Over the past ten years California has reduced the number of incarcerated youths to just over one tenth of what it was in the mid-1990s. Eight of the eleven state run facilities have been shut down in that time, responsibility for non-violent youth offenders now resting at the county level, and hopefully closer to family and community support.
Now Gov. Jerry Brown want to phase out the last three facilities. Facilities that house more serious offenders- 1,100 of them to be exact.
This unattributed editorial from the New York Times shines some light on the path from the mid-90s to the present day:
The California juvenile justice system has a long history of abuses. A 2004 court ruling that required the state to improve services and facilities pushed up costs. Beginning in 2007, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger began to downsize the system after the Legislature passed a law barring counties from sending nonviolent youths to state facilities. California did it the right way: providing generous financing to the counties for therapeutically based juvenile offender programs. Spending on the system has dropped by almost half, from nearly $500 million to about $245 million as crime rates dropped over all, and the state has cut its juvenile inmate population from about 10,000 in the mid-1990s to about 1,100 today.
Critics of the proposed closures point out that without state run facilities courts may well be tempted to try more teenagers in adult courts. If these last three centers get closed we can be sure that legislative oversight will be required in order to monitor for over-prosecution.
Some supporters of the plan worry that certain counties may lack secure facilities to hold juveniles convicted of arson, robbery and other serious crimes and the therapeutic know how to succeed with these young people.
Implementation is key. The way that the closures are handled and the provisions made for the youths being returned to county management will determine a lot of the details as things shake out.
What do you think about the potential closings? Are you for it or against it, and if so why? Let us know, it’s as easy as leaving a comment.
Image Source: Colin K. on Flickr, used under it’s Creative Commons license
