A new study from Indiana reveals severe short comings in the juvenile justice system. Overworked public defenders who lack sufficient training and motivation are among the findings. Many children go without representation or at best perfunctory representation in court. For special education students the findings of the report are especially troubling.
A juvenile judge stated that he believes:
"schools were failing to produce appropriate IEPs for special education youths so they would be able to expel more children and refer them to the justice system."
A probation officer concluded that:
" the teachers union is forcing the schools to refer more cases to the delinquency system and that many of these referred youths have special education needs."
The unmistakable conclusion of this report is that some school administrators and union officials are deliberately acting to rid the school of students who should be receiving services under IDEA. As discussed in earlier posts, receiving an an education in juvenile jail is quite challenging to say the least.