In Georgia, the Right and the Left Coming Together Over Juvenile Justice Reform

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ATLANTA -- A major shift in public policy takes time, and the time for juvenile justice reform is now. As the 2008 Great Recession took hold, child advocates braced for reductions in services and programs in juvenile justice systems across the country. These systems were already felt to be under-resourced due to a lack of priority around juvenile justice funding. They also have been heavily criticized for a lack of progressive programming and concern for overall outcomes for young people. Advocates feared that the further constriction of resources would eliminate the effective or promising practices that remained, leaving no alternatives to detention.

Explainer: By the Numbers, Connecticut’s Experience With Juvenile Justice Reforms

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Photo by Justice Policy Institute
One of the greatest obstacles to reforming the juvenile justice system is the fear that “going soft” on juvenile crime will pose a threat to public safety, either by setting youthful marauders loose upon a defenseless public or by removing the supposed deterrent effect of harsh and mandatory punishments. A second obstacle is the belief that any alternative to the current system of punishment and confinement will cost more, a particularly unwelcome proposition at a time when many states and communities are experiencing severe budget shortfalls. A new report from the Justice Policy Institute, a national nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., and funded by the Tow Foundation, provides evidence contradicting the assumptions behind both objections to reform. “Juvenile Justice Reform in Connecticut: How Collaboration and Commitment Have Improved Public Safety and Outcomes for Youth” details a series of reforms in the Connecticut juvenile justice system since the 1990s, and the positive changes observed in the state since those reforms were instituted. In the report, author Richard Mendel states that the Connecticut juvenile justice system today is “far and away more successful, more humane, and more cost-effective than it was 10 or 20 years ago” and attributes these changes largely to the state’s willingness to re-invent its system, based on “the growing body of knowledge about youth development, adolescent brain research and delinquency.”

The most significant of these changes include ending the criminalization of status offenses (e.g., truancy, running away), ceasing to treat 16- and 17-year-old offenders as adults, building a system of community alternatives to confinement and sharply reducing the number of juveniles sentenced to confinement. Connecticut also developed programs to address the specific needs of girls in confinement, to address racial disparities in the juvenile justice system, and to reduce school-based arrests and out-of-school detentions.

Georgia House Approves HB 242

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photo by Sayed Nairb
Thursday evening, the representatives in Georgia unanimously approved House Bill (HB) 242, which seeks to rewrite and streamline the state’s juvenile code. HB 242 would prohibit the jailing of juveniles for status offenses, as well as separate designated felonies into two classes of offense, depending on the severity of the crime. The bill incorporates recommendations from a 2012 Georgia Criminal Justice Reform Council report, urging state policymakers to keep low-risk juvenile offenders out of state facilities. A major component of the proposed legislation involves more funding for community-based programs. Gov. Nathan Deal has already offered $5 million to court-developed programs intended to steer young people away from detention facilities. Some state representatives said that diverting young people from detention could save Georgia as much as $85 million over the next five years.

Looking for Answers to Falling Juvenile Crime Rates

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What really works? This is a question that might be asked in a lot of settings, both personal and professional. In my own life, I wonder about things like how to get the ants out of my kitchen without too many toxic chemicals. In my professional life, I wonder about what kinds of interventions can keep kids out of the juvenile justice system. Sometimes the answers aren’t as obvious as might be hoped for.

Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission Report Advises Raising State Felony Age to 18

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The Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission(IJJC) recently released a report urging state policymakers to reclassify 17-year-olds as juveniles within the state’s legal system. While a 2010 General Assembly act shifted the state’s 17-year-old misdemeanants to juvenile court jurisdictions, young people of the same age who commit felonies are automatically transferred to Illinois’ adult system. “To promote a juvenile justice system focused on public safety, youth rehabilitation, fairness and fiscal responsibility,” the report reads, “Illinois should immediately adopt legislation expanding the age of juvenile court jurisdiction to include 17-year-olds charged with felonies.”

The IJJC suggested the state alter its policies and raise the adult court jurisdictional age to 18 for both misdemeanor and felony offenses. “It’s a really well-researched, well-documented and well-substantiated report,” said Commission member and Children and Family Justice Center Director Julie Biehl. “It would be a positive effect to bring those young people who are charged with felonies back to juvenile court jurisdiction.”

Not only must criminal courts in Illinois hear all felony cases involving 17-year-olds, according to the report, the state’s criminal courts remain “categorically unable” to take age into account in felony cases.

Wyoming Law Eliminating Mandatory Juvenile LWOP Won’t Be Retroactive

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Photo by Ryan Schill
A recently-passed Wyoming law barring mandatory life without parole sentences for juvenile offenders will not apply to the state’s prisoners currently serving life sentences for crimes they committed as minors, the Casper Star-Tribune reports. `
A bill signed earlier this month by Gov. Matthew Mead allows opportunities for parole after 25 years for juveniles with life sentences. When the law becomes effective this summer, it will not retroactively reduce the sentences of those already serving life without parole sentences for juvenile offenses within the state, according to Deputy Attorney General Dave Delicath. “Their sentences were within the law allowed at the time,” Delicath told the Star-Tribune. “The statute doesn’t change anything for them.”

Prior to the law’s passage, juveniles in Wyoming convicted of murder could be given sentences of life with or without parole.

Northwestern’s Children and Family Justice Center Receives $750,000 Grant from MacArthur Foundation

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Update: The Children and Family Justice Center (CFJC), part of the Northwestern University School of Law’s Bluhm Legal Clinic in Chicago, is one of several organizations that has received a 2013 MacArthur Award for Creative & Effective Institutions. The MacArthur Foundation awarded the CFJC $750,000 as part of an annual recognition of Foundation grantees, which are designed to ensure their sustainability as institutions helping “address some of the world’s most challenging problems.”

CFJC staff, faculty and students represent children in conflict with the law, seeking to provide “access to justice” for underrepresented young people via individual advocacy and systemic reform efforts. Founded in 1992, the CFJC trains more than 20 law students annually. Julie Biehl, director of the CFJC, said that the grant will help her organization move to the “next level.”

“I think this award bestowed upon our organization is an honor,” she said. “I’m so proud of and excited for my staff and the team here.”

Biehl, also a sitting member of the Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission’s Executive and Communication Committees, said that the organization will likely use the funding to create its first ever endowment program.

A Grown-Up Approach to Juvenile Justice Reform

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Connecticut’s juvenile justice system has seen tremendous reform in the past 10 years. As a new report by the Justice Policy Institute points out, we’ve diverted kids from the juvenile system, provided better services for those inside it and kept kids out of the adult system. These reforms have been accompanied by a declining youth crime rate and a decreasing burden on taxpayers. So many people deserve credit for these advances, including enlightened public officials, inspired funders and tenacious advocates. But what made them so successful?