In July 2019, the Juvenile Justice Coalition of the Quad Cities expressed concerns about the proposed expansion of the Scott County Juvenile Detention Center and the county jail. We are pleased to learn the plan to expand the county jail for adults is on hold. However, we remain very concerned by the Scott County Board’s use of public funds to hire a private company in developing a publicity campaign for a new juvenile detention center.
According to Tammy Speidel, Scott County facilities director, an "old warehouse" that also previously served as a "jail facility" is being considered as a potential new juvenile detention center. We also learned the juvenile assessment center may be co-located above the detention center.
The coalition applauds and supports the promising diversion and interventions programs Scott County Juvenile Court Services is currently offering. We especially welcome the county’s expansion of the use of restorative justice circles to include young people who are facing first-time charges for their alleged involvement with property crimes.
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We understand the need for a modernized detention center to more adequately and safely stabilize young people while they await trial. We also applaud the principles of a two-tiered youth assessment center, a community referral process and a law enforcement referral process.
We agree and are convinced early assessment and interventions are key to brightening a young person’s future. We strongly urge the community referral process is funded, immediately, at a neutral, trusted, community-based venue and not co-located with the juvenile assessment center. It is important that young people have a safe place where they can "self-refer." And a place where perhaps a parent, family member, teacher, pastor or coach can walk a child in and connect to resources. The place matters. Young people are smart. Even the most sophisticated "no wrong door" policy is not enough to bridge the trust gap.
We have deeper concerns. The Scott County Fiscal Year 2019 Juvenile Detention and Diversion Annual Report contains sobering data. The report shows 75% of the 348 detention center admissions were African American young people. This is an increase from 57% of the 168 admissions in fiscal year 2015. We also learned in the report, that while 25 young women were admitted to the detention center in fiscal year 2015, 68 were admitted in fiscal year 2019 — a 172% increase.
The disproportionate contact the Scott County juvenile legal system has with young African Americans is as haunting as the inequities found within the Davenport School District in 2018. Detention is already having a detrimental, disproportionate impact on young African American Davenport residents.
We are reminded of the American Academy of Pediatrics 2017 report, "How Does Incarcerating Young People Affect Their Adult Health Outcomes". It says, "…the small existing literature on longitudinal health effects of youth incarceration suggests that any incarceration during adolescence of young adulthood is associated with worse general health, severe functional limitations ... incarceration may also compound existing socioeconomic and psycho-social health risks..."
We emphasize here, that no juvenile or adult legal system — or school district, for that matter — is an island or in a vacuum. Davenport’s structural inequities of economic and political power, and racial bias, continue to explicitly and implicitly impact all of our daily lives. The disproportionate number of young people of color in detention and suspended from school should not be considered a coincidence or solely a consequence of lack of parenting or community support. We have issues of equity and race that remain unaddressed.
In his Friday, Feb. 26 news conference discussing the shooting death of 14-year-old Jamon Winfrey, a frustrated and saddened Davenport Police Chief Paul Sikorski correctly assessed the "complex issues of poverty, education, housing, mental health, and substance use" as contributors to the crisis facing young people and their families.
For those issues to be met, individually and collectively, we must go beyond assessment and to appropriation. We are calling on the City of Davenport and Scott County to revisit their respective budgets and enhance their investments in workforce development, affordable housing, and behavioral health that are needed to create paths forward for children and families to succeed. Without additional resources to meet the referrals, we are only reinforcing false hopes and expectations.
Thus far, the United Way of the Quad Cities and Quad Cities Community Foundation have led the community’s "Equity Challenge" conversation. Both private entities are making symbolic contributions to community-based organizations doing great work in the community. But only the public sector, our respective city and county governments, have the funding and the structures to address the historic and immediate inequities of our community.
