Experts: Invest more in children to keep more of them out of trouble
If it takes a village to raise a child, then it’s time to “invest in the village” so it can rehabilitate juveniles who get in trouble with the law.
Finding solutions that allow troubled youth to receive services in their communities — and not in state-run lock up facilities — was the subject of a recent webinar presented by a group of juvenile justice-focused groups. The discussion stemmed from a new report by the National Collaboration for Youth, called “Beyond Bars: Keeping Young People Safe at Home and Out of Youth Prisons.” The report aims to offer a road map that those working in juvenile justice, policy and advocacy can follow to reduce incarceration and increase effective outcomes for kids.
The push to keep young people in their community is backed by research. A John Jay College Research and Evaluation brief found that 86 percent of more than 3,500 justice system-involved youth were arrest-free when their respective programs ended.
Advocates in Florida are increasingly asking for more community-based services. Roy Miller, president and founder of The Children’s Campaign, said in January that there is a whole spectrum of care between prevention services and lockup. But the impetus for creating filling the holes in that spectrum doesn’t just fall on the Department of Juvenile Justice. Service providers and non-profits need to step up, too, he said.
“What we need in this state is innovation in the program areas where hard-to-serve children get more total care management,” Miller said.
Florida sent 2,738 minors to residential programs in 2015-16, of which 287 were from the Fourth Judicial Circuit in Duval, Clay and Nassau counties. If there were supportive programs based in the Jacksonville area, advocates said, there would be fewer kids who needed to be locked up.
Clinton Lacey, director of the Washington, D.C., Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, spoke of the “village” approach. Kids and their families have to live in their communities, so the skills they learn need to be practical and fit where they live.
“So much of this treatment still goes on within the context of institutions, inside of institutions, delivered by the institutional staff. … We must reach out and connect with community members,” Lacey said. “True youth development doesn’t take place in the temporary artificial environment of our facility.”
Hernan Carvente, a program analyst with the Vera Institute of Justice, spoke firsthand about the difficulties of being a juvenile away from home.
Carvente grew up in a rough neighborhood of Queens, N.Y., and was gang-affiliated by the time he was 13. Two days shy of his 16th birthday, he was charged with attempted murder and sent more than two hours away from home to a juvenile facility. A young father, Carvente found it difficult to connect with his daughter and maintain a stable relationship with his family.
He called it “counter-intuitive” to take youth so far away from their homes and said he left with no idea of what he’d be facing when he returned to his community.
Deborah Hodges, juvenile court director in Toledo, Ohio, said it takes intentionality and planning to achieve a transformation. Gaps in care have to be identified before they can be filled.
The Toledo-area juvenile court has successfully diverted 3,000 youth since 2013 and has experienced a “dramatic” reduction in school-based charges.
“We know what works and we should be doing it,” Hodges said. Kids will experience setbacks on probation and may not immediately succeed in a program, but that doesn’t mean they should be locked up; instead, talk to them about making a plan for improvement and teach them problem-solving skills.
“We still hold youth accountable,” Hodges said. “… but by investing in our kids we’re making our communities safer.”
Tessa Duvall: (904) 359-4697