NEW YORK - Facing 18 months of state detention for robbery, the 16-year-old from Staten Island said he's hoping to earn his high school equivalency and go to college. He didn't have a particular hope regarding his transfer to one of the state's 35 residential facilities.
“I'm not really hoping for nothing, but I'm hoping for a good facility, not one that there's a lot of fighting in 'cause I don't want to get a lot of extra days,” he said. “I'm hoping that I can learn how to control my anger more, learn how to get my impulse control under control, just get done with my time and go home free.”
It was mid-April at the Pyramid Intake Center in the Bronx. State officials agreed to let him be interviewed. He volunteered. But his name, like his records, had to remain confidential.
Statistically, his odds for advancing his education while locked up were good. His prospects for staying free afterward were poor. The state Office of Children and Family Services estimates half the juveniles in New York custody advance more than a grade level in math and reading, most in detention less than a year. But 80 percent will be arrested again within three years after they leave.
A dozen programs nationally have proved to cut recidivism, others are being tested, and New York's new social services administrator is pushing for change away from lockups.
“Instead of continuing to pour money into this broken system and confining these children to facilities hundreds of miles from their homes, OCFS has aggressively been moving toward more community-based alternatives,” said Commissioner Gladys Carrion, appointed last year. In a March report she called for closing five underused residential facilities upstate and Pyramid.
Carrion said the “new paradigm” emphasizes working immediately with children and families at home and programs in Missouri and New York City have shown success. New York's 80 percent arrest rate following detention is based on a 1999 study. Another study is planned this year, but officials said they expect it to show the rate remains high.
While there is no firm national recidivism rate, since state programs and reporting vary so widely, studies across the country often show re-arrests of 55 to 65 percent for juveniles in the system, said Melissa Sickmund, author of a 2006 U.S. Justice Department report. For certain populations, like those actually incarcerated, it tends to be higher, she said.
Meanwhile, national data show juvenile crime dropping 24 percent from 1997 to 2006 with an estimated 2.2 million arrests two years ago of those under 18. Both prosecutors and social workers emphasized accountability.
“From a law enforcement perspective, we don't disagree that the family needs to be fixed, and whatever the issues are (there),” said Rick Trunfio, first chief assistant district attorney for Onondaga County. “But the criminal justice system is designed to hold people and their conduct accountable. ... I think that juveniles that have the capability to reason like adults and know the difference between right and wrong and commit violent acts should be held accountable.”
At age 16 in New York, younger for certain violent crimes, teens face prosecution in adult court as “juvenile offenders,” though with a more lenient sentencing structure. Younger lawbreakers generally go to Family Court as “juvenile delinquents.”
The three-year recidivism rate is 73 percent for 16 year-olds convicted as adults, compared with 39 percent for New York inmates overall.
“I think for a long time people sort of had the idea nothing worked,” said Sickmund, chief of systems research for the nonprofit National Center for Juvenile Justice. “I think the thing now is people know that stuff works. It's matching the right stuff with the right kids and having the money to do it and do it well.”
The MacArthur Foundation this year is spending $100 million on grants aimed in part at creating model programs in Louisiana, Washington, Pennsylvania and Illinois. There are other model programs out there.
One, Functional Family Therapy, is used in 10,000 cases a year in the U.S. and Europe, costing about $2,500 per case, chief executive Doug Kopp said.
For three to four months, a trained therapist works intensively with the juvenile and the entire family. A recent study in Washington state of young parolees showed a drop in felony recidivism from 28 percent to 17 percent within 18 months of release, Kopp said.
“You've got to be systematic and relentless in getting people in the door and have to be able to work with them in a way they want to come back. ... The highest risk for this population is they don't show up again. They drop out at tremendous rates,” Kopp said. “In the end the family's going to be with that kid much longer than we ever will.”
New York's OCFS reported 4,396 youths placed last year in juvenile custody, which on a typical day has almost 1,300 in its residential facilities and another 600 to 800 in private agency placements, Deputy Director Joyce Burrell said.
About 75 percent of those who took the General Education Development equivalency tests in reading, writing, math, science and social studies passed in 2007, according to OCFS.
“I think one of the great things in the system is the school,” said psychologist Elsa Neiland at Pyramid, where staff do intake evaluations and initial treatment plans. The boys come in with common and multiple issues including unstable histories, post-traumatic stress, mood disorders, deficits in social skills, IQs between 70 and 90, drug and alcohol use, and a high need for excitement. Some 10 to 15 percent are already on psychiatric medications and 30 percent arrive with no medical records.
Pyramid psychiatrist Dr. Harold Mendelson said many need to get out of the communities where they got into trouble and go somewhere safer. “You're letting him breathe in a way outside that world,” he said.
The staff acknowledges significant transition problems back that range from public schools reluctant to take them, to unemployment, homelessness and recidivism as young adults.
There are many success stories, they said, though some teens entering Pyramid are already hard cases.
“Without vocational training for these young people there is no hope and they're going to return to doing exactly the same sort of thing regardless of the community intervention you're going to give them,” staff psychologist Harlan Frankel said. Some come to OCFS only after they fail in community programs like probation, he said.
The psychologists listed structure, small classes, mandatory attendance, and no girls among reasons student progress in detention.
Lawmakers adopted Carrion's recommendations to shut four upstate detention facilities and close a training center in 2009, but left open Great Valley in western New York and Pyramid. The OCFS, which added 218 new community positions last year, including 36 mental health professionals, has a 2008-2009 budget of $3.75 billion, up $22 million. That includes $159.8 million for running the state's “youth facilities,” up $2.4 million. Another $64.7 million is for “detention facilities” run by counties where juveniles await family court.
About 85 percent of those in state custody are boys, 59 percent African American, 27 percent Hispanic, most from the greater New York City area.
The Staten Island teen had been in custody for 2 1/2 months awaiting court, was writing letters to his girlfriend, calling his father once a week. At Pyramid, he had a hint of a mustache, slight acne across the bridge of his nose, and hadn't seen his mother since he was 11 except once in a while on the street. He was arrested at 15. He had three robbery cases. If he could take back what he'd done he said he would.
“I just want to try to get my GED, sir, to be honest,” said the 10th grader who stopped attending classes last year. “'Cause academically I'm good in school, but behaviorally I'm not that good. I guess I get distracted very easily.”
---
On the Net:
State Office of Children and Family Services: http://www.ocfs.state.ny.us
National Law Enforcement & Juvenile Crime briefing book: http://www.ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/ojstatbb/crime/index.html
AP-ES-05-23-08 1444EDT
It was mid-April at the Pyramid Intake Center in the Bronx. State officials agreed to let him be interviewed. He volunteered. But his name, like his records, had to remain confidential.
Statistically, his odds for advancing his education while locked up were good. His prospects for staying free afterward were poor. The state Office of Children and Family Services estimates half the juveniles in New York custody advance more than a grade level in math and reading, most in detention less than a year. But 80 percent will be arrested again within three years after they leave.
A dozen programs nationally have proved to cut recidivism, others are being tested, and New York's new social services administrator is pushing for change away from lockups.
“Instead of continuing to pour money into this broken system and confining these children to facilities hundreds of miles from their homes, OCFS has aggressively been moving toward more community-based alternatives,” said Commissioner Gladys Carrion, appointed last year. In a March report she called for closing five underused residential facilities upstate and Pyramid.
Carrion said the “new paradigm” emphasizes working immediately with children and families at home and programs in Missouri and New York City have shown success. New York's 80 percent arrest rate following detention is based on a 1999 study. Another study is planned this year, but officials said they expect it to show the rate remains high.
While there is no firm national recidivism rate, since state programs and reporting vary so widely, studies across the country often show re-arrests of 55 to 65 percent for juveniles in the system, said Melissa Sickmund, author of a 2006 U.S. Justice Department report. For certain populations, like those actually incarcerated, it tends to be higher, she said.
Meanwhile, national data show juvenile crime dropping 24 percent from 1997 to 2006 with an estimated 2.2 million arrests two years ago of those under 18. Both prosecutors and social workers emphasized accountability.
“From a law enforcement perspective, we don't disagree that the family needs to be fixed, and whatever the issues are (there),” said Rick Trunfio, first chief assistant district attorney for Onondaga County. “But the criminal justice system is designed to hold people and their conduct accountable. ... I think that juveniles that have the capability to reason like adults and know the difference between right and wrong and commit violent acts should be held accountable.”
At age 16 in New York, younger for certain violent crimes, teens face prosecution in adult court as “juvenile offenders,” though with a more lenient sentencing structure. Younger lawbreakers generally go to Family Court as “juvenile delinquents.”
The three-year recidivism rate is 73 percent for 16 year-olds convicted as adults, compared with 39 percent for New York inmates overall.
“I think for a long time people sort of had the idea nothing worked,” said Sickmund, chief of systems research for the nonprofit National Center for Juvenile Justice. “I think the thing now is people know that stuff works. It's matching the right stuff with the right kids and having the money to do it and do it well.”
The MacArthur Foundation this year is spending $100 million on grants aimed in part at creating model programs in Louisiana, Washington, Pennsylvania and Illinois. There are other model programs out there.
One, Functional Family Therapy, is used in 10,000 cases a year in the U.S. and Europe, costing about $2,500 per case, chief executive Doug Kopp said.
For three to four months, a trained therapist works intensively with the juvenile and the entire family. A recent study in Washington state of young parolees showed a drop in felony recidivism from 28 percent to 17 percent within 18 months of release, Kopp said.
“You've got to be systematic and relentless in getting people in the door and have to be able to work with them in a way they want to come back. ... The highest risk for this population is they don't show up again. They drop out at tremendous rates,” Kopp said. “In the end the family's going to be with that kid much longer than we ever will.”
New York's OCFS reported 4,396 youths placed last year in juvenile custody, which on a typical day has almost 1,300 in its residential facilities and another 600 to 800 in private agency placements, Deputy Director Joyce Burrell said.
About 75 percent of those who took the General Education Development equivalency tests in reading, writing, math, science and social studies passed in 2007, according to OCFS.
“I think one of the great things in the system is the school,” said psychologist Elsa Neiland at Pyramid, where staff do intake evaluations and initial treatment plans. The boys come in with common and multiple issues including unstable histories, post-traumatic stress, mood disorders, deficits in social skills, IQs between 70 and 90, drug and alcohol use, and a high need for excitement. Some 10 to 15 percent are already on psychiatric medications and 30 percent arrive with no medical records.
Pyramid psychiatrist Dr. Harold Mendelson said many need to get out of the communities where they got into trouble and go somewhere safer. “You're letting him breathe in a way outside that world,” he said.
The staff acknowledges significant transition problems back that range from public schools reluctant to take them, to unemployment, homelessness and recidivism as young adults.
There are many success stories, they said, though some teens entering Pyramid are already hard cases.
“Without vocational training for these young people there is no hope and they're going to return to doing exactly the same sort of thing regardless of the community intervention you're going to give them,” staff psychologist Harlan Frankel said. Some come to OCFS only after they fail in community programs like probation, he said.
The psychologists listed structure, small classes, mandatory attendance, and no girls among reasons student progress in detention.
Lawmakers adopted Carrion's recommendations to shut four upstate detention facilities and close a training center in 2009, but left open Great Valley in western New York and Pyramid. The OCFS, which added 218 new community positions last year, including 36 mental health professionals, has a 2008-2009 budget of $3.75 billion, up $22 million. That includes $159.8 million for running the state's “youth facilities,” up $2.4 million. Another $64.7 million is for “detention facilities” run by counties where juveniles await family court.
About 85 percent of those in state custody are boys, 59 percent African American, 27 percent Hispanic, most from the greater New York City area.
The Staten Island teen had been in custody for 2 1/2 months awaiting court, was writing letters to his girlfriend, calling his father once a week. At Pyramid, he had a hint of a mustache, slight acne across the bridge of his nose, and hadn't seen his mother since he was 11 except once in a while on the street. He was arrested at 15. He had three robbery cases. If he could take back what he'd done he said he would.
“I just want to try to get my GED, sir, to be honest,” said the 10th grader who stopped attending classes last year. “'Cause academically I'm good in school, but behaviorally I'm not that good. I guess I get distracted very easily.”
---
On the Net:
State Office of Children and Family Services: http://www.ocfs.state.ny.us
National Law Enforcement & Juvenile Crime briefing book: http://www.ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/ojstatbb/crime/index.html
AP-ES-05-23-08 1444EDT
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