KENTUCKY
State juvenile justice changing directions : Rehabilitation, not jail, part of change
Kentucky's juvenile justice system is undergoing a major shift in philosophy -- dropping what critics said had been an emphasis on incarceration and punishment in favor of the treatment and rehabilitation required by law.
"I don't want to hear the word incarceration used in conjunction with juveniles," said J. Michael Brown, the new secretary of justice and public safety. "Our mission is to treat the juveniles, the children that are entrusted to our care."
Ron Haws, 64, a six-year veteran of the Juvenile Justice Department, recently was named acting commissioner by Brown and agrees the department has strayed from its mission. As a result, it is holding too many youths who may not have committed serious crimes for too long at residential centers sometimes hundreds of miles from their homes, said Haws, who became commissioner Feb. 1. "We should not have a youth anywhere in the commonwealth in placement any longer than he needs to be there," Haws said.
Policy changes in recent years have filled to capacity the state's 12 residential centers, which now hold 455 youths, Haws said. And the youths tend to serve longer terms at the centers because the department had standardized programs in apparent contradiction of juvenile law that requires individual plans based on the offender's needs. "What I hope, at the end of my tour of duty, is that we get back to the treatment of youth," Haws said.
Changes welcomed
That attitude is refreshing to some lawmakers, judges and
advocates who had become increasingly critical of practices at the
department under the previous commissioner, Bridget Skaggs Brown, who
left the job in December to become chairwoman of the state Parole Board.
"This is good news," said Christian County District Judge James G. Adams, a former juvenile prosecutor who helped write the 1987 update of the state's juvenile law. "It's like going from the dark into the light."
Sen. Gerald Neal, a Louisville Democrat who helped sponsor legislation creating a separate Juvenile Justice Department in 1996, said he welcomes the proposed changes. "I consider it a breath of fresh air and a return to rationality," Neal said.
Haws said he wants youths treated and supervised at home or close to home, when possible. If they need to be held in a residential center, he wants to get them out as soon as possible -- except for the most serious offenders who generally are held until they turn 18 and are then re-sentenced as adults.
To help meet that objective, he has restored authority to local juvenile justice workers to make sentencing recommendations to judges. Previously, officials made recommendations from Frankfort, using a scoring system they devised. Under Haws' system, workers will be able to offer judges extra information, such as a child's family history, emotional status and problems at home or school. Brown said he viewed the previous practice as "micromanaging" and ordered it stopped.
Dropped appeal of order
Haws said he also is working to try to end ongoing legal
battles between the juvenile justice department and state public
defenders, who represent youths. His department has dropped its appeal
of a judge's order that it stop housing youths who commit minor sex
offenses, such as fondling, in long-term residential sex-offender
programs. That places them alongside youths who commit more serious
crimes, such as sodomy or rape.
Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd, ruling in favor of public defenders, found that practice violated state juvenile law and ordered the department to stop.
In addition to dropping the appeal, Haws said the department has removed all youths who were inappropriately placed in programs with serious sex offenders. Most minor sex offenders should be treated elsewhere -- at home, in group homes or in foster placements, he said.
Haws also directed his department to drop litigation trying to force public defenders to pay 10 cents a page for copies of information they receive from his department, describing that battle as "silly."
New classifying system
Now, Haws said his department is working with the public
defenders in the Department of Public Advocacy to resolve a broader
dispute over juvenile justice's system of classifying and housing
youths.
Public defenders had filed a lawsuit saying the system is too broad and doesn't take into account individual circumstances of children, such as maturity, family support, emotional problems or learning disabilities. Haws said his staff is trying to work with public defenders to develop a better system and agreed with complaints that the juvenile justice department had adopted a "one size fits all" approach to assessing and placing youths.
Some critics believed Bridget Brown, a former Louisville deputy police chief, brought too much of a law enforcement philosophy to the department, appointing former police officials to top jobs. "You can't allow law enforcement to trump juvenile justice," said Pete Schuler, chief juvenile public defender in Louisville. Bridget Brown did not respond to a request for comment.
Haws, a former school teacher, has a masters' degree in guidance and counseling and worked in juvenile services in Illinois before coming to work for Kentucky's juvenile justice department in 2002, most recently as the regional administrator in Western Kentucky.
His deputy commissioner is Ann-Lynn Ellerkamp, a former head teacher at one of the department's residential centers in Louisville.
Haws said he's interested in the job permanently. Michael Brown said Haws will be considered but was named an acting commissioner to get someone on the job right away who shared Brown's views about juvenile justice. "I wanted somebody to steady the ship," he said.
Deborah Yetter
10 FebruaRY 2008
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080210/NEWS01/802100481
