PEF President Ken Brynien's Statement on Task Force Report - Transforming Juvenile Justice

ALBANY, NY (12/14/2009)(readMedia)-- "The governor's task force on transforming juvenile justice released it's findings and recommendations today," said Kenneth Brynien, president of the New York State Public Employees Federation (PEF). "As a member of the task force, I am supportive of many of the recommendations, a significant number of which PEF has advocated over the past decade. The report is also an indictment of Commissioner Gladys Carrion's nearly three-year tenure as the leader of the state Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS).

"For years, PEF has highlighted the need to reform the juvenile justice system. We agree with the problem areas identified by the task force: lack of adequate mental health services; lack of special education teachers; and a need to move toward a therapeutic, rather than a correctional, model of rehabilitation. We agree implementation of a majority of the recommendations in the report would result in a vastly improved system of care.

"However, it is also evident Commissioner Carrion has failed in her duties as commissioner by refusing to take responsibility for a broken system. She has failed our troubled youths, their families and our communities.

"The commissioner spent nearly three years on nothing more than a public relations campaign focusing on her own goal of handing off our troubled youths to community-based programs incapable of providing the services these youths require or of keeping our communities safe. In fact, inappropriate placements of youths in a group home in Lockport resulted in the June 8 death of Renee Greco, a 24-year-old youth counselor. A runaway youth from a Rochester group home was recently convicted of attempted murder for shooting Rochester Police Officer Anthony DiPonzio, and in May, a dozen youths ran away from the Randloph Children's Home in Cattaraugus County. Dumping our troubled youths into ill-prepared community-based programs only shifts the responsibility of rehabilitating these youths to a less accountable, less transparent venue.

"More than two years ago, Carrion had an opportunity to lead. Today it is clear OCFS has suffered under her lack of leadership and misguided agenda. Our juvenile justice system can be repaired if a majority of the report's recommendations are implemented. We stand ready to improve services to help the state's troubled youths, but we urge legislative leaders to proceed with caution and put the best interest of our troubled youths and the safety of our communities ahead of the personal agenda of Commissioner Carrion," Brynien said.

PEF is the state's second-largest state-employee union, representing 59,000 professional, scientific and technical employees, including nearly 2,000 employees at OCFS facilities.