More changes are coming to the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice. Governor Beshear announced during his Team Kentucky briefing, that male juveniles will soon be housed based on their offenses related to the potential for violent, disruptive behavior.
The Governor said the current method was set up around 20 years ago and things have drastically changed.
“Youth population at that time was nowhere near as violent in terms of the charges that the juveniles have been charged with as we are seeing right now.”
Governor said the old way of housing these young people is just not working anymore.
“We’ve reached a level serving this population within the old regional model that is no longer safe, either to our workers, we’ve just had multiple very seriously hurt by the juveniles they serve.”
The governor said conditions are also no longer safe for the juveniles held in these facilities. Governor Beshear said currently of the 155 male juveniles held in Kentucky, nearly half are charged with Capital or A, B, or C felonies.
Last week the Governor announced that all of Kentucky’s female juveniles who are convicted will be held at a separate facility in Campbell County.
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