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Juvenile Justice Task Force

MINUTES OF THE
JUVENILE JUSTICE TASK FORCE

October 24, 1997 - 1:00 p.m. - Room 303, State Capitol
        

Members Present:
    Sen. Lyle W. Hillyard, Senate Chair    
    Rep. Christine R. Fox, House Chair
    Sen. Joseph L. Hull
    Sen. Nathan C. Tanner
    Rep. John B. Arrington
    Rep. Blake D. Chard
    Rep. J. Brent Haymond
    Mr. Gary K. Dalton
    Hon. Andrew A. Valdez
    Mr. Russ Van Vleet
    Ms. Robin Arnold Williams    

Members Absent:
    Rep. Steve Barth     
    Mr. David J. Jordan

Staff Present:
    Ms. Chyleen A. Arbon,
     Research Analyst
    Ms. Esther D. Chelsea-McCarty,      Associate General Counsel
    Ms. Glenda S. Whitney,
     Secretary

    
     Note:    A list of others present and a copy of materials distributed in the meeting are on file in the         Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel.

1.    Call to Order and Task Force Business - Chair Fox called the meeting to order at 1:14 p.m.

     MOTION: Mr. Dalton moved to approve the minutes of the September 26, 1997 meeting. The motion passed unanimously with Sen. Hull, Rep. Haymond, Mr. Van Vleet, and Ms. Williams absent for the vote.

2.    Employment Opportunities for At-Risk Youth

    Mr. Tim Frost, Director, Granite Youth Educational Support Services (Y.E.S.S.) Program, Supportive Employment Center and Mr. David Margulies, Director, Supportive Employment Center, distributed two handouts, "Supportive Employment Center - Granite Y.E.S.S. Program" and "Granite School District Y.E.S.S. Service Delivery Pattern."

    Mr. Frost said that the Y.E.S.S. Program serves the educational needs of students in the custody of the state who reside within the Granite School District area. He reported having 19 sites from which they serve students.

    Mr. Margulies explained that the programs at the Supportive Employment Center consist of the following components: 1) establishing a referral process for youth in custody; 2) presenting a pre-employment skills training course which includes, self evaluation, resume writing skills, interviewing techniques, and job retention skills; 3) conducting educational and vocational evaluations; 4) networking with perspective employees; and 5) establishing a business for youth in the secure facilities including Wasatch Youth Center and the Decker Lake Center.
The business will consist of a wood shop from which products will be sold to retail shops throughout the Salt Lake valley. The money from this venture will go to a youth educational support fund. The goal of this business is to connect the students in secure care with the community and to raise funds to help support the Youth Educational Support Fund.

    Mr. Margulies explained that the educational funds generated by the business will finance the program's entrance into the secure facilities. The Salt Lake Community College, for example, has a variety of programs that they would like to have in the secure facilities on a weekly basis for a period of two to three months. He said the students will receive school credits and some programs will enable the students to receive certification in certain fields. He concluded that when the students leave the facilities they will have some direction and may pursue courses that have been introduced to them in these facilities.

    Judge Valdez indicated that these vocational skills training issues have been talked about for three years. He asked why these vocational skills programs have not been implemented in the facilities before now. He asked whether there is a statutory problem, a policy problem, or a money problem. He said we need to deal with the problem so we can get the youth some apprenticeship programs. Mr. Frost responded that there are two issues that are road blocks to these programs: security and tuition.

    Mr. Philip Castle, Principal, Mill Creek Youth Center, Ogden City School District and Ogden Youth in Custody Director, displayed pictures and distributed a handout, "Success Profile." He then presented an overview of the vocational programs in the Mill Creek Youth Center Education Department.

    He reviewed the staffing and funding that is available to the center. He said their funding comes from three basic sources: a major portion from youth in custody funds, the Carl D. Perkins Federal Vocational funds for incarcerated youth, and Title 1 funds received for educationally disadvantage youth. He discussed the learning and vocational skills available at the center.

    Mr. Castle recognized that it is expensive to pay for the juvenile offenders that are in secure care facilities, but noted it is more expensive for adult inmates. He reported that the cost of an adult in prison is $70,000 per bed and $20,000 per year. He said the research shows education and employability have a positive effect on recidivism. Currently, equipment funding and space are major issues of concern if vocational training programs are to be offered in secure facilities. Another major issue he identified is the transition from secure facilities out into the community. Mr. Castle suggested the following: a) make offenders stay longer so all residents have time to obtain suitable employment; b) employ more job coaches and employment specialists to coordinate community employment placements; and c) reduce the Division of

Youth Corrections' case manager loads so they can more effectively deal with the youth when they are in the communities.

    Judge Valdez commented that seven months is not long enough for these vocational training programs. He suggested extending the stay to 12 or 16 months and requiring the completion of a treatment plan before releasing offenders from custody.

    Ms. Celestina Murphy, Senior Outreach Specialist, Job Corps and Ms. Amy Hutoff, Job Corps Program Admissions Counselor, distributed a packet, "Job Corps is the answer," along with a travel clock for task force members. Ms. Murphy presented an overview of Job Corps. She explained that it offers disadvantaged youth a chance to learn marketable skills and become useful members in society. It is the largest and most successful job training residential program in the nation. They offer $25,000 in job training and higher education scholarships to eligible youth. This scholarship includes room, board, medical care, dental care, optical care, clothing allowance, recreation bonuses; essentially everything a student needs to concentrate their efforts on their vocational and educational training. She identified Job Corps as a three-prong training process: vocational, educational, and social skills.

    Ms. Murphy identified the various careers offered at the different campuses. She said there are five campuses in this part of the country: three in Montana and two in Utah. The Clearfield Campus houses 1,350 students and Weber Basin Campus houses 250 students. They offer over 25 different career training choices, high school diplomas, GED, and college opportunities. She explained that the youth has to fulfill certain criteria to be eligible for this scholarship. They have to be motivated, committed, and suitable for the Job Corps program.

    Ms. Hutoff reviewed the following criteria for Job Corps eligibility: age, motivation, low income, and no court obligations, alcohol and drug use, or violent behavior. She pointed out that Job Corps is not designed for, nor equipped to handle, serious criminal offenders, active substance abusers, arsonists, sexual offenders, or those with severe emotional disorders.

    Dr. Larry Shumway, Director of Alternative Education, Davis County School District and Mr. Bob Brown, Department of Workforce Services, distributed a handout, "Davis County Mountain High School SUCCESS Program." They presented an overview of Davis County's educational component of their Serious Habitual Offenders Comprehensive Action Program (SHOCAP). The SHOCAP program is a collaborative effort to deal with the most serious individual offenders that are in the community.

    Dr. Shumway said in their findings they were surprised to discover that of youth in their county with probation orders, almost all were required to be in school but only 50 percent were. He also pointed out that those who were not in school were the most serious offenders. Their

effort is to develop a program where they can enroll these students in school. He outlined the program called SUCCESS. This program was developed through the collaboration of the Davis School District, Juvenile Court, Davis County, Youth Corrections, municipalities in Davis County, and the Department of Workforce Services. He said the program goal is to reduce the number of re-offending juveniles through collaborative programming and close supervision and to provide for the program participants' basic academic and vocational skills.

    Mr. Shumway said to be selected for this program one must go through the Serious Habitual Offender Nominating Committee. Once the student is selected, it is part of their probation. The program runs at Bountiful and Clearfield High Schools.

    Mr. Brown explained that the Department of Workforce Services has allocated up to six hours per week of staff time in particular areas with this program. They provide: a) assessments, career counseling, and orientation; b) labor market information; c) workshops for job seeking and job retention skills; and d) help with job placement.

    Ms. Joyce P. Valdez, Marketing Specialist, Salt Lake Community College Skills Center, distributed five brochures on the skills center at the Salt Lake Community College and gave a slide presentation. She outlined the services available to the youth in obtaining vocational skills through their center. The programs consist of training in the following areas: pre-training preparation, electronics and computer technology, heath care industry, office information systems, and skilled trades such as service technician, mechanic, and machinist. She noted that there are various campuses that students can enter anytime and financial aid is available.

    Staff distributed a handout, "State Supervision & Jobs Report Results of an E-mail survey conducted during October 1997 by Mike Phillips for the Juvenile Justice Task Force," which listed employment opportunities for youth on probation.

3.    Outcomes of Secure Care Youth

    Mr. John Dewitt, Division of Youth Corrections, distributed a handout, "Secure Care Youth Supplement," from which he made his presentation. He explained that in the process of presenting his report last month, there were several issues that members of the task force asked to be further developed. He first discussed the breakdown of average time spent in a secure facility.

    Judge Valdez expressed concern about committing a youth for seven months and expecting to change his belief system and properly train him in a skill that will preclude a return to corrections. He stated that seven months is not enough time to make those changes.

    Mr. Dalton expressed concern with the emphasis being put on corrections to build larger and more efficient facilities, with more beds and less vocational space for programing services. He said they need more resources to acquire more space.

    Mr. David K. Broadbent, Chair, Youth Parole Authority, said sentence lengths increased about 50 percent following recent sentencing changes. The Youth Parole Authority has been concerned about rehabilitation and public safety. They believe that successful rehabilitations are essential to achieving a meaningful reduction in recidivism rates, and they desire to avoid having secure care residents return to the youth and adult courts as repeat offenders.

    Mr. Broadbent focused on an additional concern, stating nearly 10 percent of the residents in secure care are parents themselves. Few if any of these residents can look to examples of healthy parenting in their homes to prepare them for this significant responsibility.

    Judge Valdez asked if there are any parenting classes available to the youth. Mr. Broadbent responded that secure care offers classes in parenting, but DYC is unable to offer programming that realistically prepares the residents for the challenge of parenthood. He indicated that further assistance is needed to prepare the residents for this adult challenge. Otherwise, they guarantee a new generation of youthful offenders.

    Mr. Broadbent said they have identified education and vocational services as significant issues to be dealt with in order to improve the success of offender rehabilitation and crime reduction efforts. He distributed handouts, "Youth Parole Authority Delinquency History" and "Victim Handbook," along with a letter from the Youth Parole Authority that outlined other concerns.

    Judge Valdez said the needs of these youth have been recognized, but asked what the parole board can do to change the rehabilitative process.

    Mr. Broadbent responded that the legislature needs to get their pocketbooks out and give more resources to the process, so that there can be a better menu of choices, more education, summer schools, and increased lengths of stay in treatment programs.

    Rep. Chard asked at what level the legislature should fulfill these needs. He expressed concern with the Weighted Pupil Unit (WPU) not following the child. He explained that the legislature funds the education of every youth in this state. When youth get in trouble and are put in DYC, we are still under obligation to educate them. He said there are a lot of problems with the funding mechanisms, and he did not know if simply getting the checkbook out and increasing the funds is the answer.

    Sen. Hull said that the WPU does not follow the youth. He asked for an equation between the youth in custody money and the WPU. He suggested the idea of possibly having corrections form their own charter school in order to receive WPU money for education.    

    Mr. John McNamara, Administrator of the State Juvenile Courts, followed up on a question raised by the task force concerning what happened to the youth who were released from secure care and turned 21 in 1992, 1993, and 1994 . He reported on a study conducted in November of 1994, "A Look at Youth in Utah's Secure Facilities," which found that all youth who were located (90 percent) were involved with the adult criminal justice system with either an arrest, a prison or jail sentence, or probation.

4.    Serious Youth Offender

    This agenda item was not discussed due to the lack of time. Staff distributed the following handouts: "Overview of Current Law - Serious Youth Offender (§78-3a-602)," "Offenders Age 18 or Less - Utah Department of Corrections," "Serious Youth Offender Presentation - Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice," and "Colorado Model."

5.    Jurisdictional Age

    This issue will be discussed in the November meeting.

6.    POST Certification
    
    Rep. Blake D. Chard referred the task force to the draft legislation, "Correctional Officer Amendment." He explained that this legislation removes the reference to Youth Corrections from the Correctional Officers statute.

     MOTION: Rep. Chard moved on Page 2 of the draft legislation, "Correctional Officer Amendment" to delete Lines 14 - 15. The motion passed unanimously.

     MOTION: Rep. Chard moved to adopt as amended the "Correctional Officer Amendment" as a Juvenile Justice Task Force bill. The motion passed unanimously.

    Chair Fox announced that the next Juvenile Justice Task Force meeting will be held November 14, 1997.    

7.    Adjournment -

    MOTION: Sen. Hillyard moved to adjourn the meeting at 3:47 p.m. The motion passed unanimously.

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