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If you have issues viewing or accessing this file contact us at NCJRS.gov. p, q(?-~J-.-: ' D.Y-3~-i'3 This microfiche was produced from documents received for inclusion in the NCJRS data base. Since NCJRS cannot exercise control over the physical condition of the documents submitted, the individual frame quality will vary. The resolution chart on this frame may be used to evaluate the document quality. 1.0 1111 1.1 111111.25 11111: 1.4 111111.6 MICROCOPY RESOLUTION iEST CHART NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS-J963-A ,if Microfilming procedures used to create this fiche comply with the standards set forth in 41CFR 101-11.504. ----t =. PREFACE Woody Register prepared this report on juvenile justice in Tennessee as a Fellow in Education Journalism. The 1982 Fellow ships provided six outstanding and ·competitively selected jour nalists with the opportunity to study and report on specific aspects of juvenile crime and justice while on six weeks leave from their newspapers. In addition to this final report, Register wrote a series of articles for The Tennessean. His series ana those of the other Fellows appear in the IEL mono graph, ,Iuyenile Justige: Myths and Realities. The 1982 Fellows and their topics were: Charlotte Grimes Girls and the Law st. Louis Post-DispatcQ JUvENILE mCARCERATION Wiley Ball Getting Tough With Violent AND ALTERNATiVEs ~TENNESSEE by Baltimore Eyening Sun Juvenile Offenders Woody Register The Tennessean Leslie Senderson Violent Juvenile Crime in East Nashville, Tennessee Knoxyille Journal Tennesse~: A Family Perspec tive Andrew Petkofsky Locks and Lessons: virginii's alchmond News Leader Reform Schools Woody Register Juvenile Incarceration and The Tennessean Alternatives in Tennessee Gary Strauss Juvenile Justice in Idaho The Idaho Statesman Margaret Beyer, PhD Not Getting Away.with Murder: Freelance (received study Serious Juvenile Offenders in 89432 grant) the District of Columbia u.s. Department of Justice National Institute of Justice This document has been reproduced exactly as received from the person or organi;:ation originating it. Points of view or opinions stated The Fellows in Educa.tion Journalism program seeks to strengthen in {his document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represeol the Qfficial positiof') or policies of the ,National Institute of the media's reporting and the public's understanding of education JUStice. and social service issues by providing journalists with the re 7 • Permission to reproduce this copyrighted material has been sources and time to conduct comprehensive studies. Initiated at. granted by .- the Institute for Educational Leadership in 1976 by The Ford Institute for Educational \ Foundation, the program is also sponsored by participating news Leadership organizations across the country and other foundations, govern t6 the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS). ment agencies and national organizations. The list of 1976-82 Further reproduction outside of the NCJRS system requires permis Fellows, sponsoring news organizations, and topics of study is ,; sion of the copyright owner. included in thi~ publication. o a final r"eport of the , . Susan C." Farkas -, Pellows in Education Journalism { Juvenile Justice Program Director I3STITUTE POR EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP Fellows in Education Journalism , ,1 • " q , -------------------- ------- - ------,--- -----....---.---- ---- ~--- - - ~ PREFACE Woody Register prepared this report on juvenile justice in Tennessee as a Fellow in Education Journalism. The 1982 Fellow ships provided six outstanding and 'competitively selected jour nalists.with the opportunity to study and report on specific aspects of juvenile crime and justice while on six weeks leave from their newspapers. In addition to this final report, Register wrote a se£ies of articles for The Tennessean. His series and those of the other Fellows appear in the IEL mono graph, Juvenile Justice; Myths and Realities. The 1982 Fellows o and their topiC,S were: Charlotte Grimes Girls and the Law .. St. LQuis Post~pi=patch .Wiley Hall Getting Tough With Violent Baltimore_~yening Sun Juvenile Offenders Leslie Henderson Violent Juvenile Crime in East Knoxville Journal Tennesse,e: A Family Perspec"'7 tive .' Andrew Petkofsky Locks and Lessons: Virginia)s Richmond News Leader Reform Schools Woody Register Juvenile Incarceration and The Tennessean Al terna ti v'es in Tennessee Gary Strauss Juvenile Justice in Idaho The Idaho Statesman Margaret Beyer, PhD Not Getting Away.with Murder: Freelance (received study Serious Juvenile Offenders in grant) the District of Columbia C.opyright (S) 1983 by the Insti tute for Educa tional Leade rship , The Fellows in Education Journalism program seeks to strengthen Prepared under Grant i82-JS-AX-?012 fro~ the Offic~ of Ju~enile " the media's reporting and the public's understanding of education Justice and Delinquency Preventl.qn, Offlce of Jus~l.ce Asslstance, and social ser~ice issues by p~oviding journalists with the re Research and statistics, o. S. Department of Justlce, and a grant sources and time to conduct comprehensive studies. Initiated at. from the Ford Foundation. the Institute for Educational Leadership 1n,,1976 by The Ford Foundation, the program is also sponsored by partiCipating news Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the organizations across the country and other foundations, govern author and do not necessarily represent ¥he official position,or ment agencies al1d national organizations. The list of 1976-82 policies of the o. S •. Department of .;r,ustlce, the For~ ~oun~atl.on, (7 Fellows, sponsor)ing news organizations, and topics of study is the Institute for Educational Leadership Or "the partlclpatlng included in thi~ publication. news organizations. Additional copi~s of this report ma¥ be obtained fO.r "$3.50 each c from' IEL Publications, 1001 Connectlcut Avenue , Suite'310, i} Nashington,. D. C. 2003.6. ''Susan C. Farkas Director r F~llows in Education Journalism " .. o. ___ n .u --,,-~~~~~ ",,;Q, .......,_ ---•• ---'-- - --- ~"--~'-- - -----,--- ---------- Juvenile Incarceration and Alternatives in Tennessee INTROPUCTION - A consensus of philosophies is rare among persons connected ~m Hf) wm with juvenile justice in Tennessee. On what to do with children A@~H{iSiTH)NS who comlJdt crime, the police do not agree with the judges, child advocacy groups clash with both judges and police, and the victims of crime and the public in general want protection and Table of Contents . swift pt"'lishment. ~hen there are the 'children and the,ir parents. 1,,1 Parents flock by the tens of thousands every year to Introduction ••••••••••••••••••••• ~ ••••••• , ••••••••• g ••• c ••••• l juvenile courts in Tennessee, seeking someone who'can make their ·Who ~re These Children? .................................. ~ •••• 7 child stop drinking and talking back to his mother and father, or Th e Co ur ts •••••••••••••••••••• \!!'I ••••••••••••••• ' • •••• «I •••••••• 1 0 stop running away or Simply make him behave. It is the juvenile The Institutions ...........................................' •••• l~ .:-j ustice system to which ,they' turn to find answers and help. The Alternatives ••••••••••••••••••••••• "........ ~ ••••••••••••• 30 Seldom do they get either. I' • )f What they find is a chaotic maze of courts, judges, private Conclusion ••••••••••••••••' ••••••••• 0 ••••••••••••••••••••••, •• 40 and public treatment and rehabilitation programs, detention facilities or jails, f6ster and group homes, and ciorrectional institutions and group hom~s. They encounter four monolithic ! ,\ C ." !" stateburea~cracies: Correction, Mental Heal th a·nd Mental l' ~' ~! Retardation" Education, and Human Services~ , r,)lr fl In Tennessee, this is called the juvenile justice system. ·Yet it ca~ hardly be said·that there ~s i statewide "system" t '!~,.,'",l" \) , , ./ since the services and courts i~ each county seldom resemble or , " /l ~, r j W " :"",',J ' 0, ! .~~".. '.-~·M ....• '" - -~--, .---~----~ .-- ~ - c/ 3 2 There is much evidence to support this contention. First of have any connection with the services offered in other counties all, all but a few juvenile courts in Tennessee are ridiculously in the state. In reality, there are 95 separate juvenile justice underfunded and understaffed. Charged with finding the least systems in Tennessee--one in each county. Few are good; not a restrictive and most amelio'rative treatment program for juvenile few are bad. offenders, juvenile court judges in most counties face an What causes this chaos is the inevitable conflict between impossicle task. State funding of local social service or what the Tennessee. public expects and demands of the juvenile '¢. psychological programs is declining i.n most areas and nonexistent courts and institutions, what the law prescribes for children who in some. Residential .psychological treatment is a luxury to commit crimes, what the system is capable of accomplishing and which only a few courts achieve access. Probation as a vital finally what the taxpayers are willing to pay for. It is form of counseling and monitoring virtu~lly does not exist in any generally accepted in Tennessee by· lawmakers, police; juvenile court in the state. court personnel, ad infinitum, that the roots of adult crime are Responsibility for funding juvenile justice falls squarely bred in juvenile criminals unless the state intercedes and stops into the lap of the local county governments. Gonsequently the the problem before it gets too