ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, November 17, 1996 TAG: 9611190056
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
THE HIGH recidivism rate for juvenile offenders released from Virginia's juvenile-corrections facilities may unfortunately convince many that the Allen administration is on the right track. That is, if seven of every 10 offenders commit new crimes within three years after they're released, longer sentences are the only answer.
In fact, the recidivism rate demonstrates the failure of the juvenile-corrections system - a failure unlikely to be reversed by keeping teens in the same system longer. As a comprehensive study by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission makes clear, the system itself urgently needs review and reform. Among JLARC's findings:
*Although increasing numbers of violent offenders are in the state's correctional centers (the equivalent of adult prisons), less than 20 percent of those committed last year fit that category. The more common denominator is devastating family and social problems. Yet efforts to address these - as required by state law - are underfunded and sidetracked in favor of more security and tougher punishment.
At the Bon Air center near Richmond, for example, more than half the incarcerated females are victims of past abuse, often sexual abuse, yet there are no therapeutic programs available. (Unless you count as "therapy" Bon Air's shackling of all juveniles, without regard to their physical condition, mental state or actual risk to security.)
*Almost nine of every 10 juveniles in the system come from families that do not include both natural parents. Forty-eight percent are from dysfunctional families in which the parents abuse drugs or alcohol, have a criminal record or abuse their children, and may have directly or indirectly contributed to their children's delinquency.
Substantial portions of the system's population are chronic drug abusers and have serious mental-health problems that, in some cases, require psychotropic medication. Yet the system is woefully short of counselors with the training, skills and certification to help. Eighty percent of the kids are truants or dropouts; nearly half have reading problems. Yet the state does not provide the daily instruction hours that are, again, required by law.
Bottom line: Many teens with chronic problems but no convictions for violent crimes are simply being warehoused in overcrowded, dismal facilities practically designed to assure that an offender's outlook will become, if anything, more criminal.
JLARC, the legislature's ``watchdog'' agency, gives credit to Patricia West, Allen's director of the Department of Juvenile Justice, for her efforts to reduce crowding and improve security. But the report pulls no punches: The system suffers from poor planning and lack of oversight, and is increasingly unable to meet juveniles' educational, rehabilitation and counseling needs.
The Allen administration isn't the first to fail in this regard, of course. It is easy, moreover, to overestimate the potential of rehabilitation and treatment efforts. The better answer is intervention and prevention far earlier in kids' lives - before they enter the criminal justice system.
Even so, Allen and the legislature must make corrections in the system, not just for the sake of the juveniles who go through it, but for all the potential victims of crimes committed by offenders after they get out. JLARC's recommendations, especially to upgrade education, counseling and treatment opportunities, point the way.
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