Should LA County youth prisons close?

That's how 61 percent of Los Angeles County residents surveyed feel about juvenile halls, according to the results of a statewide poll released Wednesday.

Across the state, more than half of the 1,042 California residents in the survey said they supported prevention and rehabilitation programs for youth instead of juvenile halls. The survey was commissioned by the California Endowment and conducted online in June.

In January, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a motion to look at expanding diversion and crime prevention programs. In their motion, Mark Ridley-Thomas and Janice Hahn said "keeping young people out of the traditional justice system whenever possible through diversion programs is a promising strategy for improving the social, academic, economic and health outcomes of young people and ultimately reducing recidivism and improving public safety." The supervisors also wrote that a change in approach would be more cost-effective: more than $247,000 is spent per youth for a year in a Los Angeles County probation camp.

To read more of Susan Abram's article, please click here.