Several individuals employed with the Dallas County Juvenile Department spoke on behalf of the department at Tuesday’s Commissioners Court meeting attended by The Dallas Express.
One of the speakers was Virginia Ward, who manages contracts for Dallas County.
“I’m really concerned this morning because I feel the department is under attack,” Ward told the commissioners.
She explained that all facilities have issues, but the solution is to allow the facilities to correct those issues, saying, “Don’t attack us at a time of revival, and we’re trying to put ourselves back together.”
Commissioner Dr. Elba Garcia clarified that no one was trying to attack the juvenile justice department, but county officials have heard reports from parents that their children are being treated in concerning ways, and those issues need to be addressed.
Some criticism stems from a report released in March covered by The Dallas Express that revealed around two-thirds of juveniles were detained for months when they should have been released in days.
Additionally, the Dallas County Juvenile Department (DCJD) is suing the Commissioners Court over its subpoena of the department’s observation records, which would reveal juvenile offenders’ daily whereabouts and the time they spend in solitary confinement. The DCJD alleges in its lawsuit that the Commissioners Court has “neither the right to request nor the right to view” the documents, as The Dallas Express previously reported.
“When we talk about the juvenile department, when we talk about kids incarceration, isolation, and [the] amount of cases that are coming out … we know we have to do something different,” Garcia said.
Several people from the DCJD spoke about being vilified by the media, discredited, and “possibly betrayed.” Another talked about the emotional challenges of working with youth who verbally assault, spit, and sometimes attack the officers.
Because of the nature of the job and the impacts of COVID-19, staffing shortages within the department were an issue they pointed to repetitively.
Some parents have claimed that children in the care of the DCJD are expected to stay in their cells for most of the day, are not being fed adequately, and are rarely allowed to go outside, Governing reported.
Darryl Beatty, the department’s director of juvenile services, told The Dallas Morning News on June 13 that the staffing shortage may be a factor in the allegations. Despite this, each of the DCJD presenters emphasized a love for the work and the kids, with one probation officer even using her own money to help the kids assigned to her.
“We all genuinely share a passion for what we do,” probation officer Samantha Lee told Commissioners. “We often give time outside of our own problems to make sure that the youths’ needs are being met, including we often give funds of our own.”
The concern about the ability of the DCJD to effectively rehabilitate kids when they are in their care could stem from a recent uptick in crime in Dallas. There have been 153 murders in Dallas so far this year, up 9% from this time last year, according to the City’s July 31 crime briefing.
Further, neighboring cities like Fort Worth have a significantly lower crime rate in their downtown areas, which could be a product of a dedicated city police force and private security patrols that Downtown Dallas does not currently have. A report found that Dallas has a shortage of about 900 police officers. For a city the size of Dallas, 4,000 officers are needed, and the city currently only has 3,100.
