By Sandra Vanderhyde, 14th Circuit Court Administrator
Several years ago, the Muskegon County Family Division
determined it needed a complete overhaul of its juvenile justice system. The timing was right. The county had funds that could be used toward
this effort as part of a Systems of Care grant that was awarded to HealthWest
(Muskegon County’s Community Mental Health Agency) and the court had just taken
over operations of the Muskegon County Juvenile Transition Center from the
county. Some leadership changes also
made the timing ideal.
Although there had been a decrease in out-of-home placements
several years prior, the court could not figure out how to further this
decrease. To decrease placing youth in
out-of-home placements and also decrease the length of time in out-of-home
placements, a juvenile justice overhaul was necessary.
After learning about the work being done by Edward Latessa,
MD/DO/PhD and his team at the University of Cincinnati Corrections Institute
(UCCI), we entered into a contract with UCCI to assist with the reform.
We held a kick-off event with community partners where
everyone learned the importance of assessing the risks and needs of youth as
they enter the system. In addition,
everyone was educated about the importance of not mixing the risk levels of the
population. If low- or moderate-risk
youth complete services with high-risk youth, it may harm them through exposure
to negative antisocial behaviors and activities. Attendees were also informed that detention of
low-risk youth will likely do them more harm than good.
The use of evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
to focus on criminogenic risks was also stressed. The courts and their partners learned that the
risk level of each youth needs to correspond with the dosage level of services
in order to successfully reduce criminogenic risk factors for that youth. The three main elements of the risk principle
that UCCI explained at the event are: 1) to target youth with higher
probability of recidivism; 2) to provide the most intensive treatment to higher-risk
youth; and 3) that intensive treatment for lower-risk youth can actually increase
recidivism.
With the foundation laid for a new philosophy to be used
with our youth, the real work began in Muskegon County. UCCI started by having the courts form
committees made up of leadership and supervisory positions, probation officers,
family division counselors, referees, juvenile
transition center staff, representatives from the Muskegon Area Intermediate
School District (MAISD)—who operate the school in the Juvenile Transition
Center, and representatives from HealthWest as a major community partner. The committees included: 1) Assessment
Committee, 2) Programming Committee, 3) Behavior Management System Committee,
4) Quality Assurance Committee, 5) Systems Coordination Committee, and 6) Multi-Disciplinary
Implementation Team (MIT) Oversight Committee. A Program Partners Committee was also formed
so that all partners can be regularly informed of the efforts being made by the
different committees.
Each committee established goals. UCCI staff provided research assistance to the
committees. For example, the main goal
of the Assessment Committee was to choose an evidence-based risk assessment tool
to adequately identify the risk level of the youth at intake and throughout
probation. When referring to the risk
level of youth in the juvenile justice system, “risk” refers to the likelihood
of the juvenile to reoffend. UCCI
provided the committee with material to review about the top evidence-based
risk assessment tools used across the country. This allowed the committee to make an informed
decision about the best-suited tool for Muskegon County.
Once a subcommittee made an important decision like choosing
a risk assessment tool, the assigned committee leader then brought it to the
MIT Leadership Committee to make the final decision.
The Assessment Committee chose the Ohio Youth Assessment
System (OYAS) as the best-fit risk assessment tool for Muskegon County. Then UCCI brought in trainers for an extensive
training for many probation officers, as well as some family counselors and
representatives from HealthWest, on how to conduct the OYAS Assessments.
The Muskegon County Courts are now using the Michigan
version of OYAS – the Michigan Juvenile Justice Assessment System (MJJAS) -- a
structured decision-making assessment tool that identifies the likelihood that
a youth will participate in future criminal behavior, leads to appropriate risk-level
classification of youth, and helps inform placement and treatment decisions. There are five MJJAS risk-assessment tools,
each designed for use at different levels of involvement in the juvenile
justice system. The five tools are:
Diversion, Detention, Disposition, Residential, and Re-Entry.
While it was essential for the Assessment Committee to make
the first major decision, as we learned that every effective juvenile justice
program needs to start with a risk assessment to identify the risk level of the
youth, the next important decisions needed to come from the Programming Committee.
Once the risk level is determined, then
the variety of services available to youth needed to be selected by the
Programming Committee. UCCI often
identifies that courts use too much “feel good” programming, such as dance or
running programs. Programs that are fun
for youth and may help them to learn a new hobby and meet some positive new
people, unfortunately, do not do anything to decrease the risk of recidivism. Therefore, the Programming Committee was
tasked with identifying – with UCCI’s help – programs for the Muskegon County Family
Division Juvenile Justice System that are truly effective in reducing
criminogenic behaviors in youth.
According to the UCCI trainers, programs need to target the
criminogenic risk factors of youth to effectively reduce recidivism. These risk factors include: attitudes, peer
associations, personality, family, education/employment, substance abuse, and
leisure and recreation. The first three (attitudes,
peer associations, and personality) are the most important because they drive
the other risk factors; without focusing on them, long-term behavioral change
is unlikely. Based on this information,
the Programming Committee recommended that the MIT Leadership Committee adopt
three evidence-based CBT programs: 1) Thinking for a Change (T4C); 2)
Aggression Replacement Training (ART); and 3) Decision Points. Since adopting this recommendation, trainers
of all three programs have come to Muskegon at different times to train
probation officers, juvenile transition center staff, HealthWest
representatives, MAISD, and leadership staff to conduct these programs. The Family Division is now regularly providing
each of these programs to our youth, as appropriate, based on their risk levels
and needs.
Finally, the Programming Committee decided that the
probation staff would implement Effective Practices in Correctional Supervision
(EPICS). EPICS is a cognitive behavioral
intervention used by probation staff when they meet with a youth. Each session includes a check-in, review from
the last session, and an intervention, and concludes by assigning homework to
the youth. This structure takes
motivational interviewing to the next level and increases compliance while also
reducing recidivism.
The Behavior Management System (BMS) Committee created and
rolled out a new BMS system for the Juvenile Transition Center that includes a
point-system incentive plan and sanctions for rule violations. The probation officers are now creating a
system for youth on probation.
The Systems Coordination Committee developed a systems guide
for youth-serving systems and is determining how best to monitor and track the
dosage provided to ensure it is the correct amount based on the risk level of
the youth.
The Quality Assurance Committee is creating a plan to ensure
sustainability of the model and fidelity to programming.
All of the committee work and trainings were completed over
the course of two years. The Family
Division will wrap up its work with UCCI over the next several months with a
few more trainings, including an EPCIS train-the-trainer course and a substance
abuse program training. While there’s
still plenty of work to do, the juvenile justice staff feels as though the
foundation is laid for successful implementation of the new model. With the work of UCCI, a new residential pod
opened in the Juvenile Transition Center in October 2018. In addition, a new committee was created to
review all cases of youth at high risk for out-of-home placements.
These combined efforts have resulted in the number of
Muskegon County youth in out-of-home placements decreasing from 25 to 14 youth
over the past year. This decrease alone
shows us that the juvenile justice system reform in Muskegon County is proving
to be effective, and we will continue to focus on decreasing the number of
youth, days in detention, and out-of-home placements.
Sandra M. Vanderhyde has served as the circuit court administrator in Muskegon
County since 2017. In this capacity, she
also serves as the friend of the court and the family division director. Sandra previously served as deputy circuit court
administrator for Muskegon County from 2012-2017. Ms. Vanderhyde was in private practice for
three years prior, practicing in the areas of family law, criminal defense, and
as lawyer guardian ad-litem and representing respondent parents in neglect and
abuse cases. Ms. Vanderhyde is the lead
chair of several problem-solving courts, grants, and committees.
Ms. Vanderhyde
received her bachelor’s degree in secondary education in history and social
studies from Western Michigan University and her juris doctorate from Michigan
State University College of Law. Prior
to attending law school, Ms. Vanderhyde was a high school social studies and
history teacher. Sandra and her husband
have an eleven-year old daughter, Lila, and a four-year old son, Kamden.