NCYL has been actively working with the Arkansas Division of Youth Services (DYS) to reform Arkansas’ juvenile justice system. NCYL Senior Attorney Pat Arthur, in collaboration with DYS, has co-authored a report that provides a framework for reform. The report recommends a series of goals, with the focus on reducing reliance on incarceration and increasing community-based programs – programs proven to be far more appropriate and effective for serving youth in trouble.

DYS leadership, committed to reducing the use of secure confinement of youth, retained NCYL with funding from the JEHT Foundation to help formulate a path for reform. The report, entitled “Juvenile Justice Reform in Arkansas: Building a Better Future for Youth, their Families, and the Community,” recommends using the money now spent on costly confinement to fund community programs. Tim Roche, a juvenile justice expert who specializes in developing community-based care systems for youth, co-authored the report.

In 2008, more than 90 percent of all commitments of youth to Arkansas DYS were for non-violent offenses. Forty-two percent of commitments in 2007 were for misdemeanors. The average cost of confining youth in the state’s most expensive secure residential placements exceeds $60,000 a year.

The report says that the state’s over-reliance on incarceration is due to the shortage of available alternatives, particularly those for foster youth, youth with mental disorders, and youth who misbehave in school. Other reasons include the failure to assess the risk and needs of youth; lack of resources to identify and access community-based services; and few fiscal incentives to use community based programs. The report makes specific recommendations to address these factors, calling for the development of a five-year strategic plan. The recommendations include: 

• Improved coordination and efficiency of DYS functions, especially intake, placement, and release practices

• More structured decision-making, including a standardized needs and risk assessment tool to be used by juvenile courts

• Assistance to youth seeking community based programs, including training of appropriate staff to identify local services

• Training for teachers and school administrators on safe and effective means to handle school misbehavior

• Flexible use of contract funding to encourage increased investment in community based services rather than secure institutions

The report also identifies steps that can be taken immediately to better serve youth and streamline the system while more sustainable reforms are pursued. They are: 

• Fund the development of a strategic plan involving stakeholders

• Increase funding for community based programs shown to have positive outcomes

• Fund three pilot sites – one each in a rural, urban, and mid-size community – to develop fiscal incentives to use community programs rather than incarceration.

The report’s findings and information are based on months of research, including interviews with judges, service providers, public defenders, probation officers, legislators, advocates, parents, youth, DYS staff, and other stakeholders.  The report contains data about the population of youth committed to DYS, which shows a disproportionate number of African American youth being incarcerated. The authors also did an assessment of gaps in existing community-based services. 

NCYL will continue to assist in the development of the strategic plan and to advocate for the reforms recommended in the report.

For a copy of the report, go to http://www.youthlaw.org/?id=2

Juvenile Justice Reform In Arkansas: Building a Better Future for Youth, their Families, and the Community

A Report in Collaboration with the Arkansas Division of Youth Services

By Pat Arthur and Tim Roche