NCJ Number
150982
Date Published
1994
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This plan for juvenile justice in Texas focuses on both prevention and punishment and offers specific ways to address the need for community safety, neighborhood revitalization, and school violence prevention, as well as juvenile offender assessment, restitution, incarceration, probation, boot camps, and parole.
Abstract
The current juvenile justice system is based on the Texas Family Code, which was essentially written in 1973 for a different kind of juvenile offender. The system is not equipped to deal with the number or the extreme violence of today's juvenile delinquents. Among recommended reforms are assessment at the first court contact, revised confidentiality provisions, a central repository of juvenile records, a reduction of probation caseloads to 25, mandatory restitution, expanded use of victim-offender mediation, boot camps for three specific purposes, the use of existing closed hospitals for increasing capacity, and a point system for Texas Youth Corrections. Prevention efforts should include a coordinated concentration in specific geographical areas, community involvement, community policing, and a partnership with the business community. Anti-violence programs in schools should include peer mediation, interagency cooperation, and alternative education. Finally, the principles of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design should be used.