Last week, Maine lawmakers discussed a bill that would give police the option to refer adolescents accused of a crime to state health officials for an evaluation instead of sending them to juvenile court.
The proposed legislation, LD 740, is designed to identify and address the underlying reasons why teens are getting into trouble with the law without sending them into the juvenile justice system, exposure to which can have a negative effect. Proponents pitched the idea as a way to respond to high rates of behavioral health needs among teens getting in trouble.
The discussion, however, hit a familiar snag: How exactly would the collaboration between health and corrections officials work?
The fractured oversight of teens in Maine’s juvenile justice system, where kids are supervised by one state agency but frequently depend on another to receive services that would help them stay out of trouble, has been a sticking point in policy conversations in recent years without a clear path to resolution.
Maine is one of the few states in the nation where the juvenile justice system is housed under the state agency that oversees adult corrections, as opposed to a department dedicated to programs for children and families. That means officials at the Maine Department of Corrections frequently rely on the Maine Department of Health and Human Services for services that help kids stay out of trouble, such as behavioral health programs or foster care.
That structure has generated frustration in the past, particularly around which department bears the responsibility of providing the support that kids need to stay out of trouble and avoid incarceration.
Sen. Anne “Pinny” Beebe-Center, D-Rockland, who co-chairs the Maine Legislature’s criminal justice committee, acknowledged that lawmakers and state officials have not found a way to take action on issues that have come up time and time again before the committee. But she felt confident that department officials and lawmakers were committed to changing that.
“We’re having the conversations. We’re just not doing anything,” she said in an interview. “I think we have agreed upon values, but we’re not forming the goal with those values.”
In the spring of 2023, members of the Legislature’s criminal justice committee debated a bill that would have done the opposite of the current bill and made it easier to detain youth at Long Creek Youth Development Center, Maine’s only youth prison, in response to reports of out-of-control kids in Rockland and Fairfield.
Supporters of the legislation, which did not pass, argued that corrections officials needed to take stronger action when kids repeatedly break the law, whereas opponents believed that child welfare officials should take greater responsibility for the underlying causes of the offenses, such as unstable living situations or untreated mental health diagnoses. Even the sponsor of the bill, former Rep. David LaFountain, D-Winslow, said he introduced the measure to get the attention of the state’s health department.
The relationship between the departments arose last year, too, when a different bill prompted lawmakers to question whether the department of corrections should give up its oversight of juvenile services and hand it over to health officials. (Both health and corrections officials have opposed that idea.)
The relationship between departments arose again during Thursday’s hearing at the Maine Legislature. Both health and corrections officials said they supported the goal of the diversion bill. (A similar version narrowly passed the Legislature last year but failed to receive funding.) But they said they opposed the bill itself due to concerns about costs and anticipated difficulties carrying it out.
“We love diversion. We like to keep kids out of the system,” said Christine Thibeault, associate commissioner for the division of juvenile services within the corrections department. “The opposition to the bill is really very technical.” For example, the state’s juvenile code doesn’t obligate health officials to participate in efforts to divert youth from court, she said.
Dean Bugaj, associate director of children’s behavioral health services within the health department, said he agreed with the goal of diverting youth into therapeutic services instead of the criminal justice system. But it would likely add significant costs to his department during “these challenging financial times,” he said, alluding to a state budget shortfall and shifts in federal priorities that have threatened budgets for health programs.
There have been some recent efforts to force a more unified strategy between the health and corrections departments, although it hasn’t resulted in substantial changes.
For instance, in 2023, a law went into effect that required corrections officials to submit an annual report to the Legislature that contained a strategic plan developed by both agencies — to get them to work together to solve problems facing the juvenile justice system.
Thibeault presented that report to lawmakers on Thursday. It did not contain a strategic plan, but one section of the report discussed how the departments work together on individual cases and initiatives that fall under both their purviews, such as ensuring that youth are enrolled in health insurance before they leave incarceration.
Thibeault told a reporter that the report satisfied the requirement of the law, which did not prescribe what kind of information a strategic plan should include, or what such a plan should look like, describing the language in the statute as a “loose end.”
She added that the corrections department had been reluctant to put together a comprehensive document with more specific objectives while the state was in the process of negotiating with the U.S. Department of Justice over how to resolve a complaint that Maine was unlawfully forcing scores of youth with disabilities into institutions, including Long Creek, due to a shortage of community-based services. The state and the Justice Department reached a settlement in federal court last November that outlines steps the state must take to rebuild services over the next several years, as well as a process for overseeing the progress.
Maine law also required corrections and health officials to review other states to learn about their best practices and organizational structures for juvenile justice services. But the corrections department’s annual report did not mention the status of that review, and lawmakers did not ask about it on Thursday.
Reporter Callie Ferguson may be reached at [email protected].
