The Juvenile Justice Public Safety Improvement Act Oversight Council has released its annual report for South Dakota.
The report shows that before the 2015 reforms went into effect, South Dakota had the second highest juvenile commitment rate in the country and was 188 percent above the national average. More than three-quarters of the commitments to the juvenile justice system were for nonviolent or probation violations. Since Fiscal Year 2014, new commitments to the Department of Corrections have declined 56 percent and the number of recommitments has declined by two-thirds.
Gov. Dennis Daugaard says report data shows they are on the right track.
The release of the report comes a few weeks after counties received annual diversion program checks in the mail. Under a fiscal incentive program, the State of South Dakota awarded a total of $250-thousand to counties for successfully diverting juvenile offenders from the criminal justice system.
This is the second year diversion funds have been awarded.
Other points in the report include:
- In FY 17, there was a nearly 72 percent increase in referrals of juveniles to community-based services compared to FY 16.
- Since the reforms took effect, 2,887 juvenile offenders have participated in community-based diversion programs, with 72 percent successfully completing the program.
- Ninety-six percent of youth completed probation without a revocation in FY 17.
- The number of youth on probation decreased by 20 percent in the last year.
- In the last year, 346 families have completed functional family therapy – 92 percent of which have demonstrated a positive change, according to therapists.
Read the Juvenile Justice Public Safety Improvement Act report at sd.gov/governor/ under “Quick Links.”