WHEREAS, incarcerated youth may have experienced or witnessed violence, trauma, alcohol and substance abuse, sex abuse, or depression in their lives prior to being committed to the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility; and

WHEREAS, these youths may require individual counseling and treatment to help them deal with problems stemming from these issues; and

WHEREAS, current educational, treatment, and aftercare programs to address these issues are lacking or inadequate at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility; and

WHEREAS, a continuum of services that includes assessment, program planning, education, treatment, residential transition, community reintegration, and aftercare are key components to a comprehensive approach to working with juvenile offenders; and

WHEREAS, as an example, the State of Missouri Division of Youth Services has employed a distinctive approach to juvenile corrections by relying on group process and personal development, rather than punishment and isolation; and

WHEREAS, the State of Missouri has achieved far more success than many other states in reducing the future criminality of youthful offenders, with exceptionally low recidivism rates that show seventy per cent of youth released in 1999 avoided recommitment to a correctional facility within three years; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, that the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility is requested to conduct a study on the feasibility of providing a continuum of programs and services relating to alcohol and substance abuse, sex offender, sex abuse victim, medical and mental health for incarcerated youth; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility is requested to consider the State of Missouri Division of Youth Services as a best practice model, along with other noteworthy evidence-based practices throughout the country, and act to change staffing patterns, invest in staff training, build case management and family counseling capabilities, and use community-based services to monitor and support teens after they leave custody; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Human Services is requested to provide any administrative, technical, financial and other professional staff support needed by the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility in carrying out this study; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility is requested to report findings and recommendations and the status of its existing and potential programs, along with any proposed legislation, if necessary, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the 2007 Regular Session of the Legislature; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor of the State of Hawaii, the Director of Human Services, the Administrator of the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility, and the Executive Director of the Office of Youth Services.

Report Title:

Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility; Treatment Programs