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Annie E. Casey Foundation Releases New Report on Juvenile Detention
Locking up juvenile offenders in correctional facilities is not paying off from a public safety, rehabilitation or cost perspective, according to a new report the Annie E. Casey Foundation released today. No Place for Kids: The Case for Reducing Juvenile Incarceration comes at a time when states nationwide are struggling with enormous budget deficits and looking for ways to trim spending. The report reinforces the growing consensus among experts that the current incarceration model provides little public safety benefit.
According to the report, there is now overwhelming evidence that the wholesale incarceration of juvenile offenders is a failed strategy for combating youth crime because it:
- Does not reduce future offending of confined youth: Within three years of release, three-quarters of youth are rearrested; up to 72 percent, depending on individual state measures, are convicted of a new offense.
- Does not enhance public safety: States that lowered youth confinement rates the most saw a greater decline in juvenile violent crime arrests than states that increased incarceration rates or reduced them more slowly.
- Wastes taxpayer dollars: Georgia continues to spend the bulk of its juvenile justice budgets-nearly $350 million in 2008-to confine and house young offenders in incarceration facilities despite evidence showing that alternative in-home or community-based programs can deliver equal or better results for a fraction of the cost.
- Exposes youth to violence and abuse: Nearly 50 percent of states have been sued in the past decade alone for persistent maltreatment in at least one of their institutions.
The report highlights best practices that some states have implemented as alternatives to incarceration. The Casey Foundation hopes that No Place for Kids will help to generate a more coordinated national movement toward reform that results in less crime and a more successful future for America's young people.
For a copy of the Casey Foundation's full report and issue brief, visit aecf.org/noplaceforkids.
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Accepting Placement Applications for the 2012 Emory Summer Child Advocacy Program
We have begun planning for the 2012 Emory Summer Child Advocacy Program, and if your work involves interacting with the child welfare system, we invite you and your organization to apply to supervise a student intern.
Students who are accepted into the program will be paid through a grant that is administered by the Barton Child Law & Policy Center at Emory Law School. The grant is focused on children who are in the child welfare system, so internships need to focus on this population to qualify. The deadline for student applications will be in early December, with interviews between selected students and supervisors to occur in early to mid-January 2012. If you are interested in more information or in applying to host and intern, please email Kirsten Widner.
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Follow us on Twitter
The Barton Center is twittering information relevant to child advocacy at the Capitol. Follow us at @bartoncenter at twitter.com to get up-to-the-minute information on topics such as:
- Times, dates, and locations of advocacy meetings and legislative hearings;
- Status of juvenile court-related legislation;
- Action alerts for important pro-child initiatives; and
- News and research on best practices for children's law.
Begin following us by clicking on the Twitter icon to the right! 
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