Oregon Youth Authority briefs committees on rising youth acuity, racial disparities and legislative priorities

Joe O'Leary, director of the Oregon Youth Authority, told the joint Senate and House Judiciary committees that the agency is managing a small but complex portion of state systems serving juveniles and described rising acuity among youth in custody, persistent racial disparities and a legislative agenda to bolster capacity and workforce.

O'Leary summarized OYA operations—five youth correctional facilities, four transitional camps, about 375 young people in custody and approximately 515 youth supervised in community custody by OYA—and said most juvenile cases begin in county juvenile departments. He described OYA’s approach as “positive human development” grounded in adolescent brain research, and he emphasized family engagement, culturally specific programming and education and treatment curricula such as Power Source.

“For the record, I'm Joe O'Leary. I have the honor of serving as the director of the Oregon Youth Authority,” O'Leary said, outlining OYA’s mission and operating principles. He said the agency's statutory mission (created by statute in 1995) centers on accountability and reformation but that OYA also pursues preparing youth to be productive community members.

O'Leary said OYA’s client-management system, the Juvenile Justice Information System (JJIS/JAGES), is a national-model resource that provides a unified youth record across counties and state systems. He said the agency has about 899 employees working in facilities and that juvenile parole and probation officers supervise roughly 500 youth in the community.

O'Leary told members that the youth population in state custody is changing: the agency sees higher mental-health acuity, more trauma histories and a growing share of young people committed because local services are unavailable. He said the threshold for state commitment starts at age 12 and a class A misdemeanor in Oregon, lower than many states’ thresholds, and that many committed youth are involved in serious person offenses.

OYA data also show racial disproportionality, O'Leary said, with Black and Native youth the most overrepresented. He described workforce-diversity gains—employees of color rose from roughly 10–12% a decade ago to the mid-30s today—while urging further attention to recruiting and training staff to match client needs.

O'Leary discussed OYA’s 10-year plan, funded in part by prior legislative appropriations, that has reduced living-unit sizes and altered facility design to support developmental programming. He said OYA still faces workforce instability, capacity limits among contracted community providers, litigation risks and the need for infrastructure attention.

O'Leary noted that some contracted residential providers are paid fee-for-service and that OYA is proposing bills to allow capacity payments to improve stability. He invited committee members to visit facilities and meet staff and youth to better understand OYA operations and legislative proposals.

“We feel that it is not enough that we strive for our youth to be crime free,” O'Leary said. “Recidivism and reduction of recidivism will always be a key measure. It's very important. But we want our young people to be prepared to be productive members of our communities as well.”

The informational session concluded with an invitation for more detailed committee engagement on OYA’s policy packages.