Part 1: Protect Youth and Communities by Improving Juvenile Justice
a.  Improve Efficiency and Positive Outcomes Within Independent Juvenile Justice Agencies
b.  Strengthen Juvenile Probation and Increase Accountability
 
Introduction:
 
Throughout its existence, juvenile justice has often struggled to live up to its lofty ideals of rehabilitating delinquent youth while also protecting public safety. Too often, the narrative has been one of rising expectations that are rarely met in reality. A pattern has emerged over the past century nationally and in Texas in which abuse of incarcerated youth is revealed, followed by public outrage, assuaged by promises of reform and sudden investments of funds into juvenile justice agencies. However, once public attention has waned, the funds have quickly dried up: Budgetary requests for community-based prevention, intervention, and diversion programs heralded as the solution in times of reform are passed over in favor of the construction of expensive maximum security facilities.[i]
 
Since the 1940s, experts have largely concurred on the superior effectiveness of smaller, community-based, therapeutic programs as compared to remote, secure institutions for the rehabilitation of troubled youth. However, Texas has consistently failed to sustain its investment in such programs. In 2009, Texas policy-makers once again have the opportunity to develop an effective juvenile justice system. In order to do so, the next chapter for juvenile justice in Texas must be characterized by the commitment of policy-makers from both sides of the aisle to invest in successful juvenile justice policies, and the willingness of agency heads and practitioners to implement the strategies that will yield positive outcomes. 
 
Embracing this challenge to improve the lives of our youth will strengthen communities and result in long-term economic and public safety benefits for Texans.  Texas can once again be a national leader in juvenile justice – for the right reason – if it is willing to step out of the long shadows of its past. 
 
 
< Back
 

[i]Bush, William S. Protecting Texas’ Most Precious Resource: A History of Juvenile Justice Policy in Texas. Part I, The Path to the Texas Youth Council: Creating a Protective Umbrella for Juvenile Offenders 1887 – 1949. Austin: Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, 2008.