§49-5-106. Data collection.
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/wv/chapter-49-child-welfare/article-5-record-keeping-and-database/49-5-106·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
(a)The Division of Juvenile Services, the department and the Supreme Court of Appeals shall establish procedures to jointly collect and compile data necessary to calculate juvenile recidivism and the outcome of programs.
(b)For each juvenile who enters into a diversion agreement, is placed on an improvement period, is placed on probation or is placed in an out-of-home placement as defined by section two hundred six, article one of this chapter, the data and procedures developed in subsection
(a)shall include:
(1)New offense referrals to juvenile court or criminal court within three years of completion of the diversion agreement, release from court jurisdiction or release from agency custody;
(2)Adjudications for a delinquent or status offense by a juvenile or a conviction by a criminal court within three years of completion of the diversion agreement, release from court jurisdiction or release from agency custody;
(3)Commitments to the Division of Juvenile Services, the department, excluding out-of-home placements made for child welfare or abuse and neglect purposes, or incarceration with the Division of Corrections within three years of completion of the diversion agreement, release from court jurisdiction or release from agency custody; and
(4)The number of out-of-home placements ordered where the judge found by clear and convincing evidence the existence of a significant and likely risk of harm to the juvenile, a family member or the public.
(c)For youth placed in programs operated or funded by the Division of Juvenile Services, the department or the Supreme Court of Appeals, including youth reporting centers, juvenile drug courts, restorative justice programs and teen courts, the division, department and Supreme Court shall develop procedures using, at a minimum, the measures in subsection
(b)of this section to track and record outcomes of each program, and to demonstrate that the program reduces the likelihood of reoffending for the youth referred to the program.
(d)For youth referred to truancy diversion specialists or other truancy diversion programs operated or funded by the Supreme Court of Appeals, the Division of Juvenile Services, the Department of Human Services, the Department of Education or other political subdivisions, that branch of government or agency shall develop procedures to track and record outcomes of each program, and to evaluate the effectiveness in reducing unexcused absences for the youth referred to the program. At a minimum, this outcome data shall include:
(1)The number of youth successfully completing the truancy diversion program;
(2)The number of youth who are referred to the court system after failing to complete a truancy diversion program; and
(3)The number of youth who, after successfully completing a truancy diversion program, accumulate five or more unexcused absences in the current or subsequent school year.
(e)The Supreme Court of Appeals, the Division of Juvenile Services, the Department of Human Services and the Department of Education shall also establish procedures to jointly collect and compile data relating to disproportionate minority contact, which is defined as the proportion of minority youth who come into contact with the juvenile justice system in relation to the proportion of minority youth in the general population, and the compilation shall include data indicating the prevalence of such disproportionality in each county. Data shall include, at a minimum, the race and gender of youth arrested or referred to court, entered into a diversion program, adjudicated and disposed.