Allegheny County Council to discuss the need for a juvenile detention center
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Local lawmakers in Allegheny County are looking to take action against crime among young people in Western Pennsylvania.
Allegheny County Council members are expected to discuss the future of the former Shuman Juvenile Detention Center.
Council's agenda states that some members will request a performance overview of the former center, discuss forming a juvenile justice study group, and discuss the current needs of the county's juvenile justice system.
The Shuman Detention Center has been closed for about a year and a half, but recently county leaders began urgently looking to reopen a center due to ongoing youth crime.
County Executive Rich Fitzgerald says they're working with the courts to get this done.
They don't have a set location yet, but the county wants to have a public-private partnership with a nonprofit to run a center, with Pennsylvania's Department of Human Services overseeing it.
However, local social workers argue this doesn't solve the problem of youth crime and some didn't feel safe at Shuman.
Allegheny County leaders will review all of this before making a final decision on whether to reopen the former detention center.