Study: GPS rules send California juveniles into jail cycle

“People in one county didn’t even know what the county next door’s policies were,” said Catherine Crump, an assistant clinical professor at the UC Berkeley School of Law.

It is difficult to determine how the rules in California counties compare across the U.S. because in other large states, including Florida and Texas, the rules also vary from county to county, said Laura Abrams, who chairs the social welfare department at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Some smaller states have centralized probation systems, meaning all offenders need to follow the same set of rules, she said.

“I’m not sure disparities are this large in other states, partly because California is so diverse,” Abrams said.

The researchers also found that the system disproportionately affects youths of colour.

Some counties require a parent be home at all times, that schedules be approved weeks in advance, or that landline phones be set up in the home, which could prove to be a hurdle for a child from a poorer home, said Kate Weisburd, a supervising attorney at the East Bay Community Law Center.

If they violate the rules, a judge could order the juvenile offender behind bars, often leading to a repetitive cycle in and out of juvenile detention facilities.

In several counties, families are required to pay for the monitoring and are charged monthly fees. Several California counties also bill families if their children are incarcerated in juvenile detention centres.

A measure wading through the state Legislature would prohibit counties from charging parents for their children’s incarceration.

Weisburd, who defends juveniles in court, said one of her teenage clients was arrested for trying to steal a classmate’s backpack and was sentenced to probation with electronic monitoring.

The teenager, who has attention deficit hyperactivity order, couldn’t just stay in his house and repeatedly violated the monitoring rules, she said. The teen cycled in and out of juvenile detention centres seven times.

The system is “undermining rather than supporting and helping” juvenile offenders, Weisburd said.

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Follow Michael Balsamo on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MikeBalsamo1 .

Michael Balsamo, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Study: GPS rules send California juveniles into jail cycle

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