Wisconsin Council 40
LEGISLATIVE ALERT
AFSCME Green Sheet
Juvenile Corrections

www.afscmecouncil40.org
 

August 1, 2008                                                                       Volume #30, Issue #23
 

Wisconsin’s Juvenile Correction Institutions (JCIs) are an integral part of the state’s corrections system.  Wisconsin’s three JCIs are Ethan Allen, Lincoln Hills and Southern Oaks Girls School (SOGS).  They provide juvenile offenders with access to education and degree attainment, trade skills, AODA treatment, mental health counseling and mentoring opportunities, rehabilitating youth offenders and helping them avoid running afoul of the law in the future.  In fact, the recidivism rates for youth in the Division of Juvenile Corrections system from 2000 to 2004 (the most recent time period from which data was available) consistently stayed below 20%.  However, this success comes with a cost, and state government must address this ongoing issue in the next state budget.

The funding mechanisms for Wisconsin’s JCIs, continues to put a strain on both state and county budgets.  Unlike the state’s adult institutions, the majority of the revenue supporting Wisconsin’s three JCIs, comes from the counties who send juvenile offenders to the institutions.  Counties make payments based on a formula set by the legislature that determines the daily rate for each juvenile enrolled in the system.

For 2008 and 2009 this daily rate amounts to $259 and $269 respectively, for each juvenile offender a county sends to a JCI.  This brings the cost for a county to send one juvenile offender to a JCI for a year to nearly $100,000 annually.  With 51 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties placing an offender in JCIs in 2007, and over 50% of juveniles in JCIs coming from outside of Milwaukee County, this is very much a statewide problem.

About the only way to reduce the daily rate would be to use the facilities at a level closer to their full potential.  All three JCIs have closed housing units since 2001, as the number of youth in the system has decreased.  While this has decreased some variable costs associated with housing and services, there are certain fixed costs that remain largely unaffected by a decrease in population.  Costs such as security, maintenance, administration and utilities have not seen a significant decrease due to fewer juveniles at the institutions.

When judges exercise their authority to send 17 year old offenders to the state system, it can save counties tens of thousands of dollars.  Unfortunately, many of these juveniles would be better served in JCIs as opposed to adding to the overpopulation problem that exists in adult institutions across the state.  However, while increasing the population and returning JCIs to capacity may lower the daily rate, it obviously will not solve the problem faced by counties.  Any savings counties may see under this scenario may be lost by sending more youth to the JCIs.

That is why this past legislative session AFSCME supported AB 746, which would have limited the ability of judges to move 17 year olds to the adult system.  To help offset the cost to counties for the increased number of juvenile offenders sent to JCIs, the bill included a video game surcharge of $1.00 on every video game sold in Wisconsin.  This surcharge would generate $3 million in revenue, (much of it from violent games marketed to youth and teen populations) to be used to aid counties in JCIs payments.

Other ways counties have attempted to deal with rising JCI cost is to turn to the Youth Aids program.  In 1981 the Youth Aids program was created, sending revenue from the state to counties, to remove the financial incentive for counties to send juvenile offenders to JCIs.  The program was designed to help counties fund alternatives to incarceration and reduce the JCI population.  Today, counties are being forced to use Youth Aid funding to offset the cost of sending juvenile offenders to JCIs, even as the JCI population has fallen in recent years.  While additional state investment in Youth Aids is needed for many worthwhile alternative programs, the legislature must decide if this is the best way to continue defraying county JCI cost, or if a more direct method would serve the situation more efficiently.

Finally, the cuts to Shared Revenue and enactment of levy limits in recent budgets have only further hamstrung county governments as they attempt to balance their books.  Eliminating the levy limits, and indexing Shared Revenue are two policy initiatives the legislature must enact if county governments are to have the revenue necessary to provide vital public services in tough economic times.

This summer and fall, AFSCME is asking legislative candidates to commit to preserving Wisconsin’s high quality Juvenile Corrections Institutions, and the outstanding service they provide, while pledging to develop additional revenue or new funding mechanisms to reduce the cost on counties sending juvenile offenders to these institutions.  When talking to candidates, take the time to explain to them how this issue affects the public service you provide, whether you are a state employee working in one of these institutions, or a county employee who has seen the strain tight budgets are having on county services.
 

For more information call the AFSCME Area Office at 608-836-6666