Who We See & Where
- Where is Juvenile Court?
Only 4 parishes have family courts dedicated to serving young people: Caddo, East Baton Rouge, Jefferson and Orleans. The remaining parishes have a mixture of district courts and, in some cases city courts, which hear juvenile matters either on a rotating basis or only in certain sections of district court. See Community Resources for info. - How Do Young People Wind Up in Juvenile Court?
Typically a child will come into juvenile court one of three ways: as an abuse and neglect case (Child In Need of Care), as an "ungovernable" or truancy case (Families in Need of Services), or as a criminal case (Delinquency) if the child is at least 10 and under 17. - Court Data
While case tracking is not uniform across the state, reported numbers show that there were at least 57,444 new juvenile cases filed in 2000: 23,956 were in district courts, 15,075 were in city and parish courts and 18,413 were in the 4 juvenile courts. While these numbers include all juvenile cases (i.e. adoption, CINC, delinquency, etc.), the incompleteness of the data confirms that these totals are very low (i.e. Jefferson reported 6,750 new cases of delinquency but Orleans reported only 500, far below even conservative estimates). - Placement Options
Once a child is found delinquent by the court, he or she may be sentenced to one of several options: probation supervision (either by the OYS or the parish), day treatment program, residential group home, detention center or secure custody in a youth prison (formerly called "LTI"). See Incarcerated Youth for info. - Group Homes, Day Programs, Etc.
The Office of Youth Services (OYS) contracts with approximately 60 programs or facilities across the state for monitoring, day treatment, shelter or residential services. According to the 2004-2005 OYS budget, $35 million goes to these contract services, $53 million goes to youth prisons, $29 million goes to administration and $16 million goes to probation and parole services. - OYS Non-Incarcerated Youth.
Of the 6,021 youth under OYS authority, 5,275 are supervised by OYS probation or parole and 746 are in DPSC custody in a non-secure (generally group home) placement. These numbers do not include the youth supervised by parish probation officers or in private group homes or treatment centers. - he majority of youth in group homes (465) are between 13 and 15 years of age and the majority of youth under OYS supervision (2,513) are between 16 and 17 years of age. There are 289 children 11 or 12 years of age under probation supervision and 49 children of the same age in group homes contracting with the OYS.
- Black youth make up 65% of the young people both under OYS supervision and in non-secure placements.
- 78% of the youth under OYD supervision are male and nearly 74% of the youth in OYS non-secure placements are male.
- Youth Crime Dropping, Mostly Nonviolent Offenses.
Nationally and locally juvenile crime is down. For instance, the juvenile arrest rate for violent crime dropped by more than 1/3 in the last 6 years and is at its lowest since 1988. The vast majority of youth committed to the DPSC in Louisiana are for nonviolent offenses (even those in youth prisons). Looking at the most serious crimes committed: 12% of the youth in non-secure group homes were sentenced for violent crimes, 6% for drug crimes and 31% for property crimes. Similarly, 11% of the youth under OYD supervision were sentenced for violent crimes, 12% for drug crimes and 36% for property crimes.
3) 2000 Annual Report of the Judicial Council of the Supreme Court, 5 Act 1, Regular Legislative Session 2004 6-7, Demographic Profiles of theJuvenile Offender Population http://www.oyd.louisiana.gov/Statistics/05-OYD/DEM (June 2004)
7) Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Juvenile Arrests 1999, Juvenile Justice Bulletin (Dec. 2000).