State Representative James Talarico announced House Bill 4356 on Thursday, which would effectively dissolve the Texas Juvenile Justice Department by 2030 and replacing it with a new Office of Youth Safety and Rehabilitation.
According to Talarico, the State of Texas spends $300 million annually to house roughly 600 juvenile prisoners. Under his proposed legislation, that money would instead be funneled into the new Office of Youth Safety and Rehabilitation to provide underage offenders diversionary programs within their community, such as probation, mental health treatment, and anti-violence efforts.
“Child prisons are a failed policy experiment,” claimed Talarico. “The trauma of incarceration makes kids MORE likely to commit crime, not less. I’m proud to file House Bill 4356 to close all child prisons in Texas by 2030 and create a system to rehabilitate kids.”
Critics of Talarico’s plan have scoffed at the notion of closing all five of the state’s juvenile jails, arguing that diversionary programs will only increase unruly behavior from kids who will figure out that their illegal actions do not carry any sort of significant consequences.
