THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE RESOLUTION

INTRODUCED BY JOHNSON, BRENNAN, BROWN, D. COSTA, CREIGHTON, JOSEPHS, KIRKLAND, MUNDY, MURPHY, PARKER, PAYTON, READSHAW, SIPTROTH, WATERS, WHEATLEY AND YOUNGBLOOD, MAY 26, 2009

REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, MAY 26, 2009  

A RESOLUTION

Urging the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency to

adopt the reforms and strategies of the Annie E. Casey

Foundation's Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative as

part of the commission's comprehensive juvenile justice plan.

WHEREAS, Founded in 1948, the primary mission of the Annie E.

Casey Foundation is to foster public policies, human service

reforms and community supports that more effectively meet the

needs of today's vulnerable children and families; and

WHEREAS, The Annie E. Casey Foundation provides grants to

states, cities and neighborhoods to help them fashion more

innovative, cost-effective responses to various challenges,

particularly in the areas of child welfare, community change,

economic security, education, health and juvenile justice; and

WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency

is required under the act of November 22, 1978 (P.L.1166,

No.274), referred to as the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and

Delinquency Law, to "prepare and at least once every two years

update a comprehensive juvenile justice plan on behalf of the

Commonwealth based on an analysis of the Commonwealth's needs

and problems, including juvenile delinquency prevention"; and

WHEREAS, The Annie E. Casey Foundation's juvenile justice

reform agenda is designed to improve the odds that delinquent

youth can make successful transitions to adulthood, primarily by

reforming juvenile justice systems so that they lock up fewer

youth, rely more on proven, family-focused interventions and

create opportunities for positive youth development; and

WHEREAS, In 1992, the Annie E. Casey Foundation launched the

Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative, a multiyear

initiative in which sites across the country created and tested

new ways to establish smarter, fairer, more effective and more

efficient juvenile justice systems; and

WHEREAS, There are approximately 100 Juvenile Detention

Alternatives Initiative sites in 24 states and the District of

Columbia; and

WHEREAS, After more than 15 years of innovation and

replication, the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative is

one of the nation's most effective, influential and widespread

juvenile justice system reform initiatives; and

WHEREAS, The Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative

focuses on the juvenile detention component of the juvenile

justice system because youth are often unnecessarily or

inappropriately detained at great expense, with long-lasting

negative consequences for both public safety and youth

development; and

WHEREAS, The Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative

promotes changes to policies, practices and programs to reduce

reliance on secure confinement, improve public safety, reduce

racial disparities and bias, save taxpayers' dollars and

stimulate overall juvenile justice reforms; and

WHEREAS, Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative sites

have achieved measurable results using strategies such as better

screening tools, more reliance on data, collaboration between

systems and communities and effective alternatives to

incarceration; and

WHEREAS, By implementing the Juvenile Detention Alternatives

Initiative, Bernardillo County, New Mexico; Essex, New Jersey,

and Multnomah County, Oregon, reduced their average daily

detention populations by 58%, 43% and 65%, respectively; and

WHEREAS, Cook County, Illinois; Santa Cruz County,

California, and Multnomah County, Oregon, saw juvenile crime

fall 54%, 47% and 45%, respectively, after implementing the

Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative; and

WHEREAS, The Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative

helped Santa Cruz County, California; Multnomah County, Oregon,

and Bernardillo County, New Mexico, reduce the percentage of

minorities in juvenile detention facilities by 17%, 23% and 10%,

respectively; and

WHEREAS, The success of the Juvenile Detention Alternatives

Initiative has allowed municipalities and states to divert

hundreds of thousands of dollars away from juvenile detention to

other needed services; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives urge the

Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency to adopt the

reforms and strategies of the Annie E. Casey Foundation's

Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative as part of the

commission's comprehensive juvenile justice plan.