everyone to take a moment to make sure your cell phones your blackberries are on silent or off i also during this hearing we are expecting two of our colleagues representative woolsey who is a member of the full committee and he's going to be detained a little bit but as soon as he comes in he'll have his opening statement first i'd like to thank all the witnesses for being here today we really do appreciate that this is an important hearing and i think what's also important is a lot of people don't actually know what's going on in some of our systems we have assembled a panel of folks who are just incredibly knowledgeable and jill little justice issues that affect girls especially they bring their personal experience a wealth of information from research and work in the field although we are focusing on the need for gender specific to little justice reform the issues will covers such a status offense is valid court orders confidential conditions and mental health issues have an impact on both young men and young women we have decided to focus on young ladies today because unfortunately the number of girls in the system is on the rise and the juvenile justice system was developed around boys in terms of policies practice and staff training we have not held in the hearings on gender specific challenges and this can be a difference on how girls and boys wind up in the system and how they are handled as they are in the system i believe these issues are important to explore as we move forward to reauthorization on the juvenile justice delinquency prevention act but i want to emphasize that each of the areas we will cover will affect  young men and women across the country in the one nine hundred eighty s in the ninety's states largely abandoned the focus on jewel justice rehabilitation and treatment in favor of an approach they responded to delinquent behavior with scientists and institutional placement now nearly three decades later most partition is academics policy makers and the public believes that approach has failed us the current system does little to  protect public safety or help us become more productive law abiding citizens and in many cases the youth that we are a few finally into the juvenile system the victims of trauma have mental health issues and have been accused of status offenses says such as truancy or running away from home under the valid court order exception of the j j d p a or v c o exception runaway youth and other status offenders maybe in car o exception allow status offenders to be locked up in their second and subsequent status offenses for violating the court's order not to commit another offense we know that once they are part of the juvenile system their long term outcomes become very bleak to put a juvenile detention for a status nonviolent no criminal offense is in my opinion criminal data has shown in two thousand and one girls made up nineteen percent of some judges want to protect the runaway child from a chaotic household or from the streets and if they feel they have no other options they will put her into dissention i believe we need to look closely at eliminating the vizio exception in the juvenile justice as we have moved forward in reauthorizing as we do not want to be sweeping children into juvenile systems for minor criminal offenses confinement should be the last resort reserved for those who post such a serious threat know what the solution would be there to protect the public safety in all other cases young people can be well served in the public kept safe by community support for those who do not need to be placed in a facility the o j reports out an estimated twelve percent of youth in state jewels facilities and large non state facilities reported experience one or more of the incidents of sexual victimization most of these youth have been sexually abused before making it into the system i'm glad the d o j collected the state data and brought this outrageous situation to our knowledge i think that we need to be a much do a much better job of collecting data in the j j system and that is to especially to mental health sex race and in this system without timely acute data we cannot make the appropriate proper policy decisions here but both young women and young men confinement conditions are often quite  quality young ladies have particular health needs associated with pregnancy childbirth personal id mental health issues such as depression trauma from previous sexual abuse which are not being addressed and some cases not even being are being exploited we need to explore how to better screening young ladies who enter the system for mental health issues and how to treat young ladies once they are confined the problem with the juvenile justice system are many we have our work cut out for sorry about that i want to thank all of you for being here and i look forward to your testimony pursuant to well he's not here pursuant to committee rules seven any members may submit an opening statement in writing of this part which will be made part of the permanent record when mr platts the ranking member on the republican side gets here he will have his opening statement without objection all members we'll have fourteen days to submit additional material questions for the hearing rec i would like to briefly introduce our very distinguished panel of witnesses here with us this morning the complete bios of the witnesses will be inserted into the record today we will hear from six witnesses each of whom will focus on challenges two young ladies in the juvenile justice system again i thank you for being here in the interest of time given a large number of witnesses today i will keep my formal instruction short our first witnesses barrette professor francine sherman welcome professor sherman is a professor at boston college law school where she's been teaching juvenile justice for the last twenty years she founded in directs the juvenile rights advocacy pro project a look clinic helping juvenile clinics clients she reform and girls welcome professor our next witnesses rachel carry on miss carry on is currently on a board member of community connections for the youth who acts whose expertise on your little justice issues is shaped by the fact that she herself was in the j j system she first enter the juvenile justice system at the age of fifteen when she was arrested for fighting with another girl that gained her experience in a system that failed to treat her underlying trauma and substance abuse problems miscarrying currently serves as a board member c c f y which is a new york based youth serving nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting and developing alternatives to incarceration for the youth welcome and we appreciate you being here to tell your story our next witness is judge roy inhofe judge huff the presiding judge will judge for jefferson county work the juvenile in can art in course nation rate in jefferson county has been reduced by more than seventy percent congratulations to you but that will bring in millions of dollars back in through the community through state grants he brings  experience on the front lines of the juvenile justice system to the panel welcome judge our next list witnesses professor linda tripp's and professor of psychiatry and director of the psycho legal studies program northwest university medical school professor type and is currently conducting the northwestern juvenile project the first large scale lot of to study of the health needs and outcomes of july to detainees in this study  introducing our next two witnesses so if i'm going to take the privilege of introducing both of you gary ivey southwest present national director of program development area currently serves as southwest president of youth advocate programs incorporated yapp as well as national director of program development in this capacity he maintains oversight of several programs provides a range of community based services which dran youth and families throughout the south west region he has done pioneer work with juvenile street street in fort worth texas texas this work was featured in several national publications including catalyst a national newsletter of the national crime prevention council and the p b s series and search of lauren ora welcome miss roma she is a graduate of india indiana university in bloomington indiana she majored in criminal justice and history prior to being employed as a juvenile justice probation officer officer she was a ploy it is a case manager for two years in a residential program for female adolescents both dependent and delinquent she is currently employed with the new york county juvenile probation department as an int intensive aftercare officer her caseload includes the female juvenile offenders that are in the you need of intense supervision and treatment the services designed to provide support for family and child throughout the placement and six months following the release of a residential facility welcome let me explain the lighting system in front of you you have a number of three when you start speaking a green light will go on when the yellow like goes on you have basically a minute and we kind of asked you if you could wrap up our first witness i want to thank you for your testimony i'm sorry professor chairman please yes good morning carol mccarthy members of the committee thank you for inviting me to testify on the ways the justice system can respond to challenges faced by girls my testimony draws on fifteen years as director of the juvenile rights advocacy project at boston college law school as well as ten years providing research and technical assistance to any casey foundation juvenile detention alternatives initiative jurisdictions around the country on ways to reduce the inappropriate detention of girls and increase their success in communities over the last two decades girls remain a numerical minority in the juvenile justice system but their proportion has s increased girls are thirty percent of juvenile arrests eighteen percent of detentions and thirteen percent of commitments girl's presence in the justice system is closely linked to developmental and social factors unique to girls in either kind or degree and increasing evidence shows that unintended consequences of juvenile justice system policies and practices are pulling girls into the system and keeping them there when another system or community based agency would better serve them the impact of family chaos and trauma for girls in the juvenile justice system cannot be overstated while boys and girls in the justice system likely come from distressed families girls are more likely to have families characterized by chaos such as violence incarceration of a parent and residential instability research shows that girls are being criminalized for living in these chaotic households by being arrested for family based esol in situations that would have triggered family services intervention in a prior decade and by being detained for violating curfew and orders to follow rules of the house in status offense cases jay jay i now in over one hundred jurisdictions nationwide is a fifteen year effort to reduce the inappropriate detention of youth and shore up communities to help us live successfully in their homes  see a constant link between family chaos and girls detention for example in two thousand and six nevada law require that anyone arrested for domestic battery be securely detained for a minimum of twelve hours making no distinction for the age the offender under this law police called about fights between a mother and daughter were much more likely to arrest the teenage daughter leaving the mother to care for other children in the home and triggering mandatory detention of the girl which typically stretched beyond twelve hours as a result detention data from washington clark county showed the girls who are about twenty four five percent of detentions overall were an average of forty two percent of detentions for domestic battery recently nevada amended its law to prohibit detention for domestic battery alone and put family crisis services in place as an alternative so the girls are now provided with family services rather than being detained as victims of family chaos similar laws and policies exist around the country and have a disproportionate impact on girls who experience family violence a high rates research shows that up to seventy three percent of girls in the justice system has expect have experienced sexual or physical victimization girls are more likely than boys to have experienced sexual assault rape or sexual harassment and abuse histories and girls may be linked to mental health issues such as depression and anxiety disorders girls who have experienced sexual abuse are likely to engage in risky sexual behaviors themselves risking their health and often triggering involvement in the juvenile justice system girls with histories of sexual victimization are more likely to become commercially sexually exploited leading to arrest and detention for prostitution related offenses and to lives marked by more abuse and trauma victimization and trauma lead girls to run away from home which is a frequent cause of their arrest girls profound histories of victimization become pathways into the juvenile justice system in these numerous ways but using detention and incarceration punishes and revit demises these girls and fails to provide states  localities with incentive to properly address girls victimization in the public health child and family services and victim services systems as a january two thousand and ten report by the u s department of justice made clear sexual victimization is occurring at alarming high levels in juvenile facilities across the country because girls offending is often tied to chaotic families victimization and mental health needs girls in the juvenile justice system are typically involved with multiple systems girls i represent have contact with the child welfare system as a status offender abused child the juvenile justice system the education system often as a special education student the public health system and the mental health system in these cases wraparound services are critical and state should be encouraged to find ways to work across traditional agency boundaries although there are clear national patterns among girls in the juvenile justice system the precise nature and mix of practices and programs needed to address challenges posed by girls were very locally without data which is  gated by gender and cross reference by race and ethnicity we cannot fully understand the challenges facing girls and which policies will be effective in every jurisdiction i have worked with detailed data collection and analysis desegregated by gender and cross reference by race and ethnicity has been the key to understanding and designing effective solutions for girls let me make for recommendations to better understand respond to the challenges posed by girls in the juvenile justice system i recommend requiring jurisdictions to collect and analyze juvenile justice system data disaggregated by gender and cross reference by race and ethnicity eliminating the valid court order exception to the d n c to show is a sion of status offender mandate to prevent criminal as well as provide incentives for jurisdictions to develop appropriate programming and services and courage in the use of community based wraparound services coordinated across agencies for girls with high social service and mental health needs rather than using detention and additional research on girls and the system practices affecting them particularly on the prevalence and needs of pregnant and parenting girls in the juvenile justice system and alternatives to juvenile justice involvement for commercially sexually exploited girls thank you thank hello can you ok good morning my name is rachel kerri anne and i'm here today to talk about my experience of the new york juvenile justice system thank you for the chance to tell my story when i was fifteen years old my mother passed away from breast cancer and i began smoking marijuana to cope with the loss i was also very angry and as a result of my anger i got into a fight with the young woman and i was arrested i was arrested and sent to a cd program which is an alternative to detention program at a p d program i could not keep a fifteen years old and he was thirty because of the relationship that i had with him you know he would bring me in drugs he would bring me in cigarettes any kind of contraband i wanted because i was sleeping with he would also after hours i would summit facilities safer for you i have a touch of recommendations on this issue from national well to my testimony in closing i would like to thank you guys for listening to my story i would like to encourage the committee to make sure the nor the girls have to federal law prohibits the incarceration of children for committing status however there is a provision there's an exception called the violation of the valid court order exception i would typically take that type of we found out after that was that when mother filed a petition was being sexually abused by her brother who lived in the home and was currently abusing  and we realized that we reinforced we wanted to stop being part of the problem and start being part of the solution i would ask this committee to vote in favor of and i've spoken to judges around the country that understand that the system that's in place is not working and hopefully when we reauthorize down the road hopefully this year we can make some good changes thank you chairwoman for inviting me to speak today very much appreciated your comments judge of the need for data because my purpose here today is to share findings from the north western juvenile project the a very large scale study of the link when kids we've been following them since one thousand nine hundred five and the findings of our study will provide the scientific basis for recommendations on how we can address problems in the juvenile justice system on an average day fourteen thousand girls are in detention many of these girls get into trouble because they have mental disorders for example they may have depression they may self medicate with drugs they may get then get into trouble with the law we've found in our study that three quarters of girls in detention typical detention center in cook county in chicago had one or more psychiatric psychiatric disorders and there disorders are very different their patterns are so different than boys the colonel because girls have higher rates of depression higher rates of anxiety disorders high higher rates some substance use disorders especially use of hard drugs such as cocaine amphetamines and when i'm speaking of disorder with drugs i'm speaking of disorder not just use addiction i also want to highlight that fifty five percent of the girls that we interviewed had more than one disorder we call that co morbidity in the field and that's critical because treating kids with co morbid disorders is so much more difficult than kids who only have one disorder i also want to highlight that adverse life of vents are a fact of life for these girls we found that eighty five percent of our girls had one or more for medical life such as having been attacked physically or beaten badly fifteen percent had full blown post traumatic stress disorder nearly thirty percent of the girls had ever committed suicide nearly one third of girls reported sexual victimization with force and the dire situation here is very few of these kids receive services we found that only about forty percent of girls with major mental disorders meaning major depressive episode manic episode psychosis only about forty percent received treatment in th attention center and even fewer twelve percent received any treatment after they left the tension how did these kids fare when they leave detention in a word very poorly or not at all we found in our study of nearly two thousand kids that the likelihood of premature violent death is extremely high today as of today of the six hundred and sixty girls in our study twenty two of them died all violently so what can we do to address this dire dire situation our research provides the scientific basis for some of my recommendations let's talk about each of these points before detention we have to increase diversion because so many of these kids mental health problems don't need to be in detention at intake we need to screen systematically for disorders improve the technology for screening and make sure that every kid gets stream screen so that they can be referred for treatment during detention we need gender specific services because as i mentioned girls have different mental health needs  and girls have greater co morbid disorders a higher rate of co morbid disorders more than one disorder than boys we need gender specific treatments during detention we also need gender different gender based treatments because we know that girls as by the other witnesses they have worse family situations than boys they're more likely to have been abused and exploited these are all  risks for continuing psychiatric disorders now recognizing the special needs federal agencies have stablished programs designed for girls and these must be continued and expanded we also have to address released from detention and what happens then because we need to make sure that treatment that begin in detention continue when those girls go back into the community so that the federal level can use its authority to conduct research to provide training and technical assistance to improve the circumstances of detained youth with mental disorders now we need to make these investments it will not be inexpensive but without making these investments this group which by the way is disproportionately poor disproportionately or faces dire outcomes school failure long term unemployment reliance on public assistance during their life continued trouble with the legal system which also has its attendant costs and premature violence making the investment also as necessary to promote community safety and to increase the likelihood that these young people these young women will be successful in school ten to seventeen the first follow up interview was when they were ages thirteen twenty many of interviewed in their homes almost invariably these girls ages thirteen to twenty were pregnant holding an infant and had a couple of toddlers running around so that we need to make investments not just for this generation but to prevent  good morning chairwoman of mccarthy ranking member platt and members of the subcommittee on healthy families and community thank you for inviting me to testify today the national director of program development for youth advocate programs to their community of origin the program provided then and it provides now intensive supervision twenty four seventh's support up to thirty thirty hours per week face to face contact each youth who is referred to our program for those who have received services approximately seventy eight percent did not receive aid and experience positive gains in education and employment the core of the model is very simple hiring hate advocates from communities from the neighborhoods where kids live to be positive adult role models advocates of six million would neighborhood conditions they speak the language of the young people and they're familiar with the culture and the background of the young people that we serve the mission of youth out of the programs who are referred to as yet for sure it is to develop community based alternatives to incarceration or into institutionalization whether that jails detention centers psychiatric treatment centers group homes etc yet provides a safe cost effective alternative for those for many jurisdictions nationally nationally we serve ten thousand youth and families want it in a given day and also operate about one hundred  twenty individual programs today briefly i'll describe what we're doing in our clark county las vegas nevada program this program is serving a large number of female offenders who have been adjudicated delinquent yep it's on the contract with the department of juvenile justice services and the juvenile court to keep these young women from re offending yep started the program in las vegas almost five years ago we were charged with helping to reduce the number of female offenders that were housed at  county department of juvenile justice services detention facilities and to develop alternatives to out of home placement the app help to demonstrate that delinquent youth can improve their educational and vocational outcomes in the community without jeopardizing public safety just two thousand and six each of these goals has been accomplished to date we have achieved an eighty percent or higher success rate and we've also helping to reduce recidivism rates preventing at home removal whenever possible and helping young women to successfully complete the terms and conditions of their probation we find the following characteristics or at least the following components or elements of programs are very important in working with female offenders and individualized approach to working with females based on their needs including recruiting female staff who have sometimes been through the juvenile justice system as role models we found that a family senate approach rather than just focusing on the needs of the young women is important that unconditional caring and support and a never give up attitude that a holistic approach a wraparound approach that addresses multiple life domain areas and that there address final tenuously is important that twenty four seven availability in the community that wraparound approach to our services are across different systems because many other young women are involved in multiple systems at many it's on the other prisoners have mentioned that a form of support at work will be called support at work with subsidised employment is important especially when it's an area of their interest flexible funds used to address emergency needs such as clothing quote clothing housing fees for programs etc and a never give up approach accrete key ingredient of our success in las vegas has been our support it works program the model is a form of subsidized employment where we pay the wages of young women to work at places of in employment within their community and yet actually put pays their salaries while they're working from ten to twenty hours per week in january this past year i was visiting our program and met a young woman who worked in our supported work program and she had been arrested and put on probation due to prostitution she had been gay a rape she had a young daughter and as a result after she had been our program for a while we connected her with our support at work program i visited her while she was working and asked her what made a difference in her life and she had mentioned having another woman who had been head a similar  fact that she was able to get a job in an area of her interest and the fact that she had someone who was there to listen to her and support her it was vital to her overcoming these obstacles in her life lastly i would like to mention the cost savings of this model and similar models and the outcomes associated with all those cost benefit on a national basis programs like yep cost about sixty dollars per day sometimes a little bit less and sometimes little bit more the cost of security tents and ranges from a hundred and fifty dollars per day it's a judgment and oftentimes much higher the cost savings for a yappin them a program to security tension correctional and residential placement are substantial in addition the outcomes are for better for example the recidivism rate for youth returning from correctional placement is often fifty percent or higher yap has demonstrated through to an external evaluations that outcomes or eighty percent or higher working with adjudicated delinquent young people i hope my testimony today has shed some light on the model as well as on other similar models and challenges faced face in working with female offenders thank you again for inviting me to participate thank you well sir morning here when mccarthy and committee members i would like to thank you for having me testify today i'm employed as a new york county juvenile probation officer in pennsylvania through my experience i have been for the opportunity to supervise female juvenile offender populations that are court ordered to residential treatment facilities your county currently has a the males  out of home placements that are considered long term placements there are currently one hundred twenty five male juvenile offenders and all of our female juvenile offenders have been placed as a result of an adjudication of delinquency ranging from misdemeanor offenses to felony offenses the primary concerns of each of the female clients are typically the mental health issues and substance abuse issues that emerge as a result of post traumatic stress disorder each client that i currently have and that is a female has been assigned the diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder as well as its other diagnosis is my experience the male has a history of sexual abuse and is a victim and or is a victim of physical abuse they have never been afforded treatment as a result of that abuse which is resulted in the juvenile being placed in the delinquency system defender has not learned healthy or positive coping skills to deal with the trauma the female has then resorted to using substances and has difficulty controlling her behaviors in a community setting additionally family issues emerge as a result of the females acting out in negative way major obstacle to effectively treating the female offenders in your county is a lack of service the services that are offered the residential facilities that offer quality treatment are not as prevalent for females as they are for males for example there is not one facility in the state of pennsylvania that is designed specifically to treat a female adolescent that has been found to have committed a sexual offense to date your county has two or three providers that have proven to be somewhat effective in treating the post traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse issues and adolescent males programs do offer rigorous treatment components for the above mentioned issues however it is a slow healing process for any child that is dealing with trauma this results in a length of stay being anywhere from six months over to a year my program has been implemented through out your county as an intensive program that offers a  family and a caseworker for each one of my children that go into placement the idea is that the services begin at this position and family work begins at this position throughout the treatment process for this child and there  more support put in place for both the offender as well as the family additionally juvenile email offenders who are in placement usually have significant mental health issues these need to be stabilized prior to even addressing the substance abuse issues family relationship problems and the history of abuse is been my experience that female clients entering residential placements also struggle in the educational setting they typically are behind in their education this is largely attributed to  operation in york does not place a female offender due to truancy is also been determined that female offenders have not been able to focus on the educational setting as a result of mental health disorders and symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder the school district often overlooked and do not want to deal with these children the transition for any female from placement back into the community is become a significant factor in preventing recidivism the focus needs to be that the aftercare for a child begins with this position and that all parties need to be involved in the treat in planning of each trial each child through outplacement this includes the juvenile probation department the residential facilities the family the school districts and any other agency involved with the child needs to become a team approach in order to allow for a smooth transition back into the juveniles community the emphasis has been on the continuity of care rather than discharging a female offender without any services already in place this includes a solid educational plan counseling services medication management designated support system and employment opportunities for the child prior to release from placement is significant also to monitor the female offender on a regular basis in order to ensure compliance with probation conditions as well as to determine that the male not displaying any signs of returning to negative behavior that way they can be caught before it's too late or before the child runs away it is in my opinion that prior to discharging the female from placement family counseling should be facilitated this will house floor i'm going to ask my colleague mr murphy if he would like to ask a question thank you very much madam chair and thank you for allowing me to sit on this panel care very very deeply about my one question massachusetts where another state that does not have a valid court order exception as a matter of state law i think what's happened and judge have testified to it is that judges and it's it's basically cause child and family services agencies  to step up and provide alternative placements and services in the community that are and not criminalize this behavior and it has also caused the systems to look behind the behavior very often in my experience girls who run away or running away from something there's another situation there there's family issues there is sexual victimization and it really caused people not to default for an easy option which is to put the girl into detention really look at the family situation and provide services directed at that panels and certainly a number of the issues that come in front of my committee i always try to have a young person that was impact one way or the other so that we have the data we have the judges we have correctional officers we have i live we have a very large facility for juveniles and all i ever heard for the last thirteen years were from the correctional officers these kids shouldn't be here and that's coming from a correction officer but again you know for so many years it was told to all of us throughout this nation they got to be tough on crime you got to be tough on the offenders which i think we all agree for those that have those kind of punishments they should get punished so with all the data and all the work that all of you been doing you know people are starting to get light and they're nowhere near where they should be and trying to  and will work as well as we can on this committee to have the the choices for judges to have the money for the programs that need to be out there my background was a nurse i still feel i'm an arse i am a nurse and i also know what preventive care means and as you said judge we all did stupid things when we were thirteen fourteen and fifteen years old and a lot of people don't realize that we probably were lucky that nothing happened to us we didn't get into the wrong group so some kids aren't as lucky as we were but we need to have the services so young women like you and you have called you a life together and we're also proud of you but we want to give that chance to a lot of young people because with the young people here in the audience many times i feel very frustrated that we do not look out for the future leaders of this nation and as we look forward in the competition worldwide every young child every young adult could be a future leader and we have to do whatever we can to give that child to reach the full potential of what they need to be we can do a better job we must do another better job and it's a whole believe me i work a gang they're helping my local police have more relationship with the community they go into programs that are helping young men and women fight drug addiction those  marks the majority members in this congress that's what they're doing in their community so whatever happens with that and we'll have a vote sometime this week i'll be voting against it because i believe i know my community and where the money needs to go to the most help so with that i'm with unfortunately going to have to end this i think i've already missed one vote this is that of having a vote at this particular time so what i'll say to you is i to skip my concluding remarks i think i've said what i needed to say but i want to say thank you for each and every one of you you've done a great job we'll try and get you the support that you need to continue to job data was extremely important this is kim kim and i love data we love data i've got more legislation passed because we collected all the data it might be boring to some people but there's a lot of answers in that  are already said that as previously audit members will have fourteen days to submit additional materials for the hearing record any member who wishes to submit follow up questions in writing to the with this ship wouldn't it with a majority staff within the requested time without objection this hearing is adjourned thank you again