The DOC also announced a $2 million, 30-month program of intensive aftercare, the Going Home Initiative, aimed at raising the chances that young people who leave one of the state's juvenile programs will make a successful transition back to the community.

"These programs have shown a high rate of success when it comes to recidivism and re-incarceration and have become best practices in national studies," Tim O'Daniel, project director, said Thursday. "The cost savings have been significant when compared to rising prison and re-incarceration rates."

The aftercare program .... targets three communities, Sioux Falls, Rapid City and Sisseton. Native American juveniles make up a large percentage of the caseload in each of the target cities. The high disparity and the lack of success of Native American youthful offenders in traditional treatment programs requires a new way of doing business to meet their needs," O'Daniel said.

This is a really interesting article. If you're in South Dakota, we hope you will let your state representatives know you support this effort. If you're elsewhere, email or fax the article to your legislators and suggest they make similar changes in your state.