Youth system working

A third fewer young people are entering South Dakota's youth corrections system each year, and that is encouraging news.
The tragic death of 14-year-old Gina Score at the State Training School in Plankinton, who died following a forced run at that facility in 1999, heightened people's awareness of how South Dakota's juvenile justice system operated. Many people began questioning whether a system that incarcerated youth for minor offences and subjected them to military-style discipline was the best course of rehabilitation.

The State Training School closed in 2001, along with boot camp programs for girls. Now, more juvenile offenders are being sentenced to intensive probation and counseling, which is proving a more effective means of rehabilitation, although financial costs are higher.
This year, the state spent about $29 million on youth rehabilitation programs — more than double what was spent in 1999.
Despite the higher initial costs, advocates of the system think there will be a cost savings long-term by keeping kids out of the adult corrections system. That makes good sense.
“I think we are investing in youth, and we won't be paying for them in the adult system,” said Doug Herman, director of juvenile services for the South Dakota Department of Corrections.
Herman says that the state now uses an “experience-based practices” philosophy that assesses youth problems and needs. As officials learn about a youth's educational level, employment abilities, peer groups and perceptions, they also gain an understanding about how these elements can put youth at risk — for example, associating with a troubled peer group. Treatment is based on changing environmental at-risk factors, helping to change the youth.
“It's a combination of not just punishment, but also treatment,” Herman said. “You want kids to behave, but because they choose to behave. Unfortunately, many of the kids who come into our system have never had this instruction.”

However, Herman says that boot camp-style programs are still needed and are the best rehabilitation programs for certain kids.
“There's a lot of advantages to having a very structured environment,” he said. “The military model serves to provide an environment where you can deliver the five or six things that prove effective.”
The state still operates a boys' boot camp at Custer and several other types of facilities for both boys and girls throughout the state. Herman said that youth also are placed into about 20 in-state private treatment programs, along with about 10 out-of-state programs.
Even though many new treatment programs qualify for federal funding, they still can cost the state up to $120 per day per placement in-state and $350 per day out-of-state.
Kelly Bass, a counselor at Lutheran Social Services who operated a prevention program funded one year through a $40,000 grant from the South Dakota Coalition for Children, says such programs have proven themselves effective.
In Bass' program, 46 juvenile offenders and their families received seven weeks of counseling, with youths and parents meeting separately to talk about what contributed to the youths entering into the court system.
Six months after the program ended, 41 percent of the youths had not reoffended, and only five youths had been turned over to the Department of Corrections.
“For us that's a success,” said Bass. “We're trying to improve the whole family dynamic. There's a shift to seeing kids get as much opportunity in our community before something real restrictive is used.”

Although some people have suggested the state should reopen the Plankinton facility and quit sending kids to private treatment, especially out-of-state, the effectiveness of having one facility handle the majority of youth remains a problem.
According to Corrections Secretary Tim Reisch, there aren't enough youths with similar programs to reopen a state training facility.
In the past, that facility served about 100 youth with a wide range of problems. “Some of the kids who ended up on that campus had failed at other programs. The state didn't have options, so it tried to make them work at Plankinton,” he says.

Now, the state prefers the specialized programs.
Certainly, the system isn't perfect, and short-term costs are a concern. There still aren't enough in-state placements for hard-core offenders, but the corrections system continues to work on that issue.
But considering the progress made in the past six years, we're optimistic.

Editorial
17 August 2005

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050817/OPINION01/508170319/1052

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