GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

EXTRA SESSION 1994

S	2 

SENATE BILL 24*
Select Committee on Juveniles/Prevention Committee Substitute Adopted 2/15/94

Short Title:  DYS Comprehensive Study.	(Public)
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Sponsors:
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Referred to:  Appropriations.
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February 9, 1994

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO REQUIRE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES TO CONDUCT A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY OF THE DIVISION OF YOUTH SERVICES' JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  (a)	The Department of Human Resources shall conduct a comprehensive study of the Division of Youth Services' juvenile justice system in order to ensure the efficacy, cost-effectiveness, and optimal utilization of the system and its continuum of services.  The Department may contract with an independent consultant to assist it in its study.   The Administrative Office of the Courts, the Department of Correction, and any other State or local agencies the Department considers have a role in the juvenile justice system shall cooperate with the Department in its study. 
The Department shall convene an advisory panel to assist it in its study.  This panel shall consist of the Administrative Officer of the Courts, as many juvenile court judges  as the Department considers necessary, three Senators recommended by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, three Representatives recommended by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and any others the Department considers necessary.
	 Members of this advisory panel shall receive the subsistence and travel expenses set forth in Chapter 120 and Chapter 138 of the General Statutes, as appropriate.
(b) This study shall include:
(1)	An analysis, including an assessment of safety risks to community and staff, of the current training school population;
(2)	An assessment of adult and juvenile recidivism rates of recent training school residents;
(3)	An analysis of the cost and success of dispositions of juvenile offenders who are placed on probation or assigned to other programs;
(4)	An evaluation of the Community-Based Alternative Program;
(5)	An assessment of the juvenile offender systems and programs used in other states;
(6)	The development of an early warning system by which potential youthful offenders are identified at a very early age so that intervention can be made to prevent adverse outcomes;
(7)	An evaluation of vocational education in the training schools;
(8)	An analysis of other services and treatments offered in training schools;
(9)	Alternatives to detention and to training schools;
(10)	Proposals for appropriate reforms of the current dispositional system that will help juvenile offenders become productive citizens, control costs, and protect the public safety; and
(11)	Recommendations to enable accountability and evaluation of outcomes of juvenile programs and dispositions, including recommendations for system changes that will enable tracking of participants in juvenile offender programs into the adult criminal and other juvenile offender programs.
(c) The Department shall complete this study by October 31, 1994, and shall report the results of this study to the 1995 General Assembly by February 1, 1995.
Sec. 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Human Resources the sum of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) for the 1994-95 fiscal year to fund this study.  In addition, notwithstanding G.S. 143-23, the Department of Human Resources, with the approval of the Office of Budget and Management, may use any funds available to the Department to fund this study.
Sec. 3.  This act is effective upon ratification.