It's not every day that Texans are greeted with good news about the state's juvenile justice system, but thanks to a number of government programs aimed at keeping youth out of jail, some recent news has been very good indeed: the population in Texas juvenile detention centers has dropped by nearly half since 2006, and it's saving the state millions of dollars per year.
The bad news, however, is that budget cuts in the coming year may threaten the very programs that are responsible for this all-too-rare success story.
Following the abuse scandal that shook the state's juvenile justice system in 2007, Texas lawmakers initiated a massive reform overhaul. These measures were aimed not only at improving conditions within youth detention facilities, but also at keeping more kids out of detention and preventing juvenile crime in the first place through a combination of prevention, rehabilitation and expanded probation services.
By keeping juvenile offenders close to home, rather than locked in detention centers, these programs have helped troubled youth maintain ties with their families and communities, both of which are vital support networks that can be crucial to successful rehabilitation. In contrast, a child who is taken out of the community and placed in a detention center is likely to be immersed in negative peer influences, which some experts say promotes recidivism rather than prevents it.
And these programs aren't just keeping kids out of jail - they seem to be keeping them out of trouble, too. The Texas Tribune reported that, while the state's juvenile population grew by three percent between 2006 and 2009, the number of juveniles who wound up in court dropped by 16 percent.
Not only is staying out of jail better for a juvenile's chances of rehabilitation, and thus better for the community as a whole, it is also better for the state budget. Even after factoring in the expense of implementing and running these programs, each child diverted from placement in a traditional detention center saves the state approximately $80,000 per year - a total savings of about $200 million to date. With an $18 billion budget gap looming, this makes cutting programs that keep kids out of jail a false economy that Texas can't afford.
