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In 2018, about 6 out of 10 youth found guilty of an offense – more than 130,000 young people nationally — were placed on probation. Black youth have continued to be overrepresented among youth on probation, and at every point in the justice system.
Structural racism drives harsher treatment of Black youth, who are more likely than white youth to be arrested, incarcerated, placed on probation and, when they don’t meet the terms of probation, plunged deeper into the criminal justice system. What’s the result? Black youth comprised just 14 percent of the general population, but 36 percent of youth on probation and 41 percent of incarcerated youth.
To help probation departments reduce the scope of probation, especially for Black youth, we just released a new, research-informed framework. Our proposal is designed to prevent youth from serving unmerited, lengthy times on probation, where they face the real threat of having probation revoked and, consequently, being incarcerated.
There is a clear case for substantially shortening juvenile probation sentences and for related reforms that we propose. Especially for Black adolescents on probation, such behaviors as skipping class, being out past curfew or other technical violations of probation can and often do lead to probation being revoked and, worse, to incarceration. In fact, adolescents charged with technical violations accounted for 15 percent of incarcerated youth in 2017, the most recent year for which those data are available.
Black teens are more likely to be trapped in this probation violation/probation revocation/incarceration cycle than are white youth who’ve engaged in the same behaviors but not faced the same criminal punishments as Black kids. The latter also are more likely to be sanctioned for non-compliance with the rules of their probation than are justice-involved white youth.
Even when young people on probation are not pushed deeper into the justice system, probation still exacts a high price. These youth end up investing much of their time and resources in meeting probation requirements during what is a critical period in their human development. That developmental period should be spent building healthy relationships, developing life skills, understanding one’s pivotal place in and connection to one’s community, and carving a path toward future success.
The considerable harms don’t end there. Probation restricts where these youth can go — their basic liberty and freedom — and dictates with whom they can or cannot spend time. It also can financially strain these youth and their families, who frequently are lower-income. Too often, they cannot afford to pay fines and fees levied against individuals who are under a probation officer’s supervision.
Young people on probation can be required to meet with those officers three or four times per week. That may sound simple, but when youth and their families are juggling competing demands of work, school and childcare, and have limited transportation options, those mandated check-ins with a probation officer can be arduous.
Shortening time spent on probation
Our practice brief outlines a new approach for probation officers and administrators that limits time spent on probation and links youth with supportive services outside of the legal system. Simply stated, our proposal argues that probation should last only as long as it takes to connect youth with housing, mental health, educational, jobs or other community-based services and opportunities that have proven to help youth steady their feet and improve their situation. It argues that probation terms should minimize disruptions to young people’s lives and human growth.
This model presupposes that the vast majority of youth, from the outset of an interaction with law enforcement, would be diverted from all justice involvement, including incarceration and probation. Even in the limited number of cases where youth are placed on probation, terms can and should be completed in less than six months. If there are exceptions to that, those exceptions should be rare.
The model we propose has three phases:
- Phase 1: Introductions, assessment and planning: Probation officers would spend up to 45 days earnestly developing a relationship with each youth, trying to understand more about their circumstances and needs, and developing a plan for future engagement.
- Phase 2: Connecting with long-term community supports: Spanning a maximum of two months, this period comprises the bulk of the work for probation officers. They would collaborate with youths and their families to connect them with, among other essentials, alternative education options, mentors and recreational opportunities; treatment for any substance use, mental health or behavioral health needs; and such culturally relevant resources as trauma-informed healing and recovery programs. Officers would provide opportunities for youth to fully fathom and accept responsibility for the actions landing them in the justice pipeline; and help them strengthen their critical-thinking, problem-solving, goal-setting and other life skills.
- Phase 3: Transition and closure: Lasting up to two months, this phase is dedicated to transitioning youth off probation. Probation officers would assess a youth’s progress toward reaching those aforementioned goals and adjust those goals as needed. Officers would provide opportunities for youth to shorten their probation by meeting jointly developed goals ahead of schedule and by asking juvenile court judges to shorten the term of probation.
Advancing racial equity
This new approach aims to advance racial equity by discouraging prolonged probation terms; by using probation as a real chance for youth to cement connections to their communities; and by investing public dollars in communities that historically have been underfunded on myriad fronts. Communities disproportionately impacted by incarceration and probation often have had limited access to resources to secure a robust continuum of care and opportunity that includes affordable housing; economic opportunity; delinquency prevention services; treatment, healing and recovery programs; and spaces for recuperative, restorative leisure activities. Young people need those things to thrive.
Absent real reforms like those we propose, thousands of youth and families — for months and, sometimes, for years — bear the heavy burdens of this unfair system.
Research shows that many of the goals of probation, which include understanding the root causes of youths’ harmful behavior and joining forces with them to assure long-term behavioral change, can be met through community partnerships, rather than by relying on overly harsh punishment.
One of the best ways a probation officer can support a young person’s transformation into a healthy adult is by minimizing the disruptions to his or her life and connecting or reconnecting that youth with long-term community-based reinforcements as soon as they begin working with that young person.
Probation has been one of the most common legal sanctions against justice-involved youth for decades. It is time to take a hard look at the fallout from that and chart a new course.
For the Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center, Andreea Matei is a policy analyst, Samantha Harvell is a principal policy associate and Leah Sakala is a senior policy associate.
