Could Measure 11 Be Making Crime Worse?
Supporters of Measure 11 say the legislation protects society by keeping violent criminals under lock and key. However, a June 2010 report from The National Juvenile Justice Network, suggests that jailing teens reduces their chances of becoming healthy, productive, contributing adults. Youth in jails are prey to abusers. They are more likely to kill themselves. And teens who spend time in jail statistically are far more likely to keep on committing crimes. “Virtually every study of youth sent to large juvenile correctional institutions in the past 30 years finds a 50-70 percent recidivism rate within one to two years of release,” the report notes. “In contrast, some programs that provide alternatives to traditional confinement for youth who would have been prison-bound for the commission of serious, felony drug and/or violent offenses, report a reconviction rate for violent crimes of only 4 percent.” A study by the Task Force on Community Preventive Services published in the American J
