OCFS Announces Plan to Close Facilities
January 11th, 2008Today, the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) announced plans to close, merge and downsize its facilities. In
IBO releases report on cost of New York’s juvenile justice system
December 19th, 2007The New York City Independent Budget Office released a fiscal brief on the risng costs of New York City juvenile justice system. This report is significant because it is the first time there is an accounting of the costs of running
The report points out that
Campaign for Youth Justice Report: Jailing Juveniles
November 21st, 2007The Campaign for Youth Justice just released a report Jailing Juveniles: The Danger of Incarcerating Youth in Adult Jails in America. The report provides a summary of the risks that youth face when incarcerated in adult jails, facts and figures about how many youth are incarcerated in jails nationwide, and a review of the limited federal and state laws protecting youth in jails. Click here to download a copy of this report.
NYC City Council Hearing on LGBT Youth in DJJ
October 31st, 2007If you would like to testify at the hearing, bring 20 double-sided copies of your written testimony. Youth testimony is always powerful. If you know any LGBT youth who have been in DJJ custody, especially those who have been in since DJJ released its non-discrimination policy in February 2007, their testimony would be extremely valuable.
NY Times Editorial: The Right Model for Juvenile Justice
October 29th, 2007Published: October 28, 2007
With the prisons filled to bursting, state governments are desperate for ways to keep more people from committing crimes and ending up behind bars. Part of the problem lies in the juvenile justice system, which is doing a frighteningly effective job of turning nonviolent childhood offenders into mature, hardened criminals. States that want to change that are increasingly looking to Missouri, which has turned its juvenile justice system into a nationally recognized model of how to deal effectively with troubled children.
The country as a whole went terribly wrong in this area during the 1990s, when high-profile crimes prompted dire predictions of teenage “superpredators” taking over the streets. The monsters never materialized. In fact, juvenile crime declined. But by the close of the decade, four-fifths of the states had made a regular practice of housing children, even those who committed nonviolent crimes, in adult jails. Studies now show that those children were considerably more likely to become serious criminals — and to commit violence — than children handled through the juvenile justice system.
But all juvenile justice systems are not created equal. Most children taken into custody are committed to large, unruly and often dangerous “kiddie prisons” that very much resemble adult prisons. The depravity and brutality that characterizes these places were underscored in Texas, where allegations of sexual abuse by workers prompted wholesale firings and a reorganization of the state’s juvenile justice agency.
Missouri has abandoned mass kiddie prisons in favor of small community-based centers that stress therapy, not punishment. When possible, young people are kept near their homes so their parents can participate in rehabilitation that includes extensive family therapy. It is the first stable, caring environment many of these young people have ever known. Case managers typically handle 15 to 20 children. In other state systems, the caseloads can get much higher.
The oversight does not end with the young person’s release. The case managers follow their charges closely for many months and often help with job placement, therapy referrals, school issues and drug or alcohol treatment. After completing the program, officials say, only about 10 percent of their detainees are recommitted to the system by the juvenile courts.
A law-and-order state, Missouri was working against its own nature when it embarked on this project about 25 years ago. But with favorable data piling up, and thousands of young lives saved, the state is now showing the way out of the juvenile justice crisis.
Upcoming Juvenile Justice Coalition Meetings
October 22nd, 2007LGBT Working Group: November 2nd at 10am @CA, 135 East 15th Street
Alternative to Incarceration Working Group: November 5th at 1pm @CA , 135 East 15th Street
Education Working Group: November 13th at 4pm @AFC, 151 West 30th Street
Hot Off the Presses: Our Fall Newsletter
October 5th, 2007We just put out our Fall 2007 newsletter. You can download a copy here: coalition-newsletter-fall-2007.pdf
.
Cost of Youth Detention Climbs to Over $200k a Year!
September 25th, 2007According to the recently released Mayor’s Management Report, the daily cost to incarcerate a young person in NYC Department of Juvenile Justice secure detention facility is $551. That comes out to $201,115 a year — a mind-boggling amount of money. In contrast, the cost to keep a young person in a community-based alternative program is less than $15,000 a year.
NY Times Editorial: Children in Need of Safe Harbor
September 17th, 2007The September 15th, 2007 New York Times carried the following editorial in support of the Safe Harbor Act for Exploited Children:
“Gov. Eliot Spitzer of
During the last term, the Legislature failed to pass a bill that would have provided those protections. Under the Safe Harbor Act, children who are too young to legally consent to sex would no longer be charged with prostitution and would no longer be treated as criminals. The courts would instead be required to provide them with counseling, medical care and the long-term shelter they need to reclaim their lives.
As might be expected, sexually exploited children come from society’s most troubled families. A study ordered by the Legislature estimated that about 85 percent of the state’s exploited children are from families that had been involved with the child welfare system, while in
Prosecutors opposed the Safe Harbor Act, arguing that the threat of detention was necessary to force the children to testify against the pimps. But these are battered, terrorized children who are typically in no condition to confront their exploiters in court. By threatening to lock them up, we deepen their distrust of an adult world that has brutalized and mistreated them.
Other opponents argue that the Legislature has underestimated how much the law’s requirements for counseling and other services will cost the state and failed to clarify certain legal technicalities. But these issues can be resolved and should not prevent Governor Spitzer and legislators from reaching agreement on an essential bill that provides help and protection for the state’s most vulnerable children.”
Tell Congress to Reauthorize the JJDPA
September 12th, 2007The federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) is up for reauthorization this year. Click here to tell Congress to reauthorize this critical legislation. Check out the Act 4 Juvenile Justice website for more information on the JJDPA.