Time for an intelligent approach to juvenile justice
Imagine this line from a state report on young offenders and let it sink in for a moment:
“The Illinois auditor general estimates that incarceration in (an Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice) ‘Youth Center' cost $86,861 per year, per youth.”
Did you catch that figure? $86,861.
Per youth.
Per year.
And the net effect of that investment? More than half the children released from Illinois youth prisons return, according to the report released Tuesday by the Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission. So, after the first 86-grand yearly outlay fails, they come back for another go-round. “Worse,” adds the IJJC report, “the juvenile justice system is, in many ways, the ‘feeder system' to the adult criminal justice system and a cycle of crime, victimization and incarceration.”
Is anyone curious whether we wouldn't be better off if we just gave all young criminals, oh, let's be grinches and say $43,000, half their incarceration cost, and told them not to come back? That's ridiculous, of course. But it's the kind of thinking that naturally follows when you consider the equally ridiculous approach that the state is institutionalizing, literally, in the management of young offenders.
The report by the juvenile justice commission — established by a 2009 state law ordering the study of how Illinois handles youthful offenders — identifies several specific reasons for the system's dismal failure. Young parolees report to the same overburdened state agents who monitor adult parolees. They are returned to the prison system, often in a knee-jerk reaction to minor infractions, without much thought about whether a return to prison is necessary or even appropriate.
The “good news,” according to the report, is that young people “are capable of tremendous positive change and growth ... with the right support, supervision and services,” and those services can be achieved for far less money than we are spending now.
Among recommendations to be found in the report:
Ÿ Do a better job of preparing youths for release.
Ÿ Have courts, not parole boards, make determinations about revoking parole.
Ÿ Do a better job of sharing information among interested agencies and parties.
Ÿ Find more opportunities for community-based service rather than institutions.
State leaders need to seriously consider these and similar recommendations by other agencies. Politics, rather than good policy, managed this fall to temporarily rescue several institutional facilities, including a youth prison in downstate Murphysboro, despite Gov. Pat Quinn's efforts to close them and despite solid research and experience justifying the closing. It's time for new thinking.
As reports by the IJJC and other agencies demonstrate, the evidence and demand for change in the management of young offenders are mounting fast. The youth prison setting in Illinois is shabby, understaffed and unsafe. Yes, these are juveniles who have run afoul of the law, but it's clear that our system to address the situation is only making matters worse. Especially in a time of financial hardship, we can't justify throwing money at this problem, but throwing money at it is precisely what we're already doing — and it isn't working. It's time to address the issue intelligently.
“We can do a better job,” said IJJC member Judge George Timberlake in a Daily Herald news story Tuesday. “We can make the public safer. We can improve the outcomes for kids ... and we can do it at a lower cost.”
The only question is why don't we?