Juvenile Justice in the News – Challenges, Issues and Solutions

June 16, 2024

What is happening inside the juvenile detention center in Dallas County? It depends on who you ask. Former and current employees came to us with concerns and shared photos of the inside the living conditions when they would come out of.
“You know, it was, it was pretty bad. A former employee who asked me not identify him shared these images. Some of the pictures of toilets overflowing with feces are too disturbing to broadcast so we can’t show them to you. But these we can, it shows a facility in recent months that is filthy and unsanitary. There was trash piled up and they had gnats flying around, you know, all their toilets were clogged up, mattresses were ripped, blankets were ripped, you know, it was, it was (not) pretty.”
He and others we spoke to say they are speaking out because they’re concerned about the living conditions and staffing shortages. Kids as young as 11 years old are inside the juvenile detention facility. “The majority of the times these kids are up, you know, for three or four days straight, you know, it’s just very, very sad to see these kids are being neglected like that. Um, you know, there’s days where they don’t even shower at times just because, you know, there’s no, no staff.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0-LUIj9_60

June 5, 2024

DJJ has been plagued by problems ranging from low staffing to questions surrounding use-of-force and isolation techniques. With a federal investigation in the system announced just last month, Commissioner Randy White was not obliged to speak on those issues.
But the incoming commissioner told lawmakers he’s made a point of touring facilities, meeting with employees one-on-one, and making sure new reforms are implemented. He acknowledged the job has changed over his 30 years of experience.
“I can honestly say that juveniles entering the criminal justice system are a different population than they were 27 years ago,” White said. “They’re committing harsher crimes, which require stronger rehabilitative efforts.”
To that end, White emphasized that the state needs to focus on alternatives to detention, education, employment, and mental health.

May 29, 2024

Challenges at the Juvenile Justice Center in Sioux Falls are focused on violent youth, special needs teens, medical costs and turnovers, according to Director Jamie Gravett who discussed the issues with county commissioners on Tuesday, May 28.
He said assaults on staff, which include hitting, biting, and spitting, more than doubled last year over 2022 from 22 to 46. Gravett said most of the incidents occur when the youth are attempting to be restrained and that 47% of the assaults were done by just the same six youths last year.
The number of assaults are falling this year, he said. As for special needs, the number of youths with severe mental health needs and developmental disabilities, including autism, are increasing.
https://www.siouxfallslive.com/news/sioux-falls/juvenile-justice-center-details-challenges-numbers-as-new-facility-construction-begins

May 24, 2024  

A new report is sounding the alarm on Pennsylvania’s juvenile-detention capacity challenges, citing understaffing and long wait times for the young people awaiting placement.
The report says five of the 13 youth detention facilities are used by just five counties, and that 57 counties must vie for beds at only six facilities statewide.
Dr. Abigail Wilson, director of child welfare, juvenile justice and education services at the Pennsylvania Council of Children, Youth and Family Services, said some counties are forced to send kids hundreds of miles away to find detention space. She noted that more funding could help clear the waitlists and reduce disruption to families and communities.
“Funding impacts the workforce issues,” she said, “and it’s difficult to staff some of these facilities, because the pay doesn’t quite match the need, and the higher level of risk that you take, when you work at a secure detention center.”
Wilson added that it’s also difficult to move a young person into a probation or “step-down” program, since these struggle with understaffing and underfunding. The report notes that detention is meant to provide “temporary, secure and safe custody,” and is used only when less restrictive alternatives have been considered.
Wilson added that it’s also difficult to move a young person into a probation or “step-down” program, since these struggle with understaffing and underfunding. The report notes that detention is meant to provide “temporary, secure and safe custody,” and is used only when less restrictive alternatives have been considered.
https://www.publicnewsservice.org/2024-05-24/juvenile-justice/report-pa-in-crisis-with-shortage-of-juvenile-detention-beds/a90488-1

May 15, 2024

The Justice Department announced today that it has opened a statewide investigation into the conditions at eight youth detention centers and one youth development center run by the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice. 
The investigation will examine whether Kentucky protects children confined in these facilities from harm caused by excessive force by staff, prolonged and punitive isolation and inadequate protection from violence and sexual abuse. The investigation will also examine whether Kentucky provides adequate mental health services and required special education and related services to children with disabilities.
“Confinement in the juvenile justice system should help children avoid future contact with law enforcement and mature into law-abiding, productive members of society. Too often, juvenile justice facilities break our children, exposing them to dangerous and traumatic conditions,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “We are launching this investigation to ensure that children in Kentucky youth detention facilities are safe from harm, receive adequate mental health care and get appropriate special education services.” 
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-civil-rights-investigation-conditions-kentucky-youth-detention

May 14, 2024

An increasing number of young people are ending up in North Carolina juvenile detention centers. The most recent data – from 2022 – shows 2,591 people were placed in a juvenile detention center, up from 2,423 the year before.
“What we have seen over the last two years is an increase in juvenile crime of about 20 percent, but violent crime was even more increased. We’ve seen an increase of about 24 percent for violent crime,” said William Lassiter, deputy secretary of the North Carolina Department of Public Safety and head of the Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
The uptick in crime has meant juvenile jails are bursting at the seams. As the number of juvenile offenders climbs, the state is looking at alternatives to crowded detention centers to make sure young people already convicted of crimes can turn their lives around.
In the summer of 2023, there were, on average, more than 80 youths sleeping on juvenile day room floors. Currently, when juveniles in North Carolina are sentenced for a crime, they are sent to a youth development center. . . . A new center in Rockingham County with 60 new beds accommodates those serving time for the most serious crimes, but it is not run like a traditional jail or prison.
“The average kid who comes here is five years behind in education,” Lassiter said. “We have a full school that’s here. We have a full mental health staff.” Every inmate participates in education, and everyone has a job.
https://www.wral.com/story/education-skills-and-rehab-focus-easing-burden-on-nc-juvenile-justice-system/21431308/

May 14, 2024

State lawmakers are pushing to roll back landmark juvenile justice reforms, called the Raise The Age law, that passed with broad bipartisan support several years ago.
Until 2019, North Carolina was the only state in the country to still automatically charge all 16- and 17-year-olds in adult court, even for the most minor criminal charges. Raise The Age changed that by allowing those teenage offenders to be tried in juvenile court, while also leaving the option for particularly serious crimes to be moved up to adult court.
But now Republican lawmakers in the state Senate, working with a lobbyist for prosecutors, have proposed HB 834 that would let the state go back to automatically charging 16- and 17-year-olds as adults for a wide range of felony offenses. It passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday — over opposition from advocates from civil liberties and racial justice groups, as well as Democratic lawmakers. . . .
Opponents all said scientific studies show teenage offenders are less likely to commit more crimes in the future if they go through the juvenile justice system, instead of the adult prison system.
“Teens in adult prisons are far more likely to encounter gangs and drugs, and to be assaulted and raped,” Tara Muller said. She leads the group Disability Rights North Carolina, which has filed multiple lawsuits outlining problems in state jails and prisons.
https://www.wral.com/story/juvenile-justice-rollbacks-penalties-on-protesters-new-sex-crimes-laws-advancing-in-nc-senate/21430711

May 7, 2024

 Child sexual abuse at Illinois juvenile detention centers was pervasive and systemic for decades, according to disturbing accounts in a lawsuit filed Monday by 95 men and women housed at the youth centers as children.
The lawsuit details alleged incidents of abuse from 1996 to 2017, including gang rape, forced oral sex, beatings and groping of children by corrections officers, sergeants, nurses, therapists, a chaplain and others at nine youth centers. Many plaintiffs said they were threatened or rewarded to keep quiet.
“The State of Illinois has allowed a culture of abuse at Illinois Youth Centers to flourish unabated,” the 186-page complaint said.
https://apnews.com/article/abuse-juvenile-lawsuit-illinois-detention-a1393cef8d8a354809cd81a6d47b7b7a

April 29, 2024

Teens as young as 14 years old who commit serious crimes in Tennessee will face up to five years of adult incarceration or probation once their juvenile sentence ends under a bill now awaiting Gov. Bill Lee’s likely signature.
The measure also requires juvenile court judges to automatically transfer 16- and 17- year olds facing first and second degree murder, or attempted murder, to adult court. 
The so-called blended sentencing measure by Republican Speaker Cameron Sexton was part of a package of get-tough-on-juvenile-crime measures resurrected this year after a disastrous special session on public safety last summer ended with few concrete policy changes. 
https://tennesseelookout.com/2024/04/29/tough-on-crime-bill-imposing-adult-sentences-on-juveniles-heads-to-gov-bill-lees-desk/

April 25, 2024

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — Parents of kids who commit crimes in Tennessee will face fines up to $1,000 for each offense after the first one, under a bill that’s headed to Gov. Bill Lee’s desk.
The Parental Accountability Act, sponsored by Memphis-area Republicans Sen. Brent Taylor and Rep. John Gillespie, passed this week in both chambers.
https://www.ketk.com/news/bill-that-would-fine-parents-for-kids-crimes-passes-tennessee-legislature/