People involved in Pulaski County's juvenile-justice system took first steps Tuesday toward diverting more children from jail, in a national movement two other Arkansas counties have embraced.
At the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce, the county kicked off the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative, something officials have worked toward for months, said Chastity Scifres, chief deputy county attorney.
Developed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the initiative gives counties and cities ways to lower their youth lockup population without sacrificing public safety. The participating counties and cities then track their progress through data.
The initiative is used in 39 states. Benton and Washington counties adopted it in March 2013. Since then, the number of youths committed to state custody in those counties dropped by 30 percent and 25 percent, respectively, according to a news release.
Last year, a Washington, D.C.-based organization analyzed Pulaski County's juvenile-justice system.
According to the report, completed by the Center for Children's Law and Policy, many youth detainees are released "very soon after they are admitted, raising the question of whether detention was necessary in the first place."
In 2016, more than half of jailed youths in the county were sent to jail for probation violations, a percentage that's "among the highest that we have seen in our work on juvenile justice reform," the report says.
Pulaski County does a number of things very well, Jason Szanyi, deputy director of the center, said at Tuesday's meeting.
In 2017, the 48-bed lockup on Roosevelt Road admitted around 570 youths, a 50 percent reduction from seven or eight years ago, Carma Gardner told the assembled group. She oversees the youth lockup.
However, county officials have acknowledged areas to improve, Szanyi said.
County Judge Barry Hyde said it can sometimes seem like "we get up every morning, we go to the same refrigerator, we get out the same quart of spoiled milk, and we don't just get one swig. We take two swigs, just to make sure that it's actually that way."
"Hopefully everybody in this room knows that now is the opportunity for change, and change is what we need," he said.
Prevailing research shows that detaining a child can be a "gateway" to deeper entrenchment in the criminal justice system, Szanyi said.
Places that use the initiative have shown a sharp, and sustained, reduction in their average daily populations, the foundation said. And crime indicators, like juvenile arrest rates, have decreased, Szanyi said.
Under Arkansas law, a minor must be detained when accused of: unlawful possession of a handgun, possessing a handgun on school property, unlawful discharge of a firearm from a vehicle, any felony committed while armed with a firearm and criminal use of a prohibited weapon.
Right now, juvenile-intake officers make the initial detention decisions for youths who don't fall into that camp before they see a judge.
Generally, a child who is a first-time offender, admits to the offense and shows remorse is not kept in jail, Laura Robertson, a lawyer and juvenile-intake officer, said Tuesday.
Under the initiative, that process for evaluating children could change. Benton and Washington county both adopted "risk assessment" tools to evaluate youths immediately after arrest.
Each child is scored on factors like the seriousness of the allegations and prior criminal history. Those scores correspond to whether the child should be released, sent to a local community program or detained until the case is adjudicated.
Conversation about adopting such a tool was tabled until the next meeting March 5.
Judge Joyce Warren, one of three Pulaski County circuit judges who oversee juvenile cases, will preside over the ongoing meetings.
Warren said over her 33-year career, she has altered the saying, "It takes a village to raise a child."
"It takes a competent village. Not a village of idiots," she said. "We are not a village of idiots," she added.
A part of Tuesday's conversation focused on Pulaski County youths charged as adults, who aren't housed in the juvenile jail.
According to the 2017 report, the juvenile-jail population has "many more opportunities than youth at the [adult] jail to receive developmentally appropriate services and supports, including educational services and mental health care."
Right now, the adult facility holds a fluctuating number of 18 to 23 minors, Capt. Toni Rose with the Pulaski County sheriff's office said Tuesday.
Those youths "get no services," Dorcy Corbin, a deputy public defender, said. "Are we leaving them behind in this initiative?"
Szanyi said some places have started housing minors who are charged as adults at their youth facilities. While not immediately on the agenda, the topic is "something we should explore," he said.
"Kids -- regardless of the way they're charged -- are kids."
Metro on 01/24/2018