New Report: The Case for Reducing Juvenile Incarceration

Posted by on October 24, 2011

Failing us all

A new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation assembles decades of research and data to demonstrate that America’s heavy reliance on juvenile incarceration is a failed strategy. The latest national count of youth in custody, conducted in 2007, found that roughly 60,500 U.S. youths were confined in correctional facilities or other residential programs each night on the order of a juvenile delinquency court. The largest share of committed youth — about 40 percent of the total, disproportionately youth of color — are held in locked, long-term correctional facilities operated by state governments or private contractors hired by states. The authors find compelling evidence that youth incarceration does not reduce future offending; provides no overall benefit to public safety; wastes taxpayer dollars; and exposes youth to high levels of violence and abuse. While a significant movement away from juvenile incarceration, prompted by state budget crises and abuse scandals, signals that positive action is being taken, sustainable system improvements will require mobilization of a coordinated juvenile corrections reform movement. Nationally, just 12 percent of the nearly 150,000 youth placed into residential programs by delinquency courts in 2007 had committed aggravated assault, robbery, rape, or homicide. It is time to abandon the long-standing incarceration model and embrace a more constructive, humane, and cost-effective approach to youth corrections.

See the report: http://www.aecf.org/OurWork/JuvenileJustice/JuvenileJusticeReport.aspx