Looking Forward For Wyoming’s Juvenile Justice System

The juvenile justice system in Wyoming is unique in the country. It would be pleasing to have a juvenile justice system unique due to its stellar qualities, but unfortunately, Wyoming stands alone based on its failure to achieve even the most basic expectations standard in juvenile justice systems in the rest of the country.

One of Wyoming's divergences from other juvenile justice systems comes from our staunch refusal to embrace the tenets of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, (JJDPA) established federally in 1974 and reauthorized in 1977, 1980, 1984, 1988 and 1992. Since the initial establishment of this federal mandate Wyoming has continued to go its own way—the wrong way.

The 2013 Annual Report from the Wyoming State Advisory Council on Juvenile Justice indicates that "… the Council was asked to examine the pros and cons of working toward compliance with the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act".

Going in a different direction on juvenile justice has not yielded positive results for Wyoming. The following chart uses data published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation comparing juvenile incarcerations in 1997 and 2010 in Wyoming and nationally. Incarcerations are shown per 100,000 juveniles.

Is it a wrong turn for Wyoming to continue resisting the juvenile justice standards of the rest of the country? Why does Wyoming continue to have so many incarcerated juveniles? A recently published report entitled Keeping Adolescents Out of Prison may be able to help Wyoming make juvenile justice improvements while our government continues to consider our future directions.

The authors of the report are Laurence Steinberg, described as a "Distinguished University Professor"; Laura H. Carnell, a Professor of Psychology at Temple University and Tom Haskins, Senior Fellow and Co-Director of the Center on Children and Families at the Brookings Institution.

The observations, data analysis and conclusions in Keeping Adolescents Out of Prison are fascinating and enlightening. As the authors studied adolescent crime and punishment they discovered that over-punishment for minor infractions actually increased the probability of future criminal activity. The example stated many times was harsh punishment including incarceration for status offenses (behaviors which are only illegal due to the offender's status as a juvenile). The appropriate consequence for status offenses, according to the authors as well as the tenets of the JJDPA, is intervention and education rather than incarceration.

The authors also debunked the myth of the growing "problem" of increasingly violent juvenile crime. According to this publication as well as sources in the Annie E. Casey Foundation and other juvenile advocacy organizations, many juvenile laws and policies were established according to the incorrect prediction by juvenile crime experts that violent juvenile crime was rising out of control and would soon be at a crisis level.

Violent juvenile crime is actually decreasing according to advocates for reformation of juvenile justice practices. In fact, data available through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) indicates that the latest Wyoming figures for 2011 show only 12% of Wyoming's incarcerated juveniles are incarcerated for having committed "crimes against persons". This compares to 37% of incarcerated juveniles nationally who are jailed for "crimes against persons".

In Wyoming, more juveniles are incarcerated for less-serious offenses than in the rest of the country. The Governor's State Advisory Council on Juvenile Justice continues to consider whether or not our state should adopt the improvements in juvenile justice which have allowed the rest of the country to pursue non-incarceration punishment options for minor infractions. While they are considering this, we should at least take the time to familiarize ourselves with the reasons that it is important to keep juveniles out of jails and prisons. The issues of JJDPA compliance cannot be dropped from our concern entirely; but perhaps juvenile advocates can learn to make some incremental improvements in the lives of youthful offenders and at-risk kids in the meantime.