CA Juvenile System Reforms
More than five years after California agreed to a court-monitored overhaul of its troubled juvenile justice system, corrections officials say they have completed more than 80 percent of the required policy changes, resulting in more education and less violence. News from the San Francisco Chronicle.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s Juvenile Justice Division was ordered to make more than 8,000 policy and program changes by a court-appointed monitor after agreeing to settle a class-action lawsuit in 2004.
The suit accused the agency, then called the California Youth Authority, of warehousing juveniles in prison-like facilities that had too much violence and too few educational opportunities. The conditions, the suit said, made it impossible for the state to meet its mandate of helping youths turn their lives around.
Studies at the time found that 10 assaults were reported per day, that troublesome wards were housed in cages, and that inadequate mental health treatment often made conditions worse. About 71 percent of youths were re-arrested within three years of their release, the studies determined.
Last week, state officials said a revised disciplinary system had resulted in a 134 percent increase in credit for good behavior and a nearly 73 percent decrease in time added to sentences for bad behavior.
They also touted a 300 percent increase in the number of youths who are accessing educational and vocational programs, and said the reforms have resulted in better mental health and medical treatment, including new assessments to identify the suicidal.
The progress was detailed in an annual report filed with the Alameda County Superior Court, and represents a 23 percent jump in compliance since the prior year.
“Over the last four years we have instituted policies for staff that emphasize intervention and counseling over the use of force, reinforced our education curriculum and created programs to encourage more family participation,” Bernard Warner, the juvenile division’s deputy secretary, said in a written statement. “Our youth are spending more time in classrooms and are receiving better treatment and counseling services than ever before.”
Critics, however, said much hard work remains. Don Specter, who directs the Prison Law Office and was involved in the class-action suit, said the state had tackled some of the easiest reforms first.
“They have made substantial improvements – things are a lot better now than when we filed and settled the case, but they still have major hurdles to overcome that are central to reform efforts,” Specter said. “Treatment and rehabilitation is very haphazard, there’s not a singular model and there’s no requirement that they get a specific amount of rehabilitation programming.”
The rate of violence, he contended, has not decreased significantly. In general, Specter said, the state still needs to abandon a punitive model in favor of one focused on rehabilitation and treatment.
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