Juvenile Justice Task Force

Youth Corrections' case manager loads so they can more effectively deal with the youth when they are in the communities.

    Judge Valdez commented that seven months is not long enough for these vocational training programs. He suggested extending the stay to 12 or 16 months and requiring the completion of a treatment plan before releasing offenders from custody.

    Ms. Celestina Murphy, Senior Outreach Specialist, Job Corps and Ms. Amy Hutoff, Job Corps Program Admissions Counselor, distributed a packet, "Job Corps is the answer," along with a travel clock for task force members. Ms. Murphy presented an overview of Job Corps. She explained that it offers disadvantaged youth a chance to learn marketable skills and become useful members in society. It is the largest and most successful job training residential program in the nation. They offer $25,000 in job training and higher education scholarships to eligible youth. This scholarship includes room, board, medical care, dental care, optical care, clothing allowance, recreation bonuses; essentially everything a student needs to concentrate their efforts on their vocational and educational training. She identified Job Corps as a three-prong training process: vocational, educational, and social skills.

    Ms. Murphy identified the various careers offered at the different campuses. She said there are five campuses in this part of the country: three in Montana and two in Utah. The Clearfield Campus houses 1,350 students and Weber Basin Campus houses 250 students. They offer over 25 different career training choices, high school diplomas, GED, and college opportunities. She explained that the youth has to fulfill certain criteria to be eligible for this scholarship. They have to be motivated, committed, and suitable for the Job Corps program.

    Ms. Hutoff reviewed the following criteria for Job Corps eligibility: age, motivation, low income, and no court obligations, alcohol and drug use, or violent behavior. She pointed out that Job Corps is not designed for, nor equipped to handle, serious criminal offenders, active substance abusers, arsonists, sexual offenders, or those with severe emotional disorders.

    Dr. Larry Shumway, Director of Alternative Education, Davis County School District and Mr. Bob Brown, Department of Workforce Services, distributed a handout, "Davis County Mountain High School SUCCESS Program." They presented an overview of Davis County's educational component of their Serious Habitual Offenders Comprehensive Action Program (SHOCAP). The SHOCAP program is a collaborative effort to deal with the most serious individual offenders that are in the community.

    Dr. Shumway said in their findings they were surprised to discover that of youth in their county with probation orders, almost all were required to be in school but only 50 percent were. He also pointed out that those who were not in school were the most serious offenders. Their

effort is to develop a program where they can enroll these students in school. He outlined the program called SUCCESS. This program was developed through the collaboration of the Davis School District, Juvenile Court, Davis County, Youth Corrections, municipalities in Davis County, and the Department of Workforce Services. He said the program goal is to reduce the number of re-offending juveniles through collaborative programming and close supervision and to provide for the program participants' basic academic and vocational skills.

    Mr. Shumway said to be selected for this program one must go through the Serious Habitual Offender Nominating Committee. Once the student is selected, it is part of their probation. The program runs at Bountiful and Clearfield High Schools.

    Mr. Brown explained that the Department of Workforce Services has allocated up to six hours per week of staff time in particular areas with this program. They provide: a) assessments, career counseling, and orientation; b) labor market information; c) workshops for job seeking and job retention skills; and d) help with job placement.

    Ms. Joyce P. Valdez, Marketing Specialist, Salt Lake Community College Skills Center, distributed five brochures on the skills center at the Salt Lake Community College and gave a slide presentation. She outlined the services available to the youth in obtaining vocational skills through their center. The programs consist of training in the following areas: pre-training preparation, electronics and computer technology, heath care industry, office information systems, and skilled trades such as service technician, mechanic, and machinist. She noted that there are various campuses that students can enter anytime and financial aid is available.

    Staff distributed a handout, "State Supervision & Jobs Report Results of an E-mail survey conducted during October 1997 by Mike Phillips for the Juvenile Justice Task Force," which listed employment opportunities for youth on probation.

3.    Outcomes of Secure Care Youth

    Mr. John Dewitt, Division of Youth Corrections, distributed a handout, "Secure Care Youth Supplement," from which he made his presentation. He explained that in the process of presenting his report last month, there were several issues that members of the task force asked to be further developed. He first discussed the breakdown of average time spent in a secure facility.

    Judge Valdez expressed concern about committing a youth for seven months and expecting to change his belief system and properly train him in a skill that will preclude a return to corrections. He stated that seven months is not enough time to make those changes.

    Mr. Dalton expressed concern with the emphasis being put on corrections to build larger and more efficient facilities, with more beds and less vocational space for programing services. He said they need more resources to acquire more space.

    Mr. David K. Broadbent, Chair, Youth Parole Authority, said sentence lengths increased about 50 percent following recent sentencing changes. The Youth Parole Authority has been concerned about rehabilitation and public safety. They believe that successful rehabilitations are essential to achieving a meaningful reduction in recidivism rates, and they desire to avoid having secure care residents return to the youth and adult courts as repeat offenders.

    Mr. Broadbent focused on an additional concern, stating nearly 10 percent of the residents in secure care are parents themselves. Few if any of these residents can look to examples of healthy parenting in their homes to prepare them for this significant responsibility.

    Judge Valdez asked if there are any parenting classes available to the youth. Mr. Broadbent responded that secure care offers classes in parenting, but DYC is unable to offer programming that realistically prepares the residents for the challenge of parenthood. He indicated that further assistance is needed to prepare the residents for this adult challenge. Otherwise, they guarantee a new generation of youthful offenders.

    Mr. Broadbent said they have identified education and vocational services as significant issues to be dealt with in order to improve the success of offender rehabilitation and crime reduction efforts. He distributed handouts, "Youth Parole Authority Delinquency History" and "Victim Handbook," along with a letter from the Youth Parole Authority that outlined other concerns.

    Judge Valdez said the needs of these youth have been recognized, but asked what the parole board can do to change the rehabilitative process.

    Mr. Broadbent responded that the legislature needs to get their pocketbooks out and give more resources to the process, so that there can be a better menu of choices, more education, summer schools, and increased lengths of stay in treatment programs.

    Rep. Chard asked at what level the legislature should fulfill these needs. He expressed concern with the Weighted Pupil Unit (WPU) not following the child. He explained that the legislature funds the education of every youth in this state. When youth get in trouble and are put in DYC, we are still under obligation to educate them. He said there are a lot of problems with the funding mechanisms, and he did not know if simply getting the checkbook out and increasing the funds is the answer.

    Sen. Hull said that the WPU does not follow the youth. He asked for an equation between the youth in custody money and the WPU. He suggested the idea of possibly having corrections form their own charter school in order to receive WPU money for education.    

    Mr. John McNamara, Administrator of the State Juvenile Courts, followed up on a question raised by the task force concerning what happened to the youth who were released from secure care and turned 21 in 1992, 1993, and 1994 . He reported on a study conducted in November of 1994, "A Look at Youth in Utah's Secure Facilities," which found that all youth who were located (90 percent) were involved with the adult criminal justice system with either an arrest, a prison or jail sentence, or probation.

4.    Serious Youth Offender

    This agenda item was not discussed due to the lack of time. Staff distributed the following handouts: "Overview of Current Law - Serious Youth Offender (§78-3a-602)," "Offenders Age 18 or Less - Utah Department of Corrections," "Serious Youth Offender Presentation - Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice," and "Colorado Model."

5.    Jurisdictional Age

    This issue will be discussed in the November meeting.

6.    POST Certification
    
    Rep. Blake D. Chard referred the task force to the draft legislation, "Correctional Officer Amendment." He explained that this legislation removes the reference to Youth Corrections from the Correctional Officers statute.

     MOTION: Rep. Chard moved on Page 2 of the draft legislation, "Correctional Officer Amendment" to delete Lines 14 - 15. The motion passed unanimously.

     MOTION: Rep. Chard moved to adopt as amended the "Correctional Officer Amendment" as a Juvenile Justice Task Force bill. The motion passed unanimously.

    Chair Fox announced that the next Juvenile Justice Task Force meeting will be held November 14, 1997.    

7.    Adjournment -

    MOTION: Sen. Hillyard moved to adjourn the meeting at 3:47 p.m. The motion passed unanimously.