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Pennsylvania lawmakers are debating juvenile justice reform proposals aimed at improving Pennsylvania’s approach to supporting youth offenders and holding providers and public officials accountable.
The House Children and Youth Committee passed four measures Tuesday, as other legislators promoted additional bills they’re developing on the issue.
Rep. Melissa Shusterman (D-Paoli) put forth a three-part package.
“The allegations of abuse in Pennsylvania juvenile detention facilities require all of us to act,” Shusterman said. “Young people report that these facilities are unsafe, unclean and unable or unwell. We have to be willing to provide the effective treatment and education that these young people require.”
One bill would create a juvenile detention database.
Another would guarantee legal representation for children in custody – and a 50 percent state reimbursement to counties for the cost.
The third lays out rules for using physical restraints on minors in custody as a “last resort.” It would prohibit their use as a punishment or for convenience’s sake, and establish documenting, auditing and reporting requirements intended to enhance transparency and accountability.
Rep. Carol Kazeem (D-Delaware) is pushing for a Joint State Government Commission study of youth justice facilities across the state and establishing guidance for running them, including utilizing video surveillance and optimizing staff training, recruitment and retention. The study also would explore expanding at-home detention including through using electronic monitoring devices.
A grand jury requested a study on best operational practices in its report on rampant abuse at the Delaware County Juvenile Detention Center that closed in 2021, according to Kazeem’s resolution.
Rep. Kate Klunk (R-Hanover), minority chair of the committee, said the GOP wants more information on costs and to avoid confusion with similar analyses already underway on restraints, specifically, as well as general best practices for youth detention.
“I do think that it might be premature in moving forward with this while that is working through the regulatory review process… those particular concerns regarding restraints and some of the regulation changes that the department is looking at right now,” Klunk said.
The committee passed Kazeem’s resolution and Schusterman’s bill to establish a juvenile incarceration facilities database on party line votes.
Rep. Bob Day (R-Macungie)’s designee put forth a vote supporting Shusterman’s other two measures – one laying out rules for physically restraining kids in custody and another guaranteeing counsel for them in addition to partial reimbursement for the cost to counties.
Day did not respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, additional justice reform proposals have been dropping since being introduced as the CARE package earlier this year.
Representatives Andre Carroll and Anthony Bellmon spoke Tuesday about drawing up a bill that would create a statewide youth ombudsman, along the lines of the local role established in Philadelphia, which they both represent. State Sen. Michelle Brooks (D-Crawford/Mercer) put out a memo for the same in January.
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