skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

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.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

MA Youth Detention Population Drops More than 20% within Weeks

play audio
Play

Thursday, April 30, 2020   

BOSTON -- Fewer young people are in detention in Massachusetts since the beginning of April, as part of efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19.

According to a new survey from The Annie E. Casey Foundation, this follows a national trend.

The Casey Foundation says youth detention is down 24% in 30 states since March.

Leon Smith, executive director of Citizens for Juvenile Justice, says the Commonwealth's youth detention population has decreased by 21% overall, and 22% in detention facilities.

Smith says he has a lot of respect for how the Department of Youth Services is handling the situation.

"They were already taking steps to thoughtfully look at young people where they were," he states. "For young people who were there, they'd been doing what they were supposed to do on their treatment, they'd already started the process of connecting them to providers on the outside."

The Juvenile Court issued a standing order on April 6 as a coronavirus precaution, recommending the release of youth awaiting trial or in probation violation hearings for nonviolent and less serious offenses.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has released a similar framework for adult correctional facilities.

The national drop in youth detention in a single month is as large as the entire decrease that took place from 2010 to 2017.

Nate Balis, director of the Juvenile Justice Strategy Group at The Casey Foundation, hopes this temporary reduction will inspire some rethinking about the purpose of youth detention.

"Maybe we are finally really right-sizing juvenile detention in this country," he states. "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."

Smith cautions that one thing needs to be part of all community services for young people being released -- greater cultural competency.

"It's really important, given the composition of our juvenile justice system, that there's not only mental and behavioral health supports, but that there are culturally competent mental and behavioral health supports," he states. "And quite frankly, we have room to grow."

Smith notes that most young people in the juvenile justice system are from communities of color, and are returning to places where COVID-19 is having a harsher impact.

Disclosure: THE Annie E Casey Foundation contributes to our fund for reporting on Children's Issues, Criminal Justice, Early Childhood Education, Education, Juvenile Justice, Welfare Reform.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …


Organizations fighting wage theft said it harms affected workers and surrounding communities because the money withheld is not being circulated through the local economy. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

Social Issues

play sound

A 2023 study from the University of Nebraska Medical Center concluded the number of Nebraskans with a mental health or substance abuse disorder has pr…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021