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Preliminary
Planning
The preliminary planning recommendations listed below
are based upon literature, data for Austin/Travis County, focus groups,
and input from community members. These recommendations attempt to address
the needs of offenders, victims, and the community. Preliminary recommendations
for improving public safety in Travis County include:
- Create a Balance between Funding for Incarceration
and Funding for Prevention/Intervention: Change focus from
reacting to criminal behavior to an approach that addresses root causes
of criminal behavior. Publicly and fiscally recognize that, in the long
run, prevention and intervention cost less and are more successful than
incarceration.
- Improve the Delivery of Prevention Services: Develop
and implement a comprehensive prevention method that directs services to
youth at risk of offending and their families and that holistically and for
an effective duration addresses known risk factors for crime.
- Provide Positive Activities for Youth during the
After-School Hours. Provide positive activities for youth
during the hours when most juvenile crime occurs.
- Improve Services for Victims of Child Abuse and
Neglect: Increase resources to reduce caseloads, increase
salaries, and improve training of child welfare workers so that victims
of child abuse and neglect and their families are better served
- Improve the Social Service System for all Victims: Develop
and implement a more accessible, less fragmented system of services for victims
of crime, so as to break the cycle of violence. Studies show that youth who
are victimized and those who witness violence are at a higher risk of engaging
in criminal behavior.
- Better Prepare Incarcerated Adults for Release
into the Community: Implement a comprehensive continuum of
services for incarcerated adults by which to prepare them for release
into the community. Continue providing services for adults released from
incarceration, to help them move towards self-sufficiency and reduce
the high rates of recidivism.
- Improve Data Availability and Quality: Improve
access to and quality of data relating to public safety, so that the community
can make more planning decisions.
As a planning body in Travis County, the Community
Justice Council has taken initial steps to address the second recommendation.
The Council is pursuing the concept of a community assessment center
to improve the delivery of services to children and families in Austin/Travis
County. The center would provide comprehensive assessment and referral
to youth at risk of offending, as well as their families.
In addition, the Victim Services 2000 Task Force
recently reconvened to work towards improving the victim services system
in Travis County.
Finally, the Austin region's Parole Office has
connected with a community-based council that has recently been created
to begin community dialogue about the need for addressing the re-integration
of offenders into the community.
The hope is that these efforts will be pulled
together into an action plan that will improve public safety for the
entire community. The Community Justice Council has taken initial steps
to address the development of a comprehensive action plan for the community
by the creating the Community Justice 2000 Work Group. This group,
consisting of community members and representatives from governmental
entities, is charged with developing an action plan, as well as developing
and implementing community justice pilot projects and engaging neighborhoods
and schools throughout Travis County in community justice planning.
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