Juvenile Offenders in Correctional Facilities
Highlights from Chapter 7:
- Nationally fewer than 97,000 juvenile offenders were held in juvenile residential facilities on October 22, 2003. This translates to a custody rate of 307 offenders in custody for every 100,000 juveniles in the population. (p. 197-198 & 201)
- Although 6 in 10 juvenile facilities were privately operated, public facilities held 6 in 10 juvenile offenders. (p. 197)
- After many years of increases, the juvenile custody population declined in 2001-the 2003 count was lower still. (p. 199-200)
- Juveniles detained while awaiting juvenile or criminal court hearings or awaiting placement elsewhere accounted for 25% of the 1-day count in 2003. The 2003 count of detained juvenile offenders was 26,269. In comparison, the count of juveniles committed by the court to the facility was 69,007. Person offenders accounted for the largest proportion of both the detained and the committed populations. (p. 197 & 200)
- Females made up a small share of the custody population (14,590 or 15%). (p. 206)
- A greater proportion of females than males were detained. Detained youth accounted for about one-quarter of male delinquents, but more than one-third of female delinquents. (p. 208)
- Females were more likely than males to be held for simple assault, technical violations, and status offenses. (p. 210)
- The decline in black juveniles in custody led the overall 1997-2003 custody population decline. The number of black youth in custody dropped 12%. In comparison, the number of white youth held dropped 5%. (p. 211)
- Even with the large drop in the black custody population, the 2003 custody rate was highest for black youth (754/100,000). The rates were lower for Asian (113), white (190), Hispanic (348), and American Indian youth (496). (p. 213)
- On the day of the 2003 data collection, 34% of committed offenders and 3% of detained offenders had been in placement 6 months since their admission. The median time in placement thus was 15 days for detained offenders, 105 days for offenders committed to public facilities, and 121 days for those committed to private facilities. (p. 215)
- JRFC data suggest that crowding is a problem in a significant number of residential facilities, but there are signs of improvement. In 2002, 30% of the facilities reported residential populations at the limit of available standard beds, and 6% had more residents than standard beds. Facilities that were at or over capacity held 34% of residents in 2002, down from 40% in 2000. (p. 223)
- Most juvenile offenders are held in facilities that screen for mental health needs and suicide risk. Facilities that had an in-house mental health professional screen all youth for mental health needs held 57% of juvenile offenders. Facilities that screened all youth for suicide risk held 88% of juvenile offenders. (p. 225-228)
- Deaths of juveniles in custody remain rare. In 2002, 24 juvenile facilities reported a total of 26 deaths. In comparison, facilities reported 30 deaths to the 2000 JRFC, and in 1994 juvenile facilities reported 45 deaths of juveniles in custody. If death rates for the custody population were the same as for the general population-taking into consideration age, sex, race, ethnicity, and cause of death-more than 60 deaths would have been expected for the 2002 custody juvenile population. This is more than double the actual number of deaths that were reported to JRFC. (p. 229)
- Youth entering juvenile facilities are at greater risk of suicide than similar youth in the U.S. population. The suicide rate in juvenile facilities in 2002 was nearly equal to the rate for similar youth in the U.S. population. While any suicide while in custody is unacceptable, these two points imply that while in custody a youth's risk of suicide is actually reduced. (p. 229)
- Officials reported more than 2,800 sexual violence allegations in juvenile facilities in 2004-3 in 10 were substantiated. Girls were more likely than boys to be sexually victimized. The rate of sexual allegations was higher for state-operated facilities (22.6/1,000 beds) than for local and private facilities (16.5/1,000 beds). (p. 230-231)
- Reoffending data from studies of juveniles released from state incarceration found that rearrest rates were substantially higher than rates based on other measures of recidivism. Across studies with a 12-month follow-up period, the average rate of rearrest for a delinquent or criminal offense was 55%, the average reconviction or re adjudication rate was 33%, and the average reincarceration or reconfinement rate was 24%. (p. 234-235)
- On a typical day in 2004, about 7,000 persons younger than 18 were inmates in adult jails. Nearly 9 in 10 were being held as adults. (p. 236)
- Between 1990 and 1999 the under-18 jail population increased more than 300% while the adult jail population rose 48%. Between 1999 and 2004, the adult jail population increased 19%, while the under-18 jail population dropped 25%. The decline was driven by the reduction in the number of under-18 inmates held as juveniles. (p. 236)
- Between 1997 and 2004, while prison populations grew, the number of prisoners under age 18 fell 54%. (p. 237)
- The Supreme Court decision in Roper v. Simmons (2005) prohibits the death penalty for youth younger than 18. In the modern death penalty era (since 1973) 22 offenders were executed in the U.S. for crimes they committed when they were younger than 18. All of these offenders were male. Only 1 of these offenders was 16 at the time of his crime, the rest were 17. Most of these offenders were legally adults for the purposes of criminal responsibility in the state where they committed their crimes (18 of 22). More than half (13 of 22) were executed by the state of Texas. (p. 239)
