at Youth Build USA, Executive Director of Youth Courts of the Capital District, Inc. and now CEO/Owner of his Global Youth Justice, LLC. A native New Yorker, Scott Peterson began his career in New York State where he and colleagues established both the Lewis A. Swyer Homeless Youth Shelter and the Colonie Youth Court in the Empire State. In 2009, Scott Peterson added small business owner to his resume with the incorporation of his first private company called Global Youth Justice, LLC where he serves as CEO/Owner.
As of 2012, Scott's Global Youth Justice, LLC is thriving on a number fronts in support of the volunteer-driven Global Youth Justice proactive approach to reduce high crime rates and historic high incarceration rates around the Globe. In addition to his Global Youth Justice, Scott Peterson is actively involved with more than a half dozen International and USA-Based Criminal Justice and Juvenile Justice Philanthropic, Business and Volunteer-Driven Projects in various stages of development, focus and operation.
Scott Bernard Peterson – Long BIO
Scott Bernard Peterson is the leading authority around the globe on “juvenile justice” and “youth justice” programs commonly referred to as youth court, teen court, peer court, student court, and youth peer panel. For three (3) decades, Scott Peterson has championed and led the Global Youth Justice Movement in America and around the globe. A record 1,407+ local youth courts, teen courts, peer courts, student courts and youth peer panels are now operational in the United States and on two (2) other continents. Hundreds of thousands of youth and adults are now involved in these local youth justice programs each year – with those numbers only expected to increase and substantially by 2020. Mr. Peterson serves as Chief Executive Officer of Global Youth Justice and as a consultant on number of projects with local, state, national/federal and International NGO’s.
Mr. Peterson’s efforts to advance the Global Youth Justice Movement have earned him numerous prestigious national awards such as the 2003 Paul F. Chapman Award from the Foundation for the Improvement of Justice and the 2006 Lewis Wickes Hine Award from the National Child Labor Committee. Mr. Peterson has been published on the subject of “youth justice programs” in professional journals published by National Juvenile Detention Association, American Correctional Association, Council of State Governments, Reclaiming Children and Youth International and Law Now: Relating Life to Law in Canada in addition to numerous others. Scott Peterson’s achievements and career in championing the global youth justice movement are now profiled in both the 2008 University textbook from Prentice Hall titled “Corrections in the United States: A Contemporary Perspective” and in the upcoming College textbook titled “Juvenile Justice in America”, the 6th Edition from Prentice Hall in 2010.
A native New Yorker, Scott Peterson began his public service career in his home state of New York immediately after graduating from the State University of New York at Buffalo with a degree in Public Policy and Administration in 1991. Mr. Peterson graduated in June and immediately began working to open a new homeless youth shelter and transitional living program in July of that same year in New York. After the homeless youth shelter was operational and serving the community, Scott then got to work on leading a community coalition to establish a new innovative youth justice and juvenile justice diversion program called “youth court” in 1993. Scott worked full-time at the Lewis A. Swyer Homeless Youth Shelter and Transitional Living Program for three years and then full-time at the Colonie Youth Court for three years. New York State’s popular three-term Governor George E. Pataki presented Scott with a New York State citation, Flag of the Empire State flown over the NYS State Capitol in Albany and he appointed Scott to a statewide criminal and juvenile justice appointment in appreciation of Scott’s public service contributions to New York. Mr. Peterson also received an American Flag flown over the United States Capitol from Congressman Michael R. McNulty in recognition of his civic and service contributions to New York State – the Empire State.
After six (6) years of public service in New York, Mr. Peterson relocated to Washington, D.C. at the age of 27 to begin his next public service career in the Executive Branch of the United States Government, where he would work for more than a decade at the United States Department of Justice (USDOJ) within the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). During this decade of federal service Scott would successfully advocate for an unprecedented $10 million dollars in federal funding from six (6) different federal agencies for purposes of advancing the youth justice movement in America. During this time, Scott also managed and developed high profile juvenile justice programs across the United States totaling more than $250 million dollars in grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements. For more than a decade, Scott had a lead role in implementing and enhancing hundreds of federally funded juvenile justice and criminal justice projects with a wide range of organizations to include the American Probation and Parole Association, American Bar Association, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, National Office of Communities in Schools, Center for Civic Education, and dozens of American Indian and Alaskan Native projects, in addition to many other organizations and projects.
The U.S. Department of Justice selected Scott to spearhead major multi-million dollar national juvenile justice projects such as the development of the “Juvenile Delinquency Guidelines” for the Delinquency Court and the implementation and enhancement of “Dependency Guidelines” for the handling of abuse and neglect cases in the Dependency Court/Child Welfare System. Mr. Peterson worked for almost eleven (11) years at the USDOJ/OJJDP in the National Training and Technical Assistance Division, State Relations and Assistance Division, and Demonstration Programs Division. During this time, Scott wrote more than twenty-five (25) federal government Request for Funding Proposals (RFP’s) and served as a federal peer review panel moderator for thirty (30) plus competitive grant competitions. Scott experience and notable skills in this area while working in the federal government, resulted in him serving as a peer reviewer and panel moderator for eight (8) different federal agencies, to include serving as one of only three panelists for an $80 million dollar Department of Defense (DoD) contract for the U.S. Army. Mr. Peterson began federal service in 1997 and left federal service in 2008 at the age of 38.
Scott Peterson is considered one of the leading voices and advocates for “Mentoring” in the United States. For more than a decade he has championed mentoring services for “high-risk” and “at-risk” youth. Scott wrote the Federal RFP that would establish the National Mentoring Center and he managed more than $60 million in funding to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America over a 10 year period. The Justice Department assigned him to convene their first National Mentoring Conference with MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership. Scott oversaw the development of the Federal Mentoring Curriculum which was research-based utilizing the Public/Private Ventures highly regarded study of eight (8) local Big Brothers Big Sisters programs.
Scott spearheaded OJJDP’s National Training and Technical Assistance Division’s work to support more than 275 OJJDP funded local Juvenile Mentoring Programs (JUMP). The Justice Department also assigned Scott to develop their 1st National Faith-Based Mentoring effort which resulted in the National Mentor Recruitment Campaign at www.mentoryouth.com. Scott has managed more than fifty (50) local and state mentoring grants with varying mentoring models and programmatic differences. Perhaps most exciting for Scott was being assigned to head up the Justice Department’s involvement in the 100th Anniversary of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (1904-2004).
Mr. Peterson served as a senior advisor to both the United Nations and UNICEF on behalf of the U.S. Department of State. He is the recipient of Public Service Awards from the United States Attorney’s Office in 1997 and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in both 2006 and 2008. Mr. Peterson graduated from the prestigious Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Citizen Academy in May of 2007. Scott represented the United States Government at the historic “2002 Worldwide Special Session on Children: A 10 Year Global Summit” where he organized a joint American and Afghanistan Session on “youth court” and “children incarcerated with adult criminals” for more than 400 world leaders and policy makers. Mr. Peterson has worked on global youth justice projects with the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia, Netherlands, Japan, Australia, France, Germany, Native American and Alaskan Native Tribes and Councils, and the Iraq Ministry for Youth Sports and Recreation among others.
Mr. Peterson led the effort to bring global superstar and philanthropist Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to Washington, D.C. and he helped expand this early childhood literacy and reading program to numerous new communities throughout Alaska. In addition to Dolly Parton, Mr. Peterson has met and been photographed with historical figures such as Janet Reno and Sandra Day O’Connor, the first women in America to ever serve as U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Supreme Court Justice. Mr. Peterson is the recipient of the Lewis A. Swyer Award for his efforts to improve the lives of runaway, homeless and throwaway youth and he received the President’s Award for his efforts to implement new and maintain existing essential services for low-income seniors in New York State.
For more than a decade Scott represented the U.S. Department of Justice on the Federal Interagency Committee for Education (FICE) at the U.S. Department of Education. During this decade (1997-2008), Scott headed up the Youth For Justice/National Law-Related Education. This ten (10) year National Youth for Justice project included more than $25 million dollars in civic, service, law-related education, peer mediation, youth court/teen court, citizenship, adult training and a wide range of other democracy and juvenile justice system related educational programming. The United States Department of Justice also tapped Scott to head up their efforts to Celebrate 100 Years of the Juvenile Court in America (1899-1999) with multiple events in Cook County, Illinois where the 1st Juvenile Court was established to the Millennium Conference in Washington, DC.
Scott B. Peterson was interviewed on ABC’s Worldwide News in June of 2008 by twelve (12) time Emmy award winning iconic news journalist Brian Ross. More than 10 million people watched iconic news journalist Brian Ross interview Scott, as the whistle blower in the federal grant making scandal at the U.S. Department of Justice. Mr. Peterson took a stand against the federal government and exposed the cronyism, public deception, fraud, and abuse taking place at the U.S. Department of Justice by high ranking Presidential appointees who were misappropriating tens of millions of tax payer dollars intended for fair competition to benefit our most vulnerable children and youth. The announced competition turned out to be anything but fair for the more than 500 plus local, state and national organizations that submitted applications for tens of millions of taxpayer dollars. Mr. Peterson’s actions led to both House and Senate investigations and hearings and an Office of the Inspector General Investigation. Mr. Peterson plans to do much more in the coming years to improve the integrity and transparency of competitions for federal taxpayer funds to include lobbying for full disclosure on the scores and rankings of all applicants and other freedom of information disclosures that increase transparency in government.
Global Youth Justice, LLC and Www.GlobalYouthJustice.org were launched in 2009 by Mr. Peterson at the age of 39. They are the latest of more than one hundred and fifty (150) initiatives Mr. Peterson has spearheaded to advance the Global Youth Justice Movement since 1993. A record 1,200 of these programs are now operational on several continents around the globe. A staggering 250,000 youth are now involved each year in these local youth justice programs to include both those youth referred for minor crimes and offenses and their peers who are volunteering to act as youth judge, juror, attorney on these real juvenile crimes, violations, and/or offenses.
Scott has served as a speaker and trainer at more than 230 local, state, national and international conferences and events. Mr. Peterson has visited more than 100 local youth court, teen court, peer court, student court and youth peer panels in more than forty (41) states on three continents. Mr. Peterson has spoken at more than a dozen state youth and teen court association conferences to include Colorado, California, Washington, Alaska, Tennessee, South Carolina, Illinois, Wisconsin, New York, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and others. Scott was invited to speak at and participate in the historic launch of the first global youth justice program in Europe in 2007. In Europe, these programs are called “peer panel” and the first one was launched in Preston, England in September of 2007. Several new “peer panels” have already been established in Europe, and several others are in various stages of development, as the Global Youth Justice Movement takes hold on another continent.
Mr. Peterson served as the National Director for Criminal and Juvenile Justice at YouthBuild USA and in just one (1) year he secured them their largest ever-competitive federal grant. Faced with yet another year of more staffing and program cuts, YouthBuild USA was about to get some good news from Scott’s well regarded grant writing and program comprehension skills. In September 2009, United States Attorney General Eric Holder announced YouthBuild USA would receive a $9 million dollar competitive juvenile justice mentoring grant from Scott’s former employer - the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention/United States Department of Justice. In 2009, Scott also had the lead on writing and preparing yet another successful federal grant that lead to the launching of the Corporation for National and Community Service and Youth Build USA Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) national project that would initially deploy more than 100 adult volunteers to work in low income and distressed communities where local Youth Build programs are striving to break the cycle of poverty.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Washington, DC presented Scott B. Peterson with their “Community Outreach Award” in September of 2009. In 2009, Scott spearheaded and that years only National Training to Establish a Youth Court/Teen Court in Cleveland, Ohio. It was the most attend national training to establish one of these programs in five (5) years. The Historic Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans, Louisiana presented Scott with a plaque in appreciation of his leadership efforts to convene more than fifteen (15) national conferences/conventions in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina severely damaged this great American City’s travel, tourism, music and service industries. These conferences and conventions attracted thousands of adult professionals who all traveled to New Orleans bringing much needed business to the travel, service and retail industries.
In addition to serving as president and founder of Global Youth Justice, LLC and as a consultant and contractor on a number of projects, Scott is busy on a number of other fronts. In 2009, he served as a consultant for the Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, Global Issues Resource Center and the Corporation for National and Community Service among others. He also served on the federal mentoring council at the Corporation for National and Community Service; as an expert consultant to the Interagency Panel on Juvenile Justice in Switzerland; is a member of the National Association of Peer Programs Professionals and the Coalition for Juvenile Justice; and he is steadfast and stronger than ever in his resolve to further advance the Global Youth Justice Movement here in America and increasingly around the globe.
In 2010, Scott began the year serving as a consultant for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America in a lead capacity to write their competitive national mentoring grant application to OJJDP. This result was a winning grant from OJJDP to Big Brother Big Sisters of America (BBBSA) in the amount of $10 million dollars for FY2010 to FY2011. This was the largest competitive OJJDP Federal grant ever awarded to BBBSA.
In FY2010, Scott wrote yet another successful $1 million dollar Juvenile Justice and Mentoring federal grant to USDOJ/OJJDP on behalf of his Global Youth Justice, MENTOR/The National Mentoring Partnership and the National Partnership for Juvenile Services. In just two (2) years in the private sector, Scott has taken the lead role in writing and winning federal grants totaling more than $21 million dollars.
In 2010, Scott also launched the 1st Global Youth Justice Institute for Youth Court/Teen Courts staff in Cape Cod, MA in June and it filled to capacity by May 15th, 2010. In Las Vegas, NV in December of 2010, Scott’s Global Youth Justice convened the 2nd Global Training to Establish/Manage a local Youth Court/Teen Court, and it was filled to capacity again. Global Youth Justice Trainings in 2011 and 2012 have already been announced to take place in Kobe/Japan, Calgary/Canada, Las Vegas (NV)/USA and in 2012 in Cape Cod (MA/USA). Scott is already planning a wide range of other activities in support of his effort to implement and enhance more quality local youth justice programs around the world for purposes of reducing crime and incarceration rates of youth and adults.
Scott is 41 years old and he was born in the summer of 69. He is a member of Generation X, the generation that came after the baby boomers for those born between 1961 and 1981. He currently resides in both Massachusetts and in his home state of New York. Scott maintains one of the largest local, state, national and international networks of youth justice and juvenile justice professionals in the business.
Scott Peterson’s Global Youth Justice, LLC launched Youth Justice USA in 2011. Scott also plans to incorporate Global Youth Justice, LLC as a Non-Profit Organization/Charitable Foundation in 2012. Scott Peterson became a small-business owner in 2009, and he now owns his first Limited Liability Corporation. Scott is now a successful businessman and he is currently making plans to begin development of an adult alternative to incarceration criminal justice model of the Youth Court/Teen Court juvenile justice diversion program, which he expects to launch in late 2013. This supports Scott's desire to reducing high crime rates and historic-high incarceration rates of both youth and adults locally and globally for primary purposes of improving the quality of life for humans.
Visit Scott’s Global Youth Justice Website at http://www.globalyouthjustice.org/, which has now been visited by more 500,000+ unique daily visitors in just the first two years, and join the tens of thousands of adults and youth from around the Globe who are now connected to Scott Peterson’s Global Youth Justice Network to include his Global Youth Justice Website; Global Youth Justice Channel on YouTube; Global Youth Justice Monthly e-News and e-Alerts; Global Youth Justice on Twitter @JuvenileCrime; Global Youth Justice Daily Blog; and numerous past and upcoming Global Youth Justice International Training Institutes to Establish, Enhance, or Expand a Youth Justice Diversion Program.
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