By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Lock em' up and throw away the key. The oft-quoted policy of criminal justice has not usually panned out, especially when juveniles are involved. In 2016, the Kansas Legislature passed Senate Bill 367 to reform the juvenile justice system. Marissa Woodmansee, director of Juvenile Services in the 20th Judicial District, said the numbers are starting to show the impact of that legislation.
"We probably still average the same amount of intakes because that's always the front door," she said. "But at that time, we also were in a place where we had out-of-home placements for our juvenile offender population and intensive probation. At that time, before diversions were mandated by the state, our intensive-supervised probation numbers were probably about 75-100."
There have been 436 juvenile intakes this year and 530 last year. Woodmansee said that figure typically remains static at around 500 annually. The difference is where kids go once they are in the program. With the help of 161 diversions this year, where the offender typically pays a fine and meets certain requirements to avoid criminal prosecution, intensive probation has fallen to just 26 cases.
"This is what some of that reform was intended to do," Woodmansee said. "Giving us the additional funds within our community to create programs that work for us, that was the intent behind some of that reform."
More programs are in the way. Barton County is a pilot site of the Stepping Up for Youth Initiative, which kicked off in April. Working alongside stakeholders like area mental health professionals, education and law enforcement officials, and the Barton County Commission, the program is designed to identify and address behavioral-health issues that are best treated outside the justice system.