All right. So first, addressing,
the kind of a high profile
incident that the chief sent
out a couple photos with.
There were two people,
22 youth who were charged.
Right. Can you kind of bring
us up to speed on where that is
that what you're able to say?
Yes. So we at the Hennepin Couny
Attorney's office can only chare
a case if it's brought to us
by police or law enforcement.
In that particular case,
MPD did forward us two cases at
about 9:00 o'clock in the mornig
and within about 2 1/2 hours we
had charged both of those youth.
And then by that afternoon bothf
those youth were on the calenda,
which means they just appeared
before a judge who then made
the decision about whether they
should be detained or not.
And so I just want to just drill
down a little bit on the statemt
made by the chief which said.
For the past year,
they've been allowed to continue
to wreak havoc in our neighborhs
with no recourse and no consequences.
We cannot continue to tolerate this behavior.
I'm just wondering, first of al,
what how does that statement strike you?
I've spoken to Chief O'Hara a nr
of times and we both agree that
the juvenile system as it has bn
working is not working right no,
particularly in the area of the car thefts.
The problems we have with Kia and Hyundai,
the problems with youth who are
driving those cars in a a manner that
might endanger them or other pe.
And so we are trying to get ahead of that.
We're trying to be proactive on that.
As I mentioned, we can only chaa
case if law enforcement brings it to us.
So sometimes the public will hear about
cases where youth or adults are arrested.
That does not mean the case has
been forwarded to us for chargig
and youth can only be held for a
fairly short period of time.
That can give law enforcement an
opportunity to do more investigation,
to be able to build their case.
We can and have and will contine
to ask for extensions on that to
give law enforcement more time.
So once we get a case,
then that person that.
Juvenile goes before a judge
and then a judge decides whether
that youth should be detained,
let go on electronical monitorig
or released.
So we are trying to,
we are being very proactive and trying to
bring all of the justice partners together.
We met with all of the police cs
in Hennepin County last week.
We're meeting with all different
entities that actually don't
normally speak to each other and
I'm talking about child protect.
When a youth runs away from hom,
when a youth isn't in school,
normally those systems,
because of data privacy,
don't really speak to each othe.
So we are trying to be very
proactive and collaborative and
try to get services to that youh
and the family early on until te
behavior or trying to intervene
before the behavior escalates io
the more dangerous behavior,
do you think?
You think that no recourse and
no consequences is an accurate
depiction of what's going on.
I I I wouldn't say that
there are consequences.
But the really critical issue he
and and and the chief and I have
talked about this is that for yh
they need really quick intervenn
and they need quick consequence.
Anybody who's been around youth knows
that if you try to hold a youth
accountable months down the roa,
it just isn't going to resonate
the way it would if.
We could intervene early.
So what we're trying to focus
on is that early intervention.
For instance, Minneapolis Police
Department used to have a reall,
really effective youth intervenn
diversion program where the
cases didn't even come to us.
This would be on low level case,
joyriding,
that kind of thing and they coud
just refer the youth to diversi.
Who would reach out to the yout?
And the data on that showed that
that program was highly success.
COVID took that away.
We have met with Chief O'Hara ad
he's committed to getting that .
But there are other times when a
youth just hasn't been brought .
Or maybe law enforcement knows t
they're out there repeatedly in cars,
but they haven't brought us chargeable cases.
So we're trying to work on a
collaboration that would allow s
to look at those individual you.
Before they come into the system
and figure out what we can do
to help stabilize that youth and
the family and to provide quick,
effective accountability so that
those youth that we know are involved
in this repeated behavior get
whatever services that they nee.
And on the note of not receiving cases,
I covered the dinky town chaos m
the week weekend before last an.
You guys weren't given cases by Minneapolis
police in order to consider charges for
we were not. And I know just frm
reading about it, it was chaoti.
I certainly understand
their reasons why police.
So when police arrest somebody,
they arrest them because they
think they have probable cause.
For a case.
But often they're arresting peoe
for probable cause to get time
to do further investigation,
to try to make sure they have
a case to give to us.
I believe in one of those cases,
we did ask a judge for an extenn
of that time to give law enforct
more of an opportunity to investigate,
but we still didn't get this ca.
So we didn't get any cases.
From that behavior in Dickey To,
Right. So like, if police brougt
you a case with evidence that ty
arrested somebody for stomping
on somebody on the street,
you you would probably charge t.
Yes. With those facts. Yes.
Yeah. And so that might be kindf
a misperception that people hav,
like when it comes to the Dickey
Town thing, for example. Right.
I think it is.
And I think the system is is.
Complicated, and I think sometimes the
public tends to perceive they dt
understand the difference betwen
an arrest or ability to charge.
I think it's also confusing that
is the juvenile detention center that
makes the decision about whether
to book a youth into the center.
We don't make that decision.
So in other words,
law enforcement brings that you.
They can ask that the youth be
booked and they will be booked
on certain types of charges,
especially a charge involving a gun or other.
Violent behavior law enforcement
can also ask for an override if
that offense isn't on the list,
for which juvenile detention
center will book somebody.
All right, so keeping going down that road,
what happens when a juvenile is arrested?
And you can use a couple different examples,
like maybe a stolen car joyrided
a stolen car with weapons, likes
a couple examples.
So stolen car weapons,
let's say a car Jack.
Let's give that as an example.
MPD or any other police agency can bring
that youth to the juvenile deten
center and they will be booked.
And that's not a process that involves
the county attorney's office at.
If that youth, they want to charge the youth
or they want us to charge the youth with,
say, joyrider or even stealing a car,
that doesn't involve violence,
it doesn't involve a gun, that'.
The type of case where youth wod
not normally be booked into the.
However, if law enforcement knows that that
youth has been involved in other car thefts,
even if they haven't been charg,
they can make that request of the juvenile
detention center to book that yh
anyway because of those other circumstances.
Once a youth is booked,
and even when they're not,
then law enforcement,
when they are done with their investigation,
can forward a case to the
County Attorney's office.
We are now committing committedo
charging cases that are out of custody,
so these are youth who are not being booked.
We are moving our resources arod
to make sure that we can make a
charging decision within 5 days.
That's much more quickly than charging
decisions have ever been made ot
of custody cases and that's bece
we're dedicated to trying to get
that quick intervention with yo.
But then if a if youth is detaid
or is in the JDC,
they have a legal right to go before a
judge within a short period of .
And it is the judge who decides whether
to continue to detain that yout.
Let them go on electronical monitoring.
Or release them to their home.
We don't make that decision.
We're certainly there in court advocating
for what we think is appropriat.
But ultimately that decision is
up to a judge.
And then let's say they're rele.
The question is then how long ds
it take to resolve their case?
And I think that's a big gap he.
It can take months for a youth
who's out of custody,
who makes the first appearance
until when their case is resolv,
what are they getting then?
What's happening with them and ,
those are the youth that actualy
aren't getting any resources whatsoever
because their case has not been,
you know, resolved yet.
And I think those are some of the youth
that law enforcement and community are
seeing coming in and repeated car theft.
We are trying to close that gap as well.
So we're being very proactive,
trying to bring in all of our justice
partners, law enforcement, the county.
Probation, everybody.
Community.
Because we know right now we're
having a particular issue with h
and stolen cars and speeding ch,
which are dangerous to both
the youth and the community.
And we know that that is somethg
we all need to focus on right n.
So besides bringing a quick end of the case,
is there anything within your pr
or anybody else's power to give
them something in that in betwen
time when they're out of custod?
Yeah. So one interesting thing is an adult.
Who's released from jail?
A judge can order them to
have certain services.
We call it conditional release.
That is not the case for youth.
I know probation is embarking
on a pilot project where they
are doing conditional release.
We've asked them to include youh
who are on car theft charges.
They're not doing that right no,
but we're trying to work with them to
encourage them to include those youth.
So at least there's some servics
there while that youth is
awaiting resolution of the case.
And by waiting,
I mean they're out of custody.
So if a juvenile gets arrested,
the police will bring them to te
JDC which which will then decide
whether they are booked or not.
The police have somewhat of a
an option to ask for it even
if it's denied if they think
that circumstances call for it.
So I would say so JDC has a lis.
Of offense types like car carjacking,
anything with a gun where police know
that if they bring a youth who's charged
or who they want to be charged ,
one of those offenses will be booked.
There are other times where the youth
has been arrested for a car the,
something like that.
That is not on the list of caser
which JDC would book a youth, however.
If there is more going on
there with that youth,
law enforcement can ask for
the JDC to do an override,
which means JDC would book that youth.
There is another option there t.
If law enforcement knows that tt
youth will not be booked because
of the nature of the offense,
and they choose not to ask for an override,
they can bring the youth to the
YCC youth connection and they w.
Or get them connected with
a caseworker resources.
They hold youth until an apprope
adult can come and pick them up,
so that's an option as well.
OK, if the juvenile is booked tn
they need to see a judge fairly
quickly the same way an adult wd
in like a bond hearing, right? r
no so so there's another
step in between there too.
So a youth is booked.
That simply means that law enforcement
believes they have probable cau,
that this youth has committed a
certain offense. They then are
given a fairly short period of ,
36 hours in which to forward a case to us.
We actually have 36 hours in
which to charge a case.
So there's the booking.
And then law enforcement still
has to forward a case to us.
So when you were talking about Dinky Ton,
before they did arrest people,
they were booked,
but we didn't get any of
the cases for charging.
So if somebody is booked at the
JDC or even the adult jail.
And there is no case forwarded to us.
There's nothing for us to do.
And that probable cause period
time runs out and then the JDC
automatically releases that you.
I mentioned that we can ask forn
extension from the judge and we do that.
We've gotten them granted,
but even then with an extension
we still need to be able to chae
or that youth is going to be.
Released once they're charged,
then the youth has There's a sml
time frame where the youth has
the right to go before a judge,
who then is going to look at
the youth again and look at the
background and make the decision
of whether that youth stays in
JDC or whether they are released
OK And that's kind of similar to like
an adult bond hearing in a way,.
At that point the judge decides
whether the youth stays.
Stays detained or goes home with
the parents or on monitoring ano
forth and from that point forwad
then it's just like a criminal
case where they have to come
back to court for court hearing.
Eventually there might be a trial or.
Whatever is that
is that it is.
But the time frames are much shorter.
So for youth, the time to trial is 30 days,
and the juvenile detention center was
never meant to be a treatment facility.
Juvenile detention center,
much like the Downtown Detention Center
for adults, is a holding area, right?
It's just meant to hold either a juvenile
or an adult until their case is resolved.
So one of the gaps there too is Okay,
we resolve a youth case,
let's say that kid is detained, right.
We come to resolution what happens then?
And I would say that's a huge gap here
because we don't have the continuum of
care that Ramsey County is is seeking
from the legislature and has received
to offer youth in Hennepin Coun.
So that's a big gap.
And it's those cases where you might have a
kid on a carjacking or something like that,
they're detained,
their case is resolved.
What next?
And we don't have the options
that we need to provide that
kind of rehabilitation services.
Some of those, you know,
like the Ramsey County bill,
they're talking about a continuum of care,
which means.
Varying levels of security,
Smallish group homes in community where
services are brought to the you.
In other words, mental health,
trauma treatment.
The problem with sending a youth to Utah,
which Hennepin County does Milwaukee,
Duluth, all of these other plac.
They may do well there,
but then what happens after tha?
They go back to their community.
They don't have those relationss
with a therapist.
And then they go,
they sometimes go right back ino
the kinds of behavior that we we
trying to avoid in the 1st plac.
So these types of small group h.
With varying levels of securitye
been shown to be very successful
because they allow that youth
to have those services in their
community so that when they aret
and they're struggling with tra,
drug use, alcohol use, mental health,
they have people to contact in community.
So that's what we need that's nt
we don't have that right now.
So that's a big gap there and ts
what's happening with a lot of youth that.
They get out and there's no
conditional release,
so they're not getting anything
until their case is resolved,
which can be months,
yeah?