Juvenile Detention Association of New York State

Recommendations to the Office of Children and Families Services

It is critical that the juvenile detention system be recognized as an integral part of juvenile justice. Each year between 16,000 and 17,000 youth are admitted to juvenile detention facilities across the state. Juvenile detention is often the first effective intervention for youth who are be-yond the normal controls of family and community. During this intervention, decisions critical to the future of these youth and their families are being made. Juvenile detention is a watershed for thousands of youth who will either flow into long term residential care or be returned to their communities. It is only prudent to support the investment of resources in this primary intervention process with the development of effective interfaces with all other components of juvenile justice at the local, state and federal level.

All youth who come into contact with local police, courts, and probation services are juvenile justice involved. Prior to the creation of the NYS Office of Children and Families Services (OCFS), juvenile justice has focused on those youth accused of the most serious offenses and placed in a Division for Youth facility. This Association hopes, with the consolidation of children's services under one flinding and regulatory body, that the barriers to a unified approach to preventing the deepening involvement of youth in juvenile justice can be dissolved. Juvenile detention has not been recognized, either at the local or state level, as a full participant in the prevention component of juvenile justice. Intensive intervention can help stem the flow of youth deeper into juvenile justice and out-of-home placements. Successful intervention is cost effective. It is time to recognize that juvenile detention services can be a valuable intervention resource. State leadership is required to develop effective and coordinated interfaces between juvenile detention and all participants in juvenile justice.

 Juvenile Detention Recommendations

 I. Funding needs to be established to study juvenile detention utilization patterns from region to region, facility level to facility level.

1.) The study should be comprehensive and must include youth charged as Juvenile Offenders, Juvenile Delinquents, and Persons in Need of Supervision.

2.) The study should evaluate the characteristics of detained youth to identify service  needs including health, mental health, and special education.

3.) The study should develop a uniform data screen to assess who are the youth entering detention facilities.

4.) The study should evaluate the opportunity for observation, assessment and reporting to family and criminal courts as a resource in the decision  making process.

5.) The study should develop a set of recommendations to the Office of Court Administration for the appropriate and consistent use of the juvenile  detention option.

II. Support for the fulll range of less costly detention programs including, Own Home and Electronic Monitoring.

III. Juvenile detention facilities should play a greater role in the intake / admission screening process. There should be development of an objective mechanism as the basis for making uniform recommendations surrounding the decision to detain and in redirecting inappropriate admissions to more appropriate settings and services.

IV. Juvenile detention facilities should have greater input into the court / placement process. This should include recommendations regarding individual youth. Detention should be a gateway for services for children placed with OCFS. Cultivation of more efficient transfer of information as well as the elimination of duplicative testing and assessment would reduce overall costs to both the state and localities.

V. Funding and guidelines to establish juvenile justice coordination at the local level to assure that localities actually have a "system" for implementing their juvenile justice services in an orderly and efficient manner for all youth entering juvenile detention programs..

VI. Juvenile justice coordination should include creation of effective afiercare across local agency boundaries. Afiercare should assure transition to local educational programs and follow-up support and monitoring for all adjudicated and sentenced youth returning to the community from out of home placement, including juvenile detention, private residential facilities and OCFS residential facilities.

VII. Funding to develop and implement a core training curriculum designed specifically for local juvenile detention facility staff to assure uniform practices and reduce liabilities.

VIII. Funding to support this association in its effort to develop standards of care for juvenile detention programs.

 Broader Systemic Reform

Support for more efficient utilization of the costly option of juvenile detention requires broader systemic changes well beyond the scope of local juvenile detention programs. This association recommends the OCFS take a leadership role in pressing for reform in the following areas.

1.) Stricter adherence by Family Court Judges to time frames for hearings mandated by the Family Court Act.

2.) Development of adequate probation services commensurate with the numbers of youth requiring probation services. The aftercare program being developed for youth returning to the community from OCFS run facilities should be expanded to include youth returning from OCFS regulated private residential programs as well. It should be comprehensive and include mentoring, job training, and job placement services. OCFS should advocate for school based probation services as a less costly andintrusive option than police presence.

3.) Development of adequate juvenile police services and guidelines for uniform police practices.

4.) Development of consistent law guardian practices, including:

• Adequate time and resources to effectively represent respondents.
• Autonomy from judicial appointments to represent respondents.

5.) Development of alternatives to juvenile detention for youth with severe mental health issues. This should include specialized residential programs operated by or contracted with the OCFS as dispositional alternatives.

6.) Primary intervention and preventive services with youth at a younger age.

7.) Regionalized placement for OCFS placed youth to provide treatment and confinement as near their locality of origin as possible.

8.) Targeting educational, job readiness and employment training solutions as alternatives to out of home placement for juvenile justice involved youth who have specialized educational needs and a history of school failure. This should include adequate funding through the State Education Department for youth in local detention facilities as well as responsibility for OCFS placed youth.

Respectfully submitted,

JDA Executive Board Meeting

12-5-97 Updated 1/24/97, 1/27/98

Present: Claudia Engelhardt, John Harmon, John Gaines, Jack Rosati, Roger Kelly