JJOC Meeting Minutes Updated for May 23, 2018



Wednesday, May 23, 2018Capitol Annex, Room 169Members Present: Senator Whitney Westerfield, Co-Chair; Representative Joe Fischer, Co-Chair (JPSC); Commissioner Carey Cockerell, Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ); Laurie Dudgeon, Director, Administrative Office of the Courts, Mr. Steven Gold, Henderson County Attorney, Commissioner Adria Johnson, CHFS Department for Community Based Services, Judge Lisa Jones, Chief District Judge, Damon Preston, Director, Department of Public Advocacy; Lt. Phil Russell, Louisville Police Officer, Dr. John Sivley, Behavior Health Service Provider; Christina Weeter, Kentucky Department of Education, and Commissioner Wendy Morris, CHFS Dept of Behavior Health.Members Absent:There were no absent members.Welcome/Call to OrderSenator Westerfield began by welcoming everyone to the May meeting. He made the motion to accept the minutes from the April 24, 2018, meeting, Commissioner Cockerell made the motion and Dr. John Sivley seconded the motion. There was no discussion of the minutes. The minutes were approved as submitted.Senator Westerfield asked Laurie Dudgeon, Executive Director, and Rachel Bingham, Administrative Office of the Courts to come to the table to begin their report on DMC.Ms. Dudgeon said AOC was at the meeting to provide statistics and ask for suggestions and recommended policy changes. She provide the Racial Breakdown of Complaints for 2015-2017, (Hispanic, White, non-Hispanic and Black, non-Hispanic), statistics on Public Offenses versus Status Offenses and school-related to non-school related complaints. Ms. Dudgeon explained the statistics provided came from the top 10 counties in Kentucky. Ms. Dudgeon said AOC would like to develop alternatives to detention and reduce referrals to the court from county attorneys and the judiciary. Ms. Bingham noted there has been a drop in county attorney’s referral and they are still working on judicial referrals. Ms. Bingham said AOC understands there is a balance as to what is beneficial and what can be acceptable within the community on some of these issues. Ms. Bingham spoke about school data, which was discussed during the last JJOC Meeting, and noted that AOC is trying to share the information it receives from schools of detention with the judiciary and county attorneys. AOC is hoping to develop options other than detention. Ms. Bingham talked about the development of a closer partnership with African Americans groups and organizations within the communities who could provide a mentoring program.In referencing Fayette County, Ms. Bingham said AOC wanted to reduce “failures to appear”, locate more options other than detention, particularly around domestic violence, and to improve the script given to judges and country attorneys. She pointed out that Fayette and Jefferson have become more “solution based” when they call a judge or county attorney. They provide a scope of the options. They are using strength based in their approach. Ms. Bingham continued by saying that both counties have been successful and have seen a reduction in “failures to appear.” She also pointed out that both counties are looking to move out into the community where meetings with the families are more convenient. Ms. Bingham said both counties have new alternatives, which have led to the number of youth detained. According to Ms. Bingham, Fayette has done a good job of reaching out to their domestic violence task force and their human trafficking force to say, “We need other options for these kids and we need you to help us find those options”. Ms. Bingham said both Jefferson and Fayette have been very pro-active in engaging community partners. Sen Westerfield asked about Christian County and the names of judges he needed to speak with. Ms. Bingham plead the fifth. Senator Westerfield said he had a good idea as to what judges needed to be spoken to regarding the situation. Ms. Bingham said the bottom line is the issue of alternatives, “What else can we do with kids in the community rather than placement?” Senator Westerfield agreed and said there should be other options on the table. The largest complaint, according to Ms. Bingham is run-a-ways, and the need to figure out somewhere to place these kids where they will not run every time. Once this is done, Ms. Bingham said she believes the judiciary will definitely use alternatives to placement.`Ms. Dudgeon asked Ms. Bingham if AOC had identified those options in Christian County. Ms. Bingham said yes. Ms. Dudgeon said those options would be presented as alternative options to all counties.Senator Westerfield asked why referrals were going up if alternatives were being found.Ms. Bingham said the consistency of maintaining those options is a big piece of the solution. AOC is constantly having that resource capacity conservation at the local level and keeping those options available is a constant struggle. Ms. Bingham pointed out, it has to be a community ownership. Ms. Bingham gave the Jefferson County staff a big shout-out. She noted that 18 people that took ownership of that program. She said they have trained and educated other counties in many good ways, including barriers and dealing with families. The group reviewed the script for judge call outs, focusing on failure to appear and referrals by county attorneys. They also wanted to have specific programing for African American youth. Ms. Bingham explained that Jefferson and Fayette counties worked together on the script, which was a great collaborative for two urban areas. She pointed out that these two counties are actually who changed the state side policy around failure to appear. Ms. Bingham talked about the letter, which was being sent to the families. The letter provides information on when and where you should show up. When the families did not come, we would send a second letter, and they still would not come. In many communities, Ms. Bingham said staff would actually call the families and schedule an appointment with them but calling was never a policy. Now, that is a policy. Picking up the phone and scheduling an appointment has had a tremendous impact.The second point, according to Ms. Bingham is that Jefferson County is located in downtown Louisville. We are now moving out to neighborhood places and making ourselves available within the communities. The relationships and partnerships AOC has developed within Jefferson County’s communities, schools and law enforcements are other successes. Ms. Bingham said that Jefferson County has been working around building programming and they have developed resources needed to engage some people. Unfortunately, AOC has lost many staff because once they are trained, they move on to better things. Ms. Bingham said that some of AOC’s staff that have moved on are actually helping with programs they are with now. She added those people believe in us enough to stick with us.Steve Gold asked if specific programs for African Americans have been developed in Jefferson, Fayette and Hardin counties. If so, he would like to know the outcomes of those partnerships with their communities. Mr. Gold also asked if new money been found or if the counties are doing this with insisting funds. Ms. Bingham said that AOC would be requesting additional funds for the next budget cycle. She pointed out that AOC has begun to develop a plan, which included asking legislators for additional funds to build new programs and maintain the current programs. Ms. Bingham said they needed to move away from “we need to provide the programs in-house” to “looking for programs located within the community. She said a good side to method is that in many communities, programs need the kids for the program to be successful. Again, we are developing good partnerships for and the kids are developing a connection in their local communities. We have found it better to source-out and refer out rather than to expand our current way of doing things.Ms. Bingham added that while they are requesting additional funds, they have never asked specifically for funds for black youths, or any other kids of color. Ms. Bingham said AOC did not know it needed to until we started looking at the data.Laurie Dudgeon suggests that everyone take a real look at the data. Ms. Dudgeon said that Jefferson County has “YMCA Safe Place” which is a strong program. She asked what, if any of these resources or programs that we have seen in Fayette and Jefferson counties could be replicated in other counties. Ms. Bingham said any type of youth program willing to take on DJJ kids, kids who are more vulnerable or may have a charge pending against them are what are needed Those programs could be replicated. Laurie Dudgeon said AOC should be developing resources with community leaders. Ms. Bingham said AOC is preparing a model program with Pastor Palmer and his church called “Community Work.” Ms. Bingham said it is a crime prevention curriculum, which was originally used 15 years ago. AOC wanted to bring it back because of its success. Unfortunately, according to Ms. Bingham, AOC does not have the capacity to do it in-house as it should be done. Therefore, AOC contacted Pastor Palmer and asked him if he would be willing to sit down and help develop a plan based on the data from Hardin County. AOC could take that curriculum and figure out what is needed to build on that curriculum. That is a much better approach than just asking if we can refer DJJ kids to you. That approach says, “I actually need you to give me what our kids need.” According to Ms. Bingham, Pastor Palmer and his church are willing to give it a try. If it works, AOC can roll it out to other areas, causing that partnership to change.Laurie Dudgeon noted that when you look at the many ways we can try to affect some of the programing and resources in the communities, there are two areas where legislative assistance is needed. It is those efforts; AOC would encourage JJOC to focus. First is the eligibility for the youthful offender process. I think that is primary. Second, would be reducing youthful intake. Thereby, reminding everyone what the criteria is to be eligible to be processed as a youthful offender, i.e. The child has to attain the age of 14 at the time of the alleged commission of the capital offense or an A or B felony;. The child has attained the age of 16 of the alleged commission of the Class C or D felony and has been previously adjudicated a public offense for a felony offense and has one prior separate occasion; the child is under 18 (these are all separate criteria on which the child can be eligible) is presently charged with a felony offense and has been previously convicted of youthful offender; the person is 18 or older is charged with a felony offense that occurred prior to the age of 18, and the child has attained the age of 14 at the time of the alleged commission of a felony in which a firearm was used. Ms. Dudgeon pointed out there were a number of recommendations tossed around during the 2018 Session, and AOC would like to consider a number of those recommendations again, i.e. adding language that the offense be against the person, raising the age from 14, and whether the child has used a firearm in the commission of the offense.. I believe these issues were all reflected in the draft of Senate Bill 200. Ms. Dudgeon said she would like to open this conversation up as to what the thoughts are of this committee.Ms. Dudgeon reminded everybody that 27% of the new complaints were against African American youth and when you looked at the front end of detentions, 40% of African American youth are detained pre-adjudication. She believes detention has to be addressed. It is time to look at the offenses, which open the doors to detention. Ms. Dudgeon believe the ability to limit detentions would see improvement in these numbers. Ms. Dudgeon asked Rachel to talk about the School Justice partnership being developed in some counties, which have begun to move in the right direction and away from criminalizing some behaviors that are seen in schools.Senator Westerfield asked if any counties or circuits are looking at doing with Christian County has done with their MOU.Ms. Bingham said yes, and that was what Ms. Dudgeon was referencing.Senator Westerfield asked how many counties were moving in that direction.Ms. Bingham said Hardin, Jefferson, Johnson, and Daviess counties were participating. Ms. Bingham said the program builds a graduated response from the school prior to a complaint being filed. It deals with those low-level issues, which would never had a charge years ago.Steve Gold asked if those counties are a sure thing or is there an impediment to it happening there?Ms. Bingham said those counties are moving in that right direction, which includes the community’s involvement. Some of those counties are choosing not to do a MOU but use some other form. Every county has been given the tools they need to move in the right direction.Steve Gold asked if AOC or the courts were driving the judges, specifically if the judge is separate from AOC. Who is initiating those conversations in the different counties? Judge Jones said that she attended AOC is training was in December. The training brought together the judges in those counties as well as the schools SROs and county attorneys. She pointed out that you had teams from each county who received that training. In turn, those individuals returned to their counties and are working to get the community involved. Ms. Dudgeon asked when the data would be ready to share with JJOC around any of these projects.Senator Westerfield said he would love to see those relationships built in every county.RMs. Bingham said that one of the selling points in SB 200 was a graduated response which was to be included in the legislationMs. Bingham pointed out that Lt. Russell was involved in one of the first meetings in Jefferson County and he understands the importance of having the schools and law enforcement groups brought in under the community partnership.Senator Westerfield said that involving the schools in the conversation is a huge deal.Ms. Bingham said the “buy in” must come from the schools. She spoke about the school superintendent in Christian County. The judge bought into the process and now he is doing a phenomenal job of bringing together local leaders, and assuring them, “we can do this.” In addition, in Christians County, everyone bought in to the process and that is huge.Senator Westerfield noted that SB 200 is the framework for his bill draft for the 2019 Session. Senator Westerfield pointed out there are changes we could make in reducing the impact of automatic transfers for youthful offenders. By building in some discretion for judges that we currently do not have. Senator Westerfield stated the use of a firearm rather than the weapon being present is another possible change. He added that in hopes of reducing the use of detention at intake, (Slide 16), legislation could be written revisiting the juvenile rules later this summer. Senator Westerfield said the reduction conversation he intends to have with his District Court Judge in Christian County is the use of detention at intake. Judge Westerfield said he wants to make sure that at some point we can control that issue. Rachel said that if there were more placement option within communities, if they had the ability to make a different choice it would be a deal changer.Steve Gold asked if there were different ways they could reduce the use of it without inflaming those places that already do not enough placement options.Rachel believes limiting is the answer. Steve Gold said he could limit it but I do not want to cause a problem elsewhere because we have shut this door.Judge Jones said that by changing the dialogue with the Judge when the CDW’s call would be a big thing. The Judge does not always know that “home” is an option. I think the CDW’s need to be trained to know that detention or emergency shelter is not the only options. Home is an option. Therefore, I think working on that conservation with the judges by telling them the questions to ask if they are not being presented those options by the CDW. With that said, we need to encourage the CDW’s to think of options besides an emergency shelter or detention. Ms. Dudgeon asked the Chairman that in considering a list of possible offenses that you could limit detention to.Senator Westerfield said that was possible. He noted that he would be looking at it as a legislator. He also asked if the use of detention at intake is more because of the lack of alternative placement or is it because of something else – either the offense, the circumstances behind that particular kid, or something else.Rachel Bingham said AOC has done a lot of work with a screening instrument in Jefferson County. We have done a lot of breakdown on the overrides, and at the end of the day, it is fear. It is a concern if I release a child something bad is going to happen because one time it happened. We saw the same thing the first quarter with the school charges. The number of kids who were detained unnecessarily was just because of fear. We understand that fear when we have tragedies but it is crippling in that sense. With that said, if there were more acceptable easier direct access to placement it would simplify things. If the judge said, I called three places and I could not get a placement, so we are going to have to go to detention. The judge asked me why we always have a barrier in missioner Cockerell said we have discussed this over the past year and a half that I have been here and I appreciate Judge Jones’ comments because I think if we are going to make significant progress, we are going to have to move away either placement or detention. Commissioner Cockerell said there is a whole range of other things. A judge is interested in a kid being detained or not being detained based on (1) are they going to appear in court when they are supposed to be here (2) are they going to appear in court again without reoffending and (3) are they not going to run away. That is what a judge is concerned about. There are alternatives out there that can be developed besides placement that will ensure a kid will appear on time with their family, will not re-offend and will not run. There is just a host of options. I would like for us as a committee in stayed to expand that dialogue from just detention or placement to detention or other alternatives to ensure the kid is there.Ms. Bingham said that in the CDW world it is relevant that we do not purchase service. It has to be a referral and we do not need to purchase services. That can be a barrier we should keep in mind with any of these other options.Pam Lachman pointed out that the biggest problem with run-aways is domestic assault.Department for Community Based Services Commissioner Adria Johnson, CHFS, DCBSJackie Stamps, Staff Assistant, CHFS, DCBSCommissioner Johnson started by saying that DCBS is trying to provide a statewide snap shot, including examples in a couple areas where they have more disproportionality missioner Johnson said DCBS is committed to identifying and addressing racial disproportionality and disparities in the child welfare system in Kentucky and a change in how leadership looks at those missioner Johnson said there has been an effort through the Race and Child Welfare Imitative during the past several years to bring state holders together within the five communities of Jefferson, Fayette, Hardin, McCracken and Daviess. These efforts are geared to raise awareness as to what was going on in those communities and how to mitigate some of those missioner Johnson said DCBS’s numbers were not a surprise in terms of the number of substantiations. She noted that DCBS is continuing to see an increase in the number of children coming into care and an increase in the number of reports of abuse and neglect. What we do see is there is no increase in substantiations in African Americans in the upward missioner Johnson continued by saying that if you looked at Hardin County, there is a very different trend going on where you see an increase in those substantiations cross of all races and ethnicities from the 2016-2017 timeframe. The Commissioner noted that when you look Hardin County, you see that Out of Home numbers have increased by 11% (9,300 children). Again, you see from a statewide level for children of mixed race and African American children the rates of Out of Home Care are not increasing.Damon Preston asked Commissioner Johnson why these numbers were of no surprise. He noted that numbers in Hardin County were a 50% increase in a single missioner Johnson said Hardin County is a “hot zone” in terms of an increase in children coming into Out of Home Care. DCBS really needs to look at those reporting sources, look at what is going on in the community and why children are intersecting in Out of Home Care. In general, there are no surprises in the volume of cases that we are investigating for abuse and neglect have been on the rise for the past five years. We need to take a closer look at this community and find out what is happening. We have got a lot more work to do to get to the root causes.Damon Preston said his question was not about Out of Home Care but, missioner Johnson said it goes back to the sheer volume of cases that are coming in. She noted that substance abuse is driving 70% plus of all intersection with the system.The Commissioner continued speaking as to the quarterly report, which tracks disproportionality and disparities of child welfare decision points. She said CDBS is very conscious about sharing that information with the stakeholders who help us care for the children and families we intersect with. Commissioner Johnson said she wanted to point out that the overall reports coming in from across all races, that for African American children the Out of Home Care without achieving permanency is greater than any other demographic, which is very concerning.Jackie Stamps said that one of the reasons that CDBS broke it down not just by African American and whites but also bi-racial children is that there are differences in outcomes for bi-racial children. Those children have an African American and a white parent. CDBS wants to make sure we can improve the outcome for those kids as well because they are over-missioner Johnson said one thing that they see, which is not on the slide is the fact that there is an over representation of abuse and neglect within the African American and mixed race populations. These factors tend to be more violent in what is going on in that home versus your Caucasian counterpart where we see more mental health issues or substance abuse. With regard to the Relative Race Index, the biggest concern is the overrepresentation in terms of emancipation. When you think about children aging out of care without a firm footing into adulthood, it becomes very concerning. While African American children are not achieving adoption at the same rate, there is a higher reunification rates within the African American community. Commissioner Johnson said that statewide population and demographics, at various points within the child welfare system, you see higher rates of children emancipating, and the emancipation is lower for African American children. Therefore, we need to find out what is driving that reporting. Commissioner Johnson pointed out that this information is statewide and it looks very different in areas such as Jefferson, Fayette, Hardin, McCracken and Daviess. Commissioner Johnson then provided statistics for each of the counties. She believes Cabinet leadership needs to take a real look at what happens after children leave Home Care. Dr. Sivley asked if the extended families within African American population were more receptive to taking kids back in a shorter missioner Johnson said she did not have any data to support that statement and it was not something that DCBS has looked into. She said it does raise a valid point and they would look into it.As far as relative care, Commissioner Johnson said that Caucasian children are least likely to exit and bi-racial children are the most likely to exit when they have been in care for more than two missioner Johnson said they have taken a close look at their placement types. Once children come into care, where are they going? She said they have some concerns that African American youths are most likely to be place in the most restrictive settings or the other placement type, which could be a psych hospital, detention, or independent living setting. That is very concerning to the Cabinet. She said that Caucasian children are most likely placed in the least restrictive placement, which is relative’s home. Again, that is statewide. The Commissioner pointed out that in Jefferson County, more Hispanic children are more over represented in the “other placement” setting types, while Caucasian children are most likely to be placed in the least restrictive missioner Johnson noted the sharp decline in African American youth being discharged from 16-17 in our residential settings. The Cabinet wanted to provide you with a snapshot of the average number of placements, and out of home care. Again, somewhat concerning is that you see African American youth have an average number of placements which are greater than their peers are..What is the Cabinet doing about all this, besides pulling the data and talking about it? The Commissioner said while she did not want to minimize the importance of pulling data, raising awareness and talking about it at the leadership level, she believes it is time to begin strategizing and to actually put together an action plan. She noted that it was very important to set an expectation and place priority on this work. Commissioner Johnson said the Cabinet should not be legislatively mandated to do what we need to do as an agency. She said she hopes to have some additional resources by the next fiscal year which will broaden the capacity of CDBS’s leadership team in order to help understand the role of implicit bias and how it affect our world.With Pastor Palmers’ help, Commissioner Johnson said CHBS were able to get themselves trained, and then we deployed him across the state of Kentucky to do that training. We then built on that implicit bias framework and although we are not totally done, we will soon be of having all our staff trained on cultural humility. We are also collaborating with some other entities to take that training a step further and to really look at, from an action standpoint, what does that mean.She said she thought it was great that CDBS pulled the data on where the youth are being held, and what is happening in these settings. However, CDBS also pulled the private childcare and private child placing agencies into the conversation and really impressed the need for them to look at their policies and see what is happening within their agencies. She continued by saying that three different forums where invited within our private partner network and we have had a sharing of data, presentations and reports. This has led agencies to allow some peer-to-peer learning, and to introduce some policy changes that have been made to address these things. CDBS has a monthly newsletter where we keep everyone informed. We have included some particular pieces, such as how to care for African American or mixed-race hair. We created our own video and posted it. The Cabinet is continuing this work and holding ourselves accountable to meeting certain outcomes and goals. The Family First Prevention Services Act, which was comprehensive childcare legislation that passed at the federal level in February, will change the way we do many things within our child welfare system, the Commissioner pointed out. One of those is limiting the use of congruent care. I am hoping that one of the bi-products of compliance with that legislation will begin to address some of the outcomes we are seeing with an over representation of African Americans youth in those missioner Johnson said equity in the system is our goal.Representative Fischer asked if disproportionality was more of a county problem versus a statewide problem. He believed that statewide looked missioner Johnson said the answer was “yes.” There are areas across the state where we have more concern than others are. She said she believed it was a statewide issue and she feels it is important to raise that issue and have conversations across the entire agency. She pointed out that if you do not have diversity within the population, it is not the reality. However, we have youth who have to be displaced from their urban homes and go to a rural home that creates a challenge.Representative Fischer asked if there was any data on rural counties. Jackie Stamper said no they did not conducted a study on rural counties. She said that when you look at the quarterly report, you can pull it for any county but five counties are what they focused on.Damon Preston asked about the 100 foster parents the Cabinet had trained. He stated he believed there was obviously more than 100 foster parents out there. He asked what the requirements of being a foster parent were, and whether was a plan to educate all foster parents on this issue. He said he believes this is missioner Johnson said there was a plan and part of that plan was to collaborate with private child placing agencies. In terms of requirements the answer is no, but one of the things we have tried to do is to be more intentional in voicing the need around recruitment. It is not that we need more foster families but we need to provide a diligent recruitment report monthly for all 120 counties. That report would show you the needs across certain demographics. Homes that would take sibling groups, homes that would take African Americans, homes that would take medically complex children, or homes that would take Hispanic children. We are now sharing that information so when they are out recruiting families, they can keep that it mind. We are not there yet but I think we have everyone understanding what is actually going on. Laurie Dudgeon asked the Commissioner how many years of data had been analyzed and the Commissioner said the last two.Ms. Dudgeon said she was curious as to how the trends in the data CDBS would look at 5 or 10 years in the past. Ms. Dudgeon said she was very curious as to the significant increase in the population and how it had driven the trends. She pointed out Eastern Kentucky and the drug impact that Caucasian children are facing missioner Johnson said the opioid epidemic is very real for the child welfare system right now.Senator Westerfield asked Commissioner Johnson for any specific policy recommendations and she said not at this time.Senator Westerfield requested the Cabinet begin working immediately on any legislative proposals the Cabinet would like to pursue and get them to him as soon as possible. Judge Jones spoke on status offenders. She said when they first began looking at the data prior to Senate Bill 200; there were 800 kids in custody that were status offenders. Has that number changed?Commissioner Johnson said she did not have that information. However, I will get back with you on that information.Judge Jones also asked about delinquency charges who are in your custody. Can we get that information?Commissioner Johnson said they could pull that information.Dr. Nolan said he wanted to encourage CDBS to continue working on this data, particularly around the impacts of age, and how it moves within the data. He said when comparing the number of African American kids in PCCs, he immediately looked at the populations of PCC which for educational purposes and I know that most of our kids are ages 14-17. He said everyone knows that it is those kids who are more difficult to place. He also questioned if students of color were just now coming into the system. If they are coming in at a later age, which might mean it is more difficult to missioner Johnson said they would provide that information. We have age of entry and we can get that information for missioner CockerellJohn Fitzgerald, Resource Management Analyst, missioner Cockerell began by saying that DJJ looked at several points in the system, including the booking system, probated and suspended commitments and Youthful Offenders by race, age and missioner Cockerell said that overall, bookings in the detention centers had a 20 decrease but that figure did not include Jefferson County because DJJ operates separately from them. He said DJJ’s data began in 2014 and continued through 2017.The Commissioner said those decreases are not equitable by gender or race. DJJ has had a greater decrease in the number of bookings for female than male. There is a significant decrease in white youth while the category of youth of color has remained consistent. The bottom line is that decreases in bookings are largely impact white males and females, under the age of 15 and under.Senator Westerfield asked what was the significance in the big drop between 14 and 15? Commissioner Cockerell said he believed it was the result of Senate Bill 200, and the ability to divert lower level offenders and younger age kids were looked at a lot more closely. With regard to the probated and probated suspended commitments to DJJ, the Commissioner said there has been a 19.3% decrease. Suspended commitments were founded under Senate Bill 200 that is why you do not see that number in 2014. If you look at the Probated/Probated Suspended Commitments and look at the males, it has decreased 15.9% while the females on probation have decreased almost 40%.Looking at the Probated/Probated Suspended Commitments by race, African Americans and kids of color have increased while the Anglo kids have decreased.Dr. Sivley said looking at the different areas, they all seem to trend the same way from 2014, when Senate Bill 200 was passed. There seems to be an initial drop and now they seem to be coming back up. Dr. Sivley wondered if that is attributed to the more recent focus on school violence issues, or are people figuring out how to get around SB missioner Cockerell said he believes it is a couple of things. One, a little reform fatigue and secondly in SB 200 for a juvenile to be eligible for commitment they had to have three adjudications and certain levels and below and I think that is catching up with us. Some kids are receiving those adjudications and coming eligible for commitment.The Commissioner noted that without overstating the obvious, as we began this presentation and we go through each point in our system you will see that kids of color and African American kids are going to be more represented in the numbers. That is a trend all the way across.With regard to the committed youth to DJJ, overall commitments have increased 10.7%; again, there were significant decreases in 2014-2016 but a slight increase in calendar 2017. We are not sure because of 2018, what are projections are going to be at this point because the numbers are still soft. The thing that concerns me is at this point we do not have enough experience nor do we have enough time or data to tell us that our new norm in going to be. We are not exactly where this will fall out.Total commitment have decreased by 10% but it has been a greater increase in females than males. With regard to racial background, there has been a decrease in the number of Anglo kids committed to the department but an increase in the number of African American kids committed. In 2014, we had 152 and now it is up to 183.Senator Westerfield asked if the figures in slide 14 was by race of the entire population. Commissioner Cockerell said it was the entire population.Senator Westerfield said when you look at Slide 16; it looks like all the growth is at the expense of black youth. The Commissioner said that was correct.Pam Lachman said that in past years what you were seeing with the commitment’s decline in that were disproportioned larger for white youth. They were declining for black youth but at much slower rate. That was causing a disproportionality to shift in that more black youth are represented. This year, you see that it has increased much more for black youth. It is not just the proportionality is getting more disproportionate is the actual numbers are also going up. You are seeing disproportionately increasing both ways. Senator Westerfield asked why?Commissioner said he would speak toward that information toward the end of his presentation. The Commissioner said with regard to age, there had been a small decrease for ages 13 and under, as well as a decreased in 15 and under and some decrease in ages 16-17. In calendar year 2017, all categories are up.In the last category we looked at, were confined youth or youthful offenders. They are juveniles who were transferred, convicted and sentenced by a Circuit Court and sentenced to the DJJ. There has been an increase in commitment across the four years, and we included male and female. There was only one female in 2014-15, zero in 2016 and one in 2017, and that number steadily increasing. Commissioner Cockerell pointed out that DJJ did not breakdown the numbers by counties, but it was interesting to point out that in 2016-17, Jefferson County had 21. If you look at race in the number of kids’ commitments, the deeper we go the greater the impact is for African Americans, and if you add bi-racial kids it is much greater. Pam Lachman said that of the complaints that are Youthful Offender eligible, 50% are African American, 42 % Anglo.Senator Westerfield said that is of the youth eligible. If you look at the ones who actually received it, the numbers are worst. Commissioner missioner Cockerell said SB 20 outlined some things for the department to consider and one of those included the father in the home, or a father involved with youth. The Department began to survey in the Fall of 2017, on weather a father was or was not in the home. I think it is interesting that if you look at the youth of color, 539 African Americans reported no father in the home, and White have reported 571 are not in the home.Laurie Dudgeon asked for clarification on that issue. She asked the Commissioner if he was saying the youth had no father in the picture or that the father and mother were living apart. John Fitzgerald said that was the problem with the data at this point and time. He believed it was based around the kid’s perception whether the father is not involved. Laurie Dudgeon said as in their life versus living in the home.John Fitzgerald said that is where you get into the full time-part time issue.Laurie Dudgeon asked if youth were being asked specifically about the father’s missioner Cockerell said father, and Ms. Dudgeon said she wishes the question would be changed to one parent. Commissioner Cockerell said he understood but said it was direction they were asked to go.Damon Preston asked about commitments in slide 16. He said there appeared to be an up-tick in commitments prior to them going down sharply and then up again. He asked the Commissioner if he believed that was due to the new criterial in SB 200?Commissioner Cockerell said it was safe to say those figures are purely judges, whose hands were tied by SB 200 that now their hands are not tired anymore and they can go back to committing?John Fitzgerald said that if you look at the trend going back to 2010, 2015 and 2016 end up being an anomaly. The 2014-2017 numbers are on the same trend, if you back that up to 2010. Damon Preston said he was curious to see how 2018 would work out.John Fitzgerald said “will 2018 point us to the new normal, will 2015-2016 are the anemology or in 2017 in the anemology. We just are not there missioner Cockerell said Mr. Preston was correct in that overall complaints are not rising. They are down. Youthful offender complaints have remained the same. While this is going forward, there has not been an increase in juvenile complaints.Damon Preston asked Pam about the recidivism data in juvenile court. He wanted to know if there was any indication, that uptick might be related to recidivism that is not being addressed.Pam Lachman said that was an excellent question and the data starting to come in will tell us a little bit about recidivism. She also said that the FY 2017, looking at the complaints while they were still going down overall, there was a shift in the type of felonies A/B to C/D. She said that when you look at overall complaints because there is so many more complaints in every charge category, with the exception of a felony, there would definitely be the numbers to justify the size of commitment. However, proportionally there was not a 25% increase. That charging would not alone explain the increase.Christina Weeter asked going back to the comment about trying to figure out what years might be the anemology because you need three data points to see a trend. Ms. Weeter said she would be curious to see the data about the three years prior to SB 200 and then the three years following SB 200. By expanding that to six years of data that might be helpful. Ms. Weeter also talked about how the opioid epidemic, and its effect on these kids with regard to adverse childhood experiences and the impact it has on parents who are using it, and some of the destruction that cause at home as a result of usage.Senator Westerfield asked the Commissioner for recommendations, and Commissioner Cockerell said he most of his suggestions have already been heard by the Committee. It may not speak directly to what we have seen today as far as age or disproportionality of youth in color in our system, but I have to say I would remove status offender from the system completely, do away with sentencing status offenders to detention, I’d look at the youthful offender process, the judges roll in it and the prosecutorial discretion and maybe some of the offenses, I’d look at weapons and the use of weapons rather than the presence of weapons, a 10-day detention hearing review required by all the court, a minimum age in the state of criminality and I think we are going to have to continue our work within the community. The stronger a community, the stronger outcome we will see. I will tell you there has been a greater savings across the agency and had those savings had been dedicated to the The Fiscal Incentive Fund it would have been a much larger amount going into our communities rather than the General Fund. The last thing the Commissioner believes would have a significant impact on detention, and it has been on the statutes since the mid 1900’s that the Department of Juvenile Justice can charge $94 per day for public offenders being housing in the detention centers. It would greatly help the bottom line of DJJ’s budget if we instituted that policy and I guarantee there would be less kids detained across the state that are detained now.Laurie Dudgeon asked if DJJ tracked the youth who have a parent missioner Cockerell said we do. Although those figures were available today, is there are 15% of juveniles who have an incarcerated parent. I understand that is one of the greatest predictors of future missioner Cockerell closed by saying the four top counties that commit kids to the department are Jefferson, Fayette, Hardin and Christian in 2014-2015, in 2016 Christian dropped out of the top four and McCracken rose, in 2017 Daviess County rose to the top four.Senator Westerfield thank all three agencies for the work they put into the presentations and the recommendations that were put forth today. We have already began working on the bill. He said he would not pre-file the bill but would actively be working on the legislation. He said he would start with what was deleted from the bill last year, and then throw in everything you’ve asked for today. Senator Westerfield reminded Commissioner Johnson to get her recommendations to him as soon as possible. Once there is a draft of the bill, Senator Westerfield will provide anyone a copy in order for additional suggestions and input. Senator Westerfield stated he would welcome suggestions from anyone on this committee, or from the three agencies presenting today.Senator Westerfield announced the next meeting would be Tuesday, July 10, 2018, at 1:00 p.m.The meeting was adjourned. ................
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