The juvenile justice system has a disproportionate impact on youth from disadvantaged racial/ethnic and socio-economic groups, with a particular impact on Black youth and youth from high-poverty areas, according to a new report from the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office.
And despite the city of Philadelphia spending more than $80 million on juvenile justice in fiscal year 2021, more than half — about 57% — of all juvenile arrests may lead to rearrests within five years of system referral, according to “Philadelphia’s Shifting Juvenile Justice Paradigm — An Economic Analysis,” released Monday.
What’s worse, youth who return to the juvenile justice system appear to commit progressively more serious offenses and receive progressively more intensive and expensive interventions, according to the study. Four out of five youth who accrue multiple arrests, are eventually accused of felony offenses.
“The re-arrest rate for youth in Philadelphia is unacceptably high, leaning toward Black youth in our city’s poorest neighborhoods,” Krasner said.
“Our kids are saying, listen to us, invest in us ... we need to invest in a support network that young people need in order to survive,” said Lee Huang, president of Econsult Solutions Inc. which produced the report. The Neubauer Family Foundation provided the $50,000 grant for the 121-page study.
“Today’s kids are being affected by gun violence and poverty and things that are not their fault in the first place,” Krasner said. “They are experiencing so much stress that it’s as if they did not sleep last night.”
“Kids are afraid to ride SEPTA, they don’t feel as safe and secure and they once did. They are afraid to go to the recreation centers,” Krasner said. “We need to develop a system that is transparent, that helps children, that produces good results.”
“Kids tell us they want someone to talk to — to resolve issues when there is a death in the family or when their parents aren’t at home,” said First Assistant District Attorney Robert Listenbee, who served during President Barack Obama’s second term in office.
The report also found that juvenile court-related costs rose from $37,000 per person in 2017, to $50,000 per person in 2021. Changes in arrest and diversion policies are resulting in only the highest-risk youth staying in the system, who require the most expensive care. And juvenile offenders are receiving the most expensive services at greater rates for longer periods of time.
“We are spending money on detention centers and they are still coming back into the system,” Listenbee said.
Private and nonprofit placement has declined, dramatically over the years. But the total days spent by justice-involved youth in secure detention increased by four percent. State placement and secure detention are two of the most expensive juvenile justice services charging about $190,000-$220,000 per person.
On a positive note, there was a giant dip in the number of children served by the Juvenile Probation Office between 2017 and 2021 — nearly 50% — from about 3,600 in 2017, to about 2,000 in 2021, according to the study. In all, there were fewer youth arrests, petitions, adjudications and residential placement commitments, during this five and a half-year space.
There was also a correlating decline in juvenile justice-spending from the Department of Human Services, the Juvenile Justice Services Division, the Juvenile Probation Department, and the District Attorney’s Office Juvenile Division from $114 million in 2017, to $84 million in 2021.
Adam Serlin, founder and principal of Independent Variable LLC., provided case management and data analysis expertise for the report.
Students from the University of Pennsylvania’s criminology department helped with data entry. Five years ago the system was less sophisticated. Tracking the kids coming in and out of the criminal justice system and analyzing what’s happening and not happening inside the Juvenile Justice Department “should not be a secret,” Serlin said.
Huang’s conclusion after analysis, “The Juvenile Justice Center is broken ... We have to get it right for every single household in the city of Philadelphia. We are spending extra amounts of money on juvenile justice at a time of scarce resources.”
“When I was brought up, my mom could spank me,” said Veronica Joyner, founder and chief administrative officer of Mathematics, Civics and Sciences Charter School of Philadelphia. “Schools taught behavior and how to handle conflict.”
Joyner’s students were praised for coming in first in a national mock trial competition, involving students from 70 countries.
Co-captain of the winning mock trial team, 11th-grader Kayla Waddington, has never been in trouble, but she did intern with City Councilmember Isaiah Thomas. She said she “wants to show kids that they can do something with their lives. Hurt people, hurt people. We have to ask them what’s wrong and change that wrong.”
In addition to the report’s findings, Krasner announced wins in homicide arrests.
“There has been a 15% decrease in the number of homicides in Philadelphia since last year,” he said. “And last year there was an 8% decrease from the year before. There were 155 homicides in Philadelphia, this year, as of yesterday — down from 182 this time last year. Of course, there is no substitution for lives affected by gun violence, but at least that is 15% difference in the right direction.”
There were also 22 nonfatal shootings, “slightly, worse than average,” Krasner said. There were 135 instances of illegal gun possession, and 83 people arrested and charged by the district attorney’s office, he said.
