Custody Data (1997-Present)

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), Serving Children, Families, and Communities

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Q:	Were private facilities used to detain juvenile offenders in 1997?
A:	The vast majority of detained juveniles were held in publicly operated facilities (89%).

Placement status profile of juveniles in residential placement, 1997

Placement status for the most serious offense	Total	Type of facility				All facilities		Type of facility
Placement status for the most serious offense	Total	Public		Private		All facilities		Public		Private

Total	105,790	72	%	28	%	105,790		76,335		29,455
						100	%	100	%	100	%

Diversion agreement not to adjudicate	1,247	31		69		1		0		3

Detained	27,680	89		11		26		32		11
Awaiting adjudication hearing in juvenile court	13,234	93		7		13		16		3
Adjudicated, awaiting disposition by juvenile court	4,947	81		19		5		5		3
Adjudicated and disposed in juvenile court and awaiting placement elsewhere	7,897	85		15		7		9		4
Awaiting transfer hearing to adult criminal court	544	97		3		1		1		0
Awaiting hearing or trial in adult criminal court	1,058	96		4		1		1		0

Committed	76,503	67		33		72		67		86
Adjudicated and disposed in juvenile court, in placement here	73,729	66		34		70		64		85
Convicted in adult criminal court	2,774	90		10		3		3		1

Notes: Total includes 360 juveniles (less than 0.5%) whose placement status was reported as "other." Of these, 20% were juveniles held pending deportation or transfer to the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Another 20% were held for diagnostic evaluation.

To protect the confidentiality of juvenile residents all published data from the Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement (CJRP) are rounded to the nearest multiple of three. Each cell is rounded independently, without consideration as to row or column totals. As a result, in many tables, the internal cells do not add to the marginal totals. Rates and percentages presented from CJRP are also based on rounded totals. More information on this rounding rule is available on the CJRP Databook Web site.

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The majority of juvenile offenders assigned beds on October 29, 1997 were juveniles who had been adjudicated, and disposed in juvenile court, and placed in the facility by the court.
More than one-third of these adjudicated juveniles were in private facilities. However, only youth in residential placement under diversion agreements were more likely to be in a private facility than in a public facility.
Committed juveniles accounted for 72% of juveniles in placement on the census date. In comparison, detained juveniles accounted for 26% of juveniles in residential placement.
Nearly as many detained juveniles had been adjudicated and were awaiting disposition or placement elsewhere as the number of juveniles detained while awaiting adjudication.
Detained juveniles made up one-third of the juveniles in residential placement in publicly operated facilities on October 29, 1997. In comparison, detained juveniles made up just 11% of the residents in privately operated facilities.
Juveniles who were transferred or were awaiting transfer to criminal court made up a very small proportion of juveniles in residential placement. In addition, there were a small number of juveniles in placement voluntarily as part of a diversion agreement not to adjudicate.

Internet citation: OJJDP Statistical Briefing Book. Online. Available: http://ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/ojstatbb/corrections/qa08510.asp?qaDate=20010228. Released on February 28, 2001.

Adapted from Sickmund, M. (2000). Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement 1997. Pittsburgh, PA: National Center for Juvenile Justice.

Data Source: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement 1997 [machine-readable data files]. Washington, D.C.: OJJDP.