A Road Map for Reform in Clark County, NV

Each year, the Annie E. Casey Foundation releases the Kids Count Data Report along with an essay about a specific area of concern regarding children and youth (kidscount.org).

This year, the essay was “A Road Map for Reform” which chronicled the need for juvenile justice reform and the encouraging results of the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI). 

As a community, we have done many of the things that are highlighted in “A Road Map for Reform.”  While we may be discouraged about our overall standing based on Kids Count data, we celebrate the successes we have achieved together over our four years as a JDAI site.

A significant focus of JDAI is to reduce reliance on secure confinement.  The essay points out that, “Many JDAI sites have dramatically reduced the average daily population in secure detention…” Clark County is no exception.  We have reduced our capacity by 19% since 2004, from 234 to 192, and our average daily population has followed suit(see "Our Results").Some of the strategies that have contributed to this success are:

• Development and implementation of an objective, risk-screening instrument, at the front door to juvenile detention, known as the Risk Assessment Instrument (RAI). A copy is accessible in "Our Results";
• Expediting of case processing by the Clark County District Attorney’s Office who have attorneys working non-traditional schedules to work with law enforcement and DJJS staff when youth are brought to detention to ensure that those youth who pose a public safety risk are detained and that petitions are filed in three days (from 8 days previously);
• Development of a clearly defined "Purpose of Detention Statement" (also in "Our Results");
• Vigorous and comprehensive legal representation, primarily through the Clark County Public Defender’s Office;
• Creation of a Detention Review and Release Program, incorporating Field Officers, a Court Officer, and a screening committee;
• Funding by the Clark County Board of Commissioners for a juvenile probation officer to expedite girls cases, particularly those girls who have been sexually exploited; and
• The development and implementation of alternatives to detention.

The essay states that JDAI sites increase their reliance on effective community-based services.  While we often focus on the gaps in the continuum of community-based youth development services and supervision options in our community, this is an area where Clark County has made significant progress. 

County-wide we have a “Detention Review and Release Program” that provides home detention as well as GPS tracking devices for youth that require additional surveillance. 

In the geographic areas of our county where youth are arrested and referred to juvenile detention at the highest rate, we now have additional options. Two programs that are identified in the essay are the Youth Advocate Program and the Evening Reporting Center: 

The Clark County Youth Advocate Program was established in October 2006, and the contract for the Evening Reporting Center was awarded by Clark County to Rite of Passage in June 2007.  Last year we also completed a review of how our system serves girls.  This fiscal year we implemented a Girls Initiative Committee (GIC), which is supported by both system stakeholders and a diverse group of school and community representatives.  Just one example of a new service option that grew out of this initiative is Girls Circle.

The sixth example given of successful reform is to keep youth out of the system.  The essay states, “Far too many youth end up in the juvenile justice system inappropriately or unnecessarily, either because their needs are not addressed by public systems better positioned to serve them…”.  The two groups of youth that Clark County has focused on, as a replication site, are youth with mental health needs and sexually exploited girls.  Our most recent success is the action taken by the Clark County Board of Commissioners to fund a mental health demonstration project to keep youth with mental health problems either out of the system or from moving deeper into the system.

There have also been tireless efforts to develop a Safe House as an alternative to detention for sexually exploited girls, and to improve services to these young women in our community.  Volunteer physicians have been providing a weekly OB-Gyn Clinic for girls in detention.  A curriculum has been developed to better prepare foster and group home providers who work with these youth.  And, DJJS has received funding to purchase trauma-focused counseling for sexually exploited youth in Clark County effective July 1, 2008.  Finally, the length of stay in juvenile detention has been reduced 40% for sexually exploited youth due in large part to the Girls Expediter and the Public Defender’s Office social worker who staff and work all cases appearing in the Girls Court.

On page 20 of the report it states, “Effective community-based programming is also crucial for youth returning home following a correctional placement.”  The Eighth Judicial District implemented a re-entry court for youth returning to Clark County from DCFS institutional placement.  And, DJJS implemented an aftercare program for youth returning to the community from Spring Mountain Youth  Camp  in  Fall 2007.

 This was possible because the Nevada Legislature increased state funding to Spring Mountain Youth Camp by $400,000 for the biennium and DJJS transferred two existing probation officers positions to aftercare.  The aftercare team includes four juvenile probation officers, a therapist who will work with families, and a Clark County School District transition counselor funded by Title I.

The first area of focus for Clark County, as a JDAI site, was to ensure safe, healthy, constructive conditions of confinement.  As a site, we have conducted two self-assessments by teams made up of both staff and community members.  Clark County also entered into an agreement with the PbS Learning Institute to implement the Performance-based Standards developed by the Council of Juvenile Corrections Administrators.  This was identified in the essay as a best practice for reform.  PbS is now being implemented in 184 facilities in 28 states; Clark County is one of them.

The changes that have been made in the conditions of confinement in Clark County include, but are not limited to:

• Closed Zenoff Hall and re-assigned staff to other units to insure appropriate supervision ratios of youth by fully trained full-time staff;
• Funding by the Clark County Board of Commissioners for a Mental Health Treatment Team in juvenile detention.  The team is made up of a chief clinician, three therapists, and a Board Certified child and adolescent psychiatrist;
• An additional therapist was funded for the Spring Mountain Youth Camp;
• Implemented a behavior management system called CASE (Creating a Successful Environment)
• Expanded nursing coverage to run 6:00 a.m. until midnight;
• Implemented a restraint review committee and significantly reduced use of mechanical restraint;
• Reduced utilization of part-time staff from 50% of scheduled staffing to no more than 25% and;
• Increased unit programming to include Sister-to-Sister, Brother-to-Brother, chess tournaments, reading programs, etc.

The Kids Count essay also states that for reform to be successful, it is important to strengthen and empower families to help youth succeed.  Clark County DJJS has adopted a policy of participating with youth, families and other agencies in Child and Family Teams.  This process is to be both youth and family driven and must focus on strengths to be successful. 

Clark County has also piloted the use of one of the evidence-based program models noted in the essay, Functional Family Therapy.  The pilot will conclude June 30, 2008.   The pilot has required an FFT therapist to deliver services in the homes of ten families in the Stewart Probation Center area.  Funding has been identified to expand the availability of FFT beginning July 1.

The final area of focus in the essay is on reducing racial disparities in the system.  Clark County has contracted with the W. Haywood Burns Institute for Juvenile Justice Fairness and Equity, which is highlighted in the essay.  Their findings are that the good news is that the over-representation of minority youth in Clark County is largely offense-driven.  This means that we have no easy answers to this problem.  As recommended in the essay, Clark County now has a broad cross section of leaders in our community, including law enforcement, analyzing our data, identifying the strengths of our neighborhoods and considering how we might most significantly reduce racial disparities.  This is probably the most challenging and important work we will do in the next year.

 Our road map, as a JDAI site, has not always been clear.  And, we see a need for significantly more resources to improve the conditions in our community for our children, youth and families.  The essay, “A Road Map for Reform”, identifies what it takes to make some of the changes essential to reform, particularly in the juvenile justice system.  The stakeholders in Clark County have worked together to make many of those changes, some of which have been very significant.  We are confident that we will continue to work together and that Clark County will become a model JDAI site in the future.