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Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Ind. Courts - More on: Marion County juvenile justice under Star review
The Indianapolis Star's final story on Marion County juvenile justice appeared today, headlined "Who's watching? Lack of oversight created conditions for chaotic system." A side-bar offers "Seven solutions to reform juvenile justice." The list:
Marion County officials are attempting to reform operations at the troubled juvenile detention center. But much work remains. Here are suggestions for improving the center and the juvenile court:Keep children out of court
• Reduce the overuse of harsh discipline by schools: Indianapolis Public Schools has ended its decades-old policy of sending students to juvenile detention for fighting. Other districts in Marion County also need to find less-punitive alternatives in dealing with minor offenses.
• Expand community mental health care: Families turn to the juvenile justice system in desperation to find help for their children. Providing better access to mental health services outside the courts would reduce the number of children in the system and improve their care.
Strive for fairness
• Make juvenile court records available to the public: Sunshine is the best way to bring checks and balances to the juvenile justice system. Records of juvenile cases, sans the names of the children involved, should be a part of the public record.
• Add judges: Marion County Superior Court decided last month to continue placing juvenile court under the control of one judge. The strain of growing caseloads makes that system no longer workable. It's time to spread out the workload and expand the number of people making decisions by adding more judges.
• Limit the waiver of counsel: Legislators this year failed to pass the mandatory lawyer consolation proposal in Senate Bill 357. They should approve a new version of the legislation next year.
Improve juvenile detention
• Adopt the Missouri model: Since that state replaced its large reformatories with small, community-based therapeutic treatment centers and group homes in the 1970s, only 8 percent of convicted juveniles return to the system within three years. At $55 per day per juvenile, the model also is more cost-effective than the status quo.
• Add teeth to the state's oversight of county-run detention centers: State inspectors should have the authority to shut down juvenile jails that are unsafe, filthy and overcrowded.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 13, 2006 07:54 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts