The past decade has seen tumultuous scandal followed by improvements in the juvenile justice system in Texas. Although the abuses in the system were discovered in 2007, they had been occurring for several years. The news that some staff were sexually assaulting children in the system while others ignored the reports broke shortly before the 80th Legislature met (Levin and Moll, 1). The Legislature took immediate corrective action to prevent this sort of tragedy from ever reoccurring. However, the reforms did not end there. Instead, the government continued to remedy systemic problems, making Texas a benchmark for juvenile justice across the country.
Juvenile Justice
The Issue Juvenile offenders are more impressionable than adult offenders and have longer lives ahead of them. This raises the stakes for dealing with delinquent youth, as the success and failure of policies have a far-reaching effect on future public safety and taxpayer costs. Sentencing youth to ineffective, inappropriate programs and facilities could place a...