Archive for Criminal Justice

| January 12, 2012
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Virginia Places Richmond Juvenile Detention Center on Probation

really, Richmond, *every* way?There are 55 state-regulated juvenile facilities currently on probation. The Richmond Juvenile Detention Center in Virginia might  be the first one to be de-certified and shut down.Opened in 1996, the 60-bed center on Oliver Hill Way has been found to have a number of issues with it’s infrastructure. Considering the age of the building and the beating it received from Tropical Storm Gaston it is hardly surprising.

The State Board of Juvenile Justice made the decision last Tuesday, citing concerns about the physical state of the facility. Numerous upkeep and maintenance issues were mentioned.

This action comes in the wake of The Virginia State Conference of the NAACP bringing up concerns about the conditions and safety at the detention center. Worrisome claims about poor staff training and even more worrisome ones about possible forgery of staff certifications were brought to the table and are currently being investigated.

An audit of the facility by the Richmond City Auditor followed the NAACP complaint, an audit that verified that several of the claims about conditions there were accurate. From malfunctioning intercoms and security cameras to doors with broken locks the evidence was plainly visible.

Will Jones of the Richmond Times-Dispatch notes that some funds to fix the problems have been made available recently. A mere few weeks ago as a matter of fact.

Last month, Richmond awarded a $344,000 emergency contract to replace malfunctioning intercom systems, install new computer equipment and update video recording and monitoring systems. Officials said they’re also fixing door-security sensors and making operational changes to address state requirements for training and other issues.

While the mayor’s office assures the press that this is prioritized, only time will tell. Crumbling infrastructure is a chronic problem in older facilities. It remains to be seem whether it will mean the end of this one.

Image Source: Richard Winchell on Flickr, used under it’s Creative Commons license

Category: Criminal Justice, Juvenile Justice | Tags: , , ,
| January 5, 2012
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For Profit Prison – The Luzerne Decision

Money

The state Supreme Court said Thursday that Berks County Senior Judge Arthur Grim has completed his review of cases handled by former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella (shiv-uh-REL’-uh) Jr. The justices returned control of all juvenile court functions to the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas. –The Republic.com

It’s been referred to as the “Kids for Cash” scandal. A few years ago Ciavarella and another ex-judge, both of whom are serving deservedly long prison sentences today, accepted money from the owner and builder of two for-profit youth detention facilities. On Grimm’s recommendation The Supreme Court dismissed the convictions of more than 2,000 juvenile offenders in which the constitutional rights of the accused were disregarded.

It’s a tragic situation that shines a spotlight on the basic flaws inherent in for-profit incarceration. It is almost universally acknowledged that in most cases incarceration is not the answer. At least not for any sort of sustainable improvement. That is an idea that is at odds with a business model whose goal is to fill rooms in those same facilities. Profit margin and effective improvement of our juvenile justice system are directly at odds in this scenario.

For profit detention facilities have become common. I’ve written about them several times on this very blog as a matter of fact.  More states are making attempts to transition to more effective long term policies – initiatives to help prevent delinquency and lower truancy rates; improvements in the coordination of youth services; and provide opportunities for community partnerships to teach youth new skills. One of the big barriers to this transition is economic, quite simply incarceration is big business.

At no point should we allow profit to trump the needs of our communities and their youth, but all too often it does.

Image Source: 401K on Flickr, used under it’s Creative Commons license

Category: Criminal Justice, Juvenile Justice | Tags: , , ,
| December 30, 2011
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Crime In New Orleans: Reaping the Whirlwind

National Guard and NOPDOne reason I am as dedicated to this blog as I am is that I am from New Orleans. Since last Thursday we have had 197 murders here so far this year alone — last year’s tally was 175 or 51 murders per 100,000 residents. That’s 10 times the national average. Most of them committed by our inner city youth.

Crime here has always been extreme, but since Hurricane Katrina and the levee failures that followed it things have gotten so much worse. The real tragedy is that often both the victims and the perpetrators of these killings are the city’s youth. Poverty, low quality education, and many other factors have been entrenched here for close to 300 years, but there has been an added array of issues added to the mix in the post storm era.

USA Today‘s Rick Jervis takes a look:

Why has it been so difficult to staunch the killings, even with new leadership at the police department and the conviction of several officers involved in post-Katrina shootings of civilians? Katrina and the ensuing collapse of schools, home life and other support structures likely played a role, says Lance Hill, executive director of the New Orleans-based Southern Institute for Education and Research, who has tracked crime trends.

Children displaced by the floods returned with their families to a wrecked city, bounced from school to school and lacked mental health professionals to help them through the trauma, he says.

Six years later, many of those kids are under-educated, unemployed and seeping into trouble, Hill says. School expulsion rates also soared after Katrina, putting more kids on the street, he says.

‘The spike in violence we’re seeing …was in fact predicted by experts,’ Hill says. ‘Their warnings went unheeded.’

It is because of the Humane Exposures approach of rehabilitation and addressing the root causes of crime that I consider this blog important. All I have to do is look at the current local debate about whether to call in the National Guard because of the shootings to see the the results of neglecting these sources of anomie.

Over our first year back in New Orleans in the wake of the disaster my wife often commented on the fact that we had become a city without elders. Since grandparents are a culturally vital part of ours of any other community you can see the problem. Additionally, once  tightly knit family groups were scattered to the four winds, with many financially unable to effect a return even unto this day. While poor parenting skills are certainly a factor here, in many cases the parents have not returned to the city, but the kids have. In the meantime mental health resources have progressed from nonexistent to marginal over the years, and are not easily accessible for adults or children.

Education, mental health care, and substance abuse programs are all vital and effective alternatives to incarceration. They are also a good vaccination against the behaviors that lead to it. Right now New Orleans is buried in a crime wave spawned by a lack of all of these factors.

If you need a good argument a to why these tactics should be embraced just take a look at our murder rate here in the Crescent City. By the time you read this it may have passed the 200 mark.

Image Source: Loki, used by permission

Category: Criminal Justice, Juvenile Justice, New Orleans | Tags: , , , , ,
| December 28, 2011
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Moving Upstream in California

Upstream InvestmentsWhen discussing issues of juvenile justice it is important to realize that what really must be addressed are the root causes of the behavior. Juvenile offenders often experience abuse at home, suffer from addictive behaviors, or experience a lack of adequate education among other factors.

The outcome is the important thing – lower crime in our communities and a better future for our kids. Incarceration has been proven to be ineffective at either.

One group in Sonoma County, CA is doing their best to address the root factors of the problem in an attempt to stop these problems before they destroy lives. The group is called  Sonoma Upstream: Upstream Investments,  and they describe themselves as follows on their website:

The seeds of intractable problems (like crime, substance abuse, unemployment, homelessness, and child abuse or domestic violence) often occur early in life. The costs of addressing these problems once they manifest themselves downstream is staggering, and may include criminal justice costs, public aid, increased educational services, substance abuse services, and many other local services—not to mention the lost tax base and lost productivity caused by these obstacles to employment. In addition to this financial burden, the devastating societal costs are well documented and impact us all.

Rather than spending limited resources to repair difficult societal problems after they occur, upstream investments strategically target the factors that lead to those problems, intervening early with outcome-based programs and policies to reduce the occurrence of these problems before they require more drastic (and expensive) services.

Their objectives, while limited to Sonoma County, are both laudable and supported by current research. Their objectives for the present include the elimination of poverty, equal opportunity, quality education, and communities that are both healthy and nurturing for all. The end result of these objectives is that county residents will “benefit from prevention-focused policies and interventions that increase equality and reduce monetary and societal costs.”

This can easily seem like “pie in the sky” to some, but the fundamental practicality of their approach is keenly illustrated in a downloadable pdf that illustrates in detail exactly how they wish to achieve each objective. From the precisely targeted factors and detailed interventions to address each one to the indicators for success that will be used to measure progress.

If you’re in Sonoma County you should get familiar with them, and if you’re from elsewhere they can give you some great ideas on how to work toward these goals within your own community.

Category: California, Criminal Justice, Education, Juvenile Justice | Tags: , , , ,
| December 26, 2011
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Budget Cuts Endanger The California Dept. of Juvenile Justice

Money 2Under the reduced budget enacted earlier this month, the California department of Juvenile Justice will cease to exist unless counties shell out $125,000 a year per youth offender. That’s bad.

Marisa Lagos of the San Fransico Chronicle notes the conundrum facing California counties in the new year:

Under the automatic cutbacks approved by lawmakers in June and set to take effect Jan. 1, the agency’s $72 million annual budget will be eliminated, and counties will have to pay the state $125,000 a year for each juvenile offender it wants the state to continue housing – or take those youths back to serve their time at local facilities. In a series of letters to Gov. Jerry Brown, the statewide associations representing county governments, district attorneys and probation officials have warned that the change will force counties to make the “untenable” choice between paying millions of dollars a year they don’t have or moving youth offenders to county facilities that are ill-equipped to handle them.

This will have the deleterious effect of pushing large numbers of youths into adult facilities where it only costs about $50,000 per  annually to house inmates, as opposed to the $175,000 apiece for juveniles. The problem is that the extra $125,000 per inmate for juvenile offenders pays for vital treatment and programs. The difference is stark, just look up the recidivism number on kids incarcerated as adults (there’s a lot of documentation in our prior posts, go look around).  Saving that money short term will breed more hardened criminals in the long term. Which is really more expensive?

To add another layer of complexity to the issue. The serious, violent youth offenders are a lawsuit liability for the counties. Criminologist Barry Kriserg, a long time monitor of the department of juvenile Justice, has warned that they could face litigation if the add violent youth offenders into existing county facilities. Of course county officials are worried about more than just potential legal action, as Lagos notes further down in her column:

‘If counties are forced to absorb this population in some fashion at the local level, we are concerned that the mixing of the most serious and violent juvenile offenders with the youth now in our custody and care will greatly compromise rehabilitative efforts with the current local population,’ wrote Mike McGowan, Gregory Totten and Linda Penner – the presidents of the statewide associations representing counties, district attorneys and probation chiefs – in a Dec. 7 letter.

This population, they wrote, ‘is decidedly unfit’ for county facilities, ‘as these youth possess complex criminal profiles often accompanied by significant mental health, behavioral and treatment needs.’

It is those needs that account for the $125,000 per inmate that the budget cuts are trying to save. Failing to address them in the short term can be far cheaper, but is it really worth the expense? That money pays for programs to fight recidivism, programs geared towards the immature psychology and neurology of youth. Without those the potential for kids to enter the system and come out as hardened criminals rather than productive members of society skyrockets. That means more money spent on enforcement, more money spent on court, more money spent on future incarceration, and the unmeasurable cost to the victims of their future crimes.

Which is really more expensive?

Image Source: borman818 on Flickr, used under it’s Creative Commons license

Category: California, Criminal Justice, Juvenile Justice, Legislation | Tags: , , , , ,
| December 20, 2011
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First Decline in Prison Population Since 1972 Coincides With Crime Decline

Tennessee State PrisonFor the second consecutive year, data released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics revealed a decline in the adult correctional population, while crime rates decreased as well. [Prisoners in 2010 PDF] Even more promising is the decline in the total U.S. prison population – caused primarily by a decrease in the state prison population (the federal prison population experienced a slight increase).

From the report’s introduction:

On December 31, 2010, state and federal correctional authorities had jurisdiction over 1,605,127 prisoners, a decrease of 9,228 prisoners from yearend 2009. The combined U.S. prison population decreased 0.6% in 2010, the first decline since 1972. The 2010 imprisonment rate for the nation was 497 sentenced
prisoners per 100,000 U.S. residents, which is 1 in 201 residents

Two of the highlights from the report stand out in particular:

In 2009, the most recent data available, 53% of state prison inmates were serving time for violent offenses, 19% for property, 18% for drug, and 9% for public order or other offenses.„

About half (51%) of federal inmates in 2010 were serving time for drug offenses, 35% for public-order offenses (largely weapons and immigration), and less than 10% each for violent and property offenses.

The jump from 9 to 35% for public order offenses ties in disturbingly well my assertion in a prior post that we need to look at arrest rates. Since 1972 the number of juveniles arrested for thing other than minor traffic violations experience a jump from 225 of the population to a full third of it. This would seem to correlate well with the findings above.

Image Source: kelseywynns on Flickr, used under its Creative Commons license

Category: Criminal Justice | Tags: , , ,
| December 19, 2011
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Study Shows One Third of Young Americans Have Been Arrested, and the Numbers are Increasing

Day One hundred and sixty-two: EscapeeIn the online version of the journal Pediatrics from December 19 a study was released which share some disheartening and disturbing news. By the time they reach age 23, one third of American youth have been arrested at least once (this count excludes minor traffic violations).  In 1965 it was 22 percent.

Genevra Pittman, of Reuters brings us the comments of Robert Brame of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, who was one of the team analyzing the data:

Arrests in adolescents are especially worrisome, he told Reuters Health, because many repeat offenders start their ‘criminal career’ at a young age.

The researchers said it seems that the criminal justice system has taken to arresting both the young and old more than it did in the past, when fines and citations might have been given to some people who are now arrested.

‘If (police) find kids that are intoxicated or they have pulled over someone intoxicated… now, nine times out of 10 they’re going to make an arrest,’ Wright told Reuters Health.

‘We do have to question if arrest is an appropriate intervention in all circumstances, or if we need to rethink some of the policies we have enacted.’

While some might argue that harsher enforcement can ameliorate the crime, in truth it creates additional problems in the long term. Keep in mind as you read the following that a police record is an especially large cross to bear for minority juveniles. Brame’s assessment here is even more true for that segment of the population.

He pointed out that young people who have an arrest on their record might have more trouble getting jobs in the future. It’s one thing if that’s because they were involved in a violent crime, he continued, but another if their offence was non-violent, like drinking underage or smoking marijuana.

‘Arrest does have major social implications for people as they transition from adolescence to adulthood,’Wright said.

The study notes the importance of identifying major common causes of offending behavior, which can include physical or emotional abuse, untreated psychiatric disorders, and substance abuse issues. Carrie Gann at ABC News notes that the study suggests that pediatricians are a first line of defense for observing and identifying these issues with young patients. In addition they are well placed to both counsel children and provide resources to parents.

One of the problems faced by our broken juvenile justice system is the massive influx of new faces. In many cases the suspicion that arrests on technicalities are made just to “get them into the system,” seem worth investigating. At a time when the goal must be moving more offenders into rehabilitative programs it makes sense to look at arrest rates and see how they feed the monster.

Image Source: Insulinde on Flickr, used under it’s Creative Commons license

Category: Criminal Justice, Juvenile Justice | Tags: , , ,
| December 16, 2011
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DOJ Increases Juvenile Justice Oversight: Meridian, MS in the Crosshairs

Mississippi State Capitol

Mississippi State Capitol with Confederate Flag

I’m from the South so when I think of Meridian, MS the first thing that comes to mind is the murder of three civil rights activists in 1964. James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were killed that year by white supremacists. It was a major rallying point for the civil rights struggles of the period.

Forty-seven years later the Department of Justice has Meridian in it’s sights because of the alleged targeting of black students by both law enforcement and school officials. It would seem that race is still a major issue, a fact unsurprising to those of us who have visited the town.

Jess Bravin, blogger for the Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog, takes look at some of the details:

The department is investigating whether city and county authorities have a “pattern or practice” of violating the youths’ constitutional rights, specifically the 14thAmendment’s guarantees of due process and equal protection of the law, and the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches and seizures.

Department officials said the allegations involve a ‘very tight relationship’ between the schools and the juvenile court that works to put black students under law enforcement supervision. Black students cited ‘for very minor infractions end up in front of a juvenile judge,’ who then sentences them to probation contingent on compliance with school rules, an official said. That way, ‘kids who’ve been out of school uniform by wearing the wrong color jacket or shirt’ can be sent to juvenile hall for a probation violation. White students allegedly are treated more leniently for similar behavior, officials said.

Unequal enforcement with a core of racial bias is a far too familiar story in the Deep South. Whether this proves to be the case with the current state of affairs in Meridian or not the city’s past history engenders a highly critical initial attitude.

This investigation is the Civil Rights Division’s second ever into juvenile justice, and officials have stated that others will probably be following close to it’s heels.

Braven notes that the invesitagtion is proceeding under the 14th Amendment. That’s the amendment that authorizes the feds to stop states from violating individual constitutional rights. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 specifically prohibit juvenile justice agencies from violating young people’s constitutional rights and codify the Justice Department’s enforcement authority in these cases.

Civil Rights Division chief, Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez weighed in on the subject in no uncertain terms:

‘The juvenile justice system should not serve as a stop on the way to the adult prison system,’ Mr. Perez said. ‘This is why the department is committed to investigating Meridian schools for allegations that children are being severely punished for the most minor infractions of school rules. This would be an abuse of the justice system and clearly unconstitutional.’

Not only is it unconstitutional, but it is also a clear recipe for recidivism. If the allegations are correct Meridian is doing exactly what it needs to do in order to create hardened criminals rather than rehabilitated members of society. Add in the racial angle and this could be an explosive investigation.

We will be monitoring the investigation and report back when there is further news.

Image Source: Ken Lund on Flickr, used under its Creative Commons license

Category: Criminal Justice, Education, Juvenile Justice | Tags: , , , ,
| December 15, 2011
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Juvenile Justice in Illinois Gets a Failing Grade

Prison WindowIllinois’ juvenile justice system is failing.  Failing to rehabilitate offenders. Failing to help them return to life in their communities. Failing to provide a clearly spelled out release procedure.  Failing to provide proper case management. The list goes on. These are not my assertions, they are taken from a state commission’s study slated for release next Tuesday.

The proof is in the rate of recidivism. How many youthful offenders return to incarceration for further offenses? More than half, according to the study by the Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission. Additionally the report calls the Illinois juvenile justice system ” in many ways, the ‘feeder system’ to the adult criminal justice system and a cycle of crime, victimization and incarceration.”

Ryan Haggerty of The Chicago Tribune brings us the words of the commission’s chairman:

The commission was ordered by law to develop recommendations to help youth offenders successfully transition back into their communities. The commission’s members found a system that is in desperate need of an overhaul, said its chairman, Judge George W. Timberlake, retired chief judge of the 2nd Judicial Circuit.

‘We actually saw a system that doesn’t work so well, if we gauge the worth of the system in increasing public safety, doing so at the least possible cost and improving the outcomes of kids who otherwise might be part of future criminal activity,’ Timberlake said in a phone interview Monday.

John Kelly, a writer for YouthToday, breaks the report’s findings down into four key areas of criticism:

Release Procedures and the Lack Therof – The commission observed 230 Prisoner Review Board (PRB) hearings, the only way to be released in Illinois short of serving a full sentence. Their conclusions were that the  proceedings that were “rushed” and confusing to offenders. Timberlake said that the release process needs to be clearly defined and advised mandated review hearings every six months coupled with the addition of a legal advocate to each facility.

Reentry Practices – The DJJ still uses Department of Corrections standard for adult parole, something at highly at odds with good juvenile reentry practices.

Excessive Parole Revocation – 54% of juveniles who had their parole revoked  were returned to incarceration for a technicality.  The most frequent reasons being curfew violation, truancy or for home disturbances.

‘We are not suggesting future crimes should not lead to re-incarceration,’ Timberlake said, ‘but it was surprising to find that what could be considered normal teen behavior leads to a return to prison.’

Poor and Archaic Case Management – paper-only master files on juveniles are only the beginning. From several of the terms  Timberlake used, “coal-fired computer” and “mainframe that is not susceptible to much upgrade,” leave little doubt as to the currency of their approach. An approach I might add that they share with the Department of Corrections, so it is not only primitive but also geared towards adults not juveniles.

I highly advise Mr. Kelly’s article for further reading as he examines each of these in more detail and also provides some very informative and even handed commentary. [Illinois Probe Finds Rushed, Unmeasured Process for Juvenile Release, Reentry and Parole on YouthToday]

 Image Source: derekskey on Flickr. used under it’s Creative Commons license

Category: Criminal Justice, Illinois, Juvenile Justice, Prison Reform | Tags: , , , ,
| December 13, 2011
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Wisconsin: Is Cost Keeping 17 Year Old Kids in Adult Jails?

Wisconsin State CapitolWisconsin is one of 13 states that automatically place 17-year-olds in the adult criminal justice system, and has been so since 1996. Since then approximately 250,000 17 year-olds have been arrested, 75,000 of whom spent time in adult incarceration facilities (statistics from the nonprofit Wisconsin Council on Children and Families).

As always there are those who are willing to thump the drum for harsher penalties, neglecting the financial and social realities involved. Julie Strupp of the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism takes note of this in her recent coverage of the situation in The Wisconsin State Journal:

Rep. Robin Vos, R-Burlington, an outspoken supporter of keeping 17-year-olds in the adult system, said the law has worked well for 15 years. Ultimately, any age set for automatic consideration as an adult for criminal prosecution will be arbitrary, he said, and 17 is a good place to draw that line.

“What concerns me is making sure the victim gets justice,” Vos said. “We coddled (17-year-olds) in the past, and that didn’t work. If we treat them like an adult, hopefully they won’t offend.”

Many researchers disagree, citing a growing body of neurological and statistical evidence suggesting Wisconsin’s policy is counterproductive. But they and other advocates are finding themselves stymied, in part because of concerns over cost.

Here we hit a bottom line I see all too often in my research, money. In some cases it’s strained budgets, in others it’s profit motive. In this case it seems more of the former. Strupp continues:

It costs about $50 a day to house a jail inmate and about $87 a day to house a state prison inmate, while the daily cost in juvenile facilities ranges from $140 to $215, a fiscal analysis from the Department of Corrections shows.

The Wisconsin County Human Service Association, the group representing local human services departments, estimates putting 17-year-olds back in the juvenile system would collectively cost the state’s 72 counties an additional $75 million a year.

Strained state coffers and a $75 million short term saving. It’s easy to see how attractive that could be in the game of politics. Long term, however, is another story. Numerous studies have demonstrated that minors in adult facilities have higher rates of recidivism than their counterparts in the juvenile system. Not only that but they also offend in more serious ways. Think about that. Now think about the 75,000 17 year-olds who have spent their time in adult facilities since 1996.

Also casting doubt on the efficacy of the current approach is recent neurological evidence which suggests young people don’t have the same capacity to evaluate or appreciate the consequences of their actions.  This makes subjecting them to the adult criminal justice system even more unfair.

State Rep. Fred Kessler, D-Milwaukee, has tried for three  legislative sessions to fight these laws. He is responsible for the introduction of a bill that would place 17 year-olds back in the jurisdiction of the juvenile courts. This year he plans to offer it again. Let us wish him luck!

Image Source: Zonie_Zambonie on Flickr, used under its Creative Commons license

Category: Criminal Justice, Juvenile Justice | Tags: , , ,
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