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• Reducing the number of confined juveniles is important because officials say that money can instead be used for other programs to help juveniles. Also, research indicates that when juveniles who are at low risk for becoming repeat offenders are put into secured detention, they may continue criminal behavior instead of being rehabilitated, said state Court Administrator Greg Sattizahn.
• Nationwide, the juvenile confinement rate fell by 42 percent from 2001 to 2011, the last year for which U.S. Justice Department figures were available, but South Dakota's rate declined by just 5 percent in that period for youth in detention centers, juvenile prisons and other supervised residential facilities, the report said.
• However, South Dakota has opened the door to improvement by adopting four of six reforms deemed important to reducing juvenile incarceration, the report said. South Dakota restricted the use of secure detention, increased the availability of community-based alternatives to incarceration, closed or downsized some confinement facilities and avoided confinement for minor offenses, it said. South Dakota has not reduced schools' reliance on the justice system to deal with discipline issues or restructured juvenile justice responsibilities and finances among the state and counties, the report said.
• The key to South Dakota's progress is a program that has been operating for about two years in Minnehaha and Pennington counties to keep more juvenile offenders out of detention, according to state officials and the study. The Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative, known as JDAI, is now being expanded to other South Dakota communities.
• The JDAI, started by a state council with the help of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, has reduced the number of juveniles sent to Minnehaha and Pennington county detention centers by half or more. The state's court system has now taken over the initiative and plans to expand it to other counties.
• "We've made great strides. The numbers are just phenomenal," said Circuit Judge Jeff Davis of Rapid City, who suggested the program's expansion.
• The program requires that juveniles be assessed when they are first detained. Those who pose a low risk to public safety or are unlikely to flee can be put into alternative programs instead of being locked up in detention centers. Options include home detention, electronic bracelet monitoring, non-secure shelters or required evening check-ins with officials.
• Stephanie Vetter, who has worked on the Minnehaha and Pennington county projects for the Casey Foundation, said she believes South Dakota's youth incarceration rate has declined since the 2011 figures cited in study released Wednesday. JDAI programs have cut incarceration rates by an average of 43 percent in the 200 communities where they've been used across the nation, she said.

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