Camden one of four N.J. cities to host juvenile reentry pilot program

New Jersey has launched a two-year pilot program that helps young people transition back into their communities after being incarcerated and aims to prevent youth from getting involved in crime in general.

Camden, Newark, Paterson and Trenton will evenly split $8.4 million over the next two fiscal years to establish support service hubs, per a bill that acting Gov. Sheila Oliver signed Wednesday. Gov. Phil Murphy is currently vacationing in Italy with his family.

• MORE NEWS
• Watch the peak of the Perseid meteor shower this week
• Man wrongfully convicted of Barbara Jean Horn's 1988 murder in Northeast Philly does 'Dateline NBC' interview
• Pennsylvania enacts a 'vaccine or test' requirement for some state workers

The program, Restorative and Transformative Justice for Youths and Communities, aims to prevent initial or repeated involvement with the youth justice system.

"When our young people leave juvenile justice facilities and return to society, too many of them are ill-equipped to meet the challenges they will face. Too often they fall through the cracks because of underfunded, over-burdened community-based services," Senator Nellie Pou, one of the sponsors of the bill, said.

According to the bill, New Jersey annually spends $53 million on juvenile detention centers, compared to $16 million on community programs.

"The cost of incarcerating a child in our state juvenile facilities is exorbitant," Oliver said, WHYY reported. "The amount that we spend on community programs, like some of the programs that operate here, pales in comparison."

There's also an issue of racial inequality. Data from the Sentencing Project shows New Jersey is one of four states where Black youth are at least 10 times more likely to be held in placement than their white peers.

"Despite the fact that research shows that Black and white youth commit most offenses at similar rates, New Jersey has the highest Black to white youth incarceration racial disparity in the country," Oliver said, according to WHYY.

The bill outlines two main components of the reentry program: community-based reentry services and restorative justice hubs.

The community-based services include mentoring, substance abuse treatment and help finding jobs. Each county will take applications from community organizations to participate in the program, which the Juvenile Justice Commission will then review and make recommendations on which should receive funding.

The restorative justice centers will be a physical space where youth and family can go to to heal, reconnect and build healthy relationships and resolve local conflicts, the state says.