LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas' juvenile justice system needs to rely more on community-based programs rather than confinement, according to a report that will come out later this month.
More than 90 percent of youths committed in Arkansas are nonviolent offenders, and keeping them locked up increases their risk of future delinquency, the report found.
The report, not yet complete, was commissioned in January by the Justice Equality Human Dignity and Tolerance Foundation of New York in collaboration with the Arkansas Division of Youth Services. It essentially supports previous studies by the Disability Rights Center in Little Rock, a nonprofit federally funded group that advocates for the disabled.
"I think what [the report] says is we're at a very important time for juvenile justice in Arkansas," said Dana McClain, senior staff attorney for the Disability Rights Center, which released its findings more than a year ago. "And if we fail to take the opportunity we have here, our children are going to suffer because of it."
A juvenile justice task force will use the report to identify problems in the system, said Julie Munsell, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Human Services, the agency that manages the Youth Services Division. An assessment unit is visiting the state's eight detention facilities and looking to divert some of the young offenders to less restrictive environments, she said, noting one of the report's recommendations.
Saying incarceration should be used as a last resort, the report recommends developing a five-year plan for changing the system.
Moving youths to community-based facilities can't start soon enough, but it won't be easy, said Paul Kelly, a senior analyst with Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, a nonprofit group.
"We do not have the capacity currently in the state to handle all of these kids," he said of community-based programs that would provide, among other services, substance abuse treatment and family therapy.
Refocusing the juvenile justice system also would save taxpayers money that could be reinvested in developing a "comprehensive array of community interventions proven to help youth stay out of trouble," according to the report.
Each youth kept at a detention center costs the state $150 per day. The state pays $120 to $480 per day to keep a young offender at a specialty facility, such as the Arkansas State Hospital.
In fiscal year 2007, 621 youngpeople were committed to the Youth Services Division, and 403 of them were confined in specialty facilities, costing the state more than $23 million. The division's budget for this fiscal year is $61.9 million.
Some of the offenders have committed such crimes as murder and rape.
"We recognize and acknowledge that some youth and some crimes will require some period of confinement," said Bart Lubow, director of programs for high-risk youth at the Baltimorebased Annie E. Casey Foundation, which releases its 2008 Kids Count Databook today.
The problem of locking up young people who commit nonviolent crimes is partly cultural, Kelly said. People like a revenge system of justice, he said.
Pat Arthur, one of the authors of the report to come out later this month, said the task force is bringing together agencies that deal with similar matters, so one of the biggest difficulties will be finding a consensus. But she said the leaders of the state are making the right decision by trying to change a problematic system.
"I'm very hopeful for Arkansas youth and their families because there's some real good leadership in the state right now," she said.
Information for this article was provided by Carolyne Park of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Front Section, Pages 9 on 06/12/2008