The Department of Youth Services (DYS) is the Commonwealth's juvenile justice agency responsible for the enhancement of public safety, crime prevention, and rehabilitation of delinquent youth and youthful offenders. The Department is primarily responsible for two categories of youth who come before the courts: those who have been charged with offenses and are being held on bail or without bail; and those who have been committed by the Juvenile Court to remain in the custody of the Department.

The Department provides a continuum of services for approximately 3,000 youths. These services range from secure residential treatment programs to non-residential community supervision. Treatment services in residential facilities provide education, clinical and family services, and vocational training. These services are designed to reduce the risk that youthful offenders pose to the community. Approximately half of the committed youth are deemed to be low risk and are able to live at home where they are supervised by caseworkers and community monitors.

The Juvenile Justice Reform Act enacted in Fiscal Year 1997, effective October 1, 1996, requires that juveniles tried for serious offenses remain in DYS custody until the age of twenty-one rather than eighteen. This has increased the number of juveniles in DYS custody at any given time. In addition, juveniles who have been charged with serious offenses and indicted under the provisions of this act will remain in the Department's pre-trial units for an average of two to three weeks longer due to the increased number of cases that will result in jury trials.

The number of female youths in DYS custody, who are between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, has more than doubled in the last two years. The Department has increased programs for this growing population and will continue to do so in Fiscal Year 1998.

Objectives

In Fiscal Year 1998, the Department of Youth Services will:

• expand residential facility capacity by seventy beds to address the projected growth in the Department's population;
• increase outreach and tracking services, and foster care placements for those juveniles requiring less restrictive programs or leaving residential programs;
• establish additional day reporting centers to provide an intensive level of services and supervision for youths who can be placed in the community, at home, or in foster care, under highly structured supervision;
• hire additional caseworkers to more effectively supervise and monitor youths committed to DYS custody but living in their communities; and
• provide additional short-term treatment programs, particularly for the growing female population, which provide education, substance abuse treatment, violence reduction, and community service for those youths making the transition from secure facilities to their homes and communities.

In addition, DYS will:

• work in conjunction with other parties in the criminal justice system on the implementation of the Juvenile Justice Reform Act of 1996, by monitoring indictment and sentencing practices;
• develop alternative sanctions and preventive services in conjunction with juvenile justice, education, law enforcement, and social service systems; and
• renovate and construct DYS facilities in accordance with the Department's capital outlay plan, utilizing funds authorized under the Corrections Capital Outlay Appropriation of 1996.

The transfer of probation services, effective July 1, 1998, will allow the criminal justice system to function more efficiently and with greater emphasis on the continuum of offender services it manages. Important improvements will be made to the probation surrender process through which probation violators are punished; as a result, potential violators will be presented with stronger incentives to serve the terms of their probation without incident. A reserve appropriation is included in the Executive Office for Administration and Finance to assist the Trial Court, Secretary of Administration and Finance, Department of Youth Services, and Secretary of Public Safety in resolving space, personnel, and information technology issues prior to this Fiscal Year 1999 transfer of probation services.

The Department of Youth Services accounts will be reorganized and consolidated to better represent program spending for the pre-trial detained and committed populations.

Budget Recommendations

The Fiscal Year 1998 recommendation is $94.38 million. This level of funding includes an increase of $7.8 million for expected caseload growth.

Fiscal Year 1998 Spending in Fiscal Year 1997 Account Structure

FY98 Account Structure			FY97 Account Structure
4200-0010	DYS Administration	4,665,099	4200-0010	2,572,285
			4200-9999	795,143
			4237-1010	477,614
			4238-1000	820,057
4200-0100	Committed Non-Residential Services	15,623,919	4200-0010	224,155
			4202-0003	6,998,518
			4202-0004	109,000
			4202-0005	226,629
			4202-0006	422,777
			4237-1010	7,642,840
4200-0200	Detained Residential Services	14,653,763	4200-0001	1,054,632
			4202-0002	4,246,059
			4202-0005	244,358
			4238-1000	9,108,714
4200-0300	Committed Residential Services	59,432,444	4200-0010	113,930
			4202-0001	12,770,342
			4202-0002	8,123,692
			4202-0003	16,811,743
			4202-0004	2,023,818
			4202-0005	653,690
			4202-0006	516,569
			4238-1000	18,418,660

Budgetary Direct Appropriations

DEPARTMENT OF YOUTH SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
4200-0010	For the administration and expenses of the department of youth services	4,665,099

NON-RESIDENTIAL SERVICES FOR COMMITTED POPULATION
4200-0100	For supervision, counseling, and other services provided by the department incidental to certain non-residential care programs	15,623,919

RESIDENTIAL SERVICES FOR DETAINED POPULATION
4200-0200	For pre-trial detention programs, including purchase of service and state-operated programs incidental to the operation of certain residential care programs; provided, that the commissioner of the department of youth services is hereby authorized to transfer up to ten percent of the funds appropriated herein to item 4200-0300	14,653,763

RESIDENTIAL SERVICES FOR COMMITTED POPULATION
4200-0300	For secure facilities, including purchase of service and state-operated programs incidental to the operation of certain residential care programs; provided, that the commissioner of the department of youth services is hereby authorized to transfer up to ten percent of the funds appropriated herein to item 4200-0200	59,432,444

Federal Grant Spending

SERIOUS, VIOLENT CHRONIC JUVENILE OFFENDERS
4238-1030	For the purposes of a federally funded grant entitled, Serious, Violent Chronic Juvenile Offenders	500,000