(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s juvenile correction facilities could lean towards rehabilitation and accountability as an alternative to detention in the near future, according to a new report.
While youth crime in Milwaukee County has grown back to pre-pandemic levels, at roughly 1,450 referrals to the youth justice system in 2024, the severity of crimes and frequency of repeat offenders has increased, the report by Wisconsin Policy Forum states.
Half of referrals to the youth justice system in the county last year involved repeat offenders, while the county’s youth detention center faces overcrowding.
In response, Milwaukee County is assessing the effectiveness of the rehabilitation program as opposed to costly detention facilities.
One such program is the Milwaukee County Accountability Program.
“MCAP was designed in part to respond to concern with the treatment of youth at state-run detention facilities, as well as a desire to keep Milwaukee County youth closer to home and provide them with more robust services,” the report said.
To be eligible for MCAP, a youth must be considered at high risk for reoffending and not be designated to a state-run detention facility by a judge.
In contrast to Wisconsin’s detention facilities, the report notes, “MCAP youth receive intensive supervision, structure, support, and skill building for up to 180 days, after which they transition to the community for at-home supervision, case management, and behavioral intervention for up to 180 more days.”
MCAP’s annual admissions have doubled since 2018 (with 65 admittees in 2024) while commitments to Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools, two of Wisconsin’s primary juvenile detention facilities, have decreased considerably (109 in 2015 to 40 in 2024).
The taxpayer cost to enroll youth in MCAP is significantly less than the cost to incarcerate youth in a detention facility.
The current daily rate to incarcerate each youth at a state-run detention facility is $1,268, or $462,820 per year, while the cost to enroll each youth in MCAP is about one-third of the taxpayer cost at $460 per day depending on the services provided, according to information first reported by Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service.
The Wisconsin Policy Forum report concludes MCAP could be used as a model for alternative correctional facilities in the state if it demonstrates success on two metrics: program completion and recidivism, the tendency of a convicted criminal to reoffend.
“Standardizing methods by which the county and state track recidivism could help determine if rehabilitative and non-secure care alternatives produce better outcomes compared to sentences to state juvenile facilities,” the report finds.
This determination would be particularly valuable as Milwaukee County transitions to a new youth correctional facility in Wauwatosa, set to open in 2026.
However, the report indicates MCAP only tracks youth activity up to one year following program completion. According to information from MCAP, 60 out of 383 youth have reoffended within one year of discharge, at a recidivism rate of 16%.
This makes it difficult to compare MCAP’s success rate to data from Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools since those facilities can track a repeat offender’s relapse up to three years after discharge.
The lack of long-term assessment of MCAP’s success with rehabilitation and prevention of recidivism could hinder its adaption to juvenile correctional facilities in the future, the report says.
