{"id":10927,"date":"2018-01-01T03:00:27","date_gmt":"2018-01-01T03:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/arknews.org\/?p=10927"},"modified":"2022-06-08T18:58:25","modified_gmt":"2022-06-08T23:58:25","slug":"lock-up-last","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2018\/01\/01\/lock-up-last\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Lock up last\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2008, Wendy Jones\u2019 teenage son, Corby, began getting into trouble with the law: skipping school, doing drugs, stealing. His behavior soon landed him in Benton County juvenile court, followed by a stay in the local juvenile detention center, or JDC, a 36-bed, jail-like facility in Bentonville, not far from the home offices of Walmart.<\/span><\/p>\n

Corby was just the sort of youth who might be expected to stop dabbling in illegal activity after a brush with the juvenile justice system. His mother had a good job with the city of Rogers, and, though she was raising Corby and his sister alone, she had a strong social network in her community. In theory, a night or two of detention at the JDC would have provided the jolt needed to make such a kid reassess his future.<\/span><\/p>\n

But as with so many other teenage offenders, being locked up did little to alter Corby\u2019s trajectory for the better. His drug use continued, and the court responded by clamping down harder, creating a cycle familiar to observers of the system.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI had connections that most parents didn\u2019t when I was going through the JDC with my son,\u201d Jones said recently. \u201cBut as a parent, regardless of who you are, where you work, or who you know, it\u2019s the most lonely, terrifying experience to go through with your child.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBasically, [JDC] was the only high school he went to, because he was in and out so much,\u201d she recalled. \u201cHe went through all the counseling, all the rehab \u2026 really, anything that was offered.\u201d Yet the court\u2019s default response to Corby\u2019s behavior was always yet another round of the juvenile equivalent of jail.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jones describes herself as a \u201ctough-love mom\u201d who is \u201call for punishment\u201d when necessary. But by the time her son aged out of the juvenile system in 2011, she had reached her own verdict about JDC detention, at least for Corby: \u201cIt was worthless. \u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was kind of at that point where it\u2019s like, 'OK, this isn\u2019t working,\u2019 \u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re still getting locked up over and over and over.\u201d She pointed to statistics showing that the juvenile incarceration rate in the United States is the highest in the developed world. \u201cThat\u2019s pathetic. \u2026 We shouldn\u2019t have to keep building prisons for children.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But then, around the time that Corby aged out, things began to change in Northwest Arkansas.<\/span><\/p>\n

Juvenile detention rates dropped. Alternatives to incarceration expanded. In 2013, a national program called the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative began partnering with the court in Benton County and its counterpart in adjacent Washington County. Jones was asked to serve as the parent representative on the local JDAI board.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey asked me because they really wanted the parents\u2019 perspective, instead of it just being law enforcement, judges, prosecutors, defenders \u2014 you know, all the typical people involved,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re talking about your child, and you\u2019re in it, it\u2019s completely different from being on the outside looking in. You\u2019re living it, day to day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Jones served on the board for two years as the program got off the ground. Today, she said, she sees the county \u201cactually working with kids. We\u2019re not just locking them up. \u2026 I can\u2019t say enough about the system and [Benton County Circuit] Judge [Tom] Smith right now. I truly believe in what they\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Smith, who has been the county\u2019s juvenile division judge since 2013, said his court uses confinement only \u201cwhen we have to use it. We don\u2019t use it just <\/span>to<\/span><\/i> use it. \u2026 The philosophy is lock up last, not lock up first.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2009, 859 kids cycled through the Benton County JDC. In 2016, JDC intakes had decreased to 467, a 46 percent drop. Youths spent a total of 6,557 days detained at the JDC in 2009; in 2016, total detention days had declined to 2,844. Smith\u2019s JDC average daily population is now so low \u2014 it averaged between six and seven youths per day in 2017 \u2014 that a portion of the facility will soon be permanently converted into an emergency shelter.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
JUDGE TOM SMITH<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Smith succinctly made the argument for reducing juvenile confinement: \u201cIt saves money, it saves resources, but more importantly, the data shows that once you start locking up a kid, the propensity to get locked up [again] increases tenfold. Once you start that process, their propensity is to be in the system longer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Locking up fewer kids hasn\u2019t led to more juvenile crime. In fact, the number of delinquency petitions filed by the Benton County prosecutor dropped by 32 percent from 2009 to 2016. And at the same time that the JDC population was shrinking, the population of Benton County as a whole was rapidly expanding \u2014 it\u2019s now the state\u2019s second-largest county \u2014 meaning the per capita decrease in confinement has been even greater.<\/span><\/p>\n

Similar trends have unfolded next door. In 2008, the Washington County JDC detained 915 kids over the course of the year; in 2016, intakes stood at 507. Like its neighbor to the north, the county\u2019s general population has surged over the past 15 years as the economy has boomed in Northwest Arkansas.<\/span><\/p>\n

Circuit Judge Stacey Zimmerman, who has presided over juvenile court in Washington County for 19 years, echoed Judge Smith on the hidden costs of excessive lockups. \u201cThe more entrenched they are in the juvenile justice system, the greater the chance they\u2019re going to end up as an adult criminal,\u201d she said. To that end, Zimmerman\u2019s court has also embraced alternatives to detention, including a new evening reporting center that opened in April.<\/span><\/p>\n

The changes in Northwest Arkansas are all the more striking when contrasted with the state as a whole. Other reform-minded jurisdictions in Arkansas have successfully reduced confinement in recent years \u2014 among them, juvenile courts in Pulaski and Faulkner counties \u2014 but the state overall continues to lock up large numbers of children. <\/span><\/p>\n

There is little statewide data on the use of detention at county facilities, but a national census of residential facilities performed every two years by the U.S. Department of Justice\u2019s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention provides limited information. According to the OJJDP, there were about 99 kids held in the 14 JDCs across Arkansas on an average day in 2007. (In rural areas, a single JDC serves multiple counties.) In 2015, the most recent year that the OJJDP performed its snapshot, the one-day detention count for Arkansas had increased to 210.<\/span><\/p>\n

Local juvenile detention centers are only half of the youth incarceration picture. The juvenile justice system distinguishes between \u201cdetentions\u201d at county-run JDCs and \u201ccommitments\u201d to treatment facilities operated by the state Department of Human Services\u2019 Division of Youth Services, which is intended to rehabilitate more serious offenders. Detentions are typically measured in periods of days or weeks; kids committed to the DYS by a judge\u2019s order may remain confined for months or even years as they complete the terms of their treatment plan.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Northwest Arkansas, the number of youths committed to the DYS plummeted over the last decade. In 2007, according to DYS data, Benton County committed 29 kids to state facilities. A decade later, in 2017, the number was 5.<\/span><\/p>\n

Washington County sent 35 kids to the DYS in 2006 \u2014 more commitments in a single year than the 29 made by the same juvenile court over the five-year period from 2013 to 2017. (The statewide DYS commitment rate also dropped from 2007 to 2017, but the percent decrease was just one-third as much as the decline in Washington and Benton counties over that period.)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf a kid comes to DYS out of Benton County, we\u2019ve exhausted all of our options. That\u2019s just the way we view it,\u201d Judge Smith said. He ticked off various alternatives to the DYS, including Youth Challenge \u2014 a program of the Arkansas National Guard \u2014 or vocational training through Job Corps. <\/span><\/p>\n

Typically, Smith said, he will only commit a youth to the DYS who has committed rape or a violent crime involving a firearm. Even in some of those cases, he will first try inpatient psychiatric treatment at a facility such as Piney Ridge, in Fayetteville. \u201cIt\u2019s when they refuse to get help \u2026 that we have to put them in DYS.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Though such reforms stand out in Arkansas, what\u2019s happening in Benton and Washington counties is consistent with national trends. The OJJDP\u2019s census found 108,000 juvenile offenders locked up in the U.S. in 2000, a number that includes both detentions and commitments. In 2015, there were about 48,000. Arkansas is one of the few states in the nation that has failed to reduce confinement by double digits since the 1990s.<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In one sense, the reforms are as simple as two judges concluding that they must incarcerate fewer young people. In another sense, though, the changes are anything but simple. It\u2019s not that Zimmerman and Smith are ignoring delinquent behavior; it\u2019s that they\u2019re using different, finer tools than the blunt instrument of punitive confinement. <\/span><\/p>\n

Electronic monitoring, substance abuse treatment, mental health treatment, shelters and group homes, family counseling, mentorships, job training \u2014 all are alternatives the judges may deploy in lieu of detention or commitment to the DYS.<\/span><\/p>\n

Zimmerman cited an expansion of diversion efforts as one key to reducing confinement in Washington County. Those include an \u201cadventure club\u201d that provides outdoor activities such as kayaking or hiking; \u201cGirls Circle,\u201d a peer-to-peer support group; and, a family therapy program, Creating Lasting Family Connections. With the assistance from the Washington County quorum court, several of Zimmerman\u2019s staff have become certified instructors in the program.<\/span><\/p>\n

Diversion cases are those that do not progress to a formal hearing before Zimmerman, the judge explained. \u201cA diversion officer meets with a kid who receives a ticket for some nonviolent, non-felony crime, like shoplifting \u2026 before the kid is even filed on with a [delinquency] petition, before the kid even comes in the courtroom to see me.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEach kid is different. Maybe it\u2019s just going to be a meeting with the kid, and they\u2019re already scared to death, and they\u2019re like \u2018OK, I\u2019ll never do this again,\u2019 and the [officer] just warns and dismisses it. Maybe the kid needs some counseling, so the officer calls the counselor and gets an appointment set up. Or maybe the parent needs some parenting classes. So that diversion officer is kind of a triage person to get what the kid needs and what the family needs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

When Zimmerman first took the bench in 1999, there were no diversion officers in Washington County. She now has two staff devoted to the role full-time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Crucially, Smith said, alternative programs are not necessarily interchangeable from case to case, even when the offense is the same. One youth arrested for theft may be feeding a drug problem; another may have never touched drugs but could have serious problems at home. Calibrating the right response requires a careful examination of what is happening in a child\u2019s life to contribute to his or her delinquent behavior \u2014 in the jargon, a \u201crisk assessment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe do testing to find out what the kid needs that might have caused the behavior,\u201d Smith said. \u201cWe don\u2019t just go, \u2018You did this, so we\u2019re going to do X to you.\u2019 We need to know what caused it. That\u2019s why testing is such a big part of the rehabilitation process for juveniles. <\/span>It<\/span><\/i> dictates what to do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Drew Shover, the chief juvenile probation officer in Benton County, said his staff has been trained to depend on risk assessments to determine how to handle each youth. In March, the county began using a specialized tool called the <\/span>Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth, or SAVRY, which was designed by researchers to identify criminogenic risk factors in different categories: substance abuse, family stability, education, and so on. Youth, and sometimes their families, undergo an exhaustive battery of questions, the answers to which guide the youth\u2019s eventual disposition by the court.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we started getting trained on risk assessments in 2014, that really helped out,\u201d Shover said. \u201cStaff were looking at cases differently. You can put only so much of your professionalism into a case and you can be dead wrong \u2026 A [juvenile] officer says, \u2018Oh, I really know my kids\u2019 \u2014 then they can read a SAVRY and quickly realize how much they don\u2019t know about their kids. \u2026 It basically gives you facts. Takes all the subjectivity out of it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
BLUEPRINTS FOR REFORM: Drew Shover, chief juvenile probation officer for Benton County, leafs through plans for the new emergency shelter to be constructed in one wing of the JDC.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Above Shover\u2019s desk is posted a document titled \u201cBenton County <\/span>Service Matrix: Risk\/Need\/Responsivity,\u201d which categorizes the many dispositional options available to Shover and Judge Smith, from drug court to after school programming to inpatient mental health. The matrix is intended to pair each kid with the right program.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t just put them in this program here because it\u2019s available,\u201d Shover said, pointing to one column. \u201cBecause what\u2019s the point of using a tool involving a risk rating if you\u2019re not going to follow the model?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Shover has been in the juvenile justice field for 23 years. During that time, he has filled many roles at the Benton County probation office \u2014 intake officer, probation officer, supervisor \u2014 but he said the use of risk assessments to guide the disposition of juvenile cases has fundamentally changed the way he approaches his job.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve learned more in the past four or five years than the first 13 working here,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople will ask me, \u2018So you were wrong before?\u2019 And yeah, I was wrong.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Jason Szanyi, a deputy director at the D.C.-based Center for Children's Law and Policy, has worked with the juvenile courts in Benton and Washington counties since 2013 to implement the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative. A project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, JDAI has now been deployed in some 300 communities throughout the U.S. (In 2018, Pulaski County will become Arkansas\u2019s third JDAI site.) Though many of the changes in Northwest Arkansas were underway before JDAI arrived, Szanyi\u2019s role is to help the counties continue pushing forward with reform.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe best way to think of it is that we\u2019re kind of like coaches,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re really trying to educate folks in the system about what the best practices are and how to use their data strategically. \u2026 The JDAI model involves bringing together those who have a stake in the juvenile justice system \u2014 public schools, law enforcement, community-based service providers and others \u2014 to think and collaborate and try to come up with better, more effective interventions for kids.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Szanyi said the focus of JDAI is to reduce unnecessary detentions before adjudication (the equivalent of a trial). \u201cSo, I\u2019m not talking about placement and commitment to DYS. I\u2019m talking about: If a kid gets arrested, are they brought to detention? Are they released? Are they released to an alternative program?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Research shows that even short-term detentions can have a harmful effect, he said. \u201cTwo or three days may not sound like a lot, but it\u2019s enough time for a kid to fall behind in school, for a kid to associate with [other] kids who have been in the system for awhile \u2014 and we don\u2019t want kids learning negative behaviors from kids who are in detention for more serious offenses.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Although JDAI is focused on what happens to youths between arrest and adjudication, Szanyi said cutting back on short-term lockups tends to also reduce long-term commitments to the DYS. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBy reducing the detention population, what we find is that we get fewer kids who move into the \u2018deep end\u2019 of the system, where they may be placed with DYS or end up in the adult criminal justice system,\u201d he said. A recent Casey Foundation study of JDAI sites across the nation found a 57 percent reduction in state commitments over the time that the initiative was operational in each location. \u201cBenton and Washington county have had that experience too, but they were already committing far, far fewer kids to DYS than many other counties in Arkansas [before JDAI].\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Shover said JDAI has helped the county in two key areas: community partnerships and data. \u201cWe collaborate a lot more with our community stakeholders now \u2026 And also, we collect data so much better than we used to. It used to be [only] simple stuff \u2014 detentions, commitments. But now we\u2019re looking at how effective our programming is: The things that we do, do they have an impact?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The JDAI model also encourages sharing information across its many sites, which has led to major new initiatives in both Northwest Arkansas counties. After Zimmerman and her staff studied successful JDAI programs elsewhere in the country (the DYS paid for site visits, she said), the judge concluded that Washington County needed an entirely new program: an evening reporting center. <\/span><\/p>\n

At the center, offenders are required to spend their afterschool hours (from 4 to 8 p.m.) under supervision but return home for the night. Established in collaboration with Teen Action and Support Center, a Rogers-based nonprofit, the evening reporting center opened in April in a rent-free space in downtown Springdale provided by the Jones Trust, a local foundation. It provides a sanction for offenders that is more restrictive than regular probation but stops far short of incarceration.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur medium-to-high risk kids are getting services where they are, where they go to school,\u201d Zimmerman said. \u201cIt\u2019s really keeping our kids in our community and getting them the help they need \u2014 for the kids that are not violent threats to society.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Washington County Juvenile Court Director Norma Frisby said the evening reporting center is most often used as a graduated sanction for youths who violate their terms and conditions of release. Since it opened last spring, about 60 teens have been assigned to the reporting center rather than being locked up at the JDC. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to reduce the number of kids that go into detention for minor violations or technical violations,\u201d Frisby said. \u201cInstead of requesting a petition for revocation of probation, the officer can just give them this as a sanction. If you committed a new offense, between now and the time that you have to come to court for that new offense, you\u2019re going to come to the ERC for 14 or 20 days or whatever it might be \u2026 instead of putting them in detention for 20 days.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
ALTERNATIVES IN ACTION: Juvenile Court Director Norma Frisby shows off Washington County\u2019s new evening reporting center.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThey have to be picked up and dropped off by a parent, and it\u2019s just that inconvenience of them not being able to be free during those evening hours. It reduces them getting into more trouble.\u201d If a youth repeatedly fails to show up, he may still be sent to the JDC.<\/span><\/p>\n

The DYS provided a $10,000 grant to buy equipment, including furniture and laptops for the center, Frisby said, but most of the resources originated locally. The building, which is undergoing renovations, will eventually house several nonprofits that serve youth in the area.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were hopeful that DYS would continue to help us financially to start these programs up and carry them on through state money,\u201d Zimmerman said. \u201cThat happened on a very small level, but not as much as we hoped \u2026 and so that\u2019s when I went to our Washington County Quorum Court. They saw our data, they heard what we had to say, and they funded us two probation officers and a full-time counselor for our evening reporting center. That was huge.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Even with support from the county and partner nonprofits, the evening reporting center operates on an uncomfortably tight margin. Due to limited staff, it closes down during the winter holidays, Frisby said. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, the program could be so much bigger and better, and the need is there,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd also the location \u2014 we could always use one of these in Fayetteville too, but at the time when we collected the data to see where we needed an ERC, we were getting the most referrals from Springdale.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt always comes down to money. \u2026 Hopefully, eventually, we\u2019ll have more staff.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Benton County, meanwhile, is undertaking the ambitious project of transforming a wing of its JDC into a shelter, rather than a lockup. <\/span><\/p>\n

Like the evening reporting center, the shelter will serve as a less-restrictive alternative to incarceration for certain youths who get arrested or violate their probation. But it will also provide a safe place for runaways, and for youth that need to be removed from their homes temporarily. <\/span><\/p>\n

Until last year, Shover said, Benton County sent such youth to a shelter in nearby Centerton operated by Youth Bridge, the nonprofit provider officially contracted by the DYS to provide community-based services to Northwest Arkansas. Last December, Youth Bridge moved its shelter to Springdale in Washington County instead, citing a greater need in that community.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey kind of pulled the plug on us a little bit,\u201d Shover said. \u201cThat\u2019s a big challenge when you have alternatives and you lose one.\u201d After the Centerton shelter closed, Shover said, detentions in Benton County began to rise as a result \u2014 so the county decided to start its own. The project, which will cost an estimated $328,000, is to be paid for with a grant from the Endeavor Foundation, a local entity, along with a smaller appropriation from the Benton County Quorum Court. <\/span><\/p>\n

Construction will begin in early 2018 and will include a separate entrance to keep the space entirely distinct from the JDC. <\/span><\/p>\n

To be licensed as a shelter, Shover said, \u201cit has to be out of sight and sound from the detention population. These kids are not in a secure facility. \u2026 So now, law enforcement gets to bring kids into a shelter and not a detention center.\u201d It\u2019s a distinction that matters, he said. \u201cGetting strip-searched is a big deal, and getting deloused is a big deal.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to have kids flee from here; that\u2019s inevitable,\u201d Shover acknowledged. \u201cBut we also know that our kids who shouldn\u2019t be in a locked facility are not going to be in a locked facility. \u2026 Most of the time kids do not run away from shelters \u2026 and that goes to show that those alternatives are OK. We go with the majority, not the minority.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s similar with ankle bracelets,\u201d he noted. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a big, big problem with kids cutting off ankle bracelets. I mean, we have some that do \u2014 but the majority don\u2019t. \u2026 It\u2019s an exchange. Either you\u2019re going to pay for them to be locked up, or you\u2019re going to pay for them to have some alternatives, and I can assure you that that\u2019s a cost savings: using alternatives.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Though Benton County has dramatically cut detentions and commitments, the goal is to keep pushing the needle downward. \u201cWe\u2019re looking to reduce the confined youth population another 40 percent. That\u2019s our performance indicator,\u201d Shover said. <\/span><\/p>\n

The shelter will be one key to doing that, he added. \u201cIt gives us options. It\u2019s going to be quite the endeavor, but it\u2019s exciting.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The I-49 corridor from Fayetteville to Bentonville can seem a world apart from the rest of Arkansas. Powered by Walmart, Tyson Foods and other corporate behemoths, the region\u2019s economy and population have exploded over the last several decades. The prosperity isn\u2019t shared by everyone \u2014 there are an estimated 19,000 children living in poverty in Benton and Washington counties, according to U.S. Census data \u2014 but it\u2019s obvious that the rapid growth is a good problem for local policymakers to have.<\/span><\/p>\n

Can the reforms in Northwest Arkansas be replicated across the state? Or will they be limited to those few places in Arkansas with the human and economic capital to create and sustain alternatives?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a struggle for rural communities and rural juvenile courts, because they don\u2019t have a lot of money,\u201d Zimmerman said. \u201cThey don't have the tax base that other, bigger counties do, and they might not have foundations that they can go and ask for grants and such things.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

But, she added, judges and probation officers everywhere can benefit from JDAI \u2014 its emphasis on data, its philosophy on the risks inherent in even short-term detentions. \u201cYou can bring that back to your jurisdiction and be more mindful,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have to tell you, it is a lot of work, and you have to be really committed to your kids and your families and be willing to try new things. Sometimes they might work, sometimes they might not. \u2026 If there are judges in the state \u2014 or out-of-state \u2014 that want to come and see the things we\u2019re doing in Washington and Benton Counties to see if they can replicate it, we would welcome people to come.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Jason Szanyi said many JDAI sites across the country are located in areas without booming economies. \u201cIn a jurisdiction that has fewer resources \u2026 it\u2019s even more important to take a look at how they're using the folks within the system and the limited resources that are available to work with young people,\u201d he said. \u201cThe initiative has a structure to it that is designed to help any system become more efficient and more effective.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Smith acknowledged Benton County enjoys advantages. \u201cNorthwest Arkansas has a lot of resources in place and a lot of people trying to do this, so we\u2019re very blessed. \u2026 I\u2019m sure we have less juvenile violent crime than in some areas \u2026 because our economy is so good \u2014 I get all that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

However, he noted, some alternatives don\u2019t require a huge infusion of cash. \u201cAnybody can have home monitoring units. Anybody can get programs set up through a church or a nonprofit. A lot of this is not high-tech stuff. \u2026 I got some volunteers from one of our local CrossFit guys to come over and team up with the sheriff to use their gym, and we just gave these boys something to do three days a week to be proud of. That didn\u2019t cost any money. Now, it took some time, but ... all those kids have done well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In a small, rural county, Smith said, \u201cyou would really have to have outside the box thinking\u201d to come up with alternatives. \u201cI would immediately think, well, OK, we\u2019re going to have to shift toward law enforcement, fire department, municipal organizations being my mentors. \u2026 You\u2019re not going to have as many big churches \u2026 but you can get small ones to do it, too. You have to be willing to get out there and get people involved.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Theoretically, a system does exist to provide alternatives throughout the state: the DYS. In addition to operating the eight secure residential facilities, the DYS\u2019 mission also includes providing \u201ccommunity-based prevention [and] diversion\u201d programs. It contracts with 13 nonprofit providers to deliver those services statewide.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Northwest Arkansas, the community-based provider is Youth Bridge \u2014 yet Youth Bridge is not the delivery mechanism for most of the alternatives that have been deployed to such positive effect in Benton and Washington counties. Instead, Smith and Zimmerman have sought and found assistance from other entities: nonprofits, foundations, local government, businesses, churches and so on.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYouth Bridge is not a big percentage of it,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThey\u2019re our state provider, but they\u2019re just one stakeholder.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Darryl Rhoda, the CEO of Youth Bridge, is also the president of the <\/span>Arkansas Youth Service Provider's Association. He had a simple answer when asked why providers like his organization don\u2019t offer more alternatives to juvenile judges: \u201cIn 20 years, we haven\u2019t gotten a raise [from the state] \u2026 and our costs just keep going up. They don\u2019t give us enough money.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to its shelter in Springdale, Youth Bridge operates an inpatient substance abuse treatment facility, Journey House. It also provides outpatient drug counseling, electronic monitoring and various forms of therapy for children and families. Youth Bridge coordinates with Smith, Zimmerman and other juvenile judges in an eight-county service area to determine how to spend the limited money it receives annually from the DYS.<\/span><\/p>\n

Zimmerman agreed that Youth Bridge lacks the funding to deliver the array of alternatives needed by her court.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to prioritize,\u201d Zimmerman said. \u201c<\/span>I don\u2019t want to take away from inpatient drug treatment, shelter beds, ankle monitors or individual counselors for our kids that need counseling. So when we\u2019re looking at what\u2019s most important with that DYS money \u2026 those are the things we really need from our provider. By the time that they provide those things, there\u2019s really not any money left over for JDAI stuff.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think everybody knows that we need more community alternatives,\u201d Rhoda said. Statewide, he said, \u201cwe\u2019re spending $18-19 million on community alternatives, and we\u2019re spending about twice that on incarcerating about 500 kids\u201d in DYS facilities. <\/span><\/p>\n

(The DYS budgeted $27.6 million for residential services in the 2017 state fiscal year. Taxpayers spend around $87,000 annually per youth housed at the state's largest secure facility, the Arkansas Juvenile Assessment and Treatment Center.)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have folks working in emergency shelters making barely minimum wage, trying to supervise eight kids per worker. \u2026 There\u2019s something wrong with that,\u201d Rhoda said. \u201cWe should have twice the amount of dollars we had 20 years ago, or three times \u2014 but we don\u2019t, and you\u2019re going to get what you pay for.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

He also voiced frustration that the DYS contracts are unclear about desired outcomes. \u201cMy pressure as the CEO of Youth Bridge is that the courts keep demanding more and more of my agency, and I\u2019m not getting any more resources. \u2026 If somebody\u2019s critical of providers, I\u2019m going to be very defensive, because they\u2019re not the issue. It\u2019s that we need a more competent system.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

DYS Director Betty Guhman said that the agency\u2019s long-term goal is to \"rebalance our funding more toward community-based [alternatives], because we know that's more effective in the long run.\" However, lockup facilities eat up most of the agency\u2019s funding each year, and there is little appetite in the state legislature for increasing the DYS\u2019 budget.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"We use our money for residential treatment \u2014 kids that are committed to us and those that are going back [home], for aftercare,\u201d Guhman said. \u201cIt doesn't leave a lot of money for diversion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why some reform-minded judges have decided local resources are their only option. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of money spent if you have to lock up kids,\u201d Smith said. \u201cWell, if you\u2019re going to keep them from being locked up, you need to be willing to spend some money to do that too.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This reporting is courtesy of the Arkansas Nonprofit News Network, an independent, nonpartisan news project dedicated to producing journalism that matters to Arkansans. Find out more at\u00a0arknews.org<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Benton and Washington counties, jailing youth is increasingly used as a last resort. 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