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- I got my first arrest
when I was 11 years old.

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You know, you don't go from

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banging on the streets of Atlanta, Georgia

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with a life expectancy of 15 years

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to Commissioner of Juvenile
Justice accidentally.

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You go there because
somebody had the courage

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to believe more and give you

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the opportunity to become more.

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And that's what we have to do.

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That's our real work.

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- Senate Bill 200 is adopted.

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- Since the late 1990's the rate at which

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juveniles are arrested for violent crime

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has been cut in half.

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And so has the rate at which they're held

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in juvenile correctional facilities.

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State policy leaders are now poised

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to accelerate and lock in these trends

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toward more public safety
at less tax payer expense.

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- The time is right for
juvenile justice reform.

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- We're living in a time now where

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the opportunity has never been greater.

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- We need to recognize that we can do

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a better job with our kids.

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- States from Georgia
to Kentucky to Hawaii

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are taking a fresh look
at juvenile justice

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because it was clear the
status quo was not working.

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- Kentucky was spending it's money

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it all the wrong ways.

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- We weren't getting a
good return on investment.

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We weren't getting results.

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We weren't getting the best outcomes

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for our most troubled children.

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When I started to look at the type of kids

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that we had at the correctional facility

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I realized that the overwhelming majority

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of them were not a risk to public safety.

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- Like many judges, we were
committing kids by default.

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- We were putting almost as many kids in

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some type of detention facility

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for missing school as we
were for committing a crime.

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- We are forced, because
we don't have those

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local community interventions,
to commit them to the state.

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- We were spending a lot
of money on detention,

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particularly for low level offenders,

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when we see that that's not a productive

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or effective way to invest
in the lives of those kids.

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- Research shows that juvenile
correctional facilities

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generally fail to produce better outcomes

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than alternative
sanctions, cost much more,

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and can actually increase
re-offending for certain youth.

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- Putting kids in placement
in secure facilities,

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lock up, does not actually deter crime.

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- Longer stays don't seem
to show any positive effects

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in terms of reducing rate of re-arrest.

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At some point, we should
have a way of thinking about

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why we're keeping an
adolescent in an institution

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for a longer time period.

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And if they are reasons to do that

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then let's be explicit about that,

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and figure out what
we're getting out of it.

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- To get better results,
states are reducing

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the number of youths sent
to correctional facilities

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and reinvesting a portion of the savings

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into programs and policies
that reduce recidivism.

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- One of the ways that states
can really respond effectively

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is to be able to sort
through kids in terms of

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low risk, medium risk, high risk kids,

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and to focus those resources effectively

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on the adolescents who
are going to present

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the highest risk of
public safety problems.

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- If we require judges
to apply risk assessment

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instruments before they can commit kids

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to ensure that the lower risk kids

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are not committed to the state.

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- We're gonna see a dramatic shift

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in the way we serve young people.

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- These reforms, first of
all, are going to keep kids

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who otherwise would have
been sent to a youth prison

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to remain in the community
and receive the type

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of interventions that need
to happen in their home.

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- There will be a
significantly reduced number

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of actual court cases filed.

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They will be addressed appropriately

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with social services on the front end.

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- To better protect public safety,

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you need to spend those
dollars at the front end

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of the system versus the
back end of the system.

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- Everything in juvenile
justice is about intervention.

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Prevent a child learning
further criminal behaviors

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and you prevent a future adult criminal.

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- These reforms are not only
making communities safer,

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but they're saving states
money because placing youth

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in residential facilities is the most

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expensive correctional option.

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- When you can divert,
you can avoid sending

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a low level child to
detention for $100,000 a year,

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those savings mount up quickly.

99
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- In the state of Hawaii
it's costing approximately

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$199,000 a year to incarcerate a youth.

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- The bottom line is that
we have passed a bill

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that gets better outcomes for children

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and does so at a lower
cost for the tax payer.

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- As a result of these reforms,

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we have realized cost savings.

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In Georgia for example,
we have already shut down

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two facilities because we are no longer

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committing low risk offenders.

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- States are getting to good public policy

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by looking at the data.

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Across all branches of government,

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and the partisan divide, state
leaders are coming together

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to assess their systems
and find solutions.

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- The collaboration on this bill is key.

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We turned no one away.

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- The task force was vital to the process

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because it gave us that credibility

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and that unified voice to speak with

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when rolling out a package
of legislative reforms.

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- These reforms are grounded in research

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and the public supports them.

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- The public has always been more positive

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in its orientation toward
youthful offenders.

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- Eighty-five percent of voters
say they are not concerned

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whether juvenile offenders are sent to

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correctional facilities or
how long they stay there.

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What matters is reducing the likelihood

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of future crime.

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- I really think in some
way we're kinda coming

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back around to what the
public expected all the time

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from the juvenile justice system.

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- State leaders have successfully adopted

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reforms that will change the direction

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of juvenile justice policy
and the lives of young people.

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- For every child that we divert from the

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criminal justice system
and decrease the chances

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they'll ever enter it, that's a policy win

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in so many ways.

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- We go into public
service to do those things.

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That's why we're there.

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- If we continue on this trajectory,

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the only children that
come to the deep end

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of our system will be the ones that

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absolutely need it and every other child

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in the commonwealth, and
hopefully in the nation,

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will move forward to
their greatest successes.