CONNECTICUT

Expand services for troubled youth

In what could and should become a major issue in the 2007 General Assembly, a new study has recommended that the state expand social services for 16- and 17-year-old offenders. The study recommendation is a natural and logical outgrowth of a new law which became effective Jan. 1 that affords youthful offender status to 16- and 17-year-olds until state prosecutors decide whether their crimes are serious enough to try them as adults.

The issue of the lack of social services for this age group is not new. Child advocacy and juvenile justice groups have been pointing out the deficiency for years. State lawmakers, however, have approached the issue with hesitancy because of the costs involved and the major adjustments that would be required in the judicial system, child protection services and even social services. But with passage in 2005 of the new law and an expected initiative in next year's Assembly to extend youthful offender status to age 18, the study recommendation is correctly gaining "legs".

Connecticut leaves its 16- and 17-year-old offenders in a particularly vulnerable place by the lack of needed social services for them. At that age the youths are essentially "aged out" of the services that DCF provides. Furthermore, even with the new law, if a youthful offender's crime is deemed serious enough for the offender to be tried in adult courts the services available in the adult court are aimed at much older criminals.

The emphasis must be placed on rehabilitating these youngsters, not throwing them in jail, many times with hardened criminals, which more often than can lead them to careers as criminals. Conducted by the state Judicial Branch, the Department of Children and Families and community groups and parents, the study makes several worthwhile recommendations in addition to expansion of social service programs at the local level.

One intriguing recommendation is for establishment of juvenile review boards in several of the state's major cities, including Bridgeport. Only Hartford has such a board that evaluates youthful offenders and decides whether the offender should be sent to court or to a social service program for rehabilitation. Both Judicial Branch and DCF officials said they would utilize the report at they prepare their recommended budgets for the 2007 legislative session. Treating youthful offenders with a more alert eye toward rehabilitation rather than jail will in the long run benefit not only the youths, but also the state and its citizens.

Opinion
24 August 2006

http://www.connpost.com/opinion/ci_4231874

 
home / Previous viewpoint