CLOSING YOUTH JAILS MAY BE UNREALISTIC

The writer of the letter "It's time to shut down the juvenile facilities
that harm inmates" (April 7) is correct when she says that abuse and
neglect should not be tolerated in juvenile facilities. However, her letter
implies that community programs are rarely tried for juvenile offenders.
The fact is that most judges send kids to these facilities as a last resort.

Many of the kids have been sentenced to community detention, home detention
and other community programs before being sent to a juvenile facility. And
judges have often sent the kids to one or more drug treatment program
before they are incarcerated.

Unfortunately, these kids often return to their old ways once released from
treatment. And in many cases these kids have violated their probation
several times before they are sent to a detention facility.

I think that the juvenile judges often get frustrated when they see the
same kids over and over again, and they do not know what else to do.

Closing down the big facilities sounds good. But is it realistic?

Braxton Andrews, Baltimore