The Path to Juvenile Justice

By Kimiko Burton

Burton discusses the problems with the juvenile justice system in San Francisco and solutions she believes will help move kids out of the system and on with their lives.

We can turn these kids around if we make it a city priority. We do not need another task force, another study, or another hearing. We can do better right now. We know what works.

Need proof? Look no further than an 18-year-old former drug dealer named Cory.

At age 15, Cory was a young man in serious trouble. He carried a gun. He bought, sold and used drugs. He had been arrested and spent time in juvenile hall. He had been kicked out of high school.

This year, at age 18, he graduated with a 3.5 GPA from the Life Learning Academy, a charter high school for at-risk youth on Treasure Island operated by Delancey Street. After three years of hard work and a perfect attendance record, Cory has been accepted and plans to attend a respected technical institute in Arizona. He is a mentor to other at-risk kids in his community and a shining example of how San Francisco's juvenile justice system can and should work.

Cory's turnaround did not happen by accident. Certainly he worked hard over the past few years, but he was also given the attention and opportunities he needed for a second chance. This was made possible because of an innovative set of programs, community support, and alternatives to incarceration set up under the San Francisco Local Action Plan for Juvenile Justice.

In 1996, as Director of the San Francisco's Criminal Justice Council, I worked with Delancey Street and other community-based organizations, city agencies, health organizations and federal and state agencies to develop the Local Action Plan. Our goal was simple: fewer kids in trouble and better help for those young people that do need intervention.

Judged by state analysts to be the best submitted for their review, San Francisco's Local Action Plan was an unprecedented effort at systematic change to improve services for kids caught up in the juvenile justice system.

For example, kids who commit minor offenses are released back to their families with on-going support and supervision from community-based organizations rather than enter the juvenile probation system.

Young people who are charged with more serious crimes have alternatives to incarceration, like group homes, where they receive mental health and drug treatment in a far more healthy setting. The Life Learning Academy is just one example of the kinds of programs now available to these troubled teens, in part, because of the Local Action Plan.

This was an ambitious and far-reaching plan developed with the input of hundreds of experts and community activists. Happily, we have begun to see some indications of improvement.

The number of young people arrested in San Francisco dropped over 25%, from more than 4,700 in 1996 to 3,405 in 1999. The juvenile crime rate fell faster in San Francisco than in anywhere else in California. A recent independent audit found "these programs produced significant and encouraging effects on individual, community and institutional levels. They demonstrate that good things have happened in San Francisco's juvenile justice system."

But far too many of our city's children are still falling through the cracks. Fewer teens are being arrested, but far too many languish in detention at our juvenile hall # called the "Youth Guidance Center." The rate of girls entering the juvenile justice system is a real concern.

I am working on it.

First, at the Public Defender's Office, we have made it a top priority to move as many of our teen clients as possible out of juvenile hall and into a better placement. We have assigned more experienced trial attorneys to the juvenile unit and we opened a major investigation into the number of children stuck in juvenile hall. Over one-third of the kids in juvenile hall are supposed to be somewhere else. The judge ordered them into a foster or group home, but still they sit in detention.

We have tough problems in this city, but the answer to this one is easy. One of my first directives as Public Defender was a simple one # get those kids out of juvenile hall.

I directed my attorneys to follow up on our young clients in juvenile hall. We immediately made a difference. Over two-thirds of the children we represent were moved out of the Youth Guidance Center and into a better environment within a month. Now the Probation Department and private attorneys representing the other kids need to step up and do the same.

Second, there are few good options for young women in trouble. Most group homes either take only boys or are designed primarily for boys. Many girls spend too long at the Youth Guidance Center because no beds are available anywhere else. I am developing a program to create and fund options for these girls outside of juvenile hall. This has been a problem for a long time # now it is time to do something about it.

Third, it takes political will and public support over the long term. The solution to our juvenile justice system's shortcomings does not lie with more hearings or more committees. I believe the lesson from the Public Defender's Office is obvious # we paid attention to these kids and we made a difference. This isn't rocket science. Yet, the Board of Supervisors cut a juvenile justice staff position from my office budget this year. If we are serious about improving juvenile justice, we need to provide the staff, resources, attention and support necessary to do the job right. The public must provide the pressure and our officials in City Hall and the Youth Guidance Center must listen.

As we wish Cory well as he starts college, it is time for all of us to pledge that there will be far more stories like his. We know how. We know what works. Now let's do it.

Kimiko Burton is the San Francisco Public Defender. Previously, she served as Director of the San Francisco Criminal Justice Council when the Juvenile Justice Action Plan was created and implemented.