Alternative programs handle more delinquents

Monday, Nov. 10, 2003 | 11:18 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The number of delinquent children in Nevada is increasing, but there are no plans to build a new state juvenile detention center because alternative local programs are handling more of the cases, a state official told lawmakers Friday.

The shift is taking place "without a loss of public safety," Larry Carter, state juvenile justice program chief, told the legislative subcommittee studying the juvenile justice system.

The subcommittee conducted its first of five meetings Friday to review two past studies on the same subject and to assess the current status of the system.

In 1995 and 1996, Nevada committed boys 14 to 18 years old to the state detention centers at a rate of 5.5 per 1,000 in the population. In the last several years, he said, that rate has dropped to 2.6 per 1,000.

In those days there were no alternatives for youngsters who got into trouble. They were shipped to the detention centers in Elko or Caliente.

But community programs are available such as counseling for mental and drug abuse. There are also county facilities for the less serious offenders -- Spring Mountain Youth Camp in Clark County and China Springs in Douglas County.

Carter said a graduated level of sanctions is now used in determining whether the less serious offender should be kept at the local level for treatment and rehabilitation programs.

But child advocates stressed to the committee there must be more day treatment and residential facilities in the counties, rather than sending the delinquents to detention centers in rural counties.

The subcommittee, led by Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, reviewed recommendations from the National Center for Juvenile Justice that suggested that if state detention centers are to be built, they should be located in Las Vegas or Reno, rather than in rural counties. It said locating these reform schools in the outlying areas has "severely hampered" the start of programs for these delinquents.

The report said: "Locating future facilities in Clark and Washoe counties would seem to make the most sense and would bolster recruitment and retention of a sufficient number of qualified staff."

But "we don't plan to build any more" detention centers, Carter told the subcommittee. Instead, the state will concentrate on providing rehabilitation and other programs at the local level, he said.

The state will, however, be reopening within the next few months Summit View in North Las Vegas for boys who are serious offenders within the next few months. Jone Bosworth, newly appointed director of the state Division of Child and Family Service, said recruitment is presently under way for staff at Summit View. All of the repairs have been taken care of.

The Clark County School District will provide educational services. And training of new staff will be done in December. Summit View has been closed since January 2002.

The 96-bed facility had been open since 2000, operated by Correctional Services Corp., a private company. However there were escapes and cases where female staff had sex with the teens.

Under a hail of criticism, Correctional Services pulled up stakes and left Summit View nearly two years ago saying it could not make any money on the operation.

When it reopens, the state will run Summit View. But housing young prisoners is not the only issue that the subcommittee needs to examine, the group was told.

Richard Siegel, president of the Nevada Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, told the subcommittee there is a crisis in the legal representation of juveniles in court proceedings.

There are "an amazingly small amount of resources," to represent these juveniles, Siegel said.

Among the other topics the subcommittee is to tackle is the question about whether minority juveniles are being singled out for arrest. A report from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department submitted to the subcommittee showed that in 2002 there was a "significant over-representation" of black youths arrested for juvenile offenses.

The report said that 29 percent of the 4,864 juveniles arrested for felonies and gross misdemeanors were black. Only 14 percent of the Clark County School District enrollment is black, however.

The report also said that 30 percent of the arrests were Hispanic youths, compared with school enrollment of 31 percent. It said there were an estimated 244,684 students in the Clark County School District with 48 percent Caucasian.

But only 38 percent of those arrested for felonies and gross misdemeansors were white.