A DIFFERENT KIND OF “CRIME WAVE”—STATES REFORM JUVENILE JUSTICE

Volume 28, Issue 490                                             April 30, 2007

Sarah Steverman

Some ten years after adopting a “get tough” approach toward juvenile crime, the pendulum is swinging the other way. Convinced that they’ll achieve safer communities and save money by providing youthful offenders with alternatives to prison, a growing number of states are reforming their juvenile justice systems by, among other things, increasing access to mental health services and substance abuse treatment.

Over half the states have instituted reforms that support treatment and community-based alternatives to prison, according to the Justice Policy Institute (JPI). Over the past two years:

The Mississippi Legislature passed SB 2894 and SB 2366, which require that youth in need of mental health services be referred to them within 48 hours of detention, mandate that youth be placed in the least restrictive and close-to-home settings possible, and end boot camps for youth offenders.

Connecticut passed HB 5215, giving presumptive youth offender status to 16- and 17-year olds who have committed lower-level offenses. Among other things, this status ensures that the maximum sentence for such youth is four years.

The Illinois Legislature passed SB 92, which creates a separate Department of Juvenile Justice. Previously all youth in custody came under the jurisdiction of the adult Department of Corrections. The new division will provide rehabilitative and transitional programs for youth when they leave the institution. Plus, new staff who deal directly with youth must have a college degree.*

Each year, police arrest around 2.2 million kids under the age of 18.  Two-thirds of the boys and three-quarters of the girls involved in the juvenile justice system have significant mental health needs, few of which are met. The laws are not even applied fairly, says the JPI, with youth of color more likely to end up in adult correctional facilities than white youth.

Recent research shows that one of the most popular reforms of the 1990s—sending youth to the adult criminal justice system instead of the juvenile one—doesn’t reduce crime. One Florida study found that youth sent to criminal court were more likely to be re-arrested and to commit more serious new offenses than those who were retained in juvenile systems. A study cited by the JPI notes that adolescents processed in adult courts are nearly twice as likely to be rearrested for a violent offense as those processed in the juvenile system.

One of the largest and probably most effective reform efforts in the nation is funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. In 2004, the Foundation launched the Models for Change Initiative, which is providing more than $100 million in grants over five years to four states— Illinois, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Washington—to help them launch juvenile justice reforms. Pennsylvania has reduced crime rates significantly by ensuring that youthful offenders who are released from secure facilities are enrolled in mental health and drug treatment programs, school and/or work. Washington is promoting evidence-based programs to reduce recidivism, such as “Functional Family Therapy and Aggression Replacement Training.”

“A juvenile justice system that considers each young person as an individual, offers alternatives to incarceration for those who do not pose a threat to society, and emphasizes rehabilitative options is sensitive public policy,” MacArthur Foundation President Jonathan Fanton said recently.

On the Other Hand

A recent report from the Policy Executive Research Forum (PERF) found “a nationwide surge in violence between 2004 and 2006.” (PERF did not break out its data into juvenile/adult categories.) “The new crime statistics show a worsening of a trend first identified in mid-2005, when PERF began to hear rumblings from its members that violent crime is making a comeback,” the Forum said. It found that overall, homicides increased by 2.89 percent in 2006 compared to 2005, and robberies increased 6.48 percent.

The JPI says that a one-year change in arrests cannot be interpreted as a “trend.” The Institute adds that adults, not juveniles, represent 84 percent of all violent crime arrests.

Meanwhile, states continue to debate changes to their justice systems:

In California, Assemblyman Bill Maze has introduced AB 1405. The bill would allow mental health, child welfare, juvenile justice and other members of a child’s treatment team to share information more easily while still maintaining the individual’s privacy.

In Colorado, HB 1057 would establish demonstration projects for family advocates to provide mental health care to children involved in the justice system. The bill is an initiative by a mental health oversight committee, which is attempting to make several such reforms to address the needs of this population and recognized family participation as a key element. If this bill is passed and funded, the Mental Health Division would provide grants to six programs to increase family support services for those with mental illness.  Each of the programs would be evaluated and a report would be submitted to the Mental Health Task Force.

*Examples are from the National Juvenile Justice Network, an association of state juvenile justice advocacy groups.

© Copyright 2007, State Health Notes