Backed with an array of research, the case against America’s youth prisons and correctional training schools can be neatly summarized in five words: dangerous, ineffective, unnecessary, wasteful and inadequate. This report highlights successful reform efforts from several states and provides recommendations for how states can reduce juvenile incarceration rates and redesign their juvenile correction systems to better serve young people and the public.
In addition to the full report, the Foundation published a No Place for Kids issue brief and a news release. As a supplement to the report, find state-level data on juvenile confinement in the Finding & Stats section below.
Systemic or recurring maltreatment is identified when clear evidence has emerged showing that one or more state-funded youth corrections facilities repeatedly failed to protect youth from violence by staff or other youth, sexual assaults and/or excessive use of isolation or restraints.
A 1-day snapshot showed 26% of delinquent youth in residential programs were in for violent offenses. The overall lock-up rate for violent offenses in 2007 was 12%.
In 2007, there were 60,426 juveniles in committed custody, down from 75,406 in 1997. View the total number of juveniles committed in each state, as well as state confinement rates for youth during the same period.
Youth locked inside our nation's deep-end juvenile justice facilities are overwhelmingly the product of tragic circumstances, and it doesn't get better inside the sytem.
The Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators and the American Correctional Association offer estimates on state budgets for juvenile corrections in 2008.
An international comparision found that American's youth custody rates are nearly 5 times the rate of the next highest nation.
Does lowering juvenile confinement rates at the state level forshadow increased juvenile violence? Evidence from 1997 to 2007 says no.
Look at a state-by-state summary of systemic or recurring maltreatment in juvenile corrections facilities.
From 1997 to 2007, the juvenile arrest rate for violent index offenses dropped 26.9%. View youth arrest data by state for the same period.
See which states had litigation and federal Cival Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act investigations over confinement conditions.
A look at recidivism by youth released from state-funded juvenile corrections facilities. Also, what are the state-by-state gaps in data collection involving recidivism?
A state-by-state look at juvenile correctional facilites closed since 2007, as well as other actions used to reduce facility populations.
According to the American Correctional Association, the average daily cost nationwide to incarcerate one juvenile offender in 2008 was $240. That translates to an average cost of $66,000-$88,000 for 9-12 months ... many times the cost of tuition and fees at a public four-year university or a two-year community or technical college.
