REPORT: STATE IS FILLING DETENTION BEDS WITH NON-VIOLENT YOUTHS ATLANTA -- Non-violent offenders are a growing presence in Georgia's juvenile detention centers as serious crimes involving young people decrease, according to a new report ordered by the Department of Juvenile Justice. Reflecting a nationwide trend, juvenile arrests for violent crimes in Georgia fell by 27 percent between 1995 and 1998, while arrests for serious property crimes decreased by 24 percent, Atlanta-based Applied Research Services Inc., reported in a study completed last month. At the same time, arrests of Georgia young people for less serious crimes such as drug possession, disorderly conduct and so-called "status" crimes like loitering were on the rise, soaring by 200 percent between 1990 and 1998, according to the report. Many of those non-violent offenders are ending up in Georgia's regional youth detention centers, which house young offenders accused of crimes while their cases are pending, or in youth development campuses, which are for those who have been sentenced to state custody. For example, while the percentage of RYDC admissions for youths charged with violent or serious property crimes fell between 1996 and last year, the percentage of offenders charged with less serious non-violent crimes increased. The increase in non-violent offenders is driven in part by drug task forces organized by local law enforcement agencies and funded by federal grants, said Greg Maxey, the department's deputy commissioner. "We're locking up a lot more less-serious offenders," Maxey told members of the Georgia Board of Juvenile Justice Thursday. "The war on drugs has dramatically widened the net." Maxey said the higher concentration of non-violent offenders in custody is adding more girls to the system, which puts a financial strain on the department because it has to have some separate facilities and gender-specific programs for them. He said the crackdown on drug offenses also has caused the number of young people in custody from rural Georgia and the state's urban areas outside of Atlanta to grow much faster than the number in detention from metro-Atlanta, where drug abuse has been a major problem for years. "They're dealing with a new problem (outside of Atlanta), and they're dealing with it strongly," he said. The report recommends that the department step up its alternatives-to-incarceration programs, which are geared toward non-violent youths. "We need to reduce our reliance on secure, state-operated facilities ... and start looking at other options," said Juvenile Justice Commissioner Orlando Martinez. "They exist in community settings, which are less expensive because the kids don't need that level of security." Martinez has stressed such "community corrections" as probation, group homes and foster care since he joined the department last year, and the department's last two annual budget requests have reflected that commitment.
No member comments available...
|