DATE: Monday, March 10, 1997                TAG: 9703100075

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   46 lines

VIRGINIA IS FAILING TO HELP ITS JUVENILE OFFENDERS, CRITICS SAY

Years of rising juvenile crime and new Virginia laws requiring longer prison sentences for young offenders have caused a 45 percent increase in the population of state juvenile corrections facilities, officials say.

In 1991, about 1,300 young offenders were in corrections facilities. Authorities said that population topped 1,800 by 1995, and the numbers are expected to keep rising.

The crowding is preventing the state's most troubled young people from receiving the services they need for rehabilitation, juvenile advocates said.

For example, two psychologists who oversee 300 juvenile criminals at one center are so busy they can not meet with any teen more than three times a month unless the patient become suicidal.

The state's Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission recently reported that seven out of every 10 juveniles jailed for crimes in 1993 were arrested again within three years of their release.

``It's been a system that has historically been under-funded,'' said Wayne Turnage, the commission's chief legislative analyst. ``The system is in need of serious repair.''

Thirteen states, including Virginia, have recently passed laws setting mandatory minimum sentences for juvenile offenders, according to the Justice Department.

``The system in Virginia is badly overcrowded from top to bottom,'' said Mark Soler, head of the Washington, D.C., group Youth Law Center, which is investigating Virginia's juvenile detention system.

``The judges are trying to teach these kids a lesson by locking them up,'' he said. ``There are much better ways to teach them a lesson.''

But Arlington Juvenile and Domestic Relations Judge Joanne Alper argues that tough sanctions against juveniles are necessary. Without them, ``you lull them into a sense that nothing's going to happen,'' she said.

Patricia L. West, Virginia's secretary of public safety, agreed that the juvenile justice system has problems, which she said stem from the rapid growth in juvenile crimes. Youth arrests jumped 45 percent since 1985, to 55,300 in 1995, the last year for which data are available.

West said the juvenile justice system's budget has increased almost 50 percent over two years, to about $170 million for fiscal 1998. KEYWORDS: JUVENILE CRIME INCREASE VIRGINIA

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