NCJ Number
208321
Journal
Juvenile Justice Update Volume: 10 Issue: 5 Dated: October/November 2004 Pages: 1-2,14,16
Date Published
October 2004
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Written in response to "Revitalizing Louisiana's Juvenile Justice System" (by Barry Glick in Juvenile Justice Update, February/March 2004), this article challenges Glick's claim that significant improvements have occurred in Louisiana's juvenile justice system under Glick's consulting services and the leadership of Secretary Richard L. Stalder of Louisiana's Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DPS&C).
Abstract
In his article, Glick praised the DPS&C in its juvenile justice reform initiative and the "vision of its corrections executives." The author of the current article, who is co-counsel in the Federal litigation regarding the conditions of confinement and treatment of youth in Louisiana's secure care facilities, challenges this appraisal as being inconsistent with the facts both as documented in 1996, when the first reforms began, and today. The author argues that juveniles continue to be subjected to violence, mistreatment, and inadequate secure care in Louisiana. Since 1992, when Stalder became secretary of the DPS&C, Human Rights Watch, the U.S. Department of Justice, and others have documented brutal and inhumane conditions in Louisiana's juvenile prisons. Although millions of dollars have been appropriated to reform a juvenile correctional system that reflects the punitive and harsh adult correctional model, almost 6 years after Federal litigation began, the levels of violence and treatment for juvenile offenders in secure care is still unacceptable. The author recommends that Louisiana consider implementing Missouri's model of juvenile secure care, which consists of relatively small therapeutically focused centers, where significant behavioral change has been documented.