Reforms Propel Drop in Juvenile Detention Figures and Juvenile Crime Rates

by Derek Gilna

Juvenile crime rates and the number of incarcerated juveniles have fallen in a majority of states as states begin to reap the benefits of more enlightened treatment of young offenders. The FBI’s newest statistics agree that juvenile crime has fallen to a new 32-year low, and according to a report issued by the non-partisan Pew Research Center, “(b)etween 2010 and 2011, the number of committed youth—those locked up as a result of a court-ordered sanction—fell in 43 states.”

That report, based upon the most recent data released by the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, also showed that the “juvenile commitment rate dropped 14 percent during that period.” Still, a staggering total of 42,000 youth, or 1 in 751, are locked up in a juvenile corrections facility or other residential placement in the United States.

The drop in juvenile crime rates mirrors the drop in the adult crime rate, both of which have been falling since the mid-1990s. Much of the credit goes to the enlightened recalibration of failed juvenile detention policies in the past decade in states not generally known for enlightened correctional practices, including Texas, Georgia, Louisiana, and Ohio. This trend of reform has accelerated even in the face of tight state finances and a stumbling national economy.

These results show what juvenile prison reform advocates have been saying for many years: kids are different from adults, not only in age, but in mental development and maturity, and a restrictive prison environment tends to result in reoffending, rather than recovery and rehabilitation. Robert Hauser, a professor at the University of Louisiana, notes that youth do better if they are kept in a less restrictive environment, and recommends a mental-health program to intervene in a positive fashion to help youth who may be faced with depression, anxiety, self-esteem issues, cognitive challenges, educational issues, and lack of adult supervision.

The reports produced by Pew on the practices in various states affirm Hauser’s findings, noting that “States are increasingly recognizing the high cost and low return of placing lower-risk youth in state facilities…Many policymakers believe that expense would be justified if it improved public safety, but research has demonstrated that residential placements generally fail to produce better outcomes than alternative sanctions, cost much more, and can actually increase reoffending for certain youth.”

In other words, states spending more on youthful incarceration are actually seeing higher rates of juvenile crime and recidivism than states that have seen the wisdom of a different approach. Connecticut, since the 1990’s has utilized “Multisystemic Therapy,” a family-based treatment model that has demonstrated significant reductions in juvenile recidivism, and created a center to provide counseling services more local in nature.

Another welcome benefit for cash-strapped governments is the cost savings in rehabilitation over incarceration, which can run upwards of $100,000 per year per juvenile. Georgia has saved an estimated $85 million over five years and reduced recidivism by limiting out-of-home placements to serious offenders and investing in community-level, evidence-based programs.

Sources: www.pewstates.org/news-room, www.johnjayresearch.org, Associated Press