Criminals Must Be Halted Early

Years behind schedule, an addition to the Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar is finally nearing completion--a project designed to ease overcrowding in a juvenile justice system practically bursting at the seams. Still to be resolved, though, is the dispute between the Nidorf expansion’s primary contractor and Los Angeles County over what took so long. That fight, driven by conflicting stories and poor planning, appears headed straight for the courts as contractor Swinerton & Walberg tries to reclaim about $600,000 that county officials have withheld in penalties. Yet as the county fights with its builder, the region’s children continue to stack up in crowded jails.

When the Nidorf facility opens to its first residents sometime in the next several weeks, it will mark the first expansion of the county’s juvenile detention centers this decade. But it won’t make much of a dent. Already, less-violent offenders often are released through special monitoring programs because there is room only for extreme problem children at juvenile halls. The expansion comes at a time when young offenders are becoming ever more violent and are treated ever more like adult criminals. In fact, the new facility--which boasts some of the same high-tech monitoring systems found in jails and prisons--will house the growing number of young people certified to stand trial as adults.

By the time they reach juvenile hall, many kids are too far gone. That sounds harsh, but juvenile hall can be one of the best places to learn the tricks of the criminal trade. Better are programs designed to intercept kids at risk and prevent them from ever landing behind bars. Consider, for instance, the Los Angeles Police Department’s crackdown on truant students. Between March and June of this year, officers cited more than 5,500 students for cutting class.

That extra effort to catch truants followed a study that showed daytime crime dropped significantly when truancy laws were enforced. Burglaries and car thefts fell 25% and shoplifting dropped by a third. Young people face stiff fines or community service. Sometimes, their driving privileges are suspended. Catching problem kids before they turn into real criminals has benefits that percolate throughout society. Most notably, the taxpayers won’t get stuck quite so often with $26.2 million to build juvenile jails.