HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

288

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2005

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

REQUESTING THE OFFICE OF YOUTH SERVICES to work with private and public entities including but not limited to the office of hawaiian affairs, alu like, the american civil liberties union, right of passage, inc., the family court, the department of health, and the department of education TO implement a tHREE year pilot project at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility that incorporates the philosophy and practices of the Rite of Passage Experience.

 

 

WHEREAS, one of the primary purposes of the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility is to provide rehabilitative services to juvenile offenders to aid their successful reintegration into the community; and

WHEREAS, this purpose notwithstanding, the recidivism rate for Hawaii's juvenile offenders of eighty-two per cent (according to a 2001 study) is inordinately high, indicating the continued involvement of juvenile offenders in the juvenile and criminal justice system, and the need to consider whether or not the most effective methods available are being used to reduce recidivism among this population; and

WHEREAS, the Department of the Attorney General and the Office of Youth Services have recognized that to reduce the overall recidivism rate, juvenile offenders must be provided appropriate and effective services prior to incarceration, while incarcerated, and upon their release into the community; and

WHEREAS, a 2003 American Civil Liberties Union report clearly indicates that Hawaii's juvenile offenders are not being provided with appropriate and effective services, as exhibited by systemic problems at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility including overcrowding, unduly punitive living conditions, abusive discipline without due process, sexual harassment and assault of wards by correctional staff, lack of exercise and recreation, inadequate schooling and lack of access to education, unreasonable limitations on outside contact including visits, phone calls, and access to legal counsel, inadequate medical and mental health care, inadequate grievance procedures, and the need for an outside expert to implement adequate quality measures and perform regular reviews to ensure the quality of actions taken; and

WHEREAS, the Rite of Passage Experience is a national model approach to youth and community development with over twenty years of success in developing adolescents into healthy community-minded adults by means of a community based approach that focuses on youth in grades six through twelve and builds connections between them, their parents, and the local community of adults who can collectively guide children into adulthood; and

WHEREAS, the Rite of Passage Experience provides program management and delivery of a normalized academy environment in youth correctional facilities, consisting of academics, vocational training, community service, athletics, counseling services, and specific substance abuse and adolescent mental health treatment components to adjudicated youth; and

WHEREAS, the Rite of Passage Experience, also:

(1) Provides increasingly difficult physical and cognitive challenges that convey and teach essential life skills to youth;

(2) Guides youth into positive leisure time after school activities and coordinates community resources to insure the availability and accessibility of those activities for middle school youth;

(3) Guides high school youth into community service and service learning;

(4) Helps to enlist parent support, networking, and training to promote positive youth development; and

(5) Includes structured ways to identify and tie all of a community's assets together to allow a comprehensive process for youth and community development activities to occur; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2005, the Senate concurring, that the Office of Youth Services is requested to work with private and public entities including but not limited to the Office of Hawaiian affairs, Alu Like, the American Civil Liberties Union, Right of Passage, Inc., the Family Court, the Department of Health, and the Department of Education to implement a three year pilot project at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility that incorporates the philosophy and practices of the Rite of Passage Experience; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Office of Youth Services is requested to:

(1) Report its progress on implementing the philosophy and practices of the Rite of Passage Experience to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2006; and

(2) Submit a final report on the pilot project, including lessons learned and findings and recommendations on incorporating the philosophy and practices of the Rite of Passage Experience into its juvenile offender programs and strategies on a permanent basis, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2009; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Office of Youth Services, the Department of Human Services, the Attorney General, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Alu Like, the American Civil Liberties Union, Right of Passage, Inc., the Family Court, the Department of Health, and the Department of Education.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

Office of Youth Services; Reintegration of Juvenile Offenders