Changing the Status Quo for Status Offenders: New York State

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Changing the Status Quo for Status Offenders New
York States Efforts to Help Troubled Teens

• Michael Lens, Vera Institute of Justice
• Annie Salsich, Vera Institute of Justice
• Mary Winter, Onondaga County Probation
• June 10, 2007

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NYS Status Offenders Defined

• Persons in Need of Supervision (PINS)
• Truancy
• Running away
• Ungovernability

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History of PINS Assistance Project Vera
State-wide PINS Report
Changing the PINS System in New York A Study of
the Implications of Raising the Age Limit for
Persons in Need of Supervision
By Jesse Souweine and Ajay Khashu Vera Institute
of Justice September, 2001
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Findings of Veras PINS Report

• New York State expected to experience up to a
  100 increase in new PINS intakes under current
  system
• Projected costs of 29 million for increased use
  of detention and placement.

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New York State PINS Assistance

• Prompted by
• New PINS Legislation
• Vera State-wide PINS Report
• OCFS contracted with Vera to help the state and
  its counties prepare for the influx of youth
  entering the system under the new law.

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New York State PINS Assistance
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New York State PINS Reforms

• Two Central Trends
• Front end Strategies to improve intake and
  diversion
• Back end Development of community-based
  alternatives to detention and placement.

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Front End Reforms Intake and Diversion

• Issues
• Lack of immediate crisis response (delay in
  services)
• High number of court referrals
• Immediately
• Upon termination of diversion services
• High use of non-secure detention and placement

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Front End Reforms Orange County
MENTAL HEALTH
FOLLOW-UP
SERVICES

FAMILY KEYS
NETWORK
INTERVENTION
INTENSIVE
SER
VICES

REFERRALTO PROBATION DEPARTMENT

FAMILY COURT
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Back End ReformsAlternatives to Detention
Placement

• Issues
• Cost
• Overcrowding
• Poor outcomes
• Focus on keeping youth and families together at
  home and in the community

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Back End ReformsAlbany County

• Juvenile Release Under Supervision
• DSS funded
• Daily contact with youth
• Service referrals
• PINS and JDs
• Reduction in non-secure detention costs

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New York City Reforms and Vera Research
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New York Citys Family Assessment Program (FAP)

• December 2002 in Manhattan, rolled out in other
  boroughs over 2 years
• Administration for Childrens Services (ACS)
  point of entry
• Used to be Department of Probation
• Immediate response
• Diversion from court
• Families must exhaust all services to PINS
  petition court access

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Veras Research on FAP

• 2002 Study on the PINS system in New York City
• Helps lead to development of FAP
• 2005 Implementation study of the FAP program
• 2005 PINS remand study
• 2007 FAP tracking study

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2005 PINS Remand Study

• Goals
• Identify the PINS cases that resulted in remands
• Identify the demographic and systemic factors
  associated with being remanded as a PINS case
• Pathways of a PINS case
• Intake to FAP office
• Subset go on to Probation department
• Subset go on to Court
• Subset are remanded by Court

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Total Remands per Year
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Remands per Day Pre- and Post-FAP
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Monthly Indicators Pre- and Post-FAP

• First six months of 2002 (last pre-FAP period)
• Probation Intakes 587/month
• Court Referrals 187/month
• Remands 56/month
• First six months of 2005 (first post-FAP period)
• Probation Intakes 112/month (81 decline)
• Court referrals 93/month (50 decline)
• Remands 41/month (27 decline)
• Probation intake, court referral and remand
  decreases statistically significant

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Post-FAP Remands by Race
According to the 2000 Census, New York Citys
population under 18 was 31 White, 29 Black, and
28 Hispanic.
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Pre- and Post-FAP Remands by Gender
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Pre- and Post-FAP Remands by Runaway Allegation
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Additional Research

• 2007 FAP Tracking Study Tracked 100 families
  and followed up at 3 months after FAP intake
• Findings Improvement on mental health indicators
  and family functioning
• 2007 PINS/JD study
• Quantitative inquiry to the pathways and
  characteristics of court-involved PINS and JDs
  and overlap of the PINS and JD populations
• Qualitative inquiry on services provided and
  organizational structure of ACS interventions for
  court-involved PINS and JDs
• Randomized control trial of Adolescent Portable
  Therapys (APT) work with PINS
• APT - Vera demonstration project providing mental
  health and substance use treatment to JDs and now
  PINS

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Onondaga County Reforms
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Onondaga County ReformsOverview and History

• Why
• Fiscal problems
• Research
• Who
• Interagency collaborative
• What
• Aim to reduce costs and provide better outcomes
  for PINS youth
• How
• Keep kids in their communities

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Onondaga County Reforms Placement Outcomes
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Onondaga County ReformsComponents

• Social Service placement staff moved to Probation
  
• Creation of Placement Review Board
• Cost Re-Allocation
• New major Alternative to Placement Program (PRISM)

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Onondaga County ReformsPRISM
Probation Rehabilitation Intensive Services
Management (PRISM)

• Partnership among Probation, Social Services, and
  the Salvation Army
• Comprehensive treatment planning
• Approximately 50 of PRISM cases staffed by FFT
  therapist

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NYS Legislative ReformsFamily Court Act 2005

• Mandated diversion services
• Emphasized immediate crisis response
• Changed detention eligibility criteria

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Working Beyond New York State

• Massachusetts
• Louisiana