Consultation Report

Abstract

I have just been hired as a Life Span Development Consultant for the New York City Dept. of Juvenile Justice to asses the needs of the agency and implement new programs with the hope of reducing the recidivism rates of youths returning. DJJ is responsible for the custody and care of detained youths ages 10-18, in secure and non secure facilities in the city and throughout the state in which the Office Of Children and Family Services is also responsible for developing effective solutions to the inappropriate or sometimes unnecessary use of secure detention confinement is complex and undertaking and requires careful planning. This study identifies:

1) The issues plaguing the juvenile justice system in New York and examines the means toward building self esteem, and renewing the value of individuals, families, parents, and education.

2) Detention not only disrupts children's education but it also damages future employment prospects.

This study focuses on ways to help improve the three secure facilities of DJJ and ways of reducing the recidivism rates.

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Socioeconomic Status/Mission:

DJJ is responsible for the custody and care of adolescents between the ages of 10-18. Depending on the severity of their case, they can either be held in secure or a non secure facility or home. When researching the DJJ agency, I found that 85% of the youths come from low socioeconomic households receiving state and government funds as a means of support. These youth are being raised by either a single parent, grandparent or in the custody of the Administration for Family and Children Services. The recidivism rates comprise of 76% of youth released from the Office Family Children Services. Youths confined in DJJ and non secure facilities often come from trouble poor and working class families with low academic performance and high truancy. The majorities of youths are placed in special education classes and has been labeled emotional disabled by the Special Education Evaluation Team. At times, the courts might repeatedly remand a youth to prevent him/her from returning to their chaotic family situation. In a study last fall, the state's Office of the Child Advocate found that more than 20 percent of teenagers held in New Jersey's juvenile detention centers are incarcerated improperly because proper placement in foster homes or residential centers could not be found. The same can be said regarding youth in the system here in New York. Research on juvenile offenders' ethnicity within the mental health profession has found that therapist underestimate the need for treatment and those blacks are more often assigned to inexperienced therapist and seen for shorter periods of time (Fagan 1999).

Living Conditions

According to Burrell (2000), living conditions in juvenile facilities can impact the physical and emotional aspects of a resident. The report on the Annie E. Casey Foundation which was established in 1992 as a child advocacy organization based in Baltimore discusses lessons learned by the juvenile detention center in regards to improving and maintaining confinement explains that many facilities do not meet minimum standards of care and discuses the role of institutional conditions of confinement aimed at minimizing the population for starters. Overcrowding produces unsafe and unhealthy conditions for residents and staff.

Gender Population/Issues faced

After carefully examining the subculture of the residents incarcerated, a large proportion detained lesbian and females and males, also bisexual and transgender population. Besides the stigma that the children faced within their families and the school systems that may have lead them into the juvenile system. These youths are also suffering misperceptions once they are in the system, and have developed a macho attitude in order to gain acceptance of their peers and survive in the jail system. While Black and Latino youth make up about two thirds of the city's population, they comprise 95% of those in detention. Minority youth are more likely to be arrested, and serve longer detention time than white youths, who commit the same crimes, but are less likely to spend time in lock-up. (Rogers et. al 1998, p. 26) found that black and white juvenile offenders incarcerated in a short term correctional facility showed similar rates of internalizing behavior, although black youths were more than white youth to be diagnosed with conduct disorder. Black youth are also more likely than white youths to be brought to court and sentenced for more serious offenses, and is less likely than white offenders to be referred to mental health services. Latino youths are three times to be arrested than a white youth, or become involved in gang initiation and activities. Eighty percent of the youth detained in DJJ suffer from learning and emotional disabilities that affect their education and behavior such as ADHD and are labeled with a mental illness in which the facility is ill equipped to address. Some believe that rehabilitation does not work for most of these youths which the majority will become repeaters and graduate to adult correctional institutions. As residents in DJJ are evaluated by the mental health service, most are immediately placed on psychotropic medications and little else is done to address their underlying issues.

Adolescents and Social Class

Again the Department of Juvenile Justice servicing youths ages, 10-18 years of age. The agency is comprised of 85% black and 19% Latino, and 1% other. Females are mainly arrested for prostitution, and other less violent crimes. The workers in all three facilities are 90% African American and 10% Latino, leaving one to believe that such a challenging population would require one familiar with the same culture to understand the residents in care, which can also at times be very dangerous, which is why there is also a high turnover rate of direct care workers. Unless you have a passion or a desire for making change with young at-risk youths, would require experienced and well trained people to work with them. According to Psychologist and author Albert Bandura, children acquire standards in much the same way they learn other behaviors. Children develop social skills by simply being in the company of others who they can emulate and their peers. Social relationships in early adolescence are centered