SD22 - Report of the Joint Subcommittee Studying the Placement of Juveniles in Adult Jails

  • Published: 1984
  • Author: Joint Subcommittee Studying the Placement of Juveniles in Adult Jails
  • Enabling Authority: Senate Joint Resolution 14 (Regular Session, 1983)

Executive Summary:
INTRODUCTION

The Joint Subcommittee was established by Senate Joint Resolution No. 14, agreed to during the 1983 Session of the General Assembly.

The study was recommended by the Joint Subcommittee Studying the Placement of Handicapped Children in Residential Facilities, conducted during 1982 pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution No. 43 and chaired by Senator Thomas J. Michie, Jr. That Joint Subcommittee was informed during the course of its study that Virginia, with an annual average of 4,000 children in adult jails between 1978 and 1982, ranks third in the nation among states in number of juveniles so detained. Courts in other states have held that children in adult jails are being denied their due process rights and their right by law to a free appropriate education.

The Joint Subcommittee was directed to focus on the constitutionality of detaining children in adult facilities, the feasibility of relocating children so detained, and the fiscal impact on state and local government of such relocation. The Joint Subcommittee is to formulate recommendations for legislative action on this issue for submission to the 1984 General Assembly.

A copy of Senate Joint Resolution No. 14 is contained in Appendix A to this report.

The membership of the Joint Subcommittee is comprised of Senators Michie and Gartlan of the Senate Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services; Senator Emick of the Senate Finance Committee; Delegates Benedetti, Jester and Pickett of the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions; Delegate Anderson of the House Committee on Finance; and Delegate Slayton of the House Appropriations Committee.

ACTIVITIES OF THE JOINT SUBCOMMITTEE

The Joint Subcommittee reviewed the scope of the issue and the procedures and policies governing the placement of juveniles in jails.

The members discussed the issue with professionals from the disciplines concerned with children who are placed in jail in Virginia. Representatives from the legal system included law enforcement personnel, juvenile court judges, and defense and prosecuting attorneys.

These included The Honorable Augustus S. Hydrick, Judge of the Henrico County Juvenile Court and President of the Virginia Council of Juvenile Court Judges; The Honorable Roy B. Willet of Roanoke City Juvenile Court and member of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Advisory Council; the Honorable Robert F. Ward of the Twenty-Second Judicial District; the Honorable Arlin F. Ruby of the Richmond City Juvenile Court; and the Honorable Lawrence Janow of the Twenty-Fourth Judicial District. Others consulted include James H. Turner, Sheriff of Henrico County and member of both the Executive Committee of the Virginia Sheriff's Association and the Advisory Board of the National Institute of Corrections; Patrick Bell, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney for the Richmond City Juvenile Court; Steven W. Bricker, defense counsel in numerous juvenile cases; and Professor Robert Shepherd of T. C. Williams School of Law, who is a nationally recognized expert in the field of juvenile justice.

Medical and mental health professionals shared their opinions based on their experience with these children. The Joint Subcommittee conferred specifically with Dr. Joe W. King, Child Psychiatrist and Medical Director of the Psychiatric Institute of Richmond; and Dr. Richard Brookman, Pediatrician in Adolescent Medicine, Director of Adolescent Health Services at the Medical College of Virginia and medical consultant to the Henrico County Detention Center.

The Joint Subcommittee acknowledges the assistance throughout the study of the Department of Corrections and the Department of Criminal Justice Services. These state agencies, which administer juvenile corrections program, provided technical assistance and information as needed.

The Joint Subcommittee benefited from the thorough and informative study of the issue, completed in September 1983, by the Virginia State Crime Commission. The study included research and analysis of the current practice in Virginia of using jails for placement of juveniles. This data, including reasons for such use and problems arising therefrom, provided the basis for the Commission's recommendations for eliminating use of jails for juveniles.

The Joint Subcommittee received statements from the Virginia Congress of Parents and Teachers, the Virginia Council on Juvenile Detention and the Virginia Juvenile Officers Association. [Appendix B].