Incarceration Of Juvenile Offenders Criticized

Locking up juvenile offenders in correctional facilities is not paying off from a public safety, rehabilitation or cost perspective, according to a new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Released Oct. 4, “No Place for Kids: The Case for Reducing Juvenile Incarceration” documents four decades of allegations of abusive conditions in juvenile institutions and argues that the current incarceration model provides little public safety benefit. (See attached PDF to read the report.)

The report concludes there is “overwhelming evidence” that the “wholesale incarceration of juvenile offenders is a failed strategy for combating youth crime.”

According to the report, incarcerating young offenders doesn’t work on several fronts because: up to 72 percent of confined juveniles commit future crimes; states that lowered juvenile confinement rates the most saw a greater decline in juvenile violent crime arrests; and confinement exposes youth to violence and abuse.

“No Place for Kids” highlights six recommendations for how state and local juvenile justice officials can alter youth incarceration patterns and improve system outcomes.

“The traditional approach of locking up youth offenders wholesale – even those with limited histories of serious or violent offending – has continued for decades without any evidence that it helps kids or protects the public,” said Bart Lubow, director of the Juvenile Justice Strategy Group at the Annie E. Casey Foundation and former director of Alternatives to Incarceration for New York State. “This report highlights the crucial challenges facing the youth corrections field. Our hope is that the research will serve as a catalyst for developing more effective and efficient juvenile justice strategies.”

The report also highlights California’s drop in juvenile incarceration rates.

“Contrary to the presumption that more incarceration breeds less crime, California’s juvenile crime rates have declined substantially during the period of rapid de-incarceration,” according to the report.

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department has reported that targeting juvenile crimes is a major focus of its administration.

“We want to work with the youth and their family members so that, with everyone working together, we can address the issues before the young minds of our communities lose sight of basic decency and continue on a path of destruction,” according to the department’s website.