Creating a stronger, safer juvenile justice system; 7/17/2008
AZLE NEWS: Texas’ juvenile justice system is necessary and critical for protecting our citizens and helping to rehabilitate troubled youth. Unfortunately, it has not done either very well in recent years. Last year, reports of physical and sexual abuse of youth in custody by Texas Youth Commission (TYC) staff rocked the state, shedding light on Texas’ troubled juvenile justice system and prompting Texas to make much needed improvements. The state immediately jumped into action after the scandal. In response, the legislature authorized increased training for juvenile corrections officers, greater oversight for the entire juvenile system, and in an effort to further reduce the strain on the system, prohibited future incarceration of youth for misdemeanor offenses.
AMERICAN-STATESMAN: A camera at the entrance of the Texas Youth Commission Office of Inspector General captures the image of anyone who rings the doorbell. Not even the commission's top officials can swipe their badges to unlock the door. "Although they can't get past our doors, we can get into every TYC office," said Inspector General Bruce Toney, whose office is on the second floor of a state office building on North Lamar Boulevard where other commission employees work. Toney isn't looking to win friends at the agency. His job — a position the Legislature created last year amid allegations of sexual abuse of incarcerated youths and an official cover-up of it — is to investigate crime and root out fraud, waste and abuse.
Report says Calif. should end juvenile prisons; 7/14/2008
MERCURY NEWS: SACRAMENTO—A state watchdog commission recommended Monday that California phase out its antiquated juvenile prisons by 2011, replacing them with regional lockups run by counties. The regional centers would hold only the most dangerous offenders under the proposal by the Little Hoover Commission. Less serious offenders would be housed at local juvenile halls. Commissioners said the state also should end its three-year experiment with combining youth and adult prisons under the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Authority over youth prisons would be placed under an Office of Juvenile Justice reporting to the governor until the state ends its involvement.
Nun was instrumental in linking dogs, inmates; 7/13/2008
COURIER-JOURNAL: The idea of pairing animals and inmates is most often credited to an eccentric Dominican Order nun. Because the majority of animal/inmate programs are run by individual nonprofit organizations, it can be difficult to track their number and origins, but many agree it was Sister Pauline Quinn who got things going when she helped start a program to train service dogs in 1981 at Washington State Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor. The plan was for inmates to use the dogs as tools to help others, such as people with disabilities who could benefit from the service of a dog. If the prisoners are "doing something positive for people, then their suffering takes on meaning," Quinn said during a recent phone interview.
Juvenile Justice; 7/13/2008
WASHINGTON POST: SINCE 1974, federal law has required that juveniles picked up for breaking the law be kept separate from alleged adult offenders -- and for good reason. Juveniles held in adult facilities are more likely to be attacked, more likely to commit crimes once released and more likely to commit suicide than those held in facilities that house only minors. This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to consider reauthorizing an updated version of the 1974 bill. The Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2008 strengthens protections for juveniles while safeguarding judicial discretion to deal with exceptional cases.
TYC last resort for problem kids, area officials say; 7/12/2008
REPORTER NEWS: Sending a juvenile offender to the Texas Youth Commission is used only as a last resort, area juvenile justice professionals say. Since last year, the Texas Youth Commission has come under fire for mistreating inmates, including charges of sexual abuse at the Brownwood TYC campus. However, of all the juveniles that get in trouble in the state, only 2,327 were committed to the TYC in fiscal year 2007. The number of beds in TYC facilities is less than 5,000. "About 100,000 youths get in trouble with the law in Texas each year, and TYC receives less than 3 percent of them -- the most serious or chronic," explained Tim Savoy, spokesman for TYC. "The counties in Texas do an outstanding job of working with young offenders and getting them on the right track.
When TYC is the only option; 7/12/2008
REPORTER NEWS: It is up to the county or district judge to commit a youngster to Texas Youth Commission. The juvenile courts decide on whether a youth will be given a determinate or indeterminate sentence. "It is not a decision in which TYC has any part," said Tim Savoy, a spokesman for TYC. Currently, youth sent to TYC with indeterminate sentences are assigned by TYC policy a minimum stay of nine, 12 or 24 months depending on whether they are classified as a general, violent B, or violent A offender, Savoy explained. Determinate sentenced youth have specific sentences set by the courts, which can be up to 40 years and which would carry over to the adult system where the youth is either on parole or sent to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for the remainder of the sentence.
Help Closer to Home; 7/11/2008
NEW YORK TIMES: One proven way to prevent borderline young offenders from becoming serious criminals is to treat them — and their families — in community-based counseling programs instead of shipping them off to juvenile facilities that are often hundreds of miles away from home. Early data suggests that New York City’s alternative-placement programs are cutting recidivism rates. In addition to saving young lives, the community-based programs cost a lot less: $20,000 per child per year versus as much as $200,000 for holding a child in a juvenile facility. Despite that, politicians and labor unions — eager to preserve local jobs — are fighting hard to keep facilities open.
Texas' juvenile justice system needs more improvements; 7/11/2008
CALLER-TIMES: Texas' juvenile justice system is necessary and critical for protecting our citizens and helping to rehabilitate troubled youth. Unfortunately, it has not done either very well in recent years. Last year, reports of physical and sexual abuse of youth in custody by Texas Youth Commission staff rocked the state, shedding light on Texas' troubled juvenile justice system and prompting Texas to make much needed improvements. The state immediately jumped into action after the scandal. In response, the Legislature authorized increased training for juvenile corrections officers, greater oversight for the entire juvenile system, and in an effort to further reduce the strain on the system, prohibited future incarceration of youth for misdemeanor offenses.
Creating a safer juvenile justice system; 7/10/2008
DAILY LIGHT: Texas’ juvenile justice system is necessary and critical for protecting our citizens and helping to rehabilitate troubled youth. Unfortunately, it has not done either very well in recent years. Last year, reports of physical and sexual abuse of youth in custody by Texas Youth Commission (TYC) staff rocked the state, shedding light on Texas’ troubled juvenile justice system and prompting Texas to make much needed improvements. The state immediately jumped into action after the scandal. In response, the legislature authorized increased training for juvenile corrections officers, greater oversight for the entire juvenile system, and in an effort to further reduce the strain on the system, prohibited future incarceration of youth for misdemeanor offenses.
Don’t Teach Our Children Crime; 7/03/2008
NEW YORK TIMES: Under the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, the states agreed to humanize their often Dickensian juvenile justice systems in exchange for increased federal aid. This promising arrangement collapsed in the 1990s during hysteria about an adolescent crime wave that never materialized. The states intensified all kinds of punishments for children and sent large numbers to adult jails where, research has shown, they are more likely to be battered, traumatized and transformed into hard-core, recidivist criminals.