Juvenile Justice Technical Assistance

1. Juvenile Justice Technical Assistance Coalition for Juvenile Justice Webinar October 23, 2014

2. The Pew Charitable Trusts is a nonprofit organization that applies a rigorous, analytical approach to improve public policy, inform the public, and stimulate civic life. Pew’s public safety performance project works with states to advance data-driven, fiscally sound policies and practices in the criminal and juvenile justice systems.

3. Public Safety Performance Project • Works with states to examine their juvenile justice systems to get a better public safety return on their juvenile justice spending. States are focusing on: • Protecting public safety by improving outcomes for youth, families and the public • Holding juvenile offenders accountable • Controlling juvenile justice costs

4. Process of Pew’s Technical Assistance Task force facilitation State selection Legislative assistance Implementation support

5. State Selection: Alignment of Goals Undertake a comprehensive analysis of West Virginia’s juvenile justice system and data, and develop system-level recommendations, including proposals for statutory, budgetary, and administrative changes, to protect and promote public safety by –Improving outcomes for youth, families, and communities –Enhancing accountability for juvenile offenders and the system –Containing taxpayer costs by focusing system resources on serious juvenile offenders

6. Task Force Facilitation: Membership • Executive branch • Governor/Governor’s Designee • Juvenile Justice agency director • Children and Families agency director • Judicial branch • Chief Justice/Designee • AOC Director • Judges • Probation • Legislators • Stakeholders • Education • Prosecutor • Defense attorney • Law enforcement • County officials or local government

7. Task Force Facilitation: Key Components Task force facilitation State selection Legislative assistance Implementation support Step 1: Data analysis and system assessment Step 2: Policy development Step 3: Consensus building Ongoing: Stakeholder engagement

8. Task Force Facilitation: Report “The task force was vital to the process because it gave us that credibility and that unified voice to speak with when rolling out a package of legislative reforms.” John Tilley, Kentucky House of Representatives Judiciary Chair, Task Force Co-Chair

9. Legislative Assistance • Georgia: HB 242 • House: 173-0 • Senate: 47-0 • Governor signed on May 2, 2013 • Reinvestment: $5 million • Hawaii: HB 2490 • House: 50-0 • Senate: 24-0 • Governor signed on July 2, 2014 • Reinvestment: $1.26 million • Kentucky: SB 200 • House: 84-15 • Senate: 32-6 • Governor signed on April 25, 2014

10. Key Information Pew Provides Data Analysis Research State Examples

11. Data Analysis: Findings For example, in Georgia, the data revealed • Low-level youth in out-of-home placement: 45 percent of youth in nonsecure residential beds were misdemeanants, 8 percent were status offenders; • Increasing length of stay:Between 2002 and 2011, designed felon length of stay increased 13 percent; • Poor outcomes: 65 percent of youth released from those beds recidivated after three years; and • High taxpayer costs: Each secure bed cost Georgia $90,000 per year.

12. Data Analysis: Implications “It was a surprise to learn the facts about our juvenile population because you want to think that you are just committing those ‘bad’ kids and the fact is we really weren’t.” Judge Lisa Jones, District Court judge, Daviess County, Kentucky “When I started to look at the type of kids that we had at the correctional facility, I realized that the overwhelming majority of them were not a risk to public safety. So why did we have them in a correctional facility? Which got me looking at our entire system, and realizing that reform was just a must.” David Hipp, Executive Director, Office of Youth Services, Department of Human Services

13. Research: High Cost, Low Return of Residential Placements, Importance of Community Options • Residential placements: • Generally fail to produce better outcomes than alternative sanctions, • Cost much more, and • Can increase reoffending for certain youth. • Community programming and practices are effective when systems: • Use evidence-based tools, • Match placement, supervision, and treatment to risk and need, • Include treatment with surveillance, and • Ensure quality service delivery Kentucky was spending its money in all the wrong ways. We were spending a lot of money on detention, particularly for low-level offenders, when we see that that's not a productive or an effective way to invest in the lives of those kids.”Whitney Westerfield, Kentucky Senate Judiciary Chair.

14. State Examples: Focus Out-of-Home Facilities on Higher-Level Offenders • Georgia • Creates a two-class system within the Designated Felony Act • Prohibits status offenders and certain misdemeanants from residential commitment • Kentucky • Establishes an alternative, pre-court process for status cases • Restricts commitment of lower-level felony offenders and misdemeanors • Limits the length of out-of-home placement and length of supervision based on seriousness of the offense and risk to reoffend • Requires graduated sanctions for probation violations and limits out-of-home to 30 days. • Hawaii • Prohibits misdemeanants from HYCF placement

15. State Examples: Build Community Options that Reduce Recidivism • Georgia • Establishes a voluntary fiscal incentive grant program • Require evidence-based practices and assessments • Allow lower level youth onto administrative caseloads • Kentucky • Requires use of objective, evidence-based tools in decision-making   • Create fiscal incentive program • Increases engagement and accountability of families • Hawaii • Require validated risk and needs assessment, case planning, sanctions and incentive system • Allow earned discharge from probation

16. State Examples: Enhance Oversight and Ensure Performance • Georgia • Continue oversight with GA Council on Criminal Justice Reform • Require performance-based contracting • Require uniform data collection and tracking • Kentucky • Requires improved data collection and reporting to measure outcomes • Establishes an Oversight Council • Increase training and education   • Hawaii • Requires enhanced data and outcome reporting • Creates a Juvenile Justice Oversight Advisory Council

17. Anticipated Results Over First 5 Years • Georgia: • Population: Reduced by 31% • Savings: $85 million • Hawaii: • Population: Reduced by 60% • Savings: $11 million “…the most important change was ensuring that judges only send a kid to our secure facility, the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility, if he is a threat to the public. Period.” Judge Mark Browning, Hawaii Family Court Judge. • Kentucky: • Population: Reduced by 37% • Savings: up to $24 million

18. Exploring Whether this Process is Right for Your State • What’s the problem/issue your state would tackle? • Is this the right time for state leaders to address that problem/issue?

19. Contact:Robin OlsenManager, State Policy, Public Safety Performance ProjectThe Pew Charitable Trusts(202) 540-6603rolsen@pewtrusts.org