CLOSURE OF JUVENILE CENTERS

According to a Sacramento Bee report (posted on the web at http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/crime/archives/021592.html), Sacramento County Probation officials have announced the closing of two of three detention facilities for adjudicated juvenile offenders. The Warren E. Thornton Youth Center and Sacramento Boys Ranch will be closed on July 1st, 2009. The main Juvenile Youth Detention Facility – with only 276 beds – will be the only detention center to remain open. Both the Warren E. Thornton Youth Center and Sacramento Boys Ranch each housed about 110 youths each, some of which who are the county’s youngest male and female delinquents.
These detention facilities house some of the youths with the highest risk levels to re-offend – including gang members, as well as the county’s most sophisticated and violent juveniles – whose court case have already been adjudicated. With the closure of these detention facilities, many of the delinquents detained will be moved into community supervision. What will happen to safety of the county’s neighborhoods and schools should these delinquents be released?
The fact of the matter is that Sacramento County has nearly 3,500 youth on Probation or incarcerated in these juvenile detention facilites (Sacramento Bee: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/story/1748015.html). The detention facilities, although not perfect, hold the juveniles accountable for their actions and give them a chance to make amends to those that they have wronged. The juveniles in these facilities can be considered at "at-risk" and "disadvantaged" which modern research suggests can greatly benefit from a good education – learning good work habits, developing solid academic skills, and marketable career skills – provided by these detention centers. This may be their only escape from a life of poverty, prison, or worse. The idea of shutting these centers down would allow them to stay at home, where many are allowed a continued lack of parental supervision, and may continue to committ crimes against innocents.