Sunday, May 22, 2011

Juvie justice reforms cross ideological divide

Patti Hart at the Houston Chronicle ("Lawmakers in lockstep on juvenile justice," May 22) marveled that legislation merging the Texas Youth Commission and the Juvenile Probation Commission found:
an endorsement by the strangest of political bedfellows this session: the liberal Texas Appleseed and the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation.

Their joint endorsement blessed the latest milestone in a five-year transformation of the Texas criminal justice system, perhaps the one area in state government where the left and right have found common ground — in the shared belief that prisons cost too much and accomplish little.
Particularly noteworthy in her story was a quote from a conservative donor and boardmember from the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) on why a conservative group would back such an initiative:
TPPF generally supports low-tax policies, but its involvement was inspired by more than just fiscal concerns, according to Midland oilman Tim Dunn, a donor and board member. Dunn said he decided to underwrite a criminal justice researcher at the think tank because he was impressed by former Nixon adviser Chuck Colson's prison ministry. He also saw the growth of the prison industry as an extension of government power, which clashes with his views on limited government.

"We care about money too," Dunn said. But, he added, "It is not in our best interest to take someone who is a productive member of society and train them to be a hardened criminal. It's morally stupid."
Hart mentioned that Sen. John Whitmire and Rep. Jerry Madden have "promoted similar reforms in the adult criminal justice system," but the adult-side reforms haven't been nearly as sweeping as among juveniles, where the youth prison population has declined an astonishing 72% since 2006 while juvenile crime steadily declined. Grits was hopeful that the success of de-incarceration among juveniles coupled with the budget crunch would spur larger reductions in adult incarceration, where the 2007 reforms praised by Hart in the article have mostly maximized their impact and stalled out. Technical revocations are down on the parole side, she notes, but on the probation side they remain stubbornly high. Texas' decision to close one prison this year - the first such closure in state history - pales in comparison to what's happened at TYC.

Texas' juvie model provides a blueprint for a much more massive de-escalation of costs on the adult side, if the Lege can ever muster the political will. This session, they could not. But the more that backers of limited government begin to extend that critique to mass incarceration, the sooner the time may come when that can happen. At the end of the day, as P.S. Ruckman recently pointed out, sensationalistic media hyping fear is probably a bigger barrier to change than conflicting political ideologies, which as demonstrated in this story can accommodate reform on both the left and the right.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hopefully, this merger will lead to positive outcomes for youth and collegial (sp?) professional relations among the different areas of the new juvenile justice department - probation, community placements, larger secure institutions (the ones that are left), and parole.

Thomas said...

Why do I keep hearing juvenile justice will be cut anywhere from 5-20%? Amazing! Something that has proven to save money, gets less? Say it ain't so.

JED said...

Tim Dunn sounds like the kind of person I would like to meet. And coincidentally I am employed in adult corrections in his hometown.

Anonymous said...

We in the field will accept the challenge and exceed all expectations. Bring it on.

misfit64 said...

our law makers in austin and washington don't have the courage to do the right thing.instead passing more laws to place more people in prison(HB 1806).these laws cost the tax payers pays 10's of millions dollars at state leval,and bilions country wide,to place people in prison for non violent offences.we the tax payers can't and shouldn't have to pay for these one law fits all.time for change in our laws and or change in our law makers.

Anonymous said...

We NEED to do both........

G. HUBBARD said...

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Anonymous said...

It is a new day dawning in the juvenile justice field. I am happy to see the advocacy groups finally working WUTH the field, not against it. There needs to be more collaborations like this and I encourage the new department to coordinate regional with the advocacy groups. They need to be educated about what how departments actually operate so they have a better understanding of the real world.

Anonymous said...

Will grits post the 3 schools as soon as they are announced Friday?