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WORD COUNT:
692
APRIL 23, 2008
MISSOURI’S SENSIBLE
APPROACH TO JUVENILE JUSTICE – by Marian Wright Edelman
At younger and
younger ages, children and teens in the juvenile justice systems of many
states are condemned to long terms at large youth detention centers and
adult prisons. They languish in cells surrounded by walls and razor
wire. Often they are locked down for long periods of the day with no
real opportunities for rehabilitation, treatment or education. Many
youth become more hardened criminals while incarcerated, and at the end
of their sentences, they are released into communities that don't have
adequate resources to reintegrate them.
It is a disgrace that
this is largely what passes for juvenile justice in many places
throughout our nation. But there is a better way.
Mark D. Steward,
founder and director of the Missouri Youth Services Institute, and his
colleague, Pili Robinson, are lights on the horizon for urgently needed
nationwide juvenile justice system reform. Mark served as director of
the Missouri Division of Youth Services for over 17 years until retiring
in July 2005.
Their approach to
youth incarceration is a sharp departure from most conventional methods.
Their rehabilitative and therapeutic youth program has been one of the
best success stories in the country. Missouri's juvenile recidivism rate
is low, with only 8 percent of those incarcerated coming back into
juvenile custody and 8 percent going into Missouri's prisons.
How did Missouri do
it? First, it eliminated its huge, rural detention facility that
warehoused 2,500 young people. In its place, Missouri established 33
residential facilities and 11 day-treatment centers in five regions.
These aren't just smaller prisons; they’re designed to provide a
dormitory atmosphere for groups of no more than 12 children and teens.
Under this system, none of them is more than two hours away from their
homes and community services.
The key to Missouri's
success is its focus on the development of each child or youth in a
positive environment. When you walk into a Missouri juvenile detention
facility, there are no cuffs or shackles, no cells, no bars; there are
no isolation rooms and no correction officers. What you find instead are
youth counselors and team leaders in a dorm-like environment with bunk
beds, pillows, couches and carpets, and young people wearing their own
clothes, explained Robinson. "We allow kids to be themselves and take
them back to being kids," he said, noting that many children are forced
by their harsh environments to grow up too fast.
Education and job
training are essential components of the program. There are two
facilities located on the campuses of women's colleges for girls who go
to a residential program with full-time mentoring. While attending high
school, they slowly transition directly into college life. Instead of
being locked down and locked in, the youth throughout the system
participate in community service projects at nursing homes and food
banks and take field trips to places like Washington, D.C., and Boston.
They sponsor Career Days, Multi-Culture Festivals and their own
Olympics.
Much of the
rehabilitation involves working through youth peer groups and does away
with the idea of adults preaching down to them. The youths learn
leadership skills and how to facilitate group sessions. Staff members
are trained to facilitate teams of 12 and are prepared to meet the needs
of each youth, making referrals to family therapy and substance abuse
counseling generally unnecessary.
The Missouri Division
of Youth Services also has created a seamless case management system so
that once each youth is adjudicated, a single caseworker follows him or
her and the family throughout the entire stay in the system,
facilitating eventual reentry into the community.
Significantly, this
system comes with a considerable cost savings. The annual cost for
detaining a youth in Missouri is less than half of what other states
pay.
We should stop
spending a fortune on large, traditional and non-therapeutic
correctional facilities and then releasing youths back into our
communities with little done to address their rehabilitation, treatment
and education. It makes infinitely more sense to support rehabilitation
programs like the Missouri Division of Youth Services, which have high
rates of success turning troubled children into productive citizens. We
hope that more states and municipalities get that message soon.
--
Marian Wright Edelman
is president of the Children's Defense Fund and its Action Council.
Learn more about CDF’s “Cradle to Prison Pipeline” campaign at
www.childrensdefense.org/cradletoprison A photo of Marian Wright
Edelman is available CLICK HERE
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