Director of Troubled Youth Agency to Retire
Cherie Townsend, the executive director of the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, announced Tuesday that she will retire at the end of June after nearly four years leading the state's institutions for youth offenders.
In an email sent Tuesday morning to agency staff, Townsend wrote that in the last couple of months, as the agency has struggled to deal with reports of increasing violence and safety concerns at the state's youth lockups, her "values and principles related to best practices in juvenile justice" have detracted from "the mission and work of the agency."
Agency spokesman Jim Hurley had no ...
Comments (3)
Karen Riedel
Let me get this straight. Less than a year ago, Kimbrough was led off the grounds of the Texas A&M University System headquarters for threatening personnel with a knife. And he is now in charge of the Texas Juvenile Justice Department?
Eileen Garcia
With facilities in a state of crisis, it seems all the more critical that our state look to proven strategies of rehabilitation. When facilities struggle to retain experienced staff, it should not be a surprise that disorder would ensue. When disorder ensues, it seems predictable that youth will act out. With the forefront concern of safety and protection of youth, transferring youth to adult facilities --where their safety will surely be compromised -- should not be an option. Our juvenile justice system exists apart from the adult system to maximize the opportunity for rehabilitation -- an outcome that benefits the youth involved in the system and our communities as a whole. We all lose in a scenario where we create more adult criminals.
Francisco Medina
I am sadden by all by the state of disorder T.J.J.D., formerly T.Y.C., has arrived. I'm a former proud T.Y.C. employee. I can remember when we were able to change the youths' lives, but saddly that
all changed, 6 to 7 years ago, to attempt to manage youth behavior. To be able to get a better under-
standing, one would have to be on the front line dealing with the youth on a daily, weekly, monthly,
yearly basis. We are not dealing with the youth of the 1980s or 1990s, the youth we are dealing with
are a reflection of our present society -- perhaps we should look to change our present laws, policies,
guidelines. Then we have our line staff, who I can understand their frustration, due to their first time
being exposed to this environment, lacking proper training, lacking proper support, and expecting no
end to the madding behavior some youth display, due to lack of appropriate consequences to deter
such behavior. Then we got the rest of us who are reactive rather than proactive, who downplay in-
stead of calling it what it is due to politics and the security of our careers. For lack of a better cliche,
"We need to wake up and smell the coffee", not all youth will respond to Senator Whitmir's phrase
"hug a thug". For the safety of all staff and youth, chronic disruptive youth need to housed in a safe, secure, closely supervised, restrictive environment.