The Cost of Not Treating Young Offenders in Their Communities

September 29, 2014 by Kathleen Algire-Fedarcyk in Blog

Today’s blog is by guest blogger Ann Blyberg

Incarcerating juveniles takes a big toll on them — and the communities they return to.  Community-based programs are a better alternative, as highlighted in a recent report from the state Juvenile Justice Monitoring Unit (JJMU).

JJMU, which is part of the Maryland attorney general’s office, maintains that the $179 million Maryland plans to spend in the coming fiscal year to building three new juvenile detention facilities could be better spent providing intensive counseling and other services to high-risk youth in community-based settings. 

JJMU bolsters its case by citing high recidivism rates for youth coming out of detention settings, compared to the lower rate of repeat offenses by those relying on community-based services. It does not dispute the Department of Juvenile Service’s assertion that recidivism rates in Maryland are in line with national norms, but cites national studies by the National Research Council and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice that  encourage greater reliance on community-based treatment resources. In a sample of 3,523 high-risk kids in the juvenile justice system, John Jay found that “most youth (86%) remained free of arrest” while enrolled in intensive community-based services.  Such services “reduce the juvenile justice system’s over-reliance on expensive and ineffective out-of-home placements.”

Moreover, the cost of community-based services are considerably lower, according to an article by the Capital News Service relying  on  Department of Juvenile Services (DJS) data detailing the costs of different forms of treatment for youth offenders in Maryland.   A non-residential program that treats youth offenders and their families in a series of therapy sessions costs approximately $34 a day for each youth, while a more intensive program aimed at more serious offenders, in which therapists work with the youth in their homes and communities to get at the root causes of delinquency, costs about $110 per day per youth.  On the other hand, minimum-security detention facilities cost $274 per day per youth, while it costs $531 each day to house a youth in facilities that have bars, locks, and fences.

In its response to the JJMU report, DJS explains that each of Maryland’s planned facilities would house no more than 48 young offenders, and that research has shown that small, adequately staffed institutions with good programs can have positive effects on the youth while being cost-effective.  It also notes that a number of young offenders have been placed in detention facilities outside of Maryland, because appropriate space is not available in-state, and that it would be better for these young people be closer to home. 

However, JJMU makes a more compelling case that Maryland “should expand community-based treatment resources in order to establish a continuum of care providing kids with intensive, evidence-based, and individualized services close to home.” Not only would that save the state money, it would be more effective.