Juvenile Justice in the News – Challenges, Issues and Solutions

By: Skylar Laird – December 6, 2024 

COLUMBIA — The state’s juvenile justice agency still lacks staff to keep officers and youth safe, three years after receiving a list of recommendations to help address problems, state auditors found.
About half the recommendations resulting from the last audit still haven’t been made, according to the follow-up report released Thursday. Department of Juvenile Justice Director Eden Hendrick told the SC Daily Gazette on Friday the agency is contesting that assessment in a written response. She argues that closer to 65% of the recommendations have been implemented, and an additional quarter or so are underway, she said.
Many of the recommendations from the 2021 report that this year’s audit revisited involved bureaucratic improvements, such as revising policies, turning in reports on time, updating job descriptions and developing plans. The findings are not as severe as those three years ago, which found high rates of violence and a lack of accountability for juveniles who attacked other youth and officers; employees with multiple disciplinary infractions or a lack of training; and little medical care for youth.
The follow-up report recognized improvements the agency has made over the past few years, such as installing more cameras, increasing salaries, appropriately disciplining employees who broke the rules, and efforts to change security policies in order to reduce violence.
Staffing shortages remain problem for DJJ, SC report finds • SC Daily Gazette

by Rachel Crumpler – December 2, 2024

Teenagers in North Carolina’s juvenile justice system are routinely being locked alone in their rooms for as much as 23 to 24 hours a day, according to an ongoing federal lawsuit and advocates for young people in custody, despite state officials’ own acknowledgment of research showing that prolonged isolation causes mental and physical harm…
The lawsuit — originally filed in January in U.S. District Court on behalf of the 16-year-old and two other teenagers held for months in the Cabarrus facility — is seeking class-action status to represent the thousands of youth who go through juvenile detention centers every year. Attorneys argue that the state’s use of isolation violates minors’ federal constitutional rights.
“These children have suffered immense physical, social, and psychological harm from solitary confinement,” the lawsuit states in asking for a court-ordered end to the practice.
The N.C. Department of Public Safety, which runs juvenile detention facilities, has filed a series of responses categorically denying the lawsuit’s claims of any policy or practice of regular solitary confinement for young people. However, the department has acknowledged that staff shortages have affected how much time juveniles spend outside their rooms. Deputy Secretary William Lassiter said in a Nov. 18 filing that “administrative room confinement” unrelated to juvenile behavior has been used — and still is in some instances — to cope with “critical staffing issues”. . .
Juvenile detention centers in NC under scrutiny for use of isolation | NC Health News

By Paul Blume – November 24, 2024

(FOX 9) – A review of state and county data as well as spending records highlights the challenge of addressing youth mental health issues in Minnesota, particularly among children coming through the juvenile justice system.  
“With complex needs, you look to what is there,” explained Hennepin County Administrator David Hough. “And unfortunately, if there are not resources available in Minnesota, we look to other states. And that is where you have the out-of-home placements and the spend on out-of-home placements.”
In total this year, there have been applications submitted for at least 117 Minnesota kids for treatment facilities in another state, according to the Department of Children, Youth and Families.
Minnesota spends millions sending troubled youth out-of-state for treatment | FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul

By Courtney Johns and Annie Knox, KSL-TV – November 22, 2024

SALT LAKE CITY — In the past decade, Utah has seen a dramatic increase in firearm-related offenses among teenagers, with the number of juvenile detention bookings for these crimes more than doubling.
Data from the Utah Juvenile Justice Oversight Committee shows that in 2015, 43 juveniles were booked for firearm offenses. By 2023, that number had surged to 107. Experts are raising alarms about where these teens are getting firearms and how to stem the rising tide of youth violence.
Utah youth firearm offenses double, but no one really knows where they’re getting the guns

Julie O’Donoghue ( Louisiana Illuminator), November 19, 2024

BATON ROUGE, La. – Around 70 mental health professionals and educators in Louisiana have signed a letter urging state lawmakers to vote against a proposed constitutional amendment that could send more young teenagers to adult prisons.
“[W]e are greatly concerned that young people would be denied age-appropriate, constitutionally protected services and interventions should this legislation pass,” reads the letter signed by social workers, therapists and counselors from around the state.
During a special legislative session focused on tax policy, state lawmakers are considering Senate Bill 2. It would lift limitations on the types of crimes for which people under the age of 17 can be sentenced as if they are adults. It would allow lawmakers to pass new laws to send 14- , 15- and 16-year-olds to adult prison for a wider set of crimes without having to seek statewide voter approval.
Mental health professionals oppose Louisiana sending more youth to adult prisons | News | ktbs.com

November 12, 2024

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — In less than two months, at least five juveniles escaped from North Carolina juvenile detention facilities. Those escapes are symptoms of what Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman calls a broken juvenile justice system.
“We all want our young people to be able to get on a path that allows them to have successful, productive lives, but I think we also have to be realistic about the fact that we have seen a significant increase in violence from some juveniles,” Freeman said.
She traces many of the problems back to 2019, when Raise the Age went into effect in North Carolina, a law where 16 and 17-year-olds accused of crimes are no longer automatically put into the adult criminal justice system. Since then, there’s been a ripple effect of consequences.
“We have about twice the number of kids in juvenile detention centers that we had just four years ago,” William Lassiter, the Deputy Secretary for the Department of Public Safety’s Juvenile Justice division, said. “When the Raise the Age went into effect, the corresponding needed resources to meet the demand really were not provided,” Freeman adds.

October 24, 2024

A report by the New York City Department of Investigation found that the populations of two metropolitan juvenile detention facilities were “fundamentally altered” by the state’s Raise the Age statute, as well as changes to bail laws, leading to more acts of violence and an inability to deter misconduct.
The report also revealed that staff at New York City’s two juvenile detention centers — Horizon Juvenile Center in the Bronx and Crossroads Juvenile Center in Brooklyn — are not properly trained to respond to incidents that include violence.
The report states it “also explores key issues that include a troubling pattern of resident misconduct, criminal activity and lack of staff control over the facilities since the implementation of (Raise the Age) and bail reform, as well as deficiencies in the behavior management systems.”
Report says NYC juvenile facilities have grown more dangerous (timesunion.com)

October 21, 2024

Louisiana officials expect to put tens of millions of dollars over the next two months into expanding juvenile detention centers that house children and teenagers accused of crimes.
At the beginning of the summer, Gov. Jeff Landry and Louisiana lawmakers diverted $100 million from a state savings account in order to make upgrades to criminal justice facilities. A large chunk of the money will be used to increase the state’s capacity to incarcerate youth offenders, though the exact amount hasn’t been set yet.
“We are trying to prioritize funding for regional juvenile facilities,” Christopher Walters, Landry’s deputy executive counsel, said at an August hearing. “We are lacking in bedspace for juvenile offenders.”
Gov. Jeff Landry, lawmakers to spend millions on juvenile detention center expansions (kplctv.com)

CNHI News Opinion – October 21, 2024 

Not much has changed in the 10 months since our USA TODAY Ohio network journalists exposed troubling problems in the state’s three youth prisons and local juvenile detention centers.
“Chaos in Ohio’s Youth Lockups” found incarcerated children faced violence and neglect, while guards were overwhelmed, understaffed and feared for their own safety. After their release, about 40% of kids later found themselves behind bars again. The findings, published by The Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and Canton Repository, immediately sparked Gov. Mike DeWine to form a committee to examine the issue. . . 
The good news is some longer-term strategic progress is being made, including plans to close the larger prisons in favor of smaller ones recommended by experts. But recent inspection reports show the situation may be getting worse . . . The committee found gangs continue to exert influence, likely causing violent acts to increase at both facilities during 2024, including a shocking 31% at Indian River. That has led to kids spending more time in their rooms and more use of physical restraints. DYS employee vacancy rates remain above 20% with employee churn at 59% in Circleville and 44% at Indian River. Not surprisingly, the inspectors detailed low morale driven by mandatory overtime shifts every week and assaults by teens who throw bodily fluids — urine, feces and semen — on them.
In Other Views: Ohio still failing juvenile prisoners | Opinion | cnhinews.com  

October 18, 2024

There has been a sharp increase in killings committed by juveniles in the U.S. over recent years, according to the “Trends in Juvenile Offending” report released last month by the Council on Criminal Justice.
From 2016 to 2022, homicides committed by juveniles increased by 65%, from 315 to 521. This spike occurred even as a general decrease in most forms of juvenile crime decreased.
“Notable exceptions include more frequent use of firearms among youth,” said the report.
Homicides committed by kids are up 65% (audacy.com)