The Texas Youth Commission (TYC) represents the least effective, most costly aspect of the state juvenile justice system. Although TYC was created for Texas’ most serious juvenile offenders, the majority of the youth committed are actually non-violent offenders. Moreover, TYC’s track record is dismal – within one year, over half the youth released from TYC are re-arrested. With reports of youth abuse, staff assaults, and new employee turnover as high as 90%, it is clear that the current structure of TYC is not working for youth or taxpayers. In particular, TCAJJ seeks to change the following, most troublesome aspects of TYC.
Since its inception, the primary focus of the juvenile justice system has been rehabilitation of youth, rather than punishment. TYC’s own mandate calls for “care, custody, rehabilitation, and reestablishment in society” of the state’s most serious juvenile offenders. However, Texas seems to have lost sight of the crucial importance of rehabilitation for our troubled youth. TYC facilities are beginning to look more and more like their adult counterparts – they are simply prisons for children.
The Texas juvenile justice system has a disproportionate impact on young people of color. Since 1999, youth of color have made up the majority of total commitments to TYC. In FY05, 76% of new commitments to TYC were youth of color. The high proportion of minority youth being housed at TYC emphasizes the need for culturally and linguistically competent programs that support effective rehabilitation.
While the majority of youth in TYC are urban, youth of color, most TYC facilities are located in rural, racially homogenous areas. There is all too often a cultural divide between youth and staff, which can lead to miscommunication and contribute to violence, as staff respond to what they may perceive as misbehavior, negative attitude, and willful non-compliance.
Rather than receiving proper therapeutic care, youth are incarcerated in abusive, unsafe facilities that compound existing problems. From 1999 to 2005, TYC has experienced steadily increasing levels of abuse. By 2005, three out of every hundred youth were abused by TYC employees. Most abusers were juvenile correction officers (JCOs), the same adults responsible for the daily care of these youth. Despite a restructuring of TYC’s internal investigation system in 2003, there is little to no accountability for the serious problems of abuse and neglect in TYC facilities.
A contributing factor to the unsafe conditions is the large size of TYC facilities, which are some of the largest in the nation, housing an average of 350 juvenile offenders. Facilities of this size are very difficult to manage and staff, resulting in chronic staffing shortage and maxed-out staff forced to work 12-hour shifts on a regular basis. Smaller, therapeutic, community-based facilities, like those pioneered in Missouri, are easier to manage and produce better results.
Significant research has demonstrated that community-based programs are more effective and less expensive than traditional correctional programs, such as TYC. Community-based programs are cost-effective solutions for a large number of delinquent youth and do not jeopardize public safety. Examples of community-based alternatives to incarceration include intensive supervision, group homes, day reporting centers, and probation.