Vol. 5, No. 6, Pg. 15. Juvenile Justice in South Carolina: A Decade for Progress.

South Carolina Lawyer

1994.

Vol. 5, No. 6, Pg. 15.

Juvenile Justice in South Carolina: A Decade for Progress

15Juvenile Justice in South Carolina: A Decade for ProgressJean Hoefer Toal

Two men were fishing by a stream when an infant floated past. The first fisherman jumped in, rescued the child and handed him up to safety in the second fisherman's arms. [Soon] . . . a second infant floated along .. . then a third baby . . . a fourth, and so on. The fishermen saved each inturn. Finally a whole group of babies came floating downstream. The first fisherman grabbed as many as he could and looked up to see his friend walking away. "Hey," he shouted, "what's wrong with you? Aren't you going to help me save these babies?"

The second fisherman replied, "You save the babies. I'm going upstream to see who's throwing all those babies into the river,"

--Folk parable, as quoted in America's Children at Risk A National Agenda or Legal Action, a report of the American Bar Association--Folk parable, as quoted in America's Children at Risk A National Agenda or Legal Action, a report of the American Bar AssociationMy Fellow Members of the South Carolina Bar:

Like the infants in the parable, many babies in South Carolina are at risk, of both physical harm from the hands of others and of neglect--and many are growing up to be juvenile delinquents. As we. study the causes ofjUvenile delinquency and seek ways to prevent it, what we must acknowledge is that juvenile delinquency is costly, in terms of lost lives as well as money. We must stop the babies from being thrown into the river.

Our juvenile justice system is in severe crisis. More children are committing more serious crimes, an we continue to incarcerate many of them. But incarceration is the most expensive way of dealing with crime; we can't afford it on such a large-scale basis. Besides, it's not working. Some 71% of juveniles are released, only to commit new crimes. These youngsters are becoming a permanent crininatunderclass; they are also becoming a massive:drain on the. South Carolina economy.

There must be a better way.

We must protect the public safety by continuing to incarcerate juveniles who have committed violent crimes. But we must also find ways of dealing*ith juveniles who commit less serious offenses--and these are the majority of our juvenile delinquents.

Our Juvenile Justice Task Force has been studying how to do this since June of 1992. How do we balancethe very real need for public safety, yet also find alternatives to the very expensive proposition of locking up so many of our juvenile offenders? We offer solutions that wehelieve are both workable and cost effective in the Task Forces. report Juvenile Justice in South Carolina: A Decade for Progress But for these solutions to work, all agencies of government involved with youth and their families must collaborate. Families and the community must help, too.

Will the shocking violence of our children in the 1990s finally be the catalyst to make us cooperate and adopt long-lasting solutions? If so, it will truly be the Decade of...