Devolution, not decarceration: The limits of juvenile justice reform in Texas

Abstract

Across the USA, a number of states have been reducing the number of juveniles sent to state-run corrections institutions. Findings from a case study on juvenile justice in Texas indicate that the effort to reduce the number of juveniles sent to large state institutions and to invest in “community-based corrections” has entrenched rather than challenged the role of the justice system in the lives of thousands of juveniles. Texas has cut the number of juveniles sent to state-run facilities, but has bolstered and expanded county probation and county detention, which is where the vast majority of juveniles have always been handled. Youth who continue to be sent to state-run facilities or who are housed in county-run institutions experience a high level of violence and are routinely subjected to solitary confinement. The popularity of deinstitutionalizing juveniles from state-run corrections institutions and increasing programming and control of offenders at the local level are animating the landscape of criminal justice policy across the country. The Texas case suggests that this narrow approach further consolidates the extensive role of the justice system in U.S. society.