Juvenile Detention

Juvenile detention is a crucial early phase in the juvenile justice process, the point at which the courts decide whether to confine a young person pending their court hearing or while awaiting placement into a correctional or treatment facility rather than allowing the young person to remain at home or perhaps in an alternative supervision program. Every year, an estimated 195,000 young people are admitted to detention facilities nationwide, and approximately 15,600 are held in detention on any given night.

Placement into a locked detention center pending court significantly increases the odds that youth will be found delinquent and committed to corrections facilities and can seriously damage their prospects for future success.

Yet many detained youth pose little or no threat to public safety.