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The time is right for youth justice reform Emily Mooney: The time is right for more youth justice reform in Virginia

Richmond Times-Dispatch - 12/1/2017

IMPROVING PUBLIC SAFETY

Virginia's referral rate to youth detention centers is almost 50 percent higher than the national average.

By Emily Mooney

For Gov.-elect Ralph Northam and newly elected members of the General Assembly, it is time for a new stage of youth justice reform in Virginia.

The McAuliffe administration led the fight for the closure of Beaumont Correctional Center, a large Virginia youth prison, and reduced sentencing guidelines. It partnered with the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice to shrink the average daily direct care population held in youth correctional and detention centers by more than 40 percent in three years.

However, Virginia's referral rate to youth detention centers is almost 50 percent higher than the national average. Almost 1,000 Virginia youth were living apart from their families and communities in correctional facilities or detention centers on an average day in 2016.

According to the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice, almost nine out of every 10 youth in the direct care population are incarcerated in large, youth prisons.

Approximately seven out of 10 youth incarcerated in Virginia are black, and around 95 percent of the Virginia youth correctional population is male. Moreover, incarcerated youth disproportionately come from the poorest communities in Virginia.

We can do better.

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Research shows that youth incarceration is often ineffective at transforming youth behavior and, therefore, increasing public safety.

Virginia statistics show this, too.

Approximately four out of every 10 youth released from the direct-care population from 2011 to 2014 were re-convicted of a new crime within a year of release. More than 50 percent of youth released from direct care in 2015 were re-arrested within a year.

A 2015 study found that youth incarceration may decrease the probability of high school graduation by as much as 13 percentage points. And instead of succeeding academically, incarcerated youth are 22 percentage points more likely to find themselves behind bars as an adult.

Virginia data confirms this research.

Within three years of their release in 2012, more than a quarter of youth in Virginia's direct-care population were re-incarcerated in the adult correctional system. Taxpayers pay around $170,000 a year for each youth incarcerated in a juvenile correctional center and $32,000 for each youth who is re-incarcerated in an adult correctional center.

Public safety needs to be preserved. In some cases, high-risk youth may need to be incarcerated to ensure that goal. But Virginia's current choice of incarcerating youth using large, youth prisons is simply not working. Virginia data show that every additional year of youth incarceration increases the likelihood of arrest by approximately 32.7 percent.

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The McAuliffe administration started the reform process, but Gov.-elect Northam has an opportunity to do more.

We need to hold youth accountable for their actions in order to restore order and public safety. However, the way we hold youth accountable today determines whether we achieve these goals tomorrow.

If our brand of youth incarceration fails to deter youth crime, we must make some changes. Moreover, if youth incarceration ensures youth are less likely to achieve success in the classroom and find gainful employment, we need to rethink our priorities.

Expanding community-based alternatives to incarceration may be a chance for adopt a new strategy. These programs can promote justice for youths and individuals impacted by crime by building strong support networks where youth live - ultimately reducing recidivism.

Virginia youth deserve a second chance and individual treatment from mental health and substance-abuse professionals in their communities who can help set them free from addiction and traumatic backgrounds. They need proximity to family and community members who support them and are ultimately crucial to resisting negative peer influences and poor decision-making.

Communities deserve better public safety - and youth who are restored mentally and physically. They deserve a local economy not decimated by a cycle of crime, broken families, and limited employment opportunities.

Taxpayers deserve better investments in effective, data-driven policies proven to increase public safety and restore human dignity.

Currently, the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice spends almost 30 percent of its budget on youth incarceration and less than 2 percent of the budget on community-based programs.

Our money should be invested in programs that promote youth transformation, instead of placing them in an environment that consistently makes the public and the youth worse off.

My advice to Gov.-elect Northam and the Virginia General Assembly: Let's make smarter investments in our youth.

Emily Mooney is a second-year master of public policy candidate at the University of Virginia. Her current research includes work on juvenile justice reform in Virginia. She has previously worked with Prison Fellowship, the Charles Koch Institute, and the Heritage Foundation. She can be reached at emily.m.mooney@gmail.com.