CHICAGO–(ENEWSPF)–March 26, 2015. A comprehensive needs assessment of the Cook County Juvenile Court system finds a groundswell of support is growing for keeping kids out of a system that most believe is broken and ineffective.
The study commissioned by Cook County Justice for Children (CCJC) and conducted by Roosevelt University’s Mansfield Institute for Social Justice and Transformation and Adler University’s Institute on Public Safety & Social Justice, identifies growing numbers of stakeholders within the Cook County juvenile justice system who want to keep kids out of the system, but who do not opt for diversion because of concerns that community alternatives, including mental health treatment support and after-school programs, are inadequate.
The wide-ranging needs assessment conducted during 2014, asked the question: “What can the Cook County Juvenile Court do to improve its ability to help our youth?”
Drawing from surveys, focus groups and interviews with over 200 Cook County Juvenile Court stakeholders, researchers found that system insiders believe there needs to be much more focus on true diversion and referral of kids into community programs.
Study participants, including judges and court personnel, expressed hesitancy to divert kids out of the system due to a lack of awareness of, and trust in, existing community alternatives. Participants also expressed concerns that community alternatives were inadequately funded, resulting in a perception that alternatives frequently lack the resources to properly serve youth.
The Needs Assessment strongly recommends that more emphasis be placed on building awareness of and evaluating community alternatives so that judges can be better apprised about effectiveness of these programs. Such a shift in thinking and prioritizing could lead to fewer youth being detained at the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center.
“This study is a wake-up call for those who believe that young people who are in trouble should be detained,” said Nancy Michaels, associate director of Roosevelt University’s Mansfield Institute for Social Justice and Transformation and one of the assessment’s chief researchers. “We need a shift in how we think about punishment and the punitive systems that often lead youth down the path to lifelong involvement with the criminal justice system rather than onto a path of hope and productive involvement in their communities,” she said.
Michaels noted that many study participants view use of restorative justice practices, including peace circles, as a way to shift away from a punitive mentality. More must be done to change the landscape in which the vast majority of youth involved in the system are people of color. Michaels adds, “We need an awareness campaign to boldly address the issue of disproportionate minority contact.”
Recent studies have shown that 9 out of 10 youths placed in detention in Illinois will be locked up again within three years of release. Even worse, it is estimated that kids sent to juvenile correctional facilities are 38 times more likely to incur adult criminal records than those who received help outside the juvenile justice system.
“The vast majority of those whom we surveyed and interviewed told us that true reform of the juvenile justice system can’t and won’t happen unless the funding and resources are in place for viable community alternatives to detention,” said Elena Quintana, executive director of the Adler University School Institute on Public Safety and Social Justice and one of the assessment’s chief researchers.
She noted that there is plenty of public money for this to happen, but that a strong commitment to justice re-investment, allocating justice dollars to effective community strategies rather than costly and ineffective strategies of confinement, will be needed for such a system shift to be successful. She also emphasized that elected leaders in Chicago, Cook County and the state of Illinois must be on board in order to implement recommendations aimed at overhauling the system and realigning its priorities.
“Based on these findings, it is paramount that we begin to build the case for a shift in both mindset and resources away from the system and into community programming,” Quintana said. “This is something that won’t happen overnight, but real and routine diversion of kids away from the existing system is a common-sense solution whose time has come.”
“Community stakeholders understand that there is a greater return on the investment by keeping youth out of the juvenile justice system, not just helping them after they exit the system,” shares Juliana Stratton, executive director of Cook County Justice for Children. “For those who do end up being court-involved, the Needs Assessment supports that the Juvenile Court and its leadership play a tremendous role in helping to keep children connected with their families, schools and communities.”
The 2015 Juvenile Justice Needs Assessment proposes a myriad of ways to improve the handling and building of positive pathways for troubled youths going forward. For more information or for a copy of the report, contact CCJC at [email protected], or download the study now.
Cook County Justice for Children – CCJC is committed to promoting the safety of communities while ensuring that the children and families who come to the attention of the court, either as a result of abuse or neglect or crimes committed as juveniles, are protected, their development nurtured, and their legal rights ably represented.
Adler University’s Institute on Public Safety and Social Justice has a mission of meeting public safety challenges with socially just solutions. The Institute works with community groups, peer institutions and systems partners to address public safety challenges.
Roosevelt University’s Mansfield Institute for Social Justice and Transformation has a broad mission of raising awareness about social injustice while engaging in action-oriented projects that lead to progressive social change. Its specific focus is on dismantling the cradle to prison pipeline.
Source: www.roosevelt.edu
