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Lawmakers address juvenile justice

By Paul Saleeba
The Daily Cougar

State lawmakers and proponents of social justice spoke at a Town Hall meeting at the UH Law School on Thursday about the current state of the Texas Youth Commission and the treatment of juvenile offenders who are certified as adults in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. 

"We do have problems in Austin, we have a shortfall of $10 billion plus, we have major decisions to make ... but I can assure you, of all the important topics that we can discuss, nothing is more important that juvenile justice," said State Sen. John Whitmire.

State Rep. Sylvester Turner and State Sen. John Whitmire spoke and answered questions about the juvenile justice programs. Both praised the lowered caseload on probation officers from an average of 72 per officer in 1995, to 30 in 1995. The two also spoke about recidivism, which refers to the rate at which a released inmate is arrested again. Program improvements, they said, helped lower the rate to 6000 arrests per 100,000 people, from 8000 arrests per 100,000 people.

That progress, Turner says, has saved Texas $350,000 this year and with the economy continuing to decline, crime rates tend to go up, and more juveniles will need these services, which Turner said can be provided by current funding levels.

"We are headed in the right direction," Rep. Turner said. "We can be smarter, we can be safer, and we can save money at the same time, and we can literally change the lives of young men and women ... and that's good news."

Texas' record in dealing with those with mental illness has improved but still has bounds to go, panelist Vicki Spriggs said. 

She explained that up to 40 percent of juvenile offenders have mental health, or emotional problems, but until recently they had no way of identifying these children due to lack of training and resources that came with the reforms starting in 1995. 

"Because the system is not equipped, the juvenile probation system is about law, is not about mental health," she explained about the system prior to reform put in place in 2002. "But for the first time ever they were given funding to provide mental health services ... for juveniles."

All speakers urged those who attended to contact their representative in Austin to support the budgets for the current Texas Youth Commission and Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
 

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