"GUIDING LIGHTS" FACT SHEETS:
Summaries of Model Programs Featured in...
LESS COST, MORE SAFETY:
Guiding Lights for Reform in Juvenile Justice
FACT SHEET #1: "UN-PRISONMENT" The Missouri Division of Youth Services
FACT SHEET #3: PUTTING RESEARCH INTO PRACTICE Youth Villages – Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas
FACT SHEET #5: SYSTEMS REFORM FOR TROUBLED YOUTH Wraparound Milwaukee – Milwaukee County, Wisconsin
FACT SHEET #6: TURNING AROUND FLORIDA'S TOUGHEST JUVENILES The Last Chance Ranch – The Everglades
FACT SHEET #9 Contact Information for Guiding Light Programs
"UN-PRISONMENT" THE MISSOURI DIVISION OF YOUTH SERVICES
THE CHALLENGE:
Reduce overreliance on incarceration for non-dangerous youthful offenders. The United States spends the bulk of its juvenile justice resources to confine adolescent offenders, most often in correctional "training schools" housing 100-500 youth. However, the vast majority of youth confined in training schools (73 percent) are not violent offenders, while recidivism from training schools is uniformly high. Re-arrest rates typically hover between 50 and 70 percent – and sometimes surpass 90 percent.
CRITICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE "GUIDING LIGHT" RESPONSE:
Unlike the juvenile corrections agencies in most states, Missouri's Division of Youth Services does not spend the bulk of its resources confining delinquent youths in prison-like "training schools" or boot camps. Instead, Missouri operates an extensive network of community-based day programs and small-scale residential corrections centers. Essential characteristics of this network include: a) well qualified, highly trained staff; b) high-quality education programming; c) a 24-hour/day group and individual therapy regimen; d) intensive family outreach; and e) extensive non-residential programming for less serious offenders and for youth returning to their home communities.
LESS COST:
Thanks to its limited use of incarceration and its emphasis on day programming over residential confinement, Missouri spends far less per capita on youth corrections than most other states. The Division of Youth Services' budget for Fiscal Year 2000 was just $61 million – $94 for each young person in Missouri ages 10-17. By comparison, the juvenile corrections budgets of the eight states surrounding Missouri average approximately $140 per young person – one-third more than Missouri.
MORE SAFETY:
Despite its modest budget, Missouri is achieving far greater success than other states in stemming the criminality of delinquent teens:
Building a Community-Based Continuum:
TARRANT COUNTY, TEXAS JUVENILE SERVICES DEPARTMENT
THE CHALLENGE:
Offer a Broad Array of Community-Based Sanctions and Interventions for Delinquent but Non-dangerous Youth. Nationwide, only 11 percent of delinquency cases referred to juvenile court result in youth being sent to a correctional facility or placed into residential treatment. In the remaining 89 percent of cases, youth remain in their homes and communities. However, most of the energy and funding in juvenile justice are devoted to confining the 11 percent. Far less effort and creativity, and many fewer resources, are devoted to appropriately punishing youth who remain at home and to addressing the underlying problems that may be causing the delinquent behavior. Especially lacking are intensive non-residential intervention programs to resolve behavior problems in young people's natural environments.
CRITICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE "GUIDING LIGHT" RESPONSE:
Unlike virtually every other large county in Texas, Tarrant County did not invest substantially in the 1990s to expand its local juvenile detention and correctional facilities. Tarrant was the only large Texas county to decline multi-million dollar state funding for new juvenile facility construction. Instead, Tarrant County has invested in community-based responses to delinquency. Tarrant's juvenile justice continuum includes an "advocate" program (where local community residents monitor and mentor youth awaiting trial), extensive community service and restitution programs, family preservation counseling (to address underlying family problems that trigger delinquency), sex offender treatment, and a juvenile drug court.
LESS COST:
By focusing its resources on non-residential programming and maintaining a modest (72 bed) juvenile detention center and only a handful of residential program slots, Tarrant County operates its juvenile corrections program on a budget of just $15 million per year – $105 per young person in the county population. That's slightly more than half the $195 per youth ($42 million) spent by neighboring Dallas County.
MORE SAFETY:
Despite its limited spending, Tarrant County's juvenile arrest rates dropped substantially in the 1990s. Tarrant's home-based, treatment-oriented approach has led to a substantial reduction in juvenile crime. The failure rates of youth enrolled in Tarrant County's community corrections programs consistently rank among the lowest of any urban county in Texas. Likewise, an August 2000 report from Texas' non-partisan Criminal Justice Policy Council found that the long-term recidivism rates of Tarrant County youth placed into non-incarceration programs are the second lowest of Texas' major urban counties.
Putting Research Into Practice:
YOUTH VILLAGES – TENNESSEE, MISSISSIPPI, ARKANSAS
THE CHALLENGE:
Replicate Research-Proven Strategies to Reduce Delinquency. Over the past two decades, experts have developed and validated several intervention models that substantially lower recidivism by youthful offenders or the onset of delinquent behavior by youth at risk for delinquency. For youth already engaged in delinquency, these successful models work with young people in their own homes and communities, rather than in institutions, and they focus heavily on the family environment. Despite powerful evidence of effectiveness, however, the successful models are not in widespread use. Instead, writes University of Colorado criminologist Delbert Elliot, "most of the resources committed to the prevention and control of youth violence, both at the national and local levels, have been invested in untested programs based on questionable assumptions and delivered with little consistency or quality control."
CRITICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE "GUIDING LIGHT" RESPONSE:
Until, 1993, Youth Villages was a conventional provider of residential treatment services to emotionally troubled youth, many of them delinquent. Then in 1993 the agency conducted an internal review and found that despite months or years of residential care, many Youth Villages graduates were failing to function successfully after returning to their communities. Almost two in five had to be re-institutionalized. Since that time, Youth Villages has added a home-based and family-oriented therapy model that has dramatically reduced delinquency and other problem behaviors in eight clinical trials; and a program combining enhanced, short-term foster care and intensive parent training that has also proven to reduce criminality among chronic delinquents substantially. Youth Villages has woven these new strategies together with residential treatment to create a continuum of care that helps both children and their families overcome problems and breed success.
LESS COST:
Both of Youth Villages' new treatment strategies cost substantially less to operate than residential treatment. The home-based treatment program, for instance, has a total cost of just $6,000-$7,000 per young person, compared with more than $50,000 for a typical ten-month stay in residential treatment. Using the new programs, Youth Villages signed a new contract with the State of Tennessee in the mid-1990s agreeing to serve one-third more youth for the same money it received previously to provide only residential treatment.
MORE SAFETY:
The new strategies have enabled Youth Villages to substantially improve the long-term success of troubled youth participants. A Youth Villages study found that prior to start-up of the new treatment programs 63 percent of youth graduating from care remained successful for one year after leaving care. Today, the success rate is 80 percent – meaning less crime and far less spending to re-institutionalize troubled youth or to incarcerate repeat offenders.
Nipping Criminal Careers in the Bud:
THE 8 PERCENT SOLUTION – ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
THE CHALLENGE:
Identify and Intervene Effectively With Youth at Extreme Risk for Delinquency. Criminologists long ago determined that a small percentage of young people commit the lion's share of all serious juvenile crimes. Thus, to be effective in reducing youth crime, prevention and intervention efforts must target those young people at highest risk to become chronic offenders. However, few juvenile justice systems in our nation take the time to objectively assess first-time offenders and determine their risks of re-offending. Rather, adolescent lawbreakers are likely to face few consequences and even fewer support or intervention services until they commit one or more serious crimes.
CRITICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE "GUIDING LIGHT" RESPONSE:
The Orange County Probation Department studied its youth offender population in the late 1980s and found that 70 percent of the young people ever referred to the department never returned; 22 percent referred to delinquency court once or twice more within three years; and a small group – 8 percent of all youth ever referred to juvenile court – re-appeared four or more times within three years. These chronic offenders averaged eight reappearances in court in the six years after their initial referrals, and nearly all committed at least one serious and/or violent crime. Based on this research, Orange County developed an assessment tool to identify youth meeting the "8 percent" profile, and the County began placing these extreme-risk youth into a five-day-per-week program including all-day academic and youth development training, family involvement and counseling, and substance abuse counseling.
LESS COST:
Prior to initiating the "8 percent" program, the average 8-percent youth ultimately spent 20 months incarcerated at a public cost of $44,000. Thus, preventing extreme-risk youth from becoming chronic delinquents can save taxpayers millions of dollars each year in reduced costs for incarceration as well as reduced damages to would-be victims.
MORE SAFETY:
Orange County has been evaluating the success of the "8 Percent" program carefully, and the results are promising:
Systems Reform for Troubled and Delinquent Youth:
"WRAPAROUND MILWAUKEE"
THE CHALLENGE:
Meet the Needs of Youth (and Children) With Behavioral Disturbances. Young people who commit offenses and become entangled in the juvenile justice system suffer disproportionately from emotional disturbances such as "conduct disorder," "oppositional defiance disorder," alcohol or drug dependency, and attention deficit (ADD). Most studies find that at least 20 percent of juvenile offenders suffer with a severe mental health disorder. However, our nation's efforts to meet the mental health needs of adolescents are seriously inadequate. The problems include: overreliance on out-of-home treatment; under-investment in community-based services; and lack of coordination between concerned agencies.
CRITICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE "GUIDING LIGHT" RESPONSE:
Wraparound Milwaukee provides comprehensive assistance to emotionally disturbed youth who have been placed in residential treatment facilities or face imminent risk of placement. Seventy percent of these youth have a history of delinquency, and many are on probation. Rather than rely on expensive out-of-home (i.e., residential) care, the policy in most jurisdictions, Wraparound works with troubled youth in their own homes. Under Wraparound, Milwaukee County contracts with local nonprofit agencies to hire, train, and supervise care coordinators, who conduct in-depth assessments of each youth and family; assemble a team of family members, counselors, and other caring adults; develop plans of care; identify providers to offer needed services; and monitor the delivery of services and the overall progress of the young person. The program also operates a 24-hour-per-day Mobile Urgent Treatment Team to intervene in family crises and bring situations under control before youth must be removed from their homes.
LESS COST:
Prior to implementing Wraparound, Milwaukee County spent $18 million per year to buy care for emotionally disturbed young people in group homes and residential treatment programs. Since 1995, the program has reduced the daily population in residential treatmetn from 360 youth to 135 youth per day – an annual savings of $11 million. Psychiatric hospitalization of adolescents has declined by 80 percent since the program went into effect.
MORE SAFETY:
By reinvesting the dollars formerly spent on residential treatment into home-based wraparound care, the program has substantially increased the number of emotionally disturbed youth receiving intensive support, and it has dramatically reduced the delinquency and improved the behavioral functioning of delinquent youth:
Turning Around Florida's Toughest Juvenile Offenders:
THE LAST CHANCE RANCH
THE CHALLENGE:
Offer quality treatment and youth development services for incarcerated youth. The quality of America's juvenile corrections facilities is uneven. Substandard conditions of confinement and overcrowding are common. Educational programming and mental health services often lack rigor, and day-to-day supervision of many youth offenders is provided by low-wage workers without a college education or in-depth training in youth development: many lack the skills or motivation to maintain a positive, therapeutic environment. When they return home from correctional institutions, most youth receive weak support and supervision. As the American Bar Association writes, "In a society that already faces daily violence and crime, deficiencies in the care of incarcerated youth serve only to further threaten the well-being of our children, families, and communities."
CRITICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE "GUIDING LIGHT" RESPONSE:
Located 40 miles west of Lake Okeechobee in the Everglades, the Florida Environmental Institute (a.k.a. "Last Chance Ranch) has been serving some of Florida's most serious juvenile offenders since 1982. In 1997-98, youth released from the Ranch averaged 32.7 prior charges including 11.7 felony charges – the most of any facility in the state. Last Chance Ranch differs from other youth corrections facilities in several ways: 1) it's small, serving just 22 youth at a time; 2) security is maintained through staff oversight (as well as a remote location), not iron bars or physical restraints; 3) staff provide intensive behavior management, using a point system through which youth earn credits toward release by demonstrating good behavior and a positive attitude; and 4) intensive "aftercare" supervision is offered to assist and monitor youth during the critical transition back to society.
LESS COST:
Due to longer than average lengths of stay and a high staff-to-youth ratio, the cost per participant at Last Chance Ranch is well above that of other youth corrections facilities. Nonetheless, because Last Chance Ranch is more successful than other facilities in preventing future offending, it has a cost per successful completion no higher than other correctional facilities. When the costs of future offending (for victim losses, prosecution expenses, and incarceration) are considered, Last Chance Ranch emerges as far more cost-effective than traditional youth corrections programs.
MORE SAFETY:
Perhaps more than any other juvenile corrections program in the nation, Last Chance Ranch has created a track record of effectively rehabilitating serious and violent juvenile offenders:
Preparing Delinquent Youth for Productive Careers:
THE GULF COAST TRADES CENTER
THE CHALLENGE:
Provide quality education and career development services that enable youth to assume productive roles in society. Overwhelmingly, young people who become chronic delinquents and adult criminals suffer from weak academic achievement and poor preparation for the world of work. These deficits cripple young offenders' ability to mature into adulthood and terminate delinquent behavior patterns. Nonetheless, there is little evidence that juvenile corrections systems are effectively meeting the education and training needs of youth. Particularly serious in juvenile corrections is the lack of career preparation.
CRITICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE "GUIDING LIGHT" RESPONSE:
Located in a national forest 60 miles north of Houston, Texas, the Gulf Coast Trade Center is perhaps the only residential youth corrections facility in the nation that makes education and career preparation the cornerstone of its treatment and rehabilitation philosophy. Gulf Coast enrolls all youth residents into one of nine career tracks, providing extensive hands-on opportunities for youth to learn a chosen trade. After completing a vocational curriculum youth are assigned to part-time jobs in the community, where they apply their new skills in working for local government or nonprofit agencies. Since 1998, Gulf Coast has offered on-the-job training in construction skills as youth build affordable new homes for sale to moderate-income families in the local community.
LESS COST: Often used as an alternative to more expensive placements into the training schools of the Texas Youth Commission, Gulf Coast is reducing public costs by helping turn troubled youth into productive and tax-paying members of society. After returning home from Gulf Coast, 60 percent of delinquent youth participants find employment in their chosen trades, earning an average of $7.50 per hour.
MORE SAFETY:
Gulf Coast also saves taxpayers money (and makes them safer) by reducing the subsequent criminality of delinquent youth. According to the Texas Youth Commission (TYC):
Ushering in Juvenile Detention Reform:
THE JUVENILE JUSTICE OPERATIONAL MASTER PLAN
THE CHALLENGE:
Reduce inappropriate detention of youth awaiting trial or pending placement. When an adolescent is arrested, one of the most important decisions affecting his or her future is made almost immediately: whether or not to hold the young offender in a juvenile detention center – analogous to a local jail in the adult justice system. Unfortunately, pre-trial detention is used excessively, inefficiently, and inequitably in many jurisdictions nationwide. Nationwide, 79 percent of all youth held in juvenile detention in 1997 were not charged with violent felony crimes. Inefficient case processing lengthens the duration of stay in detention for many youth, and once youth are convicted of crimes, many spend weeks or months languishing in detention while awaiting placement into a corrections or treatment program.
CRITICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE "GUIDING LIGHT" RESPONSE:
Despite a sharp drop in juvenile crime from 1993 to 1998, King County, Washington's detention population nearly doubled from 119 youth to 199 youth per day. In December 1997, King County launched a planning initiative to address the detention problem. The study, completed in early 2000, concluded that without jeopardizing public safety, King County could sharply reduce its detention population, avert the need for a new detention center, and reduce subsequent offending. Key elements of the reform plan included: screening to ensure that youth who pose no danger to the public or risk to flee are not detained; alternatives to detention, such as electronic monitoring or intensive supervision in the community; reductions in missed court appearances; reduction in lengths of stay in detention; and investment in proven intervention programs to reduce re-offending. In August 2000, the King County Council voted to place a proposed new detention center on indefinite hold and to invest would-be construction funds into long-needed administrative reforms and far-sighted prevention and treatment programs. The reforms have been implemented only partially thus far, but the average daily detention population has already dropped by 30 percent.
LESS COST:
Though King County opened a new 160-bed juvenile detention facility in 1991, the rising population in late 1990s forced leaders to draw up plans for an additional 80-bed detention unit. Heeding the planning report findings, however, the County Council voted in 2000 not to build the additional facility, saving taxpayers an estimated $11 million for construction plus $5.8 million per year for subsequent operating expenses.
MORE SAFETY:
As part of its master plan for reform, King County has invested in two home-based and family-focused interventions with proven power to reduce subsequent offending by delinquent youth.
Contact Information for "Guiding Light" Programs
Missouri Division of Youth Services
Mark Steward, Director
P.O. Box 447
Jefferson City, MO 65102
Phone: (573) 751-3324;
Fax: (573) 526-4494
Tarrant County Juvenile Services
Carey Cockerell, Director
2701 Kimbo Road
Fort Worth, TX 76111
Phone: (817) 838-4600;
Fax: (817) 838-4646
Youth Villages, Inc.
Patrick W. Lawler, Administrator
P.O. Box 341154
Memphis, TN 38184-1154
Phone: (901) 252-7200;
Fax: (901) 252-7280
The "8 Percent Solution"
Jeff Corp, Director of Community Programs
Orange County Probation Department
160 W. Cerritos Ave., Building #4
Anaheim, CA 98205
Phone: (714) 687-6703;
Fax: (714) 533-6884
Wraparound Milwaukee
Bruce Kamradt, Director
Children's Mental Health Branch
Milwaukee County Division of Mental Health
9501 Watertown Plank Road
Wauwatosa, WI 53226
Phone: (414) 257-7611;
Fax: (414) 257-7575
Last Chance Ranch
Robert Weaver, President
Associated Marine Institutes
5915 Benjamin Center Drive
Tampa, FL 33634
Phone: (813) 887-3300;
Fax: (813) 889-8092
Gulf Coast Trades Center
Thomas M. "Mike" Buzbee, Executive Director
P.O. Box 515
New Waverly, TX 77358
Phone: (936) 344-6677;
Fax: (936) 344-2386
Juvenile Justice
Operational Master Plan
Michael Gedeon, Project Coordinator
1211 East Alder Street
Seattle, WA 98122
Phone: (206) 205-9532;
Fax: (206) 205-9349