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| Youth Authority's priority is reform |
| By statesmanjournal.com |
| Published: 12/28/2009 |
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Joan Palmateer is assistant director of facility operations for the Oregon Youth Authority. A former superintendent of the Oregon State Penitentiary, she now oversees the rehabilitation of 900 juvenile offenders. Q: What is the story with a lot of these kids? A: Most of these kids come to us based on abandonment. There's no excuse for their crime; however, there is some rationale for how they might have gotten there. Some were abandoned early on. Some were abused from birth on, whether it's been verbal, mental, physical sexual. Many of them have that kind of background, or they grew up in a family where using drugs in front of the children was the norm. Where not feeding their children was just part of what they did. Many of them do not have any kind of a family structure, which teaches people our values, morals and integrity. They haven't learned all that. Our job in the facilities is to make sure that reformation includes those things that reduce their risk to reoffend. If they come to us and they are heavy drug users or substance abusers, our job is to make sure they get some sort of substance abuse treatment. If they are extremely assaultive, our job is to do a lot of anger control and cognitive work. We're about reformation, safety and security, and there is a balance there. It's difficult to find that balance. When staff are assaulted and hurt severely by a youth, they are victimized. How do we handle those victims? I've been a victim in the past, in the Department of Corrections, and personally sometimes as victims we see one thing: Don't let them out. Lock them up. They've done this to me, and it's horrible. And it is. But we have to take the higher road. You make the consequence for those youth fit their action. If it's prosecutable, we refer it for prosecution. That doesn't mean that we can punish them for forever. We can't go there. A big part of my job is managing through that balance of safety, security and reformation, and it's a difficult one to manage. Read More. |
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