Lost in Transition: Program Closures Impacting Youth in Hennepin County Legal System

Abstract

Across Minnesota, Hennepin County has the state’s highest rate of prosecution of youth; yet, they do not have a local, residential treatment program for their incarcerated youth. The decision to close the Hennepin County Home School in 2021 removed the one local option for treatment programming. These youth wait in the Juvenile Detention Center (JDC), with no access to this programming, until a bed becomes available outside of the metro counties. The wait can be anywhere from weeks to months long. In a system that was designed specifically to prioritize individualized treatment plans, Hennepin County’s youth, particularly youth of color, are lost at a time in their lives when programming and bolstering community support can be most effective at reducing criminal behavior and recidivism. This paper critically examines the history of juvenile justice in the United States, the system within Hennepin County, the use of out-of-home placements, and the closures of these placements. Public, secondary data from the Hennepin County probation office is included to demonstrate the direct impact these decisions have on these youth, including demonstrated increase in wait times within the JDC, a breakdown of the most used placements, and the demographics of which youth are most impacted. The results along with current research studies reveal a troubling image of how youth are handled within the criminal legal system.