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HIGH REARREST RATE Three-fourths of wards released over 13 years held on new charges Three out of four wards in the California Youth Authority are arrested on new criminal charges within three years of their release, according to a new analysis highlighting the institution's failure to rehabilitate the state's most troubled juvenile offenders. And experts say the high number underscores just how much California could gain from approaches used in other states: housing wards in smaller facilities, providing intensive treatment programs, and offering more supervision and assistance after a ward is released. The Youth Authority's director, Walter Allen, who has vowed to turn the agency around since his appointment 10 months ago, called the 74 percent rate “unacceptable” and said, “Our objective is to protect society by doing the best job we can. If we don't, we create more victims.” The new study represents the most definitive analysis of Youth Authority recidivism to date, and it shows a rate that has hardly varied since a slight decline in the early 1990s. Agency officials provided the results exclusively to the Mercury News, after conducting a computerized review of law enforcement records for more than 28,000 wards who were released from Youth Authority institutions from 1988 through 2000. It's nearly impossible to compare recidivism rates from one state or prison system to another, because agencies use a variety of definitions and measurements. Some count technical violations such as failing to check in with a parole agent, for example. Others count arrests for new criminal charges, while some count only those who are convicted. Even within the Youth Authority, previous studies that used other ways of measuring recidivism produced widely different results. A 2001 study found 47 percent had their parole revoked within two years, and a 1996 report found 90 percent were rearrested during the much longer period of 10 years after their release. Most wards are sent to the Youth Authority because they have committed serious crimes or have long records of lesser offenses. Forty-seven percent of the wards in the study group were sent to the Youth Authority for committing violent crimes; 42 percent of the wards in the study were arrested on new charges of violence within three years of their release. The new study shows that recidivism runs high among all types of offenders. Nearly seven of 10 wards who originally committed violent crimes — such as murder, robbery, rape and assault — were arrested on new charges, ranging from drug violations to property crimes or more violence. Nearly eight of 10 wards who originally committed property crimes — such as burglary or theft — were arrested on new charges, both non-violent and violent. Reducing the rate • More involved care cited in studies. Experts say recidivism rates of 60 percent to 80 percent are typical for many large prison institutions, whether they house adults or juveniles. In general, they say, the rates reflect three main factors: the characteristics of those being studied, their experience while in custody and the help they receive after their release. Studies show those numbers can drop 20 to 30 percentage points when juvenile offenders live in smaller units with more intensive treatment programs and strong support after parole, said Mark Lipsey, director of the Center for Evaluation Research and Methodology at Vanderbilt University. The Texas Youth Commission, for example, houses a large and diverse population, and it uses a recidivism measure similar to the Youth Authority's. It reports overall rates close to California's — that 77 percent of those released from Texas youth institutions are arrested on new charges within three years. But that rate drops to 51 percent for those who go through an intensive treatment program for some of the most violent juvenile offenders. “We know how to do those programs, but we are not currently doing them at the CYA,” said Joan Petersilia, a professor of criminology at the University of California-Irvine. For the Youth Authority analysis, chief of research Rudy Haapanen said his office reviewed state Department of Justice arrest records for 28,448 wards released from Youth Authority custody. The study counted any ward who was arrested on a new criminal charge, while excluding those sent back to the Youth Authority for technical parole violations, such as breaking curfew or failing to report in with the parole office. Some groups were less likely to be arrested again. Female wards, for example, had a rearrest rate of only 52 percent, compared with 75 percent for males, which experts said is expected because women are generally less likely than men to commit crimes. Fewer than one in 20 Youth Authority wards are female. Recidivism also was lower for the youngest and oldest wards. Those under 17 had an average rate of 60 percent, as did those released at 22 or older. But most of the wards in the study were 17 to 21 years old when they left the Youth Authority, and they had an average rate of 76 percent. That's “the peak age for offenders,” said James C. “Buddy” Howell, a longtime federal crime researcher. Studies show that criminals often become less active as they reach their 20s and beyond, whether because they have matured or are simply serving longer prison terms. Most criminologists agree that a certain portion of any prison population is incorrigible and some say recidivism will never drop much below 50 percent. ‘The worst cases’ • Toughest offenders in state custody Youth Authority recidivism rates are high, “but you've artificially selected all the worst cases,” said Franklin Zimring, a law professor and criminologist at the University of California-Berkeley. In recent years, he explained, local judges have sent only their worst juvenile offenders to the Youth Authority — those who are the hardest to rehabilitate and most likely to commit new crimes. And rehabilitation is a huge challenge, said Alex Piquero, a criminologist at the University of Florida. “You're talking about kids who come in with 16 or 17 years of troubled backgrounds, giving them services and hoping that the time they are in custody will make up for all they lived through before.” But others argued that California can do more to help shape young adults while they are in custody. Reform advocates — including many wards and their families — cite anecdotal evidence to argue that institutions such as the Youth Authority are simply “gladiator schools” whose graduates come out more hardened or dangerous than when they went in. “The system does have to be held accountable,” agreed Melissa Sickmund of the National Center for Juvenile Justice, a respected research group in Pittsburgh. “If we're only protecting you for the five years that the kid is locked up, and then the kid comes back out and is even more dangerous, I don't know if that's the deal the taxpayers bought into.”
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