Juvenile Justice in the News – Challenges, Issues and Solutions

April 5, 2024

Self-harm, drugs and violent incidents have skyrocketed in some of New York’s locked juvenile facilities, a state auditor has found, conditions driven by pandemic-fueled staffing shortages and higher populations following a sweeping reform that shifted older teens out of the adult justice system. 
“These facilities are meant to provide safe housing and services to help rehabilitate young people and discourage them from future criminal behavior,” Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli stated in a Thursday press release. “Unfortunately, staff appears to be overwhelmed and short-handed, which may account for missed or delayed opportunities to provide care for the physical or mental health issues facing the young people in these facilities.”
New York’s Office of Children and Family Services runs nine “residential centers,” which include low- and high-security juvenile lockups for youth ages 12 to 21 found to have committed more serious crimes. 
https://imprintnews.org/top-stories/short-staffed-new-york-juvenile-facilities-place-detained-youth-at-risk-state-investigation-finds/248653

The number of complaints for serious and violent crimes filed with juvenile justice is on the rise, state data shows. Over the last few months there have been four young people who have been arrested related to three separate homicide incidents. Three of those suspects were just 14 years old.
“These kids need a voice,” said William Lassiter, the deputy secretary for juvenile justice at the state Department of Public Safety. “They need an advocate; someone that will speak up for them because they don’t have that.”
Lassiter oversees the state’s detention centers, a correctional facility for youth starting as young as 10 who are accused of crimes and considered a public safety risk. As of Tuesday, there were 381 young people in those facilities. That’s 40 more kids than the system can house and a 178% increase since before the pandemic.
https://www.wral.com/story/juvenile-detention-centers-at-overcapacity-as-complaints-for-violent-crimes-rise/21353714/

More Kentucky juveniles would be tried as adults under a bill that has now been approved by both chambers of the legislature. 
The House on Tuesday approved Senate Bill 20 which mandates that juveniles 15 or older would be transferred to circuit court for trial as an adult if they are alleged to have used a firearm while committing a Class A, B or C felony. 
Democratic Rep. Lindsey Burke of Lexington opposed the bill, saying it would rush kids in the “school to prison pipeline” to the “finish line.”
Burke and Rep. Keturah Herron noted that the bill reverses a change the legislature made just three years giving juvenile judges discretion to decide whether to transfer a gun case to adult court.
https://kentuckylantern.com/briefs/automatic-transfer-of-kids-accused-of-some-gun-crimes-to-adult-court-has-cleared-both-chambers/

Feb. 12, 2024

Most of the facilities that house and treat youths committed to the Arkansas’ juvenile justice division are “at or over the ideal capacity,” according to the state’s Department of Human Services.   
https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2024/feb/12/dhs-rise-in-commitments-to-youth-lockups-has-put/

Juvenile justice systems are in crisis. Juvenile corrections and probation agencies have long struggled to recruit and retain front-line staff.¹ But since the inception of the COVID-19 pandemic, these challenges have reached unprecedented levels. As a result, public agencies are struggling to provide youth with even basic supervision and services and to safeguard the well-being of their staff and the youth they serve. Staffing shortages extend to public defenders and prosecutors, forcing youth to go without counsel and causing court delays.² And service providers can’t maintain adequate staffing—with some even going out of business—which results in overcrowding, waiting lists, or leaving youth and families without viable options to get their critical needs met.³
Historically, jurisdictions have adopted short-term, reactive measures to address staff turnover such as hiring bonuses or providing overtime pay.4 However, this Band-Aid approach is not sufficient to mitigate the current crisis, nor will it prevent its recurrence. This brief details findings from a national survey conducted in 2023 by The Council of State Governments Justice Center, Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, and University of Cincinnati Corrections Institute, as well as listening sessions with juvenile justice agencies across the country, which reveal the scope and consequences of this crisis.
https://projects.csgjusticecenter.org/systems-in-crisis/systems-in-crisis-brief/