In what is one of Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ more laudable
decisions in recent memory, Richmond’s mayor announced that the city would not
renew its license for the Richmond Juvenile Detention Center[1]
after the facility’s operators and management lost his confidence.
The detention center has been under close scrutiny over
concerns regarding personnel issues and allegations of illegal behavior[2].
In January the Virginia Board of Juvenile Justice placed the
detention center on probation due to concerns of safety. In early April, the
board extended the probation period until January 2013.
With this kind of concern constantly looming over a
sensitive facility in the criminal justice system like the Richmond Juvenile
Detention Center, the only practical step the mayor could take was to terminate
its license with the city, and that’s what Jones did.
Richmond’s youth, whether “delinquents” or not, deserve a
chance to better themselves in life just as much as they deserve respect. Time
and again it’s seemed that neither has been afforded to the youth of Richmond,
and the detention center debacle is only the most publicized example of this
phenomenon.
Much more will have to be done to undermine the corruption
that appears to have spread to every corner of Richmond’s government in one way
or another, a corruption that has undercut a focus on bettering Richmond’s
youth. But for now, the closure of the Richmond Juvenile Detention Center is a
good first step.
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