Improving Rhode Island's Juvenile Justice System: a Collaborative Approach

During the past few years, Rhode Island has been in the news regarding its approach to the juvenile justice system. In June of 2007, the General Assembly passed a law that required that 17-year-olds be tried as adults for any crime, and incarcerated at the adult prison.
The initial rationale for the change was that it was a cost-saving measure because the average cost of incarceration at the adult prison was thought to be less than incarceration at the Juvenile Training School. However, it was then determined that the 17-year-olds would have to be incarcerated in the high security wing of the adult prison to separate them from the adult population, which was costlier than housing them at the Training School. Despite this finding, the law was passed and put into effect.

 
Rhode Island KIDS COUNT and many partners led an advocacy effort in opposition to this new law. As a result, the law was reversed by the General Assembly in October 2007 – after just four months on the books.
 
This issue of trying and incarcerating 17-year-olds as adults brought the issue of juvenile justice reform to the forefront of policy discussions in Rhode Island. In 2008, the General Assembly passed a bill that instituted a cap on the population of the Training School, which has resulted in an enhanced focus on increasing community-based alternatives for youth who do not need to be in a secure facility.
 
The new law also required that a risk assessment tool be developed in order to better determine which youth should be sent to the Training School and which youth would be best served by a community-based alternative. Rhode Island KIDS COUNT brought all parts of the juvenile justice system together – from the Public Defender’s office to the Juvenile Prosecutor, police officers and community-based programs – to develop the risk assessment, which is now being implemented.
 
All of these collaborative efforts to improve the system, and the latest data on juvenile justice in Rhode Island, is summarized in our new Issue Brief, Juvenile Justice in Rhode Island.
 
Elizabeth Burke Bryant is the Executive Director of Rhode Island KIDS COUNT.