New juvenile justice bill being drafted
Posted to NDN AIM by ErthAvengr
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com
Jan.23,2003
By Denise Ross, Journal Staff Writer
State lawmakers delayed two juvenile-corrections reform measures Wednesday in
deference to a plan being put together by Gov. Mike Rounds and top Department
of Corrections officials.
"The governor asked me to hold it. The governor has a bill draft in process,"
Senate Democratic Leader Garry Moore of Yankton said. "In an effort to
cooperate, I have agreed. I don't think the issue is right of authorship at
this point."
Rounds said late Wednesday he is working on his plan but that it won't
include sweeping changes to South Dakota's juvenile-corrections system.
Moore's bill, SB8, would re-establish a juvenile-justice advisory group,
which would help the state comply with the federal Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Act. The Senate Judiciary postponed a hearing on it until
Wednesday, Jan. 29.
The late Gov. George Mickelson established the advisory group more than a
decade ago, and Gov. Bill Janklow dissolved it.
Moore said he believes the governor's bill will include all the provisions in
his bill and more.
Corrections Department spokesman Michael Winder said officials are reviewing
a number of options.
"We're working with the governor's office on a number of ideas and with
legislators and their ideas on ways to improve the juvenile-corrections
system," Winder said.
The governor has until Wednesday, Feb. 5, to get a bill introduced through
one of the Legislature's committees. However, lawmakers can suspend rules
with a two-thirds vote and bring a bill forward at a later date.
State Director of Juvenile Corrections Doug Herrmann, who is stationed at the
Custer Youth Corrections Center, is in Pierre this week to work on a draft of
the bill Rounds plans to introduce. The governor's bill will address how to
bring the state into compliance with the federal law, Herrmann said.
"Various levels of government will have to participate," Herrmann said.
Currently, some counties in South Dakota lock up juveniles alongside adults
in county jails. That practice would have to end in order for the state to
comply with federal law and qualify for federal grant money.
Rounds said he has opposed the practice of jailing juveniles and adults
together since a law allowing that practice in South Dakota was passed in
1996, when he was a legislator.
"I was opposed to it then, and I'm opposed to it now," Rounds said.
Rounds said he wants to provide financial assistance to counties so they can
afford separate lockups for juveniles.
Rounds did not address juvenile corrections when he briefed state lawmakers
on Tuesday about the need for a new adult prison.
Lawmakers also postponed a hearing on a second bill Wednesday. HB1002, is the
bill Rep. Tom Hennies, R-Rapid City, has brought for the past several years
in one form or another. It would require the state's juvenile-corrections
officials to seek federal oversight through the federal Justice Departments
Performance-based Standards Project.
The state now participates in the project, but Hennies wants it required by
law. Rounds has issued an executive order that South Dakota participate in
the project, and Hennies said that might satisfy his concerns.
"I have asked for an appointment with the governor because he's issued an
executive order to cover everything I've wanted covered," Hennies said.
He said he has asked that action not be taken on his bill until he talks with
the governor about the Legislature's oversight role.
"An executive can go ahead and change that executive order," Hennies said. "I
want it so it can't be changed without the acquiescence of the Legislature."
South Dakota's juvenile- justice system came under scrutiny after the July
1999 death of 14-year-old Gina Score at the state's girls' boot camp in
Plankinton. Janklow overhauled the state's juvenile-corrections programs and
created the boot-camp programs soon after he was elected in 1994.
Despite nationwide controversy over the use of boot camps in juvenile
corrections and Score's death, juvenile boot camps will stay open in South
Dakota, Rounds said.
"There's a group that it's helping. For some, it's the right move," Rounds
said, calling the boot camps "one of the options available" to troubled youth
in the state.
Closing the boot camps is "not an option," said Sen. Arlene Ham, R-Rapid
City, who chaired an interim study committee on juvenile corrections. "Let's
not throw the baby out with the bath water. Let's continue to improve it. We
found out last summer there have been tremendous changes made at the boot
camp."
The boys' boot camp at Custer remains open and has earned praise from
corrections experts. Janklow ended the girls' boot camp in 2000, and closed
the Plankinton facility altogether in 2001.
Contact Denise Ross at 394-8438 or denise.ross@rapidcityjournal.com
home : mission statement : contact : site map : search : store : links
DLN coalition : DLN issues : DLN nation : related issues Any reprints are under the Fair Use doctrine of international copyright law : See http://www.dlncoalition.org/fair_use.htm.
|
