Juvenile Detention: Adolescents in Residential Placements
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Headline

The rate at which adolescents were held in juvenile detention has been declining since 1999, dropping from 356 per 100,000 in 1999 to 307 per 100,000 in 2003. (See Figure 1)

Importance

Juvenile delinquency¹ poses high costs to both individuals and society as a whole. Oppositional, defiant, and antisocial behavior during early and middle childhood are linked to delinquency during adolescence.² Similarly, juvenile delinquency is linked subsequently to higher crime rates as adults and other negative outcomes in the future.³

The juvenile justice system is based on the premise that adolescents are different from adults, are still developing, and therefore should be treated differently.⁴ Following a rise in juvenile crime in the late 1980s and early 1990s, 'get tough on crime' policies have led to an increase in the number of children being tried as adults and being committed to adult facilities.⁵ Juveniles may face higher risks of rape, assault, and suicide when placed in adult prisons, although reliable statistics are lacking.^6,7,8

A high percentage of adolescents in the juvenile justice system have mental health problems (with estimates ranging as high as 60 percent compared with 20 percent among the total adolescent population).⁹ In juvenile detention facilities, many of these problems go untreated or are dealt with inadequately.¹⁰ Suicide in juvenile detention facilities is more than four times as likely as adolescent suicide overall.¹¹ Adolescents confined in isolation are even more likely to commit suicide.¹² A new study also found that youth in detention centers have a mortality rate four times as high as the rate among youth in the general population.¹³ Additionally, between 50 to 75 percent of adolescents who have spent time in juvenile detention centers are incarcerated later in life.¹⁴

Female adolescents are being committed to facilities at much higher rates than in the past.¹⁵ In one study, the majority of females in the juvenile justice system report experiencing physical, sexual, or emotional victimization. Many girls first enter the system as runaways or for other status offenses (offenses not considered illegal for adults), and cite abuse from home as one of the main reasons for leaving. Once in the system, they often do not receive adequate treatment, and may have different needs than do their male counterparts.¹⁶

Trends

In 2003, 307 per 100,000 (or 96,655) juveniles were in residential placements, compared with 336 per 100,000 juveniles in 2001 and 356 juveniles per 100,000 in 1999 and 1997. (See Figure 1)

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Differences by Gender

Males are much more likely than females to be in residential placement. In 2003, 85 percent of all juveniles in residential placement were male.¹⁷ (See Table 1)

Differences by Type of Offense

Most juveniles in residential placement are there because of delinquency (95 percent in 2003). The other 5 percent had committed status offenses (those that are illegal for underage persons but not for adults, such as running away, incorrigibility and truancy) as their most serious offense. In 2003, 23 percent of juveniles in residential placement had committed violent crimes¹⁸ as their most serious offense, and 23 percent had committed property crimes¹⁹ as their most serious offense. Only 1 percent had committed criminal homicide. Eight percent had committed drug related offenses and 10 percent had committed disturbances to public order as their most serious offense. (See Table 2)

Of adolescents in residential placement, girls are much more likely than boys to be in residential placement because of status offenses, such as running away and incorrigibility. In 2003, 13 percent of females in residential placements were there because of a status offense, compared with only 4 percent of males. (See Figure 2)

Differences by Race and Hispanic Origin

In 2003, Asian male adolescents and non-Hispanic white male adolescents had the lowest rates of placement in juvenile detention (190 per 100,000 and 305 per 100,000, respectively). Hispanic male adolescents had a rate of 600 per 100,000, followed by American Indian male adolescents at a rate of 775, and non-Hispanic black male adolescents at a rate of 1,279 per 100,000). (See Figure 3)

Among females as well, non-Hispanic black adolescents and American Indian adolescents had the highest rates of placement in residential detention (214 per 100,000 and 209 per 100,000, respectively, in 2003). Non-Hispanic white female adolescents were about three times less likely to be in residential placement (68 per 100,000 in 2003), followed by Hispanic female adolescents (83 per 100,000 in 2003). Asian female adolescents were the least likely to be in residential placement, with a rate of only 32 per 100,000 in 2003. (See Figure 3)

Related Indicators

Young Adults in Jail or Prison

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State and Local Estimates

State estimates on the number of juveniles in residential placement are available in Kids Count Data Book 2005: State Profiles of Child Well-Being. Available online at: http://www.aecf.org/kidscount/sld/db05_pdfs/entire_db.pdf

Further subgroup breaks by state are available from the Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement Databook. Available online at: http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/ojstatbb/cjrp/asp/State_Comparison.asp

International Estimates

None Available

National Goals

None Available

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Research References

¹Delinquency is defined as crimes that are also considered illegal for adults.

²Eddy, J. Mark, Reid, John B., Fetrow, and Rebecca A. (Fall 2000). "An Elementary School-Based Prevention Program Targeting Modifiable Antecedents of Youth Delinquency and Violence: Linking the Interests of Families and Teachers (LIFT)," Journal of Emotional & Behavioral Disorders 8(3).

³Jonson-Reid, Melissa. (March/April 2004). Child Welfare Services and Delinquency: The Need to Know More. Child Welfare 83(2): 157-173.

⁴Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, Intro to California's Juvenile Justice System. Available at: http://www.cjcj.org/jjic/intro.php .

⁵Bilchik, Shay, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. (1999). "Juvenile Justice: A Century of Change," 1999 National Report Series, Juvenile Justice Bulletin: 1-20. Available at: http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/ojjdp/178995.pdf.

⁶Flaherty, Michael G. "The National Incidence of Juvenile Suicide in Adult Jails and Juvenile Detention Centers," Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior, 13(2): 85-94.

⁷Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice. (1997). The Risks Youth Face When They are Incarcerated with Adults. Available at: http://www.cjcj.org/pubs/risks/risks.html.

⁸Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice. (1999). The Florida Experiment: An Analysis of the Practice of Sending Kids to Adult Court. Available at http://www.cjcj.org/pubs/florida/florida.html..

⁹Kamradt, Bruce, "Wraparound Milwaukee: Aiding Youth with Mental Health Needs," Juvenile Justice, 7(1): 14-23. Available at:http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/ojjdp/178256.pdf.

¹⁰Cocozza, Joseph & Skowyra, Kathleen, "Youth with Mental Health Disorders: Issues and Emerging Responses," Juvenile Justice, 7(1): 3-13. Available at: http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/ojjdp/178256.pdf.

¹¹Hayes, Lindsay M., "Suicide Prevention in Juvenile Facilities," Juvenile Justice, 7(1): 24-32. Available at:http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/ojjdp/178256.pdf.

¹²Ibid.

¹³Teplin, Linda, McClelland, Gary, Abram, Karen, and Mileusnic, Darinka. Early violent death among delinquent youth: A prospective longitudinal study. Pediatrics, 115(6): 1586-1593

¹⁴Estimates vary depending on how recidivism is measured and what time period is used.

¹⁵Snyder, Howard N. (1999). "Juvenile Arrests 1998," Juvenile Justice Bulletin, NCJ179064. Available online at: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/179064.pdf.

¹⁶Hoyt, Stephanie, and David Scherer, "Female Juvenile Delinquency: Misunderstood by the Juvenile Justice System, Neglected by Social Science," Law and Human Behavior, 22(1): 81-107.

¹⁷Sickmund, Melissa, Sladky, T.J., and Kang, Wei. (2004). Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement Databook. Online. Available: http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/ojstatbb/cjrp/.

¹⁸The violent crime index includes criminal homicide, violent sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault.

¹⁹The property crime index includes burglary, theft, auto theft, and arson.

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Definition

Juveniles who were assigned a bed in a juvenile residential custody facility in the U.S. on the last Wednesday in October.

Rates are computed per 100,000 juveniles ages 10 through the upper age of each state's juvenile court jurisdiction. The number of children younger than 10 in residential placement is not large enough to warrant the inclusion of younger age groups in the denominator of rate calculations. States' upper age limits of original juvenile court jurisdiction in 1999 are available at: http://www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org/ojstatbb/corrections/qa08601.asp?qaDate=20021030

Data do not include those juveniles in adult facilities or those juveniles held exclusively in drug treatment or mental health facilities.

Data Source

Sickmund, Melissa, Sladky, T.J., and Kang, Wei. (2004). Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement Databook. Online. Available:http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/ojstatbb/cjrp/

Raw Data Source

OJJDP's Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement 1997, 1999, 2001, and 2003

Approximate Date of Next Update

2007

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