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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Coronavirus Emergency Linked to Fewer Nebraska Youths in Detention

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Tuesday, April 28, 2020   

RALSTON, Neb. -- As the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the country, the number of young people being held in juvenile detention dropped significantly, according to a new report. And advocates argue a corresponding drop in crime should accelerate juvenile-justice reform efforts.

Juliet Summers, policy coordinator with Voices for Children in Nebraska, said she believes youth incarceration is a failed approach.

"We've had decades of social-science research on this, showing us that, for the vast majority of young people caught up in our juvenile system, detention - which is essentially juvenile jail - does significantly more harm than good," Summers said.

A new Annie E. Casey Foundation survey of juvenile-justice agencies in 30 states, including Nebraska, showed a 24% drop in the number of young people detained in March. The survey also found 15% of jurisdictions had confirmed cases of COVID-19 in juvenile facilities, and more staff were infected than young people.

Nate Balis, director of the Casey Foundation's Juvenile Justice Strategy Group, said the COVID-19 health emergency may finally bring about what he called a "right-sizing" of the nation's juvenile-detention system.

"We could emerge from the pandemic with a detention population that truly is young people who pose an immediate community safety risk, rather than all kinds of young people who are not a risk to public safety," Balis said.

Summers said she hopes the survey data will give policy makers in Nebraska the confidence to transition away from "tough on youth crime" policies, to investing in community-based programs that help steer youth away from risky adolescent behavior.

"We suddenly detained fewer youths, and guess what? Our communities were also safer as a result," Summers said. "So, draw some bigger lessons from that about the relative use of detention versus other alternatives that we can implement."

Summers said children who have served detention time are are less likely than their peers to graduate from high school, and are more likely to re-offend and to be involved in adult corrections later in life.

Disclosure: Annie E Casey Foundation contributes to our fund for reporting on Children's Issues, Criminal Justice, Early Childhood Education, Education, Juvenile Justice, Welfare Reform. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


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