Pubdate: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 Source: Santa Barbara News-Press (CA) Copyright: 2000 Santa Barbara News-Press Contact: http://www.newspress.com/ Author: Susan J. Gionfriddo Note: The writer is Chief, Juvenile, Adult Probation, Santa Barbara County SOMETIMES DETENTION NECESSARY TO GET ATTENTION I read John Lankford's recent column entitled "Dealing with a lockup mentality" with interest, as he obviously is troubled by many of the same issues that deeply concern those of us who have dedicated ourselves to the corrections profession. As we have been engaged in educating the community about our need for additional jail and juvenile detention facilities, it is clear that many constituents have serious questions about the balance of effective prevention and education programs vs. more costly incarceration programs. In my view, we are indeed very fortunate in Santa Barbara County to have so many effective prevention and intervention programs in place. In fact, their very existence have enabled us to delay addressing the very real need for additional local custody programs. I must say that we are continually amazed at the need most chronic juvenile and adult offenders have for remedial education. I wish education alone were the simple answer to the ravages of substance abuse and the adverse impacts made upon youth, families, and society in general. While delivering community corrections services to several thousand probationers in our county at any given time, it has long been our observation that for any alternative sentencing programs or therapeutic jurisprudence, ie. drug courts, to work effectively, there must be custody space available to provide swift and certain consequences to those who continue to fail to obey the courts' orders. Otherwise, the sanctions are meaningless and the cycle of delinquent or criminal behavior goes unchecked, often ultimately escalating to a level of seriousness resulting in commitment to prison. In fact, it is my opinion that the failure of the local justice systems to adequately supervise probationers and have sufficient space available to detain them for violations is partially responsible for the expansion of the state prison system. When local intermediate sanctions are insufficiently funded and therefore unable to succeed, a higher level of response is inevitable. I do find it somewhat remarkable that most of our successful probationers and drug-court graduates acknowledge that being detained during the course of the programs actually got their attention and enabled them to ultimately succeed. A well-respected physician with whom we consult regarding our Substance Abuse Treatment Courts, Dr. Alex Stalcup, refers to these necessary periods of custody as creating "critical moments of clarity" for individuals while progressing on the road to recovery. All of the issues associated with juvenile and adult crime are obviously quite complex. I think it is very important to keep the big picture in perspective, and to realize that the entire system is greater than any one discipline, agency, or jurisdiction. When prevention and education have failed for one reason or another, we must continue to remediate the problems while still maintaining public safety throughout our county. Susan J. Gionfriddo, Chief, Juvenile, Adult Probation, Santa Barbara County - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D