Fewer kids are being detained in local juvenile detention facilities because of several newly implemented policies that county officials say could better aid at-risk youth and their families.
As part of Renew 22, a five-year countywide initiative aimed at increasing departmental efficiency, the Santa Barbara County Probation Department launched an internal investigation into its juvenile justice system in August of 2017.
The project, according to Probation Research and Special Projects Manager Karyn Milligan, who presented the department’s findings to the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on July 10, included months of auditing juvenile cases, comparing county data, and researching possible policy and practice reforms.
Milligan said that after a thorough review of all 597 kids under county supervision and data comparisons with four other similar counties, the department found that Santa Barbara County kids were being detained and put under county supervision at disparately high rates.
In fiscal year 2016-17, roughly 1.5 percent of all Santa Barbara County youth ages 10 to 17 were under probation supervision, according to the data presented on July 10, while only between 1.2 and .06 percent of youth were being supervised in comparison counties.
And despite having similar population and crime rates to the four comparison counties, 53 kids were detained in Santa Barbara County’s juvenile hall that year, while between 46 and 20 were detained in the other counties.
While Milligan said opportunities exist within the juvenile justice system for lower-level, less intensive behavioral correction options–the most restrictive being declared a ward of the courts–the department’s research indicated that Santa Barbara County often failed to adequately utilize those less intensive options.
The department found that low-risk kids with misdemeanor offenses and behavioral problems rooted in untreated mental health issues, unaddressed abuse, and trauma–who posed little or no threat to public safety–were often listed as wards. But Milligan said once declared a ward of the court, the possibility of entering a detention facility is greatly increased, an experience that she said can cause children “serious harm.”
“The unintended consequence can increase the juvenile’s risk level through contact with the more criminally sophisticated and destabilize the youth and the family,” Milligan said at the meeting.
Deputy Chief Probation Officer Kimberly Shean said department officials wanted to reverse this potentially harmful trend, and by November of 2017, it had several policy change strategies outlined.
“These identified strategies resulting from our data mining and comparison efforts are ambitious and yet fundamentally essential,” Shean said at the meeting. “When fully implemented, they will transform juvenile probation in Santa Barbara County into a focused intervention that promotes personal growth, positive behavior change, and long-term success for youth who pose significant risks for serious offending.”
With new, detailed booking criteria and improved staff training, the department is working to reduce its juvenile hall population by diverting lower risk kids to diversionary programs and community resources.
The department, Shean said at the meeting, has several new contracts with mental health service providers, including the Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, the Good Samaritan Shelter, Community Solutions Inc., and it is funding two new evidenced-based family programs.
Strengthening Families, a family skills training program designed to increase resilience and reduce risk factors for behavioral problems in youth, and Multidimensional Family Therapy, an intensive family-based treatment for adolescent substance abuse and behavioral problems, are being rolled out this year. Shean said another new program, Reasoning and Rehabilitation, which is designed to specifically help young girls and women, is also being funded this year.
Since the department began reforming its policies and practices, Shean said its daily average juvenile hall population has decreased from about 53 to 30, and its rate of youth under supervision from 1.5 to 1.1 percent.
The changes seem to be working, Shean said, and with fewer kids in the system, more funding can go toward new programs that will allow the department to help local families in a more meaningful way. With a now fully-staffed executive team–Shawn Small and Holly Benton were recently hired as deputy chief officers–Shean said the department will continue making positive changes.
“Well, I mean, our children are our future,” Shean told the Sun, “and as cliche as that sounds, the youth in our justice systems are often the ones growing up in families that need additional support.”
Staff Writer Kasey Bubnash writes School Scene each week. Information can be sent to the Sun via mail, fax, or email at mail@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jul 19-26, 2018.