A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION, Supporting and encouraging efforts by the South Dakota Department of Corrections to reduce recidivism rates among juvenile offenders and to promote community-based services for juvenile offenders in lieu of residential placement.

    WHEREAS, from 2007 to 2008 in South Dakota the rate of recidivism for juveniles, or the percentage of youth who had successfully completed a residential program in the previous twelve months and were subsequently returned to a residential program, was forty-six percent; and

    WHEREAS, removing juveniles from their families, homes, schools, and communities and placing them in residential programs is not always the most appropriate or effective criminal justice response, and in fact, removing such youth from a stable environment can be counterproductive; and

    WHEREAS, South Dakota can learn from the example set in the state of Iowa, where thirty-four percent fewer youth have been placed in detention statewide since 2007 and the use of community-based alternatives to incarceration has increased through the state's effort to reform juvenile detention practices; and

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    WHEREAS, striking the right balance between the use of community-based treatments and incarceration is an important goal that must be met in South Dakota for the benefit of our state's youth:

    NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Senate of the Eighty-sixth Legislature of the State of South Dakota, the House of Representatives concurring therein, that the Legislature supports and encourages the efforts of the South Dakota Department of Corrections to reduce recidivism rates among juvenile offenders and to enhance the use of community-based alternatives to incarceration for juveniles.