Getting inside the Department of Juvenile Justice

3-25-2012 California:

Michael Minor is chief deputy secretary of the Division of Juvenile Justice at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. It’s his job to help shape the future for this department that’s potentially on the budget chopping block. KALW’s Holly Kernan spoke with Minor about what the role of the Division of Juvenile Justice.

MICHAEL MINOR: The Division of Juvenile Justice currently provides services to, as you said, about a thousand young men and 31 young women who are the most troubled youth in California. They are the most serious, violent offenders and also sex offenders. So the population that we are providing services to are young men and young women who have gone through the county system, who need further services, and those services are best provided at this time by the Division of Juvenile Justice.

HOLLY KERNAN: And do you consider these young people a threat to public safety?

MINOR: I believe these young people are troubled youth who have some serious and violent crimes that need a great deal of treatment and rehabilitation services to prepare them to go back into the community so that they won't make those same mistakes and create victims or commit additional crimes.

KERNAN: So let's assume I'm a young man, I'm 19 years old, I'm in for felony assault.... What does my day look like?

MINOR: If they're not a high school graduate, they should be involved in school – or either if they're a high school graduate, they should be involved in vocational programs. As an example in the 2010-2011 academic year, we graduated over 556 young men and women. They either received the GED, or high school diploma, or a certificate of vocational or technical trade. Also we are implementing a large array of treatment groups. It may be, if you are a sex offender, you may be involved in sex behavior treatment program groups. If they identify that you have high violence, you may be included in the anger-interruption therapy group, or you may be in Counterpoint. Those are some of the groups that we offer, and then other groups are just life skills or other pro-social activities that will help build character and help the young people get ready to go back into our communities.

KERNAN: Now one highly publicized case of treatment inside of the Division of Juvenile Justice was the revelation that kids were being educated in cages because they were seen as a threat to public safety of the teachers. Is that still happening? ..For the remiander of the story: by Holly Kernan