FULFILLING THE MANDATE OF ACT 1225: Crafting a comprehensive plan to allocate juvenile justice resources, reduce reliance on incarceration, and provide community-based services statewide www.laccr.org
Act 1225 established the JJIC and charged it with creating a plan for juvenile justice reform Among other things, the powers and duties of the JJIC include: “ The commission … shall address such issues as…the development of a comprehensive plan to reduce the over reliance on secure incarceration and provide community-based services including a time schedule for statewide implementation for the plan .” La. R.S. § 46:2755 Currently, there is no comprehensive plan to ensure we are fulfilling the mandate of this landmark legislation Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights 2
The number of youth in secure care dropped dramatically with the passage of Act 1225 Daily Populations in OJJ Secure Care* 2000 - Present 2000 Act 1225 1500 1000 500 0 1 2000-2011 data is the average daily population as reported by the Institute for Public Health and Justice to the JJIC in 2013. Recent data is the population in secure care on February 1, 2015 as reported in OJJ’s monthly demographic report available on the agency’s website Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights 3
But since Act 1225, the use of secure care has not declined nearly as much as the juvenile crime rate Change in New Change in Secure Change in U.S. Change in LA Orleans Juv. Care ADP Juv. Arrest Rate 3 Juv. Arrests 2 Arrests 4 560 7510 6280 490 1547 4396 13% 4511 842 30% 40% 46% 2006 2011 2005 2011 2008 2014 2005 2011 2 Based on statistics collected by the Louisiana Commission of Law Enforcement based on the Uniform Crime Reporting system. Only certain offenses are included and not all law enforcement agencies report each year. 3 Rate per 1,000 4 Data is only available starting in 2008 Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights 4
Despite closing two secure facilities since 2003, our capacity for incarceration still outpaces crime rates • Louisiana has the capacity to house a total of 1,299 youth per day in short-term detention centers and longer-term nonsecure and secure care facilities. This has the potential to cost taxpayers more than $141 million each year. 5 • OJJ recently broke ground on a new 72 bed facility, with plans for another 72 bed facility to begin construction in the near future. Given the huge costs, it is imperative that the state have as few juvenile • justice beds as is necessary. It is also a good public safety strategy. Yet, there are few mechanisms in place to prevent the system from adding more beds, thereby spending millions of additional dollars on unnecessary incarceration as juvenile arrests continue to fall here and across the country. 5 Based on the most recent information available from the Office of the Legislative Auditor and the Department of Children and Family Services Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights 5
It is time to return to Act 1225’s mandate for a system - wide plan to ensure reduced reliance on confinement What will it take? Development of a replicable, comprehensive data dashboard to get • a better sense of the characteristics of youth who are being incarcerated, and what will be needed to serve them more effectively in the community • A critical look at all components of the system – this is bigger than the Office of Juvenile Justice • A forum to make recommendations based on the findings from this data that can ultimately shape legislation as well as state and local level policy changes Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights 6
NEXT STEPS • LCCR will partner with OJJ and the Institute for Public Health and Justice to plan for the development of a comprehensive data report Report back to the JJIC with a more detailed plan • • Convene system stakeholders to inform the analysis and identify solutions • Report regularly to the JJIC as the recommendations are taking shape Provide a final report prior to the 2016 legislative session • Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights 7
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