New facility providing education, opportunities for juvenile offenders

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Lubbock County now has a better way to educate juvenile offenders with a new facility at the Juvenile Justice Center.

State and local leaders say it will help young people find a way out of crime.

Chief Juvenile Probation Officer for Lubbock County William Carter said a new facility at the Juvenile Justice Center is allowing Lubbock County to focus more on education for young offenders who become incarcerated.

“We were working out of small portable buildings out back,” Carter said. “We just needed something that was more conducive to education.”

County Judge Curtis Parrish says those learning opportunities can go a long way in changing a young offenders future.

“We know that education is the magic bullet,” Parrish said. “We know that if we can educate these kids while we have them incarcerated then hopefully we can turn a juvenile offender from becoming an adult offender.”

It’s a situation Parrish says happens to often across Texas.

“Our juvenile crime is almost out of control,” Parrish said. “So we need to do what we can do to help that.”

District 28 Senator Charles Perry said the education given at the new facility will help young people see the opportunities available to them and the chances to pursue a lifestyle that keeps them out of trouble.

“It’s important that we give them the access to the opportunities,” Perry said. “That this American economy, this American dream, if you will, still has to offer for those who choose to participate.”

The new facility, which has been three years in the making, is already serving as an example for other cities and counties that are working to reduce juvenile crime.

District 31 Senator Kevin Sparks was on the tour, as well. He represents Midland, Amarillo, and some counties west of Lubbock. He said he hopes to implement what Lubbock County is doing in his own district.

“I do believe that this is going to be a key component as something that we want to try and replicate around the district and around Texas,” Sparks said.