Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative in the News
These recent news articles highlight Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) practices, policies and programs. The links will open a new window and take you directly to the media outlets' web sites. Registration may be required.
Ariz. courts trying alternative juvenile justice
From The Arizona Republic on June 30, 2008
If you had visited the juvenile lockup in Pima County a decade ago - at the height of the adult-time-for-adult-crime campaign - you'd have seen young people sleeping in the cafeteria because of crowding.
There were almost 3,500 youths detained in Pima County in 2003, a number that plummeted to 2,583 last year and is still dropping.
In year four of a wide-scale transformation of Pima County's juvenile-justice system, troubled kids are being diverted into other alternatives.
"We're responding to national research which negates some commonly held beliefs that you can scare them straight," said presiding Juvenile Court Judge Patricia Escher. "More frequently, when you detain young people inappropriately, what you do is send them on a path of criminality.......
Editorial: Momentum builds for juvenile justice reform
From the Shreveport Times on June 18, 2008
What is the purpose of juvenile detention?
It's the sort of a basic question that may be the most important souvenir Caddo Parish stakeholders took from a trip to a model juvenile system in Portland, Ore.
The state and Caddo should be credited with taking advantage of consulting opportunities from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which specializes in youth issues. The collaboration is paying off, in that key players sound convinced in their intent to change the model for juvenile justice. And in a state that outpaces much of the world in the rate of incarceration for adults, Louisiana must latch onto children and youth early to redirect their lives. Building more productive adults is a sounder investment than spending millions to prosecute and put them in prison.....
When 'off the streets' isn't good enough
From the Star Tribune on June 17, 2008
Last month, Dakota County launched an initiative to ensure the right kids are detained for the right reasons, with similar reforms to follow in Hennepin and Ramsey counties.
Minnesota's primary motivation to support reform stems from concerns about the racial disparities evident in juvenile detention centers, especially involving black youth. The county's juvenile detention reforms have made available alternatives to detention, such as foster care or electronic home monitoring, and have produced a new screening tool to place juveniles appropriately.
"In the past, without a valid screening tool and not having detention options in place, I think that definitely impacted children of color and all youth coming into our facility," said Al Godfrey, Dakota County's deputy director of community corrections.
A 2007 study of Dakota County discovered that, although black youths account for only 3 percent of the youth population, they make up 29 percent of the youths in detention.
Things looking up for Alabama children
From the Birmingham News on June 13, 2008
Jefferson County is one of four pilot sites for Casey's Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative. With the full endorsement and support of presiding Judge Brian Huff at the Jefferson County Family Court, the initiative has drastically reduced the average daily population of youths in detention from 110 per day to 40. Casey's involvement also has led to an all-encompassing juvenile justice reform project in Jefferson County called Reclaiming Our Youth. Through these reforms, the county has cut by nearly half the number of kids sent to the Department of Youth Services from 48 per month in 2006 to 25 in 2008.
Youth lockup options sought at state forum
From the Worcester Telegram & Gazette on June 7, 2008
WESTBORO- No one wants to lock up children unnecessarily, but alternatives are scarce in Massachusetts for children who are arrested for or convicted of crimes, according to state officials.
Officials began trying to change that more than a year ago, targeting Worcester and Suffolk counties as part of the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative, and they're starting to see some results. Detentions of juveniles are down 10 percent statewide in the past year, due mainly to awareness of the issue, said Department of Youth Services Commissioner Jane E. Tewksbury. The next steps will be to finish a related study and reach out to additional layers of collaboration, including schools, she said......
Childish behavior; criminal behavior
From the Huntsville Times on June 1, 2008 By M. LYNN SHERROD, BRIAN HUFF and STEVEN TESKE
In 2003, community leaders in Clayton County, Ga., voiced concerns about the numbers of children being sent to juvenile court by schools. After several months of study and negotiation, the group emerged with a unique collaborative agreement now referred to as the School Offense Protocol.This protocol zeroes in on low-level misdemeanor offenses like disorderly conduct and affray, which had accounted for a majority of school referrals in Clayton County. For those offenses, the protocol establishes a system of graduated sanctions to standardize consequences for youth.
On the first offense, an SRO issues a formal citation to document the behavior and to "start the clock." The SRO has discretion to issue two more citations before moving to the next level - a requirement that the student and his parent attend a mandatory workshop conducted by the juvenile court.
Clayton County saw immediate results from the collaborative process, which was eye-opening for everyone involved. Even before the protocol was finalized, referrals had already begun to drop as a result of the process itself....
Progress in juvenile justice helps kids and community Editorial
From the Indianapolis Star on May 28, 2008
Two years ago, Marion County's Juvenile Detention Center wasn't safe for the children and teens incarcerated there, or for the staff responsible for their oversight. Thankfully, much has changed at the detention center since then, including a sharp drop in the number of juveniles locked up there.
Thousands of children who a few years ago would have spent days wasting away in a training ground for career criminals now are diverted to programs that stress intervention and prevention. Detention center admissions have sharply declined. In 2004, an average of 171 juveniles were detained each day; the average earlier this year fell below 100 a day.....
Transforming juvenile justice
From the Indianapolis Star on May 27, 2008
Far fewer youths file into Marion County's juvenile lockup each day, a key result of a reform effort that has reduced crowding and diverted thousands of children into programs outside the center's walls.
But architects of the overhaul of the juvenile justice system see the changes as only a starting point. In the third year of a program fueled by a national advocacy group, officials are aiming at ending racial disparities in punishment and transforming a system that many see as perpetuating delinquency rather than healing it.....
Governor signs Juvenile Justice Act pushed by Chief Justice Cobb
From The Montgomery Independent on May 12, 2008
Legislation designed to reform Alabama's juvenile justice system was signed into law by Governor Bob Riley Monday. The new law is designed to reduce the number of children in state custody and redirect them toward community-based programs.....
Children go to jail, for lack of options
From the Boston Globe on May 12, 2008
Massachusetts has already taken some important steps to limit the use of pre-trial juvenile lock-ups. The Commonwealth's Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee has publicly announced that one of its priorities reducing the number of youth of color in detention facilities. The Department of Youth Services is spearheading an effort supported by the Annie E. Casey Foundation to develop alternatives to detention. But we must do much more...
Evening Reporting Center Opens in Greene County, Missouri
From the Springfield News-Leader on April 18, 2008
The evening reporting center houses a new program of services available to Greene County courts as an alternative to secure detention for juvenile offenders aged 13-16 who have committed nonviolent offenses. Juveniles enrolled in the program must report to the center from 4 to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday, for 20 days. While at the center, juveniles take part in highly-structured classes designed to teach responsibility and rehabilitate the offender from crimes committed. The center is based on the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative, a model of detention reform the Greene County Juvenile Office has adopted...
New Jersey Juvenile Lockup Could Be Closed
From the Asbury Park Press on April 16, 2008
The number of detainees at the Monmouth County Youth Detention Center in Freehold Township dropped last year to a historic low and officials have calculated a first-year savings of $2.4 million if it's closed. The facility had an average daily population of 22 detainees in 2007. Its operating budget this year is $5.5 million. The number of detainees has dropped significantly in recent years after Monmouth became one of the first counties in the state to adopt a program that relies on alternatives to detention of young people whose alleged offenses are not considered serious or chronic. Emphasis has been put on electronic monitoring, in-home detention, shelters and after-school reporting centers. The national program, known as the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative, has been widely praised by child advocates. It has since expanded to 10 counties in New Jersey, including Ocean County...
Mental illness, addiction and crime
Opinion from the Huntsville Times on April 13, 2008
The importance of adequately funding community-based mental health and substance abuse treatment services cannot be understated. Alabama should encourage these efforts between state agencies who deal with mental health issues every day.
Gov. Bob Riley recently invited the Annie E. Casey Foundation to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the state juvenile justice system. It was discovered that more juvenile offenders in Alabama are committed to DYS for property crimes than for violent offenses.
Numerous juvenile judges acknowledged that these commitments are usually inappropriate, but community-based adolescent substance abuse treatment resources are lacking statewide. Many juvenile offenders are removed from their families and committed to DYS to access substance abuse treatment resources unavailable in their communities...
Sex abuse, violence alleged at teen jails across U.S.
Produced by CNN on April 4, 2008
Girls as young as 13 say they were shackled for weeks at a time in Mississippi. A Texas teen was allegedly offered birthday cake in exchange for sex. A guard drove his knee into the neck of a frail suicidal Ohio boy after the youth was wrestled to the ground and held down by other guards who stripped him and covered his face with a smock, a state report said. More than two dozen girls at an Indiana lock-up describe "networking" -- their term for sneaking into each other's cells to have sex, with no interference from guards.
This is a glimpse into what America's juvenile jails look like, according to lawsuits, criminal cases and experts who have spent years delving into what they call a broken system...
Medicaid's Buried Treasure for Juvenile Justice Detention center creates a clinic with money you think you can't get
From Youth Today on April 1, 2008
Youth Today takes an in-depth look at the innovative funding strategy employed by the Bernalillo County Juvenile Detention Center in New Mexico, a JDAI Model Site, to pay for and provide mental health services....
Missouri's Humane and Sensible Approach to Juvenile Justice
From the Huffington Post on March 18, 2008
Mark D. Steward, Founder and Director of the Missouri Youth Services Institute, and his colleague, Pili Robinson, are lights on the horizon of urgently needed nationwide juvenile justice system reform. Mark previously served as Director of the Missouri Division of Youth Services for over 17 years until retiring in July 2005 after 35 years of service in this field.
His approach to youth development is a sharp departure from most conventional methods of incarceration, instead using a rehabilitative and therapeutic youth program. Missouri's juvenile recidivism rate, with only eight percent of those incarcerated coming back into juvenile custody and eight percent going into Missouri's prisons, has been one of the best success stories in the country....
The Reception Center in Northeast Portland has become a national model for youths who commit minor crimes
From The Oregonian on January 14, 2008
The five-room center run by Janus Youth Programs in Northeast Portland grew out of a pilot program that started in 1998 and operated out of a tiny back room in the Portland Police Bureau's Central Precinct. It has evolved to become a national model, drawing juvenile authorities from across the country to figure out how to replicate it in their communities...
County seeks alternatives to juvenile lockups
From the Tuscaloosa News on December 13, 2007
In his years presiding over juvenile court, Judge Philip Lisenby has seen youths as young as 13 hooked on serious drugs, hungry kids who stole food, high school students accused of murder. One solution is to simply put these juvenile offenders behind bars. But it's not always the best route to take, the judge said. Sentencing a child to a detention center is a last resort. Lisenby said teenagers who make it that far into the system are more likely to become adult criminals. He wants to find alternatives to locking children up.
Despite a major decrease in serious juvenile crime since the 1990s, the number of admissions to juvenile detention facilities in Alabama has increased by 128 percent, according to numbers compiled by the Alabama Department of Youth Services. Tuscaloosa, Jefferson, Montgomery and Mobile counties are seeking to reverse the trend by participating in the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative.
Searching for Safetown: Juvenile Crime
To listen to this radio report on JDAI in Alabama vist the WBHM website From WBHM - NPR on December 12, 2007
Birmingham, Alabama--It's 45 degrees on a late November morning. A group of high school-aged boys is assembled in rows on a sandy patch beside the parking lot of the Jefferson County Alternative School. They're dressed in black sweatpants and sweatshirts. On the back of their sweatshirts is the word STAR. That's the boot camp-type program to which these boys have been assigned. STAR is the last rung on the hierarchy of school disciplinary action, reserved for those who commit serious and repeated offenses.
Reggie Patrick, a 16-year-old high school freshman, went through the STAR program three times. At one point, he didn't envision much of a future for himself. But that was middle school. This year at Clay-Chalkville High School, Reggie is earning A's and B's. He's on the basketball and football teams, and his peers nominated him Mr. Freshman. Reggie's teachers say he's made a complete turnaround. Many kids don't.
New Orleans' Teen Court to be revived
From the Times-Picayune on December 10, 2007
Before Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans' Juvenile Court judges could send kids admittedly guilty of first time, non violent crimes to Teen Court to be sentenced by juries of people their own age. The program, launched by the New Orleans Junior League in the late 1990s, saw peer juries hand out sentences requiring them to do community service, write letters of apology to their victims, attend Teen Court classes encouraging responsible behavior and serve on a Teen Court jury themselves. By completing the sentence, a young defendants' conviction was removed from his record. The specialized program in New Orleans was washed away by the 2005 storm, but the city's Juvenile Court judges are excited by the prospect of resurrecting it as part of an improved system for dealing with kids in trouble, according to Ilona Picou, the city court's point person a four-parish initiative to find alternatives to juvenile detention.
A Prison Break
Published by the City on the Hill Press on November 29, 2007
The arena of juvenile crime has been a complex issue for Santa Cruz County. Juvenile incarceration poses an array of economic, political and moral problems. Teens, who are arrested without parental or outside support, in addition to the continual exposure to other juveniles in juvenile hall, often adopt a life of criminal activity. Counties are forced to spend massive amounts of money on prison systems, sometimes topping what is spent on schools. Crime rates skyrocket, putting pressure on city systems to detain kids rather than help them.
But due to over a decade of passionate support and coordination from dedicated Santa Cruz staff and community, and an all-encompassing county vision, the department has witnessed immense change...
Juvenile court's strategies watched; could be put in place statewide
From the Southeast Missourian on November 21, 2007
New goals to expedite juvenile cases in the city's family court could be a model for the state, experts say. Before Judge Jimmie Edwards took over the St. Louis Family Court in January, the juvenile court did not have time goals. Now, he asks attorneys, administrators and clerks to bring felony cases to trial within five weeks, and misdemeanors within two. By contrast, it takes months or years to resolve adult cases. Edwards said the result is worth the effort, but critics fear the speed will jeopardize lawyers' preparation of juvenile cases. The city's daily juvenile detention population is down a third, to about 65 from about 110. Court figures show the average stay dropped to 23 days from 31. Youngsters go much more quickly to state facilities or alternative programs.
"We don't want the children locked up over here waiting on us for the wheels of justice to turn," Edwards said. "Our primary goal is rehabilitation. We get the child off the street, get services in place and get them help."
In search of a brighter future
From the Financial Times on November 16, 2007
W hen The Annie E. Casey Foundation launched its Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative 15 years ago, it did so in a hostile environment. The US was in the midst of turning back the clock on juvenile justice policy as a chorus of voices demanded "adult time for adult crime". The result was a sharp spike in the number of children held in secure detention and processed through adult courts. But over the years, JDAI sites have shownthat it is possible to reduce reliance on detention without compromising public safety. Bart Lubow, director of programmes for high-risk youth at the Casey Foundation, says the results dispel "one of the system's great myths - that locking up significantly fewer youth would unleash a juvenile crime wave". The turnround has not taken place in a vacuum: the Casey Foundation is among a small group of philanthropic foundations, non-profit organisations, and visionaries dedicated to juvenile justice reform...
County's youth detention program offers ray of hope
From the Dallas Morning News on October 30, 2007
So much attention has been focused on the state's youth prisons that it would be easy to believe every troubled kid in Texas is locked up. But it so happens that Dallas County is working hard right now to do the very opposite - to lock up far fewer kids. And after the mess found at Texas Youth Commission prisons, it's especially nice to hear about a local government agency that's stretching and innovating to do better by kids. The program is the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative.
"Some places around the country have gone into this program under federal court order. We did it voluntarily, and we're proud of that," said Mike Griffiths, director of the Dallas County Juvenile Department.
Justice-Involved Youth Spotlighted
New approaches lead to national recognition for Santa Cruz County
From City on a Hill Press on October 11, 2007
A national spotlight hit Santa Cruz County last month, shedding light on the county's unique juvenile delinquent programs and systems. A document put out by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, titled Beyond Detention: System Transformation through Juvenile Detention Reform, examines trends after the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) was put into action 15 years ago.
"We're aimed at reducing unnecessary detention as a response to juvenile crime," said Scott MacDonald, assistant chief probation officer of Santa Cruz County. "It is a mandate to take the least restrictive action. What Santa Cruz has shown is we can dramatically reduce our detention without a backlash of public safety."
Bucking Trend, Norfolk Juvenile Center is Below its Capacity
From the Virginian-Pilot on September 10, 2007
The Norfolk Juvenile Detention Center has always swelled over capacity.
It's supposed to hold 80 young people at a time, but in recent years it's topped 119. In July, however, the center's average daily count was 55 - with a minimum added risk to the community, according to court officials. They credit a new philosophy: Only children who pose the biggest threat to themselves or others, or who are the least likely to appear for a court date, belong behind bars before their trial...
Juvenile Arrests in Pima Fell in Last Decade
From the Arizona Daily Star on September 4, 2007
According to the Pima County Attorney's Office, the number of children arrested for violent or property crimes fell 43 percent between 1997 and 2006. At the same time, the number of children between ages 8 and 17 living in Pima County rose 26 percent.
In 2004 when Juvenile Court officials realized that while the number of children committing violent crimes was decreasing, the number of children - especially minority children - being detained had increaseddramatically...
Family Court Cites Suc cess in Sorting Jackson County Juveniles Before Sending Them to Jail
From the Kansas City Star on July 19, 2007
"Not only are we keeping less kids, we are keeping the right kids," said Jeff Eisenbeis, Family Court. "Jail is necessary for some juvenile offenders but can be harmful to others by increasing the likelihood that they will join a gang, carry a weapon or re-offend."
That's the theory behind an apparently successful new effort at Jackson County Family Court.
In the mid-1990s, officials at Family Court did little sorting of juveniles. Violent, nonviolent and simply truant youths were tossed into the same juvenile jail facility to await their court dates. The facility regularly broke its maximum capacity of 68 youths...
About half of juvenile offenders ordered to stay at home
A family remedy: Lower numbers of caseloads for probation officers plus new funding and improved screening allow some youngsters to recover in familiar
surroundings rather than in group homes
From the Ventura County Star on July 8, 2007
Ruby knows the kind of troubles that can land kids in group homes.
Her mom is jailed on drug charges, and her dad's in prison. She bounced into an alternative school after ditching too many classes at her regular high
school. She has a minor criminal record because police caught her tagging a wall late one night.
Then she slid into depression after her boyfriend was killed at 14 in a drive-by shooting in June 2006. Soon after, she discovered she was pregnant with his child.
"It all got to me at one time," said the soft-spoken 15-year-old girl. "My head was twisting."
But rather than go to a group home, she began recovering with help from a team of specialists in her community. It helped her put her life back on
track, providing services from counseling to bus tokens so she could get to school...
Officials Say Detention Alternatives Successful
From ABC 7 News in Washington DC on May 22, 2007
Officials and youth advocates say the number of D.C. juveniles detained for serious crimes has dropped by a third since 2005.
Authorities credit the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative, which began two years ago. The program aims to keep young people out of detention when possible. Studies have shown that teenagers who spent time in pre-trial detention are more likely to end up in prison.
Anita Josey-Herring, presiding judge of the D.C. Family Court, says the effort focuses on teenagers who do not pose a public-safety threat. In such cases, authorities keep them out of detention and instead use electronic monitoring or drop-in centers, where teenagers must report regularly.
Of the one thousand juveniles who were part of the program in its first year, more than 90 percent were not arrested again and returned to court for their hearings...