Task Force Subcommittees

The task force met five times to finalize reform recommendations. The recommendations were prepared by two subcommittees.

The Re-entry and Community-based Alternatives to Placement subcommittee, led by Al Siegel, deputy director of the Center for Court Innovation, was charged with three tasks:

• Recommending strategies for identifying youth in Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) custody who pose no risk to public safety and would be best served in their communities
• Increasing the availability of cost-effective, community-based alternatives to placement
• Enhancing re-entry practices and policies

The Redefining Residential Care subcommittee was led by retired New York City Criminal Court Judge Michael Corriero, former executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City, who is now executive director and founder of the New York Center for Juvenile Justice.

The subcommittees presented their preliminary findings and recommendations to the task force in September 2009. The task force’s final report, Charting a New Course: A Blueprint for Transforming Juvenile Justice in New York State, was released in December 2009.

Why We Need a Task Force

Historically, states used a treatment-focused model of juvenile corrections. States began to turn away from this model in the 1980s and 1990s in favor of a punitive model. Millions of dollars were invested in prison-like institutions called training schools, which are located far from young offenders’ families, homes, and communities and offer them little to no treatment. Research and practical experiences have shown that this punitive model of incarceration is likely to promote further delinquency among youth and to increase the probability that youth will return to the system after release. The task force's recommendations aim to move away from this costly, ineffective model and return to the original, treatment focus of juvenile justice.

For more information, contact center coordinator Anil Fermin.