Efforts to reform the juvenile justice system in Kansas got a boost Tuesday with the launch of a grassroots campaign that among other things seeks to limit out-of-home confinement for certain youth offenders.
Kansans United for Youth Justice released a report this week outlining problems and proposing reforms. The coalition aims to end the practice of sending low- and moderate-risk youths to prison or other outside confinement. It also wants to shift funding away from incarceration and to local intensive rehabilitation programs that it says research has shown are more effective.
Kansas ranks eighth worst in the nation for the confinement of its youth, even though its juvenile crime rate is less than the national average.
“So we’ve got this disconnect between a low and falling juvenile crime rate but a high rate of imprisoning kids in Kansas,” says Benet Magnuson a member of the Kansans United for Youth Justice coalition.
Magnuson says the state spends $53 million each year to incarcerate children, and less than $2 million is spent on prevention services; half a million goes to local rehabilitation programs.
“The research shows that incarceration juvenile prisons are actually the least effective and most expensive response to juvenile crime," he says.
The group will hold a series of community meetings across the state in the coming days in Ottawa, Kansas City, Wichita and Garden City.
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