This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Politics & Government

Trio of Juvenile Justice Bills Signed Into Law

Goals: Ending racial disparity, decreasing recidivism and making the system more fair and accountable

Three juvenile justice bills aim to rebalance the scales.

Ending racial disparity, decreasing recidivism, and making the system more fair and accountable – lofty goals to be sure. But children of color are more likely to enter juvenile justice system and are treated more harshly than white peers, according to the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance. 

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed a trio of bills earlier this month aimed at changing that scenario.

Find out what's happening in Ledyardwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“I think that these bills are all tied together sends a message,” state Rep. Diane Urban, a Democrat representing Stonington and North Stonington in the 43rd House District, said.

One bill requires a court order to send anyone arrested on a juvenile charge to detention.

Find out what's happening in Ledyardwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“Going to detention is a big deal. It’s traumatic for the child and extremely expensive for taxpayers,” Abby Anderson, executive director of CJJA, said. “Kids should only be there if they can’t be safely managed in the community. Race should never enter into that or any other decision we make about how youth are treated.”

Three state studies showed children of color are detained at higher rates than whites. The state’s research showed poverty, seriousness of offense or location didn’t account for the disparity. Race alone determined whether a child was confined, according to CJJA.

“The intent behind this (racial disparity) is to ensure the system is more cautious about detaining children before their court date,” Mike Lawlor, Undersecretary for Criminal Justice, said. “We learned that far more African American and Latino kids end up being sent to juvenile than white kids. That means we need an extra set of neutral eyes on this.”

Urban agreed.

“When you start to hear kids who are impacted, who feel deserted, who feel unloved and feel no one cares – when these kids sit in front of you before the committee – you realize we have not done a good job in keeping kids,” Urban said.

There are many reasons for the imbalance, Lawlor said.

Lawlor spoke of his own past work as a prosecutor where he can see how decisions are made unintentionally. He recalled sometimes deciding to keep white youths out of the system because he thought they wouldn’t survive in the system.

“By no means is this a solution to the problem,” Lawlor said. “We need to address attitudes that drive this. Judges need to be as diverse as the people they preside over. We need to get more African American, Latino and women judges. You want a culturally sensitive judge dealing with these youth.”

Overall it’s a good piece of legislation, said state Sen. Toni Boucher, a Republican representing Bethel, New Canaan, Redding, Ridgefield, Weston, Westport, and Wilton in the 26th Senate District.

Boucher agreed the problem is complex. She also said some kids have more access to more support, more alternatives and more people working to get the kid out.

The governor also signed legislation to keep the state’s Raise the Age reform on track.

Previously, Connecticut had been one of only three states to send 16-year-olds to the adult system, even for the most minor crimes. In Connecticut, 16-year-olds returned to the juvenile system last year. In 2012, 17-year-olds will as well. More serious crimes will still be treated as adult matters.

Another bill, an Act Concerning Juvenile Reentry, will help youths who had been in detention to reenter school faster.

State Rep. Jim Crawford, a Democrat representing Clinton, Killington, Westbrook, in the 35th House District, supports this effort.

"I think there's a whole new way that we need to deal with folks who are not successful. One of the ideas is to raise the drop-out rate to 18," he said, adding that schools need more job-related skills training in alternative settings.

Previously, many children finishing their commitment to the Department of Children and Families faced long, logistical delays to reregister in their local public schools.

“Kids belong in school,” Anderson said. “Getting them reenrolled as quickly as possible keeps them on track and out of trouble. We were finding kids who had to wait a month or more to resume their schooling. That didn’t make sense.”

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?