Texas Youth Commission Notes, Winter 1989 Page: Front Cover
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Y200.6 N844 89/Winter
NOTE S
Published by the Texas Youth Commissioin
TEXAS STATE
90CUiTh K; I.LLECTON
WINTER 1989TCADA reports on alcohol and drug abuse
surveyOn February 26, Dr. Ben Crouch, a
criminologist in the Texas A&M Depart-
ment of Sociology, released the prelimi-
nary findings of a survey of alcohol and
other drug use among youth entering
TYC facilities.
The face to face survey, which was
sponsored by the Texas Commission on
Alcohol and Drug Abuse (TCADA) and
funded under a U.S. Department of
Education Drug Free Communities and
Schools block grant, was administered
by the Texas A&M Public Policy Resour-
ces Laboratory.
Nearly 950 TYC youth were inter-
viewed between April and December of
1989, with a majority of the interviews
conducted at the Statewide Reception
Center in Brownwood, Texas. Addition-
al interviews were also conducted at
Corpus Christi and Brownsville so that
the sample would include youth from
the South Texas Region. Currently, the
data collected from the survey is being
analyzed by the TCADA planning
department and will be used to assess
the frequency of drug and alcohol use by
this "at risk" population. In the survey,
TYC youth were asked questions about
substance use, family background,
delinquency and other behaviors prior
to their commitment to TYC.
Many of the same questions were
asked in previous studies conducted by
TCADA regarding substance use pat-
terns and trends among Texans. Other
related studies completed by TCADA in-
clude Substance Abuse Among Students
n Texas Secondary Schools. 1988. Te xas
Survey of Substance Use Among Adults.
In this issue ......
. TCADA reports on survey, page 1
.TYC takes steps toward American
Correctional Association accredita-
tion, page 3
. Board adopts Strategic Plan, page 1
. Drug problems addressed by Harvard
professor, page 4
. Earn money through State Employee
Incentive Program, page 3
.CHALLENGE Program established
at Gainesville State School, page 51988, and Substance Abuse Among
Texas Department of Corrections In-
mates. 1988.
The following statistics were
enumerated in the executive summary
of the TCADA report:
.Youth committed to TYC use alcohol
and drugs at much higher rates than
Texas secondary students. Patterns
of drug use among TYC youth are
similar to those reported by adults
entering the Texas Department of
Corrections.
*Of TYC youth, 81% have used illicit
substances, 51% in their last month
before commitment. Substance
abuse is a major problem even among
youth 13 years of age and younger.
.Many TYC youth are daily substance
abusers: 28% drink alcohol, sniff in-
halants, or use one or more illicit
drugs daily. Thirty-five percent used
some combination of these substan-
ces 20 or more times in their last
month before commitment.
. Fourteen percent of TYC youth have
injected cocaine, amphetamines,
heroin or other opiates, 5% in their
last month before commitment. Five
percent reported sharing needles at
least once in their lives.
.One-third of TYC youth have "severe
drinking problems"--they reported
five or more alcohol problems in the
last year.
. Close to two-fifths of TYC youth have
"severe drug problems" --theyThe Texas Youth Commission board
gave its final approval to the Strategic
Plan for the agency during its March
meeting in Brownwood.
The document states the agency's mis-
sion and for the first time summarizes
the philosophy of the Commission. The
plan includes a summary of external
variables that affect the agency such as
rate of commitment, projected juvenile
population, rate of juvenile arrests, and
the changes in ethnicity of youth com-
mitted to TYC. Other issues examined in
the environmental section include
changes in the age of youth committed
to TYC, the reduction in CINS commit-
11 F T V P. LR ARIFR 76r2TYC establishes sick leave
pool
The Texas Youth Commission has es-
tablished a sick leave pool to assist
employees if they or a member of their
immediate family have a catastrophic
illness or injury.
The Employee's Retirement System
has defined a catastrophic illness or in-
jury to be a severe condition or com bi na-
tion of conditions that:
Affect the physical or mental health of
the employee or a member of the
employee's immediate family; and
Require the services of a licensed prac-
titioner for a prolonged period of time;
and
Force the employee to exhaust all
leave time earned and to lose compen-
sation from the state.
As a guideline, a "prolonged period"
means being unable to work for at least
20 work days per occurrence per fiscal
year.
Any employee with more than 40
hoursof unused sick leavecandonate up
to 24 hours to the pool each fiscal year.
The Personnel Department would like
to encourage all employees to help start
up the pool by donating at least eight (8)
hours.
Donations can not be designated for a
particular employee.
Any regular, full-time employee, with
a catastrophic illness or injury, whose
performance is satisfactory, is eligible to
use leave from the pool. Employees
who are within the first six months of
employment, temporary, or part-timements, and the impact of the sentencing
statute for juveniles. Also examined
were commitment projections and the
impact of these increases on future
planning.
The board and staff identified eight
issues as being of major concern. These
issues provide the substance around
which the plan was developed. Each
issue in the plan contained a problem
statement, background information,
and a list of strategies by which TYC
would address these problems.
The issues addressed in the plan are as
follows:
(Continued on page 2)(Continued on page 2)
(Continued on page 2)
TYC Board adopts Strategic Plan
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Texas Youth Commission. Texas Youth Commission Notes, Winter 1989, periodical, Winter 1989; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1032718/m1/1/?rotate=0: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.