Missouri's "Miracle" is a Model for Juvenile Justice Reform

Marian Wright Edelman, President of the Children's Defense Fund, is part of Change.org's Changemakers network, comprised of leading voices for social change.

Missouri has created a juvenile justice system that's proved so successful over the last 30 years that it's gained a reputation as the "Missouri Miracle." It's a model that the rest of the states should start to adopt.

A number of practices make the state's system unique. It's primarily made up of small facilities, generally designed for between 10 and 30 youths. These facilities don't look like jails with traditional cells, and they're located at sites throughout the state to keep youth close to their homes. There are only eight isolation rooms in the entire state, which are seldom used and only for emergency situations.

They feature a highly trained and educated staff working in teams with small groups of youths. Youths are treated with respect and dignity. Instead of more traditional correctional approaches, the system uses a rehabilitative and therapeutic model that teaches youth to make positive, lasting changes in their behavior. The result? Some of the best outcomes in the nation: Fewer than 8% of the youths in the Missouri system return again after their release, and fewer than 8% go on to adult prison. One-third of the youths return to their communities with a high school diploma or GED, and another 50% successfully return to school.

Missouri's results have been so positive that Mark Steward, the visionary former director of the Missouri Division of Youth Services, founded the Missouri Youth Services Institute (MYSI) to help other jurisdictions across the country do what Missouri has done. But even with the proven success of the Missouri model, a set of myths persists that imply Missouri is somehow different from every other state, and its results can't be replicated.

It's time to debunk those myths -- and for all states to stop making excuses and start doing the right thing for children.

One of the most persistent myths is that Missouri's children themselves are different. One common assumption is that Missouri's young offenders are mostly rural White teenagers with minor infractions, for example, who are just more responsive to rehabilitation than youths in other juvenile justice systems. But in reality, many of the young people in Missouri's juvenile justice system are from St. Louis and Kansas City, both major urban centers with the same racial diversity, stresses and kinds of crime as urban areas in other states. St. Louis's homicide rates are among the nation's highest.

A second myth is that Missouri actually sends its toughest youth offenders to prison, so that only "lightweights" with less serious offenses are being served through the juvenile justice system. In fact, the one prison facility Missouri operates for youths under age 17 is now empty and has been for some time, and rarely serves more than five youths a year. Most of the state's young offenders are indeed being served through the juvenile justice system, and youths with all kinds of records are treated with the same emphasis on respect and rehabilitation.

A third myth is that Missouri's juvenile justice system doesn't serve children with mental health problems, and that those youths -- who often have a very serious set of challenges and needs -- are being housed and treated elsewhere. This is also not true. In the past, the state did arrange for separate treatment for a small number of youths with mental health needs, but even that's no longer true. Today, virtually all mental health needs of youths committed to the Division of Youth Services are served through the juvenile justice system.

Other myths are that Missouri's juvenile justice system only keeps young people for a short amount of time, or that it only serves younger children and teens, so that older teenagers with more serious crimes are handled in the adult prison system. In fact, it serves youths up to age 18, and provides a continuum of care upwards that includes a dual sentencing program for youths who have committed the most serious crimes that allows them to remain in the juvenile justice system until age 21.

All these misconceptions add up to the overall myth that says the Missouri model may work for Missouri, but that it can't be successfully replicated elsewhere. This is the most important myth to debunk because in fact, the Missouri model is already being studied and replicated successfully in other cities and states -- including Washington, D.C.; San Jose, California; New Mexico and Louisiana.

One of the most persistent roadblocks to juvenile justice reform across the country is resistance to change. Too many officials cling to the belief that citizens think existing punitive juvenile systems with facilities and cultures that resemble adult prisons are "where these kids deserve to be." But when you ask people whether they want youth who have gone through the juvenile justice system to come out better or worse at the end, the answer is clear. They understand that abusive and punitive approaches often lead youths to the adult criminal system. New York State's abusive youth prisons, for example, have an 89% recidivism rate for boys, and yet they spend $210,000 a year to incarcerate youth - the equivalent of a Harvard education.

Statistics already show Missouri is one of the few states helping youth build better paths. We need a system that returns youth to the community prepared to succeed and become productive adults to serve as models for the nation. We don't need systems that do further harm and return youths -- most of them nonviolent offenders -- back to their communities as individuals who are hopeless, angry, and unprepared to succeed in life.

Photo Credit: alpha du centaure