OP-ED: Holidays in the Juvenile Justice System
December 4, 2013 | by Judge George Timberlake | Juvenile Justice Information Exchange
In this op-ed, Judge George Timberlake reflects on the difficulty of deciding where to send juvenile offenders during the holidays. In Franklin County, Illinois, recent trends show judges are becoming more comfortable with community-based alternatives to incarceration, and acknowledging the potential benefits of evening report centers, home detention, and electronic GPS monitoring.
In this op-ed, Judge George Timberlake reflects on the difficulty of deciding where to send juvenile offenders during the holidays. In Franklin County, Illinois, recent trends show judges are becoming more comfortable with community-based alternatives to incarceration, and acknowledging the potential benefits of evening report centers, home detention, and electronic GPS monitoring. Judge Timberlake discusses the larger issue of the invisibility of detention centers, and the need to adopt systemic reforms in juvenile justice.