The statistics told the story. When South Dakota government leaders read them, they knew there was a big problem. Here the state was ranked 46th in population, yet holding the dubious honor of having the second-highest commitment rate in the United States—385 per 100,000 youth.
Was this high rate because more juveniles were being arrested for violent crimes than in other states? No, the state’s arrest rate was one‐third the national average in 2011. Locking up all these kids was a very expensive proposition. The state put the figure at 41,000 to $144,000 annually for each commitment. On top of that, after being released, 45 percent of the youth were back in confinement within three years.
Their conclusion: the juvenile justice system was flawed and needed improvement. South Dakota faced a similar problem with its adult criminal population. Hoping to get a better return on taxpayer investment in the justice system, a comprehensive review was undertaken in 2010. Out of it came a series of reforms to lower prison growth, recidivism and make offenders more accountable for what they did. The changes resulted in stabilizing the prison population and “the revolving door of probation and parole revocations” slowed.
Working off this success, in June 2014, South Dakota turned its attention to juvenile justice. After an exhaustive study, an initiative was proposed with recommendations toward reaching the goals of
- making the community safer by “improving outcomes for youth and families and reducing juvenile recidivism”
- holding young offenders more accountable for their actions
- bringing down the price tag for juvenile justice through “investing in proven community‐based practices” and sending only serious offenders to residential facilities
Another important conclusion was that there were not enough community-based practices, especially in rural areas, available in the state. It was felt crucial that offenders should be matched with programs that best suited them. With that in mind, the study group recommended that the state and communities “develop an array of effective interventions for youth” who find themselves in the justice system.” Further, it suggested Evidence-Based Programs - Multisystemic Therapy (MST) is evidence-based - be provided, with the proviso that they “target moderate‐ to high‐risk youth and have been shown through research to reduce recidivism.”
