Too many nonviolent Arkansas youths are being detained in juvenile detention centers, according to a report released Tuesday.
From 2010 through 2012, almost 90 percent of all youths held in detention in Arkansas had been arrested for nonviolent crimes, according to the report “Why Detention is Not Always the Answer: A Closer Look at Youth Lock-up in Arkansas.”
Most of them faced only a single, misdemeanor offense, stated the report by Paul Kelly, senior policy analyst for Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.
“Locking up a youth in a jail is both a symbolic and real ‘criminalizing’ of youthful behavior,” according to the report. “It should not be taken lightly or used inappropriately, particularly for those who do not pose a threat to public safety.”
Kelly said he examined more than 40,000 cases, which was enough to establish trends, but comprehensive statewide data were lacking. Kelly had information from the Arkansas Administrative Office of the Courts and some county detention facilities.
The report examines juvenile detention in Arkansas as opposed to secure lockups operated by the Arkansas Department of Human Services Division of Youth Services. Juvenile detention is controlled by sheriffs, judicial districts or other branches of county government that operate 14 facilities across the state with a total capacity of 538 beds.
The juvenile lockups serve as holding facilities for youths who are awaiting hearings on charges filed against them, being sanctioned for delinquency or violation of a court order, or awaiting placement in a facility operated by the Division of Youth Services.
People between ages 10 and 18 who violate the law in Arkansas can be found delinquent and committed by a juvenile court judge to the custody of the Division of Youth Services, or judges may place them in county facility for up to 90 days, put them on probation, order community service or require them to wear electronic monitoring devices.
The number of Arkansas youths held in detention doubled between 2007 and 2011, according to the report, citing a U.S. Census Bureau snapshot of the two days the census was taken.
The appropriate use of pre-adjudication detention is to ensure that the youth shows up for court and doesn’t commit crimes in the meantime, said Kelly, who spoke Tuesday at a news conference in Fayetteville.
Using resources for prevention and treatment, instead of incarceration, would be more effective, save money and result in greater public safety, according to the report. Ankle monitors, therapy or probation would be better options for many of them, said Kelly.
“The inappropriate incarceration of a child really is just adding another risk factor to kids who are already facing a lot of challenges,” he said. “We understand kids need to be held accountable for what they do.”
Based on data from 2010 to 2012, 75 percent of Arkansas youths in detention were male, 54 percent were white and 25 percent were 17 years old. Thirty-nine percent of youths in detention were black, but that’s twice the percentage of black people in the general population of Arkansas who are younger than 18 years old, according to the report.
Some recommendations in the report include implementing a statewide risk-assessment instrument, maintaining uniform and reliable data throughout Arkansas, examining why black youths are over-represented in detention admissions and developing alternatives for low and medium-risk youth.
Benton and Washington counties have been participating in the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative. In each of those counties, about 250 juvenile cases were examined to see how detention was being used, Kelly said. The data collected in those two counties are being used to guide policy-change efforts, according to the study.
Circuit Judge Stacey Zimmerman of Arkansas’ 4th Judicial Circuit said Northwest Arkansas was already making progress before getting involved with the Casey Foundation program two years ago.
The number of intakes in the Washington County juvenile lockup (which includes Washington and Madison counties) was 1,145 in 2005, said Zimmerman, who spoke during the news conference. In 2013, the number of intakes had dropped to 518.
“I think that the judge really tries hard to find some alternative remedies for juveniles instead of placing them in detention,” said Seth Creed, juvenile prosecutor for the 4th Judicial Circuit, in a telephone interview Tuesday.
Circuit Judge Thomas Smith, of the 19th West Judicial Circuit, said at the news conference that juvenile detention intakes in Benton County have dropped from 185 in the first three months of 2012 to 107 in the first three months of 2014.
The average stay in for youths dropped during the same period from 8.59 days in 2012 to 5.36 days this year, he said.
Lisa Parks, an attorney from Springdale who is running against Zimmerman for juvenile judge, said she agrees with the recommendations in the report released Tuesday.
“I’ve been out on the campaign trail talking about these very issues, trying to reduce juvenile incarceration,” said Parks, who attended the news conference. “We have to use these risk assessments to decide which juveniles need to be locked up and which don’t.”
Smith doesn’t have an opponent.
After the news conference, Casey Foundation representatives conducted a training session on risk-assessment tools for judges and other juvenile justice employees.
“The idea of all this is to be able to reduce detention as much as possible without jeopardizing public safety,” said Mark Soler, executive director of the Center for Children’s Law and Policy. “The second part is very important. … Some children need to be locked up. Some children are a danger to themselves or to the community. And we all believe they need to be kept away from the community until they get the right kind of services. But many children who end up in detention don’t need to be there.”
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 04/09/2014