Report Says Putting Kids in Jail Doesn't Work

A new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation says that putting kids behind bars doesn’t keep them from committing crimes later on. The report says decades of research along with new data shows that incarceration doesn’t provide public safety benefits, wastes taxpayers’ money, and exposes young people to violence and abuse. It says that the “crimes” in most juvenile cases are minor. Most juveniles are either charged with nonviolent offenses or are there primarily for acts of defiance to adults.

Public News Service reports that several states are already moving away from relying on juvenile incarceration, mainly because of budget problems or scandals over abuse in institutions. More than 50 facilities have been shut down nationwide since 2007.

Last year Arizona Governor Jan Brewer proposed shutting down the State Department of Juvenile Corrections and transferring those resonsibilities to counties. The child welfare and juvenile justice director of the Children’s Action Alliance says locking up fewer kids is a good idea, but the governor’s plan would have simply cut the budget without supporting community-based programs that provide better results at a fraction of the cost. Beth Rosenburg says juvenile jails especially don’t work for children with mental health problems, who make up more than a third of the kids in the Arizona system.

You'll find the full report at www.aecf.org.