Juvenile Corrections Chapter 6

Congregating Delinquents

Researchers found that putting youth together for treatment in a group setting causes them to have a higher recidivism rate and poorer outcomes than youth who receive individual treatment. Due to interacting and talking with antisocial peers....who do not respect authority and rules

Mental Health and Detention

Detention is a new dumping ground for youth with mental health issues. Most states do not have the appropriate facilities to treat young people with mental health problems. As a result since there is no treatment in place...youth are exposed to negative environments with the inability to be stable

Cost of Detention Centers

* The annual cost per year of a detention bed... $32,000.00 yearly $87.00 per day


* This is based on the cost of living in a particular state
* Bigger cities $65,000.00 yearly $178.00 daily.
* The cost of building, financing and operating a single detention bed cost the public between $1.25 and $1.5 million over a 20 year period

Youth of Color/Disparity

* The greatest levels of racial disparity are found in the least serious offense categories.
* Surveys from the late 1990's found that whites used and sold drugs at rates similar too other races and ethnicities, but African Americans were (detained) for drug offenses at more than one and a half times the rate of Whites..
* White youth (self reporting) used heroin and cocaine at 6 times the rate of African American youth but AA youth are almost 3x's as likely to be detained for a drug crime