California has moved responsibility for youth prisons to the county level, the final step toward local control in a yearslong reform effort aimed at keeping young offenders closer to home and prioritizing rehabilitation over punishment.
Hope and uncertainty linger as California turns the page on state-run youth prisons charlotteobserver.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from charlotteobserver.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Juvenile offenders in California might now have a better chance at rehabilitation instead of facing a mostly punitive sentence in a youth prison system that often only reinforced the patterns of neglect and violence that led many of them into trouble in the first place.