If David Utter had his way, those working in the juvenile justice system would see youthful offenders as part of a large family tree that extends beyond bloodlines.

“I think that the most important thing to remember while working with juveniles is: How would you want your own child raised? How would you interact with your own child? Do we curse at our teenagers? Do we ever want our kids to see us behave in ways that we're not proud?” says Utter, who has worked with the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana for over eight years. “It's really about being a good role model – and we do that for our kids and family all the time. It's a matter of taking that to the job when you're working with kids.”

As Director of the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana (JJPL), Utter has worked as hard for juveniles as he would for his own kin. Successfully filing suit against juvenile detention centers, such as Louisiana's Jena Juvenile Justice Center, that fail to meet state standards, and serving as a voice for many youths who have been mistreated.

Utter and the JJPL have worked to change juvenile justice in Louisiana. Since the JJPL was created in 1997, the state's juvenile offender population has dropped from 1,900 to less than 500. Utter says that his work in juvenile justice is driven by a personal goal for each youngster, and that philosophy was recently recognized when he was recently presented with the Ford Foundation's 2005 Leadership for a Changing World Award.

“I think we need to create an environment safe enough for each kid to explore their backgrounds and get to the bottom of why they are acting out,” Utter says. “If they don't have a safe environment that lets them focus on their issues, [rehabilitation] is just not going to work. If we want to see rehabilitation as an end result, we're going to have to change the way we approach juvenile justice.”

Utter is working on this goal one issue at a time.

A History of Advocacy

Although Utter's work currently focuses on the juvenile justice population, he initially started out as an attorney for the Southern Center for Human Rights. Representing offenders who said they were mistreated, Utter says it was an eye-opening experience to respond to the clients requesting his representation. But it was even more eye-opening to be accepted with open arms by sheriffs and corrections officials.

“I have to say; I was always welcomed as much by corrections officials as I was by my clients – and that was because their staff always needed more resources,” Utter recalls. “They thought by coming there, I would bring attention to how badly they needed things like funding or renovation. I would walk into an overpopulated jail that was 60 or 70 years old running 200 percent over capacity, and it was obvious every official wanted to change that.”

After working with the Southern Center for a few years, Utter moved on to become a lawyer for poverty-stricken death row inmates. Petitioning on their behalf, he was dedicated to offering the best representation possible to his clients. However, he soon realized that in order to make a real impact on the justice system, he had to offer his services to a younger population.

“[JJPL co-founders] Gabriella Celeste, Shannon Wight and I, decided to create JJPL as a response to the mistreatment of the kids in the prisons. We thought that was only one part of a larger problem,” Utter explains. “When we opened JJPL, we wanted to look at the whole system – from the moment a child is accused of a delinquent act to their incarceration. We just wanted to try and fix the whole system.”

Juvenile Advocacy and Rehabilitation

Currently, Utter is working hard to address the juvenile recidivism rates in Louisiana. According to some recent statistics, 70 to 90 percent of the Louisiana's jailed youths will end up in adult prisons. Utter says there are some key issues in juvenile justice that need to be addressed in order to lower those numbers.

“One national problem, with the exception of a few isolated areas, is a lack of advocacy for these kids. Every corrections officer that works with these juveniles knows how infrequently public defenders actually visit their clients, how little investigative work they are able to do, how often once a child is arrested, they are poorly defended. This is a huge issue in the juvenile justice system,” he says.

Beyond the lack of adequate representation, Utter believes juveniles also face a steep uphill battle once they are taken away from their families and communities. Since family ties are a crucial part of juvenile success, the JJPL has made family counseling a priority for juveniles.

“The issue of poor public defending is just one problem,” Utter says. “The other issue is hard to put into a sound bite. We have studied juvenile delinquency and treatment for over 30 years. We've learned what doesn't work in terms of turning a young person's life around once they commit a crime. Removing a child from their family and placing them hundreds of miles away from their community usually makes juveniles more anti-social and more delinquent -- it just does not turn their lives around for the better.”
 
While many states have one or two large juvenile justice facilities that house hundreds of youths, Utter says research indicates that this type of large-scale housing situation doesn't foster change.

“Anything over 40 or 50 beds [in a juvenile facility] creates a situation where the kids are more influenced by each other than the staff people,” Utter says. “In smaller facilities, you create a positive peer group and that's all overseen by staff that are trained, and compensated well.”

By ensuring that rehabilitation and security are at the forefront of juvenile justice, Utter says officials will see a drastic change in the field. He also says these changes have the ability to impact offenders at all levels.

“We're talking about the hardcore, chronic delinquents,” Utter says. “We're not talking about kids that are just skipping school. But if you take those hardened kids and put them in a safer, smaller environment and they are surrounded by adults that make sure they are positive role models, you are turning their lives around. You just cannot do that in a large facility.”

Changing Public Misconceptions

As Utter and his colleagues continue to take on juvenile justice problems, one aspect of the field that gives him hope are the caring officers who work with youths on a daily basis. Utter says public misconceptions about corrections officers drive a false sense of what the real problems in juvenile justice are.

“The real issue is that a handful of corrections officers aren't doing their jobs properly or are acting in a corrupt way,” Utter says. “But it's critical that the 99 percent of the officers who are doing the right thing continue to stand up and expose their fellow workers who won't act ethically. We really need to change this misconception that every officer in corrections, juvenile or otherwise, is corrupt. In many of my experiences, corrections officers have been the most sympathetic and the most understanding of my clients.”

While Utter is pleased to be recognized for his work in juvenile justice, he said praise should also be given to those in corrections who care about the juveniles they work with daily.

“To all of the officers who are striving to create a safe environment for kids and staff and show a consistent and abiding humanity towards kids, all I can say is thank you,” Utter says. “Thank you very, very much.”