Task force examines detention staffing, minimum age questions and visitation policies
The juvenile-justice task force reported work on trauma-informed training, status-offense reduction (chronic absenteeism), visitation access for detained youth and an exploratory look at a minimum age for juvenile-court jurisdiction; members flagged detention bed and staffing shortages.
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Nancy Bieber (director of youth justice initiative, Indiana Office of Court Services) told the commission that one subcommittee is looking at ensuring contact between detained youth and families and possibly a minimum age of juvenile-court jurisdiction. "There's really kind of 3 things that they want to look at... require that detention facilities offer at a minimum for 1 hour in person contact and arrange for audio visual contact..." she said. Bieber also noted the exploratory nature of considering a statutory floor for juvenile jurisdiction: "There's young people as young as 5 who've been, who've been referred to juvenile court."
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