Fewer kids enter juvenile system
Fewer kids enter juvenile system in Oklahoma

By Julie Bisbee

Published: September 13, 2008

The number of juvenile offenders waiting for a bed within a state treatment facility has steadily decreased in the past year and is at the lowest level in two years, according to the Office of Juvenile Affairs.

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At the same time, the number of kids coming into the state's juvenile system has declined.

In the first week of September, the agency had only 26 juveniles waiting for a bed.

"We've made great progress,” said Gene Christian, the agency's executive director.

In May, a judge challenged the agency to remove juvenile offenders from Oklahoma County's juvenile detention center within 45 days. The facility, which has an 80-bed capacity, was housing 88 offenders when an Oklahoma County public defender asked a judge to remove the state inmates. Christian was threatened with a contempt citation and jail time if the juvenile offenders were not moved into treatment beds.

Since, the department has cut the number of convicted juvenile offenders who are simply serving time before being placed in a state facility were they will receive mental health services and other treatment in hopes of reforming them and reducing their chance of a continued criminal lifestyle.

Under the Youthful Offender Act, a juvenile can wait more than 45 days to get into a state juvenile facility after sentencing. After entering, an offender must complete a treatment program, not just serve time. Sitting in a regional detention facility is not productive to getting treatment, Christian said.

"That's just dead time for them in there,” he said.

While the numbers on OJA's waiting list is shrinking, so is the number of offenders coming into the system, Christian said. In 2007, 22,610 juvenile offenders received services from OJA, ranging from counseling to residential treatment.

This year, the decrease can be attributed in part to a summer slump in processing juvenile cases.

The number of female offenders has declined as well.