Learning from Our Mistakes: Transforming Juvenile Justice in CA

Our youth prison system is broken. It's expensive and it doesn't help our youth. Community-based programs have been proven to work in other states and California's youth deserve better.

ellabakercenter.org/booksnotbars

[MUSIC PLAYING]

JOANNA MOLINA: You don't
go there just do your time.

You go there to get better.

MARK STEWARD: The skeptics
will say that kind of approach

will not work with these
kids in California.

Well, they're showing it does
work with kids in California.

JAKE NEWMAN: It's about
changing your thinking

because that affects
every aspect in your life.

These programs
do work and simply

putting people away does not.

I'd probably be back
gang-banging or in jail right

now if I didn't come here.

VINCENT SCHIRALDI:
People have forgotten,

because America has done such an
incredible job of incarcerating

people, that the
goal of the system

is not to have more inmates,
it's to have fewer victims.

NARRATOR: California
locks up more youth

than any other state in
the nation, frequently

for minor offenses.

This over-reliance on
detention and prisons

has resulted in high costs
at the local and state level

without real public
safety benefit.

Nearly three out
of four youth that

go to the state's
youth prison system

are rearrested
within three years.

At a cost of $240,000
per year per youth,

the current system is failing--

failing taxpayers, the
community, and young people.

But there is hope.

By implementing
proven techniques,

local juvenile justice
systems across the country

have reduced crime, saved money,
and helped youth turn mistakes

into motivation.

These local systems
have paid attention

to the key decisions and
programs that can either lead

to a youth success or failure.

There's a lot of
evidence that shows

that detaining kids has a
lot of bad, negative impacts

on a kid's lives.

So you take a low-level
offender and put them

in an Evening Reporting Center
and another low-level offender

and put them in a detention
facility, the odds

that the one in the
detention facility

will get rearrested for
another crime are higher.

We have essentially
criminalized

normal, adolescent behavior.

If you're in a
zero-tolerance public school,

and you're walking
down the hall,

and somebody is making
fun of your girlfriend,

and you're making
fun of their mama,

and y'all are
pushing and shoving,

that is what teenagers
call a great time.

If you're in a
zero-tolerance school that

has a no touching policy,
you are now suspended.

Whereas, if you're going
to the Country Day school

that your parents are
paying $30,000 a year for,

there is no zero tolerance.

Those parents are paying for
tolerance, not zero tolerance.

Young people of color represent
about 38% of the population

and are incarcerated
at a rate of about 72%.

So they are
incarcerated at a number

that is twice their
representation

in the population.

And what we do is we help
jurisdictions find out why.

We really do have a
disproportionate amount

of Latinos or children of
color in this institution,

but it seems like the majority
of the white kids go home.

What's going on here?

So we have to take
a critical look

and come up with some solutions.

NARRATOR: In the
state of California,

once a youth is
charged with a crime,

the judge decides whether
the youth will remain at home

or whether the youth
needs to be locked up

in juvenile hall pending
his or her adjudication--

the youth equivalent of a trial.

So in systems where you don't
have a good risk screening

instrument or you don't have
good detention alternatives,

kids of color tend to
go in in greater numbers

than they ought to and stay
longer than they ought to.

But if you have a good screening
mechanism, and you say,

no, we're only going
to lock kids up

if they surpass this threshold.

Well then, you should be able to
screen out all those frivolous

or less serious cases.

If you were to take that
population in juvenile hall,

you could get rid of about
40% of that population

because they're in there
for probation violations,

placement failures,
and failure to appears,

or some of those
administrative minor offenses.

NARRATOR: The W. Haywood Burns
Institute and the Juvenile

Detention Alternatives
Initiative

offer tools to determine
which kids really

need to be in juvenile hall,
which youth are better served

by programs within
their communities,

and how to reduce
racial disparities.

JDAI is an initiative to
educate juvenile justice

agencies, judges, prosecutors,
defense attorneys on who

do we really need to detain.

And it's much smaller
number than who is really

detained around the country.

And then there's alternatives.

We use things like
even reporting centers.

So instead of being locked
up until your court hearing

process is over, you go home.

But every day, we have a
community organization that

picks you up from school, takes
you to their organization until

9:00 or 10:00 at night,
and then drives you home, ,

and you have a curfew.

You have to stay
home until you wake

up for school the next day.

We have a 95% success rate
with even reporting centers.

So if you can get a kid to
come back to court without

getting rearrested through
a evening reporting center

or an in-home family
service program, great.

Why waste four to five
times as much money

putting a kid in a locked cell?

JDAI sites, on average,
have reduced their reliance

on secure detention by 35%.

In most JDAI sites, public
safety has improved,

and it has saved taxpayers
millions of dollars.

My name is Jake Newman.

When my parents and
all their friends

were talking and
have all been prison,

I would sit there and just
hide around the corner

and listen to them.

Man, that sounds so cool.

I want to go prison,
so I can sound tough.

I want to get tattoos all over.

That's just what I wanted to be.

My name's Anthony Martinez.

I just started gang-banging.

I didn't really know what
it was about back then.

I was just a little kid.

Felt like I belonged.

There's a lot of stuff I
didn't know, wish I did know.

But I know now.

My name is Joanna Molina.

I was on drugs, so I was numb.

I didn't feel, like inside.

I dropped out of school,
and I couldn't find a job.

At home, we were having
problems with money.

And I was stressed out a lot.

NARRATOR: Once a youth
has been found delinquent,

judges have a number of options
where he or she may be sent.

Just like at the
pre-adjudication stage,

many California juvenile
systems rely far too heavily

on secure
institutional settings,

like county boot
camps or the Division

of Juvenile Justice,
which have been plagued

by scandal and conflict.

In the 90s, the California
youth prison system

became notorious for
failures at every level--

little to no programming,
excessive use

of solitary confinement,
widespread violence inside.

And the youth prison
system was sued.

And in the four years since
that lawsuit was settled,

little to no progress
has been made.

Three out of four youth
who come out of the system

end up back in, and
it's costing hundreds

of millions of dollars.

It costs $234,000 per youth per
year in the California Youth

Prison system.

So in the years and years of
struggle for a better system,

we've seen nothing in return.

NARRATOR: Just like in the
pre-adjudication stage,

states and counties
around the country

have been able to reduce
their expensive reliance

on these antiquated facilities
by using JDAI to identify

which youth could
be better served

by community-based programs.

Washington DC and Santa
Clara County, California

are two examples of systems
that safely reduced the number

of youth in secure care.

We brought in national
experts, the National Council

on Crime Delinquency,
and many others

to help us create tools and
assessments to make sure

that we're only locking up
those young men and women who

are a public safety risk.

And so we expanded
our continuum of care.

So we have a robust
community services continuum

where we have
therapeutic group homes.

We have in-home family services,
multi-systemic therapy,

multi-dimensional
treatment foster care.

We increased the number
of our case managers

and social workers
within the agencies,

so that they have
a lower caseload

and spend more time with
youth so that we can serve

more youth in the community.

And that has worked.

We have significantly
increased the number of youth

who are in the community
under our supervision while

reducing the serious
juvenile crime rate.

So New Beginnings is
a commitment facility.

it's not for detained kids.

It's for kids who
the judges feel

need to be in the
care of my department.

And my department has 770
kids in its care and about 50

of them are locked up
in this facility, which

is our only secure facility.

But most of our
kids are not here.

We reserve this for
the deeper end kids

that we get committed to us.

People have forgotten,
because America

has done such an incredible
job of incarcerating people,

that the goal of the system
is not to have more inmates.

It's to have fewer victims.

It's about what is the best
way to make our society safe.

SPEAKER 1: - Fighting,
cussing, drug, guns,

all types like that.

VINCENT SCHIRALDI:
Staff beat the kids up.

Kids beat the staff up.

Kids beat each other up.

SPEAKER 2: Get dominated
by a gang subculture.

DAVID MUHAMMED: A
dark decrepited place.

VINCENT SCHIRALDI:
Sort of anarchy

that was going on there.

It could be a lot
time in this room spent.

It just feels different.

It was always a fight
against staff or a fight--

a resident versus a resident.

But it was tough
to be down here.

NARRATOR: Oak Hill was
Washington DC's equivalent

of a state youth prison system
like California's Division

of Juvenile Justice.

Oak Hill was rundown,
notorious for abuse,

and subject to an
ongoing lawsuit.

VINCENT SCHIRALDI: When I
got here five years ago,

the department
was kind of broken

in almost every way you can
imagine a department being

broken, from treatment
of young people

to abuse to physical
plant conditions.

The place was really in
decrepit, decrepit shape.

DAVID MUHAMMED: When this
administration took over

in 2005, it had 240 youth
although it was a 180 bed

facility.

So there was no structured
programming at all.

And a Blue Ribbon
commission in 2003

for the District of Columbia
came back with a report

saying that they should
close the facility altogether

and in its place,
build a facility

that runs on a system close
to Missouri's Juvenile Justice

System.

NARRATOR: Youth who have gotten
in the most serious trouble

can turn their lives around.

Rather than providing the
intense services these youth

need, we often isolate these
youth in remote youth prisons

adding damage to damage.

There is a better way.

One of the first
and most successful

intensive rehabilitative
models is the Missouri model.

In Missouri, I would say,
there are several things that

are the key ingredients--
the staff, the environment,

the number of kids
you have in a group,

and how they can feel safe
enough to deal with these

issues and really be able to
discuss their core issues that

they have to deal with.

DAVID MUHAMMED: And so,
they are incarcerated,

so they are removed
from the public,

but their principals
are smaller,

closer to the young
people's homes,

more therapeutic
and rehabilitative.

They're going to get education.

They're going to get
mental health services.

They're going to get
behavioral health services.

They're going to get
rehabilitation and life skills

and cognitive restructuring.

And that's the thought and
design behind New Beginnings.

MIKE SIMS: In 2006, we were
looking at our failure rate.

Four out of 10 youth were
failing in the program.

We tried the behavior
modification program

but that didn't
internalize any changes.

So we started looking
around the country,

and we heard about
the Missouri model.

When we went there,
I think it's probably

the first time in a
long time that we all

agreed that this was something
that was really outstanding.

I'm very impressed from
the get go at what we saw.

Some of the key elements we
brought back from Missouri,

one of the most important ones,
was the idea of a small groups.

So you could actually
talk about some

of the more deep-rooted issues
that you can't talk about

in large group.

The groups here in
The Ranch, they're

used for a lot of
different things.

They can be light groups
to pretty intense groups.

Say there's a heated argument
or someone is acting up,

the staff will be like group it
up, and everyone forms a group,

starts talking, and
works it out instead

of just slapping the cuffs
on and sending you back

to the hall.

Because a lot of times, you only
see things from your aspect.

By grouping up, it
gives you a chance

to calm down and
see all aspects.

When I first got here,
I was really aggressive.

I didn't have any respect
for myself, so I sure as heck

wasn't going to
respect anybody else.

I remember that there
was this instance where

I was arguing with the
counselor, and I was mad.

I don't know.

I was like really, really mad.

And I just sat there, and
I just thought to myself,

like calm down.

And then the next
day, I realized

I'd never done that in my life.

I've never really sat there,
and like don't do this.

Don't-- you know
what I'm saying?

Don't freak out right now.

And I was like I can do this.

This doesn't seem so hard now.

NARRATOR: By all measures,
adopting the Missouri model

in Washington DC and
in Santa Clara County

has been successful.

While youth prisons like the
DJJ have a recidivism rate

of over 70%, the Missouri system
has maintained a 7% recidivism

rate and helped like programs
improve youth outcomes.

There's really no reason
to maintain the DJJ system

anymore.

You could take the $400
million that we currently

invest in DJJ, transfer
a portion of it

back to the counties,
let the counties expand

their array of services, both
institutional and preferably

not institutional
services, and let's

start to redesign and
restructure juvenile justice

services in California
in a way that is

up to the challenges
of the 21st century.

VINCENT SCHIRALDI: California
counties can definitely

afford this kind of system
because if you can really

assess which kids need to
be in secure confinement

and which don't
and use a continuum

of these other alternatives
for the less serious offenders,

you should be able to
afford the whole thing

with the amount of
money that's just

got realigned to the counties.

Simply locking young
people up and putting them

in the institution is
truly not the solution.

And those community-based
programs need to exist.

NARRATOR: In communities
across the nation,

local and state governments
have reduced their populations

of incarcerated youth,
closed abusive youth prisons,

and supported programs
that bring out

young people's talents.

These reforms have
saved taxpayers

money, giving people
a second chance,

and strengthen communities.

The choice is clear.

The steps are clear.

We have the resources,
and we have the knowledge.

Now it's time to get to work.

It's like, they
believe in me a lot.

So when they would tell me, you
know you could go to college,

and now, I'm like,
yeah, I know I can.

I'm going to go.

I look forward now
of going to school.

Just recently, for like
only like the second times

in my life, my dad told
me he was proud of me.

And that made me just,
all right, I'm doing this.

This ain't just about
passing the program.

I can really become
a better person.

While I was here,
they just helped

me realize how to
make better choices

and what I did
wrong in the past,

how I could do
better in the future,

and what to work on now.

So I'm living hope if anything.

[MUSIC - MICHAEL FRANTI, "SEE
YOU IN THE LIGHT"]

And the loveliness
and tenderness

and happiness and
openness and togetherness

and the loveliness.

Yeah, yeah.

The vampires gather around
me angling to take a bite.

They want to drink
my blood of courage

and try to take away my fight.

But no, no, no,
they can't do that.

No, for one truth
I learned in life.

You want to scare
away the vampires,

you simply guide
them into the light.

But when I wake
up in the morning,

I hope I see you in the light.

And when I wake
up in the morning,

I hope I see you
in the light, yeah.

In the morn, in the morning,
in the morn, in the morning,

in the morn, in the morning.