The Asheville Citizen-Times is criticizing Governor Mike Easley’s oversight of the Department of Juvenile Justice. 331 incidences of violence were reported in juvenile detention centers in the first ten months of 2008. 190 were reported in 2007, but methods of reporting have changed, and the usual problems of reporting crime (perception, degree, cover-up, fictitious reports, etc.), of course, apply. The total average daily population for the centers in 2007 was 474.

The facility in Swannanoa is the only one with police and guards. The article attributes this to bad press it gave upon finding only one officer stationed after a teacher was violently beaten. The center also had a reputation for routine, unspeakable abuses by staff and inmates.

The article faults Easley for not shaking up management.

Through his eight years in office – through abuse of youths, assaults on staff and escapes – Easley retained confidence in the state’s first and only juvenile justice secretary [George Sweat].

Sweat, however, argues things are turning in the right direction and credits the creation of local Juvenile Crime Prevention Councils in part for a 68% reduction in juvenile lockups.

Sweat also credits Easley with future reductions in the “rate of juvenile crime rate” rate, calling attention to Easley’s More at Four program providing state-funding for preschool and his decision to replace “unsafe” centers with lockup facilities.

[The lockup facilities] are intended to provide better security and easier control over juveniles. Their design is aligned with the department’s goal of a “therapeutic environment” that stresses dialogue, not punishment, for youth who act up.

DA Ron Moore declined to prosecute low-ranking Swannanoa detention center employees named in an SBI report following an investigation in 2006. He has publicly stated that persons at all levels in the organization are guilty of cover-up, but was prohibited from questioning those named for information leading to the arrest of higher-ranking officials.