Panel of state lawmakers to scrutinize problems within Kentucky's Dept. of Juvenile Justice

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The state is launching a new investigation into the many problems with Kentucky's Department of Juvenile Justice.

State lawmakers voted unanimously Friday to adopt Senate Resolution Number 31. The measure creates a work group that will look into the staffing and administrative structures of the DJJ.

Republican State Sen. David Givens of Greensburg proposed the resolution and said it isn't a direct answer to the problems. But he hopes the work group will provide a better path forward.

"Crisis is not an adequate word for what's going on here," Givens said. "Crisis doesn't even start to touch the depth of this problem."

The work group will have four members of the House, four members of the Senate and up to four additional nonvoting members.

Exactly who the members will be remains unclear, but Democrat State Sen. David Yates says he looks forward to working with the group moving forward.

"What we do is we work to mend but when it comes to children, I think we have our best, best odds of making those great improvements," he said.

One of the main tasks will be to determine whether the state should reopen the Jefferson County Youth Detention Center that closed because of budget cuts in 2019.

In the House, Republican Kentucky Rep. Kevin Bratcher of Jefferson County is sponsoring a bill aimed at securing the funds needed to open another juvenile detention center in Louisville.

Bratcher said the original goal was to raise $6.5 million but now says "it's going to be more than that." He said is goal is to be able to build a state of the art facility in downtown to offer much needed resources to youth going down a dangerous path.

"We want the ones that get caught for serious crimes to have services. If you catch them and release them, you don't have the chance to reach them," said Bratcher.

The work group that will be created based on Senate Resolution Number 31 will also look at the breakdown that's happening within the juvenile justice facilities and the support that's needed to retain staff and provide safe conditions for both employees and juveniles.

Before the vote, Democrat State Sen. Reggie Thomas of Lexington said he supported the resolution noting that everyone should feel a responsibility to fix things.

"This is not a problem that has been ignored or overlooked or where we as a general assembly aren't at fault as well," Thomas said. "When we talk about getting it right, we need to get it right too."

The work group will also determine whether the DJJ is should continue its operations or whether juvenile facilities need to fall back under the control of the Department of Corrections.

The investigation comes after Gov. Andy Beshear announced in December that changes were coming for DJJ in 2023 including separating juveniles based on the seriousness of their offenses and providing additional protective gear to employees.

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