I've recently been examining the history of juvenile justice reform, specifically in Texas. In the last three to five years, almost every large juvenile justice system has been going through reform. Hard to call it reform actually, since it is based in part on the recession. Regardless of the reason, people are trying to find ways to work smarter, and less costly to the taxpayers.
Economic drive reform tends to forget history. Reform is difficult, and never lasts. You would think that the days of evidence based practice and research driven outcomes would help this latest round of reform stick.
In every movement in history, reform loses to the reality of the day. People do not really care about the payoff tomorrow. Safety for the day is more convenient. For the public, for the workers in the system, for the politicians. With the politicians, maybe it is better to say the vote of the day. Reform takes time. Energy, movement, focus.
Is it too much to ask for patience? Time will tell, but history says it is too much. We have never been able to wait, and now it is happening in a fast food, internet savvy, microwave generation. History would also say that when the bows of reform break, and we go back to doing things the "old" way, the winners are never the juveniles.
