Juvenile Central

When it comes to juveniles, access to a local justice campus that includes courts is the optimal choice for continuity of treatment, operational cost savings, and conservation of manpower and resources. Moreover, the concentration of programs in one multiuse facility yields the greatest chance of recovery and reduced recidivism.

When, for example, California counties experienced a shortage of space in which to house low-risk juveniles at the same time the California Youth Authority (CYA) wanted more money for low-risk youth, action had to be taken on the local level.

Funds from local detention facility construction programs that include state and federal money enabled counties to do things for juvenile offenders and detainees they could not previously afford to do. The program, in turn, helped get kids out of the system and back into the community.

With the Golden State’s population showing no sign of abatement, its at risk youth population, ages 12-17, is projected to increase by nearly one-third by 2010. Program and treatment opportunities, as well as facility beds in some counties, may not keep pace with California’s projected growth.

What Works

Multiuse facilities (MUF), or community juvenile justice campuses, locate all programs in a single location. According to KMD’s Jim Mueller, executive director of justice, there are four California counties-Kern, Ventura, Fresno, and San Mateo-that have exemplary youth facilities. All are constructed in this centralized campus-style with multiple programs.

The Lane County, Ore., Juvenile Justice Center, which won a citation award from the AIA 2001-2002 Justice Facilities Review, includes a detention facility; a commitment building; two courtrooms; a drug-and-alcohol treatment facility; and a treatment, shelter, and assessment center. The facility, said Justice Director Jim Mueller, was one of the first that KMD designed as a campus-type of environment. Possible future program space may include a detached school and specialized treatment for sex offenders and arsonists.

Kern County already has a functioning juvenile hall but is building a separate treatment facility on the same site.

Ventura County, Fresno County, and San Mateo County all are building new multiuse juvenile facilities that incorporate detention and commitment or treatment components-in addition to other programs-on a single site.

Mueller, who has extensive experience in master plan design and has worked directly with the four counties, said another crucial MUF design component is the incorporation of courts. Including courtrooms eliminates the very expensive process of moving kids from the holding facility to the courts.

“I believe whenever you build a facility, the courts will be a number one priority,” agreed Architect Vern Almon, who specializes in juvenile justice facilities for KMD.

“Good justice construction would include a courthouse as part of the facility. Everyone likes it, the only time they don’t have it tends to be based on the money available.”

Then there always is the risk factor. “On the detention side, you may pick a juvenile up for drugs but he could also be a felon, you just don’t know, and until you know who the juvenile is, you don’t want to transport them.”

San Mateo County’s new facility will include courts, along with a dual-diagnosis facility and possibly a receiving home and a community school. The county offers such a broad-based spectrum of youth services, it calls its facility a youth services center, not a justice campus. Work also is planned in Fresno County, including a shelter care facility and a boot camp.

Less Crime, More Girls

A juvenile trend, Director Mueller pointed out, is the increase in the percentage of the juvenile female population. Throughout the mid-to-late 90s juvenile crime was increasing but those numbers are leveling off. However, there now are more girls coming into the system. This dominant trend has been in evidence over the last four to five years, and may be associated with increased gang activity and criminal gang behavior.

“The special needs of girls have caused a certain amount of reconsideration in some of the design issues,” said Mueller. San Mateo County will build a separate girl’s camp on its existing youth services center site.

Treat Kids, Reduce Recidivism

The idea behind these facilities and programs is to effectively rehabilitate the youths and then move them to different programs as needed for their transition back home. Receiving homes, shelter care, and dual-diagnosis facilities really are intervention programs, with the expectation they will be able to divert kids out of the justice system, said Mueller.

And officials and administrators in San Mateo County “believe it is so effective that there is limited expansion capabilities being built into the new facility,” said Mueller, “because they believe the kinds of things they are doing will maintain or reduce their detainee population.”

This type of continuance of care in one location-including drug-and-alcohol rehabilitation, shelter care programs, a detention facility, a school, and commitment or treatment-gives judges the opportunity to direct kids to certain programs and move them as needed.

“What the jurisdictions try to do is they try to have different programs,” said Almon, “giving judges different options on how to treat kids.”

Normalized Facilities

In multiuse juvenile facilities, Mueller sees the architecture as being driven by the programmatic goals of the facility, which are to create a more normalized set of circumstances within a safe and secure environment. Normalized facilities can include a centralized dining area and/or a centralized school.

There also is no lack of mental health services. As seen by dual-diagnosis facilities, which serve to address a juvenile’s drug addiction and mental illness.

Keeping juveniles within their community fosters treatment. Adults are often moved out of the community after they are adjudicated, but you don’t see that in juvenile facilities, said Mueller.

“The real difference is juvenile facilities are designed to stay within the community. You see people wanting to build these kinds of multiuse facilities within the community because that access promotes the likelihood that you will have a successful programming effort.”