Abstract:
This juvenile justice policy case describes the strategic challenge faced by a San Francisco consultant, asked by the city's Mayor Willie Brown, to resolve a bitter and long-standing dispute as to how to structure the city's approach to youthful offenders. Consultant Mimi Silbert--herself renowned for her work to rehabilitate adult felons--must find a way to forge a compromise between those who favor institution-based treatment--led by the city's probation officers--and those "youth advocates" who favor youth services delivered in community-based settings. Symbolic of, and central to, the dispute: how to deal with dilapidated Juvenile Hall, the central youth detention center disliked by youth advocates--who would rather see it closed than modernized. Long-stalled physical improvements, if they are to come at all, appear to await resolution of a philosophical dispute.
