Cause and effect

Unemployment is at an all-time high. Fewer people getting paychecks amounts to lower income tax collection. This leaves government programs strapped for cash, much like some consumers who need installment loans.

In states including Tennessee, South Carolina, Virginia and Kentucky, this means programs designed to rehabilitate young criminals are being slashed from budgets. Programs that provide counseling and individual attention are being axed. Juveniles are being relegated to more traditional correctional facilities. In short, instead of being rehabilitated, more young criminals are merely being punished and then sent back into society.

Which programs are being affected?

South Carolina has shut down five group homes. These homes generally house non-violent criminals and focus on individual attention and counseling.  The state is also cutting after-school programs in detention facilities and youth reform programs.

Kentucky is getting rid of a boot-camp style program developed by the national guard. Virginia is shutting down a facility that prepares kids to go home before releasing them from juvenile detention centers. Florida is  cutting three Associated Marine Institute programs.

Where are these kids going instead?

With the group homes and community programs gone, teens end up in correctional facilities. Petty thieves end up sharing cells with felons and juveniles with charges for guns and assault.

Pecking order mentality and punishment-focused treatment in traditional lockup creates more hardened criminals that are more likely to re-offend, countless studies have shown. So the extra cash states are saving on juvenile justice programs will likely be spent on housing adult offenders who started out in juvenile correctional facilities.

“If you raise a child in prison, you’re going to raise a convict,” said South Carolina Juvenile Justice Director Bill Byars.

How much money are programs losing?

Byars is credited with turning around the South Carolina juvenile justice system. He has created programs that focus on counseling children and teaching them life skills.

South Carolina represents some of the deepest cuts in the nation. Byars has already cut $23 million, 20 percent, from his budget. Now he is being asked to cut an additional 15 percent.

Lockup vs. Rehabilitation

In South Carolina, 22 percent of the juveniles who go through rehabilitation programs re-offend. That’s half the number who commit crimes after a stay in a correctional facility.

Adult programs show a similar pattern. Criminals that go through rehabilitation programs that provide life-skill training and counseling are generally half as likely to end up back in prison.

In short, states that slash juvenile rehabilitation will likely end up spending lots of extra cash to build facilities to lock up adult offenders later. At least with installment loans people know exactly what the costs are.