Lawmakers urge action for bills regarding DJJ

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ) — As the veto break continues in Frankfort, lawmakers have been hard at work making sure certain bills get to the governor’s desk.

In particular, bills relating to the Department of Juvenile Justice.

“The most most significant problem with the Department of Juvenile Justice is its leadership. And that’s from the governor on down to the commissioner,” says Kentucky State Representative Kevin Bratcher.

“The whole goal of HB3 is to reach children before they turn 18. And they’re going to spend the rest of their lives in prison. The goal is to turn their lives around,” adds Bratcher.

State Representative, Kevin Bratcher is a sponsor of House Bill 3.
He says the changes should not just come from the approval of bills but also, “we need some changes at the top, you know, when when when you fail over and over and over again. I mean, how many months have we had riots at these facilities and kids are getting hurt, and staff is getting hurt.”

“It’s just not a good thing that when a child commits a violent crime, that they’re immediately released after being arrested. HB3 will say that they have to go into detention and stand before a judge,” said Bratcher.

Another significant bill is SB 162, that would give significant pay raises to those in the Department of Juvenile Justice, but also the adult Department of Corrections.
Bratcher also sending a message to parents to who may have a child in the system, “I hope that the parents would take a more active role in the person’s life and try to get them out of the system and try to get them on track. You know, when they turn 18, they’re not going to be given this the breaks that they’re given now, and we have to reach these children before they turn 18.”

He says the stigma around DJJ has gotten so bad, one judge even expressed being hesitant sending another child into the system, “every one of these attacks, there’s a child or a staff member, that’s probably going to have significant trauma, you know, who wants to go to work and get beat up. I mean, that’s happening, and the children in the system are not being protected properly.”

The veto recess ends on March 28th, then the legislature will be back in session for two days, that’ll mark the end of the legislative session.