Changes to the Department of Juvenile Justice

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The Department of Juvenile Justice is making some needed changes to help correct a system in disarray.

Speaking with Vicki Reed, Commissioner of the Department of Juvenile Justice and Kerry Harvey, Secretary of Public Safety and Justice, procedural shifts are coming into play this year considering juvenile detention services. Harvey said the state is already in the process of buying defensive equipment “such as pepper spray, tasers, defensive shields”.

Reed touted that the state would be moving all juvenile girls to their own facility allowing them to offer additional programming to their days and separating the classes of low and high level offenders. According to Reed, high level offenders will reside in Warren, Jefferson, and Adair county only.

A pay raise was a needed thing, a picture Harvey painted by saying just a year or two ago the workers were paid only 30,000 dollars a year for a job that is not easy for anyone. Now with starting pay being 50,000, Harvey said they are starting to see increased interest.