States Committed to Improving Outcomes for Youth
With 39 gubernatorial elections and legislative elections in 46 states and territories this November, 17 states gathered earlier this summer to discuss how the next crop of leaders can build on existing reforms to right-size juvenile justice systems and support community-based programming. The message from this group of states was clear: Reforms have worked, but more opportunities remain for new governors to sustain these reforms and promote evidence-based practices.
In May 2018, the National Governors Association, in partnership with the National Conference of State Legislators, the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the National Association of State Budget Officers, hosted a Cross-Branch Juvenile Justice Summit in Chicago, Illinois. The summit brought together governor’s offices, executive branch officials and legislators from Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, New York, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah and Virginia to discuss the juvenile justice efforts within their states.
What’s Worked with Juvenile Justice at the State Level?
Throughout the summit, executive branch officials and legislators highlighted reform efforts in their states to improve outcomes for youth involved in the justice system. These efforts have largely placed emphasis on three main components: (1) safely decrease the use of out-of-home placement and incarceration of youth; (2) invest in more community-based, family focused services and supports and (3) improve conditions of confinement for those youths who are placed in out-of-home facilities.
Along with these areas of focus, states have also sought to implement policy changes that address gender, racial and ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system and strengthen services and supports for tribal and rural populations.
Decreasing the use of juvenile facilities. Research shows that young people who are at a lower risk of committing serious offenses are best served within their communities. Given this research, certain states are pivoting from the use of juvenile facilities for these young people and are instead investing in community-based alternatives. Community-based approaches include therapeutic interventions and placements, job and life skills training and appropriate supervision models that promote positive youth development and keep youths near family support and in their communities. For example, in Connecticut, Governor Malloy announced that the state’s juvenile justice reforms had safely reduced the juvenile confinement population to such a level that the state no longer required the use of its last youth detention facility. Incarcerating fewer young people provided better outcomes for youth, while the state also experienced improved public safety, as evidenced by the state’s decrease in juvenile arrests and crime rates. Similarly, Kansas closed one of its two juvenile correctional facilities and focused resources onexpanding community-based services, including cognitive-behavioral therapy and treatment for substance-use disorders, which have already served hundreds of youths and families across the state.
Investing in community-based services and supports. As part of efforts to reduce the number of young people — particularly lower-risk youth — within juvenile facilities, state officials are implementing strategies to expand alternatives to incarceration within the community. These alternatives not only place supervision conditions on the youth to hold them accountable, they also seek to identify and provide services and supports to help the youth:
· develop life skills, such as positive coping mechanisms;
· improve problem-solving and communication;
· advance their education;
· pursue employment; and
· receive other tools to be positive members of their community.
Summit participants visited the Day Reporting Center in Chicago, Illinois, and spoke with staff and young people served by the Center. This community-based program is a partnership between the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (IDJJ) and the nonprofit organization Youth Outreach Services. The program serves young people who have been released from IDJJ facilities but may have challenges meeting conditions of their release and are at high risk for recommitment to a juvenile facility. The Center provides a safe space, programming and support for young people and their families to learn skills that will help them to become independent after the program and link them to services thataddress risk areas. The Center, in partnership with IDJJ, also supports currently incarcerated young people in furthering their education.
Improving conditions of confinement. Additionally, while states seek ways to limit the use of incarceration for lower- and moderate-risk youth by building out a continuum of community-based services and supports, they are also seeking out opportunities to meet the needs of higher-risk youth who must still be placed in residential facilities. For these young people, research shows that shifting from the traditional correctional culture to age-appropriate, rehabilitative models are likely to reduce recidivism and create better outcomes. States like Virginia provide more therapeutic interventions within secure settings by changing the structure and model of facilities, promoting positive youth development and improving family engagement practices.
What’s Next?
Multidisciplinary, cross-branch coordination is critical, as the issues facing young people in the justice system intersect with state human services, family and child welfare officials, the judiciary and court services, school systems and the legislature. States are aiming to ensure that these entities and branches of government work together to reach common goals. For example, New York has a cross-branch, multiagency vision across agencies and branches for a partnership to addressing youth justice. Each of the agencies and branches of government involved in the partnership have a touch point with youths involved in the justice system through its departments of criminal justice services, children and family services and court system, all of which collaborate on efforts and initiatives.
With many states facing turnover in administrations in 2019, summit participants had a number of recommendations for the next crop of state leaders with the goal of maintaining momentum and sustaining reform efforts:
· Develop and implement coordinated strategies across agencies and branches of government;
· Work to build broad buy-in from many different stakeholders;
· Engage stakeholders through state-level convenings;
· Use anecdotes to communicate reforms and data to explain efficacy;
· Remember the importance of frontline staff to sustaining systems reform; and
· Demonstrate the return on investment and value of work that has already been achieved.
Governors and state leaders should be encouraged by the work that has already been done to reform juvenile justice systems. After this busy election season, policymakers must stay the course and continue to work across branches of government to realize the full potential of reform for young people, communities and states.
Kalyn Hill and Rosalynd Mosser are policy analysts with the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices.
