Major improvements can happen quickly, but a strong commitment to reform by the governor is vital.
Some 46 years ago, in August 1977, Pennsylvania Gov. Milton J. Shapp signed into law Act 41 — a measure that turned Pennsylvania into a leader in juvenile justice during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Act 41, along with Act 148 of 1976, which provided a financial incentive for counties to treat youth mainly in community-based programs, were early examples of decarceration reforms that have since become an accepted component of juvenile justice best practices.Rather than being at the cutting edge of today’s juvenile justice reform movement, Pennsylvania is now known for its mistreatment of youth in largely unregulated courtrooms and abusive conditions of confinement.
In January 1975, Shapp appointed Jerome Miller as his special assistant for juvenile justice. Miller, who only a few years earlier had famously, immediately launched an aggressive media offensive against state and county juvenile justice officials for allowing young people to be incarcerated in Camp Hill Prison.
State Rep. Joseph Rhodes Jr. and leaders of advocacy organizations such as Philadelphia’s Barbara Fruchter
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