Corporations Committee Takes on Redistricting

Under the Wyoming State Constitution, the legislature is required redraw the state legislative districts every ten years. Redistricting coincides with the federal census so that the district lines reflect the current make-up of the population in legislative district. With Wyoming’s growing population, it is important that the new districts accurately reflect the demographic changes around the state.

In the 1963 case of Gray v. Sanders, the U.S. Supreme Court announced the “one person, one vote” principle. This principle is achieved when each legislative district has a substantially equal population. Redistricting is one of the key topics on the interim agenda of the Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee. On April 12, 2011, the Corporations Committee adopted these seven principles in order to honor the one person, one vote principle:

1. Election districts should be contiguous, compact, and reflect a community of interest
2. Population of election districts should be substantially equal, with the range of deviation not to exceed 10%
3. To the greatest extent possible, in establishing election districts:
a. County boundaries should be followed
b. The majority of the population of each county should be in one district
c. Census blocks should be followed
4. Plan should avoid diluting voting power of minorities in violations of [federal] Voting Rights Act
5. The house shall have 60 seats and the senate shall have 30 seats
6. Consideration should be given to two (2) contiguous house districts in each senate districts
7. Significant geographical features should be considered in establishing districts

Please visit the Wyoming Legislature's 2011 redistricting resource page.

Redistricting is an extremely important topic because it makes a huge impact on our ability to influence government through the ballot box. The ACLU believes that voting is one of our most important civil liberties and fundamental rights, and we encourage all our readers to stay informed on redistricting efforts in your area.

How can you share your thoughts with the Joint Corporations Committee?

• Express your comments at one of the scheduled regional meetings (listed below)
• Contact your local representative or senator
• Express your comments through the “Redistricting Information” page on the Wyoming Legislature’s website

The location and times of the regional meetings are as follows:

Morning meetings are tentatively scheduled for 9:30 - Noon. Evening meetings are tentatively scheduled for 5:00-7:30.

1. Rock Springs May 25 morning
2. Pinedale May 25 evening
3. Casper June 14 morning
4. Wright June 14 evening
5. Laramie June 28 morning
6. Cheyenne June 28 evening
7. Powell July 12 morning
8. Worland July 12 evening
9. Lander July 13 morning
10. Rawlins July 13 evening
11. Torrington August 15 evening

To learn more about redistricting, please read the ACLU’s report, “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Redistricting, But Were Afraid to Ask.”

Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative comes to Wyoming

The Casper Star Tribune ran an article today on the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative (JDAI). This program is designed to assist jurisdictions in reducing their reliance on secure detention (jail) for juveniles. There are 24 states that use the JDAI program and 100 individual sites. This reform program is one of the most successful and effective programs in reducing incarceration rates for juveniles and for providing alternatives to detention that allow for long lasting positive outcomes for kids.

The program is based on the following concepts:

• reduce reliance on secure confinement
• improve public safety
• reduce racial disparities and bias
• save taxpayers’ dollars
• stimulate overall juvenile justice reform

This program is based on over 15 years of successful experience and is exactly the program that Wyoming needs on a state wide basis to reduce reliance on the over-use of secure confinement for children. Unfortunately, as a result of Wyoming’s lack of uniform state-side planning and a uniform juvenile justice system some children in Wyoming will have the advantage of this evidence based program and other children will continue to be locked up.

Laramie, Sweetwater and Campbell Counties have decided to join this program and provide the best opportunities for their children. The spokesmen for the Wyoming Department of Family Services (DFS) stated that the goal of the program, which is jointly funded by The Casey foundation and DFS, is to create a statewide model for juvenile detention. The spokesmen went on the say that “it will help create a good… juvenile justice system with a lot of alternatives.”

This type of random program implementation has been going on with juvenile programs in the state for over 40 years and has resulted in the dreadful non-system that we currently have. Some counties will chose to join the initiative but most will not. Most counties will do what that have historically done and that is put kids in jail, even though its clear that putting kids in jail is the absolute worse thing you can do to them most counties will continue to use jail as their only “system”. They will do this because that is what they have always done, because they don’t want to spend the money on children that it will take to initiate reform, because they don’t have the money and there is no stable funding source or because they don’t believe in the evidence and believe that the best place for a troubled kid is in jail. They will do this because they can.

Laramie County, a county that already has a good program for kids, wants a better program. In planning for the new juvenile detention center the Chairman of the Joint Powers Board, Jeff Lamm stated: “We didn’t want to just build a center; we wanted to rebuild a system.” In the Casper Star Tribune's article, Mr. Lamm went on to state: “You want to set up a good, integrated system…. So you can treat every kid based on their needs”. Wouldn’t it be great if our legislators and public officials felt that way about every child in Wyoming? Isn’t that the way they should feel?

Update: Juvenile Justice Reform

On April 21 the Joint Judiciary Interim Committee met in Worland at the Community Center Complex. One of the interim issues for the committee is juvenile justice. The Honorable Gary Hartman from Governor Mead’s office gave a power point presentation designed to site the long-term problems with the treatment of youth in the criminal justice system in Wyoming. The presentation outlined the history of reports and recommendations starting in the 1960’s and the lack of response to those recommendations. One of the main deficiencies in the system has been the lack of a unified court system in which all youth would be processed. Due to the poorly written statutory foundation, each county in Wyoming has created its own system. Most children in Wyoming are processed in adult courts with none of the protections and due process allowed children in traditional juvenile courts. Some courts allow little or no due process, judges are not trained or knowledgeable in juvenile development or issues; children are jailed at one of the highest rates in the nation and youth that need treatment or counseling are offered none. These criticisms of the Wyoming system have been heard for over 40 years, and Wyoming legislators have done little beyond minor tinkering to fix the problems.

At the conclusion of the presentation Judge Hartman presented the committee with draft statutes that would bring about the much needed changes in the juvenile system. Judge Hartman, Donna Sheen, a local children’s attorney and advocate, as well as Dr. Beth Evans, Chair of the State Advisory Committee, then answered a number of questions from the committee.

Next a group of Wyoming judges including the Honorable Norman Young, John Fenn and Randal Arp made a short presentation, allowing that there probably should be some changes and that judges would do whatever the legislators directed them to do.

County Prosecutors Jeannie Stone, Brian Christensen and Bryon Skoric then testified there was absolutely nothing wrong with the system that programs were all running very well with excellent results. The prosecutors also said the numbers used in our report were wrong.

The Wyoming ACLU provided the joint judiciary committee with copies of the newly released ACLU report, "Inequality in the Equality State: The Damaged Juvenile Justice and Detention System in Wyoming," prior to the meeting. The report is a comprehensive report that includes the following policy recommendations for the Wyoming legislature:

To enact a juvenile code that:

1. Establishes a unified juvenile or family court system with exclusive jurisdiction for all non-traffic juvenile matters and a judiciary professionally trained in juvenile law.
2. Creates a comprehensive juvenile justice system that applies equally and fairly to all Wyoming juveniles. This system should include the procedural framework for a central juvenile case processing and obtain a consistent juvenile detention policy. This policy must be devoid of loopholes and include community based programs.
3. Creates a comprehensive juvenile justice system based on restorative justice principles that promote accountability and increased competency development for youthful offenders, without sacrificing community protection.
4. Provides systematic data collecting and analysis to guide decision making, assess program effectiveness, and provide assurances of equal treatment.
5. Is funded through a dedicated funding source to ensure its statewide accessibility and utilization.

The draft code presented by Judge Hartman would have addressed all these issues. Unfortunately, the only questions I was asked were about the numbers in our report and the veracity of those numbers. Kermit Brown, Co-Chair of the Committee has also questioned the numbers in our report in the press.

It’s very frustrating to have such an overwhelming long-term problem effecting the lives and futures of our children and have the committee focus on the supposed “problems” with the numbers. The numbers used in our report are the only professionally collected verifiable statistics available on juvenile issues in the state. The State of Wyoming has no single agency that collects data on juvenile justice. There is no collection of data on county programs and the effectiveness of the programs, no assessment on programs or systems. The data in our report represents federal monitoring reports and crime statistics reports from the attorney general’s office. Those numbers are collected from the counties themselves. The only issue with the numbers that is possible is the issue of underreporting as several counties refuse to provide information on their treatment of juveniles.

In June 2010, the Wyoming Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union along with the National Center for Youth Law released a report based on observations of the treatment of juveniles in several court rooms in Wyoming, "A Call to Stop Child Prosecutions in Wyoming Adult Court." That report concluded:

“The state of Wyoming stands at the threshold of opportunity. It can revise its juvenile code to create a model system of youth justice, or it can continue down the time-worn path it has been on for decades, meting out adult convictions and costly sentences to children who really just need a stronger guiding hand. The authors, and many others in the state working with children in trouble, urge the public to demand a better system of justice for Wyoming’s children. We hope public officials will finally exercise the political will to truly reform the way it’s always been.”

Once again, this seems like an impossible dream. We remain hopeful that the Joint Judiciary Committee will provide leadership in juvenile justice reform during the interim session.

Linda Burt,
Executive Director

Redistricting: Public Meetings Schedule

Every ten years, the Wyoming Legislature is required to reconfigure the state’s legislative districts in order to reflect the changes in Wyoming’s population. Redistricting is one of the key topics on the interim agenda of the Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee. If you are interesting in learning about redistricting in your area, a series of regional redistricting meetings have been scheduled. The location and times of the regional meetings are as follows:

Morning meetings are tentatively scheduled for 9:30 - Noon. Evening meetings are tentatively scheduled for 5:00-7:30.

1. Rock Springs May 25 morning
2. Pinedale May 25 evening
3. Casper June 14 morning
4. Wright June 14 evening
5. Laramie June 28 morning
6. Cheyenne June 28 evening
7. Powell July 12 morning
8. Worland July 12 evening
9. Lander July 13 morning
10. Rawlins July 13 evening
11. Torrington August 15 evening.

FORMAL MEETING NOTICES WILL BE POSTED ON THE LEGISLATIVE WEBSITE AND ISSUED AT A LATER DATE. Read more here.

To learn more about redistricting, please read the ACLU’s report, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Redistricting, But Were Afraid to Ask.”

Read more from the Casper Star Tribune.