The U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation into Kentucky’s juvenile justice system comes at a critical moment.
The system's new commissioner has warned legislators that several new tough-on-crime laws will mean even more kids filling the state’s eight detention centers and one youth development center. Those centers are the focal point of an , including excessive use of force and isolation, and the threat of violence and sexual abuse. Staffing has improved lately, and an unsettled leadership situation appears to have been resolved, but the state Department of Juvenile Justice is still working to implement changes after a .
And at the center of it all: Hundreds of kids the DOJ said are in Kentucky’s detention centers every day, with Black children about 2.5 times more likely to be detained. The state's eight detention centers housed 238 children as of May, with more than 100 others in youth development facilities and group homes.
It’s a bleak situation, Kentucky Youth Advocates executive director Terry Brooks said last month. But there’s a silver lining — a thorough federal investigation could bring a “road map” for a brighter future, he believes. “This actually is a firm verdict that Kentucky leaders got an F when it came to juvenile justice, or Washington wouldn’t be here,” Brooks said.
“I have every confidence that since Kentucky leaders couldn’t do it, the DOJ will.” In 2001, following five years under a federal consent decree, then-U.S.
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