Remarks By Governor David M. Beasley

Department of Juvenile Justice News Conference

November 2, 1995

There's been a lot of concern about the situation out at the Department of Juvenile Justice recently and, rightfully so. Our first concern should be the young people whose paths have led them to our juvenile justice system.

Our responsibility is to make sure that they leave the system better citizens, with a sense of self-worth that will help them become productive citizens of this state.

When I took office, I became the owner of a five-year-old lawsuit that had been hanging over D-J-J's head. We settled it within six months.

Since then, we've been implementing the federal court order. We've met with Judge Anderson and Judge Burnside on-site. We've talked with some of the young people in the system. And my staff and I have worked closely with other leaders actively seeking change, such as Family Court Judges and legislators like David Thomas.

We recognized several areas that need immediate attention, while we're working to implement the long-range plan. These are pressing problems. They won't wait for more discussion and analysis.

I have a laundry list of actions to be taken immediately.

First, we're moving the D-J-J management team on-site to the Broad River Road complex. You can't manage the juvenile justice system from a remote location. You need to be there every day, on the campus, with young people seeing the authority figures who are working to turn their lives around.

At the same time, we're beginning an in-depth analysis of the Department's management structure.

We're hiring more juvenile correctional officers and borrowing some others temporarily from our adult corrections system to address safety concerns, such as fights in dormitories and other incidents that put a young person's well-being in jeopardy.

As you know, we're building new receiving and evaluation centers and renovating older ones to reduce overcrowding.

We're committed to setting up additional medical care on-site, and my senior staff will be coming to me soon with recommendations on the best way to meet this critical basic need.

We're also speeding up the timeframe for implementing a classification process, so we can target the most violent juveniles and separate them quickly from the rest of the population.

The most crucial and productive step is completing the transformation of the system toward a boot camp mentality. Discipline and responsibility will be stressed by structuring every moment of a juvenile's time as long as they are in the system.

Juvenile Justice was never meant to be a dumping ground for problem young people.

We are supposed to be in the business of turning lives around, producing responsible young people who will become productive adults who respect the law and each other.

Today we are setting in motion real and lasting changes in the delivery of service and, eventually, in young lives.

Let me be a little more specific about a couple of the changes we're making.

The senior management of D-J-J has been moving boxes all week out to Broad River Road, trading work space with the Juvenile Parole Board.

The new system we're setting up means daily hands-on management. This administration has exemplified hands-on management, and there's no greater area of need for a watchful eye than at D-J-J.

This is a management structure that's been in place for more than a decade. It has worked fairly well. But something that works "fairly well" isn't good enough.

'm asking the State Budget and Control Board to undertake a study to give me an in-depth analysis of the management of the Department. I want to make sure we're not top- heavy in management and that we're using our resources to serve children and not shuffle papers.

One of the greatest concerns at D-J-J has been safety, especially since well over half the population are violent offenders. We've already hired and trained 44 of 50 new juvenile correctional officers and we're bringing in some specially-trained correctional officers from the Department of Corrections for more presence during peak activity times.

Those officers will stay on the job until we get the boot camp structure in full-swing by the end of the year. Later, we'll gauge our permanent security needs. But we're hoping that need will be greatly reduced once we start cutting the overcrowding and the idle time that invites trouble.

By running D-J-J like a boot camp, we'll give young people a daily schedule, a purpose, and some much-needed discipline.

After a month of basic training...getting up at 5:30 in the morning, getting to bed by 9:30, and studying and working and marching in between...they'll be tracked to other programs to teach them in real life terms the skills and self-discipline they'll need to get out and stay out of the system.

Of course, none of these actions will solve the problems of broken homes, abuse and poverty. That's why I'm establishing a Task Force, representing a cross-section of leaders from family court judges to law enforcement to advocacy groups, to start mapping out long-term solutions and alternative sentencing ideas that work...with an eye toward rebuilding families.

We'll also announce soon a volunteer network to provide role models, mentors and a support structure for these young people. We'll need business leaders, civic leaders, community leaders, church leaders, some of our local sports heroes...anyone who sees the importance of giving young people the best chance in life. And that pretty much means every South Carolinian, doesn't it?

Juvenile crime is exploding in frightening ways, not just in South Carolina, but across the country. Our society can't bear the cost of throwing up its hands and letting the train wreck happen.

The steps I've outlined have nothing to do with throwing stones and everything to do with mending what's broken. We're in this thing together, as state agencies pooling resources, as members of the media holding us accountable, and as loving neighbors rallying behind children in need.

We each have a stake in bringing these young people back home, and we're taking the first steps today to get them moving in the right direction.