AUSTIN, Texas – Esta semana marca el inicio de una nueva era para la atribulada Texas Youth Commission (Comisión de la Juventud de Texas), pues se anunció el cierre de cuatro cárceles de seguridad estatales debido a la legislación que fue elevada este año a rango de ley por el Gobernador Rick Perry. El mandato fusiona dicha dependencia con la Texas Juvenile Probation Commission (Comisión de Libertad Condicional Juvenil de Texas) en una sola oficina.

Simultáneamente con el cierre definitivo de las cuatro cárceles, el sistema de justicia juvenil se prepara para una transformación en grande con la fusión de los organismos en el Texas Juvenile Justice Department (Departamento de Justicia Juvenil de Texas), para diciembre próximo. Así se busca reducir dramáticamente la cantidad de jóvenes que terminan tras las rejas, transfiriendo muchos programas de rehabilitación a sus propias comunidades. Comenta Benet Magnuson, abogado de la Texas Criminal Justice Coalition's Juvenile Justice Initiative (Iniciativa de Justicia Juvenil de la Coalición de Justicia Criminal de Texas).

"Ya sabes, la comunidad de un muchacho es la mejor herramienta que tenemos para lograr esa rehabilitación. Y la rehabilitación se vuelve mucho más difícil si un muchacho es encerrado en una institución estatal. Texas ha usado ese enfoque durante años y los resultados no han sido buenos."

Las instalaciones de la Texas Youth Commission (Comisión de la Juventud de Texas) ganaron notoriedad a nivel nacional en 2007, con las acusaciones ampliamente difundidas sobre abuso y negligencia. Desde entonces, los legisladores han estado intentando estructurar –y fondear– una serie de reformas. Magnuson afirma que el modelo basado en la prisión ha demostrado ser caro, así como ineficaz para reducir el crimen y enderezar a los jóvenes, especialmente a los delincuentes de bajo riesgo.

Se siente optimista sobre las metas del nuevo Departamento de Justicia Juvenil de Texas (TJJD), que reflejan un cambio dramático también en sus estrategias, y destaca la guía y el apoyo por encima del castigo. La pregunta ahora, dice, es cómo se implementa. Y lanza la advertencia de que sin el monitoreo adecuado, algunos condados podrían no contar con los recursos necesarios para tener éxito.

"Y dependerá de los departamentos de los condados, las organizaciones de apoyo y las familias, asegurarse de que realmente el potencial de esta reforma sea una realidad y dar seguimiento en las áreas en las que habrá necesidad de cambios futuros."

Magnuson asegura que si todo va bien, Texas podría surgir como un modelo nacional para la rehabilitación de la gente joven que se mete en problemas con la ley.

"Desafortunadamente, todo esto comenzó cuando Texas estuvo en los encabezados por abusos, y la noticia grande sería que fuéramos capaces de asegurarnos de que estos muchachos no recaen en patrones de crimen para luego quedar atrapados en el sistema criminal."

Seis prisiones estatales permanecerán abiertas, y recibirán a los infractores juveniles de las cuatro instalaciones que cierran. La población carcelaria joven ya va en descenso, gracias a que las nuevas prioridades del estado han evolucionado. Más de 4 mil jóvenes estaban tras las rejas en 2006; hoy, ese número es de sólo unos mil cuatrocientos.


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A package to improve public safety is moving ahead in the California state Legislature - with a floor vote in the State Assembly on the first bill expected this week.

Assembly Bill 2215 puts into statute that police officers have the discretion to send people arrested for low-level offenses directly to supportive services.

Anthony DiMartino - government affairs director with the nonprofit Californians for Safety and Justice - said sometimes public safety is best served when people avoid arrest and instead get therapy, addiction support or help getting a job.

"We're also hoping to raise awareness that this is something officers can do, and then also encourage partnerships more with officers to look at what's in their community," said DiMartino, "as alternatives to jail booking."

A second bill would increase transparency and accountability on money sent to the counties as part of the Public Safety Realignment.

A third bill would require police officers, prosecuting attorneys and investigators to identify themselves any time they're interviewing a family member of someone killed or severely injured by police.

DiMartino said they also support AB 2499, which would ensure that survivors of violent crime and their family members can take unpaid time off work to address safety concerns and heal.

"We're hoping to broaden the scope a bit," said DiMartino, "and make it more clear that family members of victims are able to also tap into unpaid leave to support their family member that has been a victim."

A fifth bill would make it easier for justice-involved people and crime victims to speak freely during restorative justice programs - by making the communications inadmissible in other legal proceedings.

Missouri went through with its first execution of the year, as Brian Dorsey was put to death last night, just after 6 p.m. CT.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to stop Dorsey's execution. He was convicted of murdering his cousin Sarah Bonnie and her husband Ben nearly 20 years ago.

The advocacy group Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty launched several recent campaigns on Dorsey's behalf to spare his life.

Jenni Gerhauser, a cousin to both Dorsey and Sarah Bonnie, expressed belief in his redemption.

"Brian is more than the worst moment of his life," Gerhauser stressed. "There is so much more to him."

Gerhauser fondly remembered him as fun and charming from their visits during holidays. Dorsey's current lawyers said he was in a drug-induced psychosis when he killed the Bonnies in 2006 and his attorneys at the time had been offered money, preventing them from fighting the death penalty with his guilty plea deal.

Gov. Mike Parson confirmed Monday the state would move forward with Dorsey's death sentence, rejecting a separate request for clemency. More than 70 current and former corrections officers had urged the governor to commute Dorsey's sentence, arguing he had been rehabilitated.

Claudia Boyce, also a cousin in the family, said it should not be a decision for the state to make.

"You know, that's supposed to be God's decision, not ours," Boyce contended.

Dorsey received a lethal injection Tuesday evening. Lethal injection became an option for people on Missouri's death row in 1987, alongside lethal gas.


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Amid overcrowding and unsafe conditions in West Virginia jails, state lawmakers introduced bills that would allow judges to take a 'second look' at an individual's original sentence.

If a court determines they no longer pose a threat to the community, the person could be released, placed on supervision, or receive a shortened sentence.

Sara Whitaker - criminal legal policy analyst with the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy - said West Virginia is one of the few states that has seen its prison population balloon over the past decade, despite declining crime.

She noted that as of last month, more than 500 people in the state were in jail awaiting transfer to a prison.

"As a result, eight out of 10 of the regional jails in the state were beyond capacity," said Whitaker, "with hundreds of people assigned to sleeping on the floor."

The bills failed to advance this session, but Whitaker said advocates are hopeful lawmakers will consider them next year.

The state's jails remain among the deadliest in the country, with at least 91 people losing their lives while incarcerated in the past few years.

According to the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, jail bills cost counties $45 million in 2022.

Nationwide, long sentences have led to growth in the number of older people behind bars.

Whitaker pointed out that 'Second Look' legislation could help the state avoid turning its prisons into nursing homes, and said the number of elderly people in prison has tripled in the past two decades.

"In 2019, West Virginia had to open a dementia unit in one of its prisons," said Whitaker. "There are hospice units across multiple prisons. And experts predict that this is just only going to get worse."

Whitaker added that 'Second Look' policies also offer a way to correct past racial injustice in the criminal legal system.

Black people incarcerated in West Virginia are four times more likely than white people to be serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole, and five times as likely to be serving a life-without-parole sentence.




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