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ACLU and DJJ director back community-based approach as subcommittee advances HB 5121
Summary
Courtney Thomas of the ACLU urged treating youth violence as a public-health issue and urged accessibility for small nonprofits; DJJ director Eden Hendrick said she supports moving the program to the Department of Public Health. The subcommittee gave HB 5121 a favorable report.
House Bill 51 21, a community juvenile crime prevention measure, drew support from civil-rights advocates and conditional support from the Department of Juvenile Justice director, who both urged prioritizing community-based, public-health approaches over custodial solutions.
Courtney Thomas, advocacy director for the ACLU of South Carolina, said the ACLU broadly supports intervention before youth enter the juvenile justice system but raised implementation concerns: DJJ currently operates under strained administrative capacity and therefore may not be the best home to administer community violence intervention programs. Thomas urged placing the program within a public-health framework (she suggested the Department of Public Health's Community Violence Intervention and Prevention Office) and asked the General Assembly to ensure implementation is accessible to small, grassroots nonprofits that might otherwise face barriers.
Eden Hendrick, DJJ director, told the committee she supports moving the program to the Department of Public Health, describing youth violence as a public-health emergency and endorsing funding for community-based services that emphasize prevention and healing rather than custodial responses.
With no amendments and no further discussion, the committee ordered a roll call and the clerk announced HB 5121 'favorable.'
