Juvenile offenders make unattractive poster children, but they are children.

Which is why Gov. Janet Napolitano deserves credit for providing the leadership necessary to put the state's Department of Juvenile Corrections on track to needed improvements.

The agreement she reached on behalf of Arizona with the U.S. Department of Justice keeps the state out of court, establishes independent monitoring and makes it clear that a well-run juvenile justice system is an achievable goal.

It is a goal with a big potential payoff.

Under Arizona law, the worst and most violent young offenders are transferred to the adult system. That leaves juvenile justice with the offenders who have the greatest hope of reform - the greatest chance of becoming contributing members of the community.

Yet the system was so inadequate that it came under federal scrutiny for failures that threatened the physical welfare of incarcerated youth and the philosophical underpinnings of juvenile corrections. Children were killing themselves in juvenile detention at uncommonly high rates. Children were being abused by each other and by staff members. Their needs for mental health care, education and basic sanitation were not being met. The department paid lip service to the idea of rehabilitation, but incubated a culture that ignored staff mistreatment of youth.

The report handed to Napolitano by Justice in January had been ordered as a result of mismanagement that predated her. She put the kind of energy and urgency into solving it that won praise from Justice officials.

By approving $5.1 million to begin addressing problems, the Legislature played an important role in assuring that Arizona would come up with a plan that would satisfy federal concerns.

Some of that money has been spent to hire new staff and make needed changes to the buildings, such as efforts to make rooms suicide-proof. Monitoring to make sure the improvements continue is part of the settlement, and, given the history of the department, it is necessary and welcome.

Perhaps most significant, 38 employees have resigned or been fired as a result of the issues raised by Justice, and 32 others have been disciplined. A new director, Michael Branham, is in place. In addition, a governor-appointed task force will continue to review policy at the department.

These changes have the potential to permanently change the institutional culture that created problems in Arizona's juvenile detention centers.

That is good news for Arizona, which should be able to expect its juvenile-detention dollars to produce rehabilitated children, not lawsuits over civil rights.