It’s a custom with each new year to take stock, reflect and make plans to improve. 2020’s calls for justice reform invite us to consider where Indiana sits with incarceration. The Prison Policy Initiative reports that Indiana has 110 jails and prisons, incarcerating 732 of every 100,000 Hoosiers (about 162,000 of us). Those rates are higher than the national average of 698 per 100,000 Americans. Our adult incarceration numbers are bad news. We have work to do, but there’s some good news too.
Indiana had fewer than 1,600 juveniles incarcerated, down from over 3,200 in 2001. The downward shift in juvenile confinement is a national trend that shows a shift in mindset and policy by courts, youth services, educators, parents and community leaders. As they analyzed data, they found that detention decreases the chances a young person will graduate from high school by 13% and increases the chance they will end up in adult prison by 22%. Confinement seems to create criminals instead of preventing crime because juveniles tend to make friends with other offenders and build criminal connections (not just friends, but ideas.)
We can thank initiatives like the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative, which Marion County joined in 2006, for the data and policy solutions reforming our juvenile justice practices. As of 2020, 32 counties in Indiana have adopted JDAI practices, which focus on using data for holistic solutions to help juveniles. Thirty-nine states in the nation also participate.
JDAI is locally driven but connects stakeholders (courts, social workers, policy makers, educators, treatment professionals, etc.) across the nation. Instead of detention, JDAI supports diversion. Based on gaps in the system, counties explore options such as afterschool programs to keep kids supervised and supported so they don’t commit youthful, harmful indiscretions. Mental health services, home monitoring and other preventative interventions are keeping kids out of the system. For those who are violent offenders, Restorative Justice programs (used in Indiana’s juvenile system) work towards rehabilitation. These focus on crime as “injury to be repaired and relationship to be restored.
This is a huge shift from the 90’s and early 2000’s when courts were using punitive measures, such as detention for even minor offenses, A National Juvenile Justice report in 2010 documented almost 42,000 youths confined for offenses such as breaking school rules, truancy, running away from home or missing their parole hearings. When states like California and localities like Broward County, Florida closed juvenile detention centers to save money, they saw not only savings but positive outcomes by implementing alternatives.
Detention is increasingly perceived as a measure of last resort. Nevertheless, in 2020, the Annie E. Casey Foundation reported that one in four youths (about 195,000) nationally are detained at a cost of $1 billion. That’s after steep drops in detention, indicating we still have work to do.
Hoosier counties that adopted JDAI saw quick steep drops in juvenile detention and arrests, leading the way for restorative, supportive and rehabilitative solutions.
The Indiana League of Women Voters calls for rehabilitation to be the primary goal for youth, for detention to only for protection for self and others, and to treat children of all sex, race, ethnic background, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status equitably. It mentions JDAI implementation across all 92 counties (Montgomery has not yet adopted it). That means all our partners — courts, law enforcement, youth services, educators, parents, etc. should support alternatives for juveniles who encounter the justice system.
When our 14-year-old pulls one of those shenanigans wherein he’s delivered home in the back of a squad car because he’s trespassed, we long for a Mayberry where our kids aren’t cuffed and detained. When our 15-year-old’s mental illness cycles and she becomes aggressive, we want to trust the DCS social workers when we call for help. We don’t live in a fictional world where the citizens know all the police and civil servants and they know us. Yet we want a world where we save the harshest punishment for incorrigibles and are hesitant to apply that label. We can use what we are learning to move towards a community wherein no one is beyond redemption or rehabilitation.
The League of Women Voters, a non-partisan, multi-issue organization encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase public understanding of major policy issues and influences public policy through education and advocacy. All men and women are invited to join the LWV where hands-on work to safeguard democracy leads to civic improvement. For information about the League, visit the website www.lwvmontco.org or voice mail 765-361-2136.
