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 TACOMA, Wash. (AP) - A steady, decade-long drop in teen offender recidivism rates here in Pierce County is not the result of reforms implemented in some other places — building smaller, homelike facilities, adding social workers and making therapists available 24-7.
Instead, "we chose to focus on programs proven to keep kids OUT of state institutions — to use dollars not on our detention facilities but in the communities," says Shelly Maluo, administrator of the county's juvenile court system.
For starters, the county began collecting much more precise and comprehensive data on the teen felons it had released, tracking them for two years on probation.
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