Delinquency Services Summary
Centralized State: The state operates most delinquency services for youth in Rhode Island. The Family Court of Rhode Island's 10 Intake Units perform delinquency intake screening and conduct predisposition investigations. The Department of Children, Youth and Families' Division of Juvenile Correctional Services is responsible for secure detention, probation supervision, the state's juvenile corrections continuum, and aftercare.

Court(s) with Delinquency Jurisdiction
The statewide Family Court of Rhode Island exercises jurisdiction over delinquency proceedings. The Family Court is a limited jurisdiction trial court. For more information, visit the Rhode Island Judiciary web site.

Highlights

Juvenile Re-Entry Court Program
In October 2003, the Family Court, working with the Department of Children, Youth and Families and other state agencies, began a juvenile re-entry court program. This two-year pilot program allows young offenders with good behavior to be released early from the Rhode Island Training School. It includes frequent reviews and intense supervision of the juveniles, who sign agreements promising to participate in education, job training, or substance abuse programs, with their probation conditioned on fulfilling their promises.

Detention
The Department of Children, Youth and Families, Division of Juvenile Correctional Services, administers secure juvenile detention. Rhode Island does not have a facility strictly dedicated to holding juveniles in secure detention. Instead, youth are held at the Rhode Island Training School.

Rhode Island does not currently use a detention screening instrument and has not established statutory guidelines regarding who can be detained.

Youth can be held in detention pre-adjudication, pre-disposition, and while awaiting placement. In addition, youth can be sentenced to secure detention and serve sanctions for probation violations in detention.

Youth can be held in temporary detention for five days in Providence and Bristol counties and seven days in Kent, Newport, and Washington counties. A detention order pending adjudication must not exceed 30 days.

Delinquency Intake Screening
Family Court Intake Departments receive delinquency referrals from law enforcement and screen them for legal sufficiency. The Intake Department also decides whether to handle cases formally or informally. The Department Supervisor reviews this decision.

Diversion
Prior to a hearing on a petition alleging a first delinquent or status offense, the family court must ensure that the Family Court Intake Department has made a referral to the appropriate local youth diversion program. The program must submit a report to the court at least one week prior to the adjudication hearing. The report must identify problems in the family, services provided, progress, outcomes, and recommendations for future intervention. The report must become a part of the record and be used by the family court in disposing of the petition.

Statute established a community-based diversion program providing outreach and advocacy services to youth between the ages of 9 and 17, who may be the subject of a family court petition or at risk for committing wayward or disobedient acts including truancy, running away, and violating school rules. Referrals to the diversion program are for a maximum of 90 days and may include counseling, family mediation, crisis intervention, and follow-up and aftercare services as needed.

In 1998, Rhode Island established a Statewide Juvenile Hearing Board Coordinator position, appointed by the Chief Judge of the Rhode Island Family Court. The coordinator provides education, training, data collection and analysis, and other supports to the juvenile hearing boards and teen courts found in most Rhode Island cities and towns. Originally a pilot program, the Hearing Board Coordinator position has proven to be a successful and necessary function within the Family Court.

The Intake Department may decide to continue the intake process and attempt informal adjustment.

Predisposition Investigation
Family Court Intake Departments develop the case for disposition. There is no protocol (standard form or other tool) for this investigation.

Victim Rights and Services
Victims of sexual offenses involving sexual penetration may petition the court to require the juvenile delinquent to submit to a blood test for the presence of a sexually transmitted disease.

If the family court places an adjudicated youth on probation, the court may require the youth to compensate the victim for losses and pay restitution. The attorney general or law enforcement must notify victims of the upcoming hearing and afford them the opportunity to be heard.

Victims may also request the name and address of the juvenile to bring a civil action against the juvenile and/or his or her parents for damages sustained as a result of the crime.For more information, visit the Rhode Island Department of Attorney General's Victims Services Program web page. In addition, a Victims’ Services Unit assists victims of crimes in the exercise of their rights. The State Court Administrator administers the Victims’ Services Unit through the Administrative Office of State Courts.

The Office of the Rhode Island General Treasurer administers the crime victims compensation program.

Probation Supervision
The Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), Division of Juvenile Correctional Services, Juvenile Probation and Parole Field Services, is responsible for the probation supervision of delinquent offenders. Probation officers currently supervise a small number of adults placed on probation by the family court. Rhode Island's probation philosophy is two-fold: the protection of the community and the rehabilitation of youth.

Probation officers work out of 10 regional offices. Some offices are in courthouses, some in DCYF's main building, and one unit is at a police station. Although most probation officers work during weekdays, one unit works on the weekends. Probation officers have the ability to flex hours to accommodate working families. There is no standard caseload size.

Probation officers recommend the terms of probation supervision for the family court judge's approval. Rhode Island uses a statewide risk assessment instrument to assist in determining supervision guidelines. Probation officers are not required to develop an individualized supervision plan.

In 1999, the Division of Juvenile Correctional Services partnered with the RI Department of Corrections (DOC) and the Providence Police Department to create the Safe Streets Providence Program. Staffed jointly by DCYF Juvenile Probation Counselors and DOC Adult Probation Counselors and supported by Providence Police, this intensive probation supervision program targets the highest risk probationers in the City of Providence between the ages of 16-24.

Rhode Island does not presently evaluate the interim or long-term effectiveness of the supervision of juvenile offenders.

Juvenile Probation Officer Qualifications, Certification, and Training
Juvenile Probation and Parole Counselors must have bachelor's degrees in social work, sociology, psychology, or criminal justice and related experience. Rhode Island certifies probation officers, and professional certification is a requirement for employment. The Department of Children, Youth and Families trains probation officers in the state. Probation officers must attend approximately 80 hours of mandatory pre-service training and 20 hours per year of mandatory continuing training.

Juvenile Corrections Continuum
The Department of Children, Youth and Families, Division of Juvenile Correctional Services administers the daily operations of the state's only public institution for delinquent offenders: the Rhode Island Training School.

Commitment to State
At disposition, the youth is committed to the care, custody, and control of the superintendent of the Rhode Island Training School. Commitments are determinate or indeterminate. The Department of Children, Youth and Families, Division of Juvenile Correctional Services, generally makes placement decisions. However, since there is only one public institution for delinquent offenders, an order of commitment is in effect an order that the juvenile be held there.

Blended Sentencing
If a juvenile meets specified age/offense requirements, the family court may impose a sentence for a period in excess of the youth's 21st birthday to an adult correctional institution, with the period of the youth's minority to be served in the juvenile training school. This sentence must not exceed the maximum sentence required by statute for an adult conviction of the offense.

This provision is more of a blended corrections procedure in that the juvenile serves his or her time of minority in a juvenile facility and is transferred (upon reaching the age of majority) to an adult facility to serve the remainder of the term.

For more information concerning Rhode Island's blended sentencing provisions, click here.

Direct Placement
To be added during the next update.

Release
While the Department of Children, Youth and Families, Division of Juvenile Correctional Services, can recommend release, by statute, the Family Court must give final approval, after a hearing with due notice to the parties. Release approval is based on the best interests of the child and the safety of the public.

Aftercare/Re-entry
The Department of Children, Youth and Families, Division of Juvenile Correctional Services, Probation and Parole Field Services provides aftercare (called parole) services in nine satellite offices. There are no distinctions for youths returning from state placements vs. local placements or private placements vs. public placements.

Project HOPE, funded through a five-year grant from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, has allowed the state to build on its successful Child and Adolescent Service System Program (CASSP) to develop a more effective system of transitioning youth from the Rhode Island Training School for Youth to their home communities with the services and resources they need. The US Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention recently indicated to the Department of Children, Youth and Families that Project HOPE is to be identified as a promising program for transitioning youth from correctional facilities. Please also see the Highlight about Rhode Island's re-entry court.

Rhode Island is participating in the Office of Justice Program's Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative. For information about Rhode Island's involvement, click here. By visiting the State Activities & Resources page, users can read about how other states are using their grants. Descriptions of programs for juveniles follow the descriptions of programs for adults, where applicable.

State Laws

Legal Resources
Rhode Island State Bar Association

Purpose Clauses
To read Rhode Island's purpose clauses for delinquency proceedings and juvenile corrections, click here.

Delinquency Jurisdiction (as of the end of the 2005 legislative session)
Lower Age: None specified
Upper Age: 17
Extended Age of Delinquency Jurisdiction: 20

Juvenile Transfer Laws
For information on Rhode Island's juvenile transfer laws, click here.

Juvenile Justice Leadership

Rhode Island Justice Commission
The Rhode Island Justice Commission is the state advisory group charged with administering funds received through the federal Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Act and monitoring compliance with the Act's mandates.

Resources/Contacts
Administrative Office of State Courts' Victims’ Services Unit
Rhode Island Department of Attorney General: Juvenile Prosecution Unit
Rhode Island Department of Attorney General's Victims Services Unit
Rhode Island Judiciary
Rhode Island Justice Commission
Rhode Island State Bar Association
Rhode Island's Department of Children, Youth and Families

Elizabeth Gilheeney
Juvenile Justice Specialist
Governor's Justice Commission
One Capitol Hill
Fourth Floor
Providence, RI 02908-5803
Phone: (401) 222-4494
Fax: (401) 222-1294

The National Center for Juvenile Justice strives to make each State Profile as accurate as possible. Please bring any errors, updates, or additions to the attention of the State Profiles project manager. Persons listed as state contacts are not responsible for information contained in these profiles.

© 2000 (original copyright); © 2006 (most recent copyright) National Center for Juvenile Justice

Citation: National Center for Juvenile Justice. 2006. "Rhode Island." State Juvenile Justice Profiles. Pittsburgh, PA: NCJJ. Online. Available: http://www.ncjj.org/stateprofiles/.