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| Helping youthful offenders find way after jail is smart |
| By thetandd.com |
| Published: 02/22/2012 |
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Whether the story is in a television crime drama or in the real lives of families, the portrayal is often that a child gone wrong is one destined for a life of crime if the problem reaches the point of incarceration. The conclusion: The youth will become associated with other “bad apples” and learn better the ways of crime, only to become a repeat offender. The outcome is one that society cannot afford to accept. No matter how many laws are passed and how well they are enforced and punishment meted out, the fact remains that most people who are sent to jail ultimately are returned to society. It is an aspect of crime and punishment that receives too little attention beyond the popular idea that those having served time should be forever labeled as former offenders and known to society as such. In South Carolina, the Department of Corrections has implemented a service it hopes will reduce the number of people returning to spend time behind the wall of its facilities. And it’s aiming particularly at the appropriate age group — so-called youthful offenders. Intensive Supervision is designed to provide first-time, non-violent young offenders, ages 17-25, with a level of supervision and services they need to safely and successfully return to their home communities. Virtually 100 percent of youthful offenders are eventually released from SCDC to return home. Unfortunately, a large percentage of them are not successful in their return home and end up back in prison. A three-year survey by the agency, 2008-11, shows a 50.6 percent recidivism rate for the youthful offender population. The director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections, William R. Byars Jr., is responsible for implementing an Intensive Supervision program while serving as director of the state’s Department of Juvenile Justice. The IS services at DJJ were initially piloted in five counties and later expanded statewide through state funding. Intensive Supervision is credited with helping produce dramatic results at DJJ in terms of inmate numbers as the rate of reoffending by high-risk juveniles was reduced by more than 37 percent, according to SCDC. Read More. |
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