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YouWho in the News
New Statewide Survey Shows Citizen Support for Juvenile Justice Reforms
MAY 13, 2003
(Baton Rouge, LA) - Louisiana citizens want youthful offenders to be held accountable for the crimes they commit, but they don't think the state's current juvenile justice system is doing a very good job, and they support alternatives to prison which they believe can be more effective and less expensive.
Those are among the findings of a new statewide survey of citizens released today by the Council for A Better Louisiana and the YouWho Coalition. It was conducted by the Public Policy Research Lab at LSU.
Generally, the survey reveals that while citizens support tough policies for dealing with youthful offenders, they believe they should include a strong focus on rehabilitation, and not necessarily within a prison setting. They also indicated strong support for the major recommendations made by the state's Juvenile Justice Commission to reform Louisiana's juvenile justice system.
"I think the results of the survey are very encouraging," said Barry Erwin, president of the Council for A Better Louisiana. "It's no surprise that citizens want to hold youthful offenders accountable for their actions, but they want to be effective, and they're very open to doing things differently than we're doing now."
Overall citizens express concerns about the effectiveness of the state's juvenile justice system. When asked to rate its performance, 48% said it was doing a fair job and another 18% thought it was doing a poor job. Only 26% rated it as good or excellent.
This comes as Louisiana is considering major reforms to the juvenile justice system with the goal of making it operate more effectively. Those reforms include closing one of the state's four youth prisons, and placing youthful offenders in alternative settings in their communities with a strong emphasis on rehabilitation.
Despite the public's general desire to be "tough on crime," Louisiana voters are very much open to the reforms being proposed for the juvenile justice system.
Rehabilitation vs. Imprisonment
Citizens clearly believe youthful offenders should be held accountable for their actions. Ninety-three percent of those surveyed believe the juvenile justice system should teach youthful offenders to take responsibility for their actions, and 69% think that if the system acts in a tough way with youthful offenders they will be less likely to commit crimes in the future.
At the same time, they also believe this can be done through alternatives to incarceration. Eighty percent of those surveyed agreed with the statement that youthful offenders "can be held accountable for their behavior through structured rehabilitation programs without necessarily placing them in prisons."
In fact, citizens have some definitive views when it comes to rehabilitation and imprisonment for young offenders:
- - 51% of those surveyed believe that imprisonment costs the state more money than other rehabilitation programs.
- 54% believe youthful offenders are less likely to commit future crimes if they are rehabilitated in a supervised program outside of prison.
- 78% say the juvenile justice system in Louisiana should focus on providing rehabilitative programs for youthful offenders so that they are less likely to commit crimes in the future, versus 15% who say the focus should be on imprisoning youthful offenders so that they are locked away from the community.
- 76% believe in the long run it is less expensive to rehabilitate youth than to keep the person in jail.
- 57% say prison is less likely to make young offenders into productive citizens than rehabilitation programs.
- 82% believe that most youthful offenders have the potential to be rehabilitated.
- 77% believe substance abuse is a problem that should be handled mainly through counseling and treatment as opposed to incarceration.
- 78% believe, in general, prison should be reserved youthful offenders who commit violent crimes.
- 83% say youthful offenders should not be imprisoned with adult inmates.
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"I think this survey shows people in Louisiana are ready to reform our juvenile justice system," said Michelle Smith, Director of Public Policy for the YouWho Coalition. "The time is right, and as legislators consider substantive changes to our current system, they should feel confident that the public supports them."
Closing A Juvenile Prison
One issue now being debated by the Legislature is whether the state should close one of its four juvenile prisons and place a greater focus on community-based rehabilitation programs. Fifty-two percent of those surveyed said they thought that was a good idea, while 35% said they need more information. Only 12% rejected the proposal as a bad idea.
Support for closing a facility grows significantly, however, when voters are given additional information about the proposal. Seventy-three percent think closing an institution is a good idea after they are told that community-based programs could save the state $25,000 per offender per year. The Annie E. Casey Foundation, in a recent study for the Juvenile Justice Commission, concluded that greater use of residential and other rehabilitation programs could save the state in that range while still maintaining public safety. In addition, support grows to 77% if only non-violent offenders are affected, and 83% when citizens are told research indicates individuals in community-based programs are less likely to commit future crimes than those who are imprisoned.
Juvenile Justice Commission Recommendations
Earlier this year the state's Juvenile Justice Commission released a series of other recommendations for reforming the juvenile justice system in Louisiana. The survey shows that conceptually citizens strongly support the Commission's ideas for reform. Among the findings:
- 81% believe it is a good idea to provide more training to judges and lawyers about child development and other issues about youthful offenders so that they are better equipped to deal with cases involving youth.
- 73% believe it is a good idea to allow judges more discretion in determining an appropriate sentence for each individual as opposed to mandatory sentences.
- 85% believe it is a good idea to consolidate services and programs aimed at youth into a new department or agency that deals with the whole family instead of leaving them spread among several different agencies.
- 85% believe it is a good idea to create a centralized database to provide information to local officials about youthful offenders from both social services agencies and the juvenile justice system.
- 87% believe it is a good idea to require law enforcement and social service agencies to share information with each other.
- 92% believe it is a good idea to provide legal counsel for youthful offenders who otherwise cannot afford legal representation.
These findings clearly show that the public supports the principles of reform established by the Juvenile Justice Commission. While details on some recommendations still need to be worked out legislatively, citizens support the direction these reforms are moving.
Organizations
CABL is a statewide, nonpartisan organization that works on major public issues and regularly engages in voter research. CABL was asked by the YouWho Coalition, and other interested groups, to help conduct the research into this issue. The YouWho Coalition is a statewide child advocacy organization representing more than 135 members, including 25 member organizations. The YouWho Coalition unites community-based efforts statewide to improve outcomes for children and families.
The 2003 Survey on Public Attitudes Toward the Juvenile Justice System and Juvenile Justice Reform was conducted by the Public Policy Research Lab at LSU, a Partnership of the Manship School of Mass Communication's Reilly Center for Media and Public Affairs and E. J. Ourso College of Business Administration. The survey of 498 Louisiana residents was conducted March 31- April 22. It has a margin of error of +/-4.4%.
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