Locking Up Children In The Juvenile Justice System

“Locking up kids is the easiest way. But once they get in the juvenile justice system, it’s very hard to get them out,” stated by Bill Landsdowne, San Jose Police Chief (Bilderaya, 2005). Every year in the United States hundreds of thousands youth are locked away in the nation’s 591 secure detention centers (Holman & Ziedenberg, 1921). When discussing detention centers, they are supposed to change and rehabilitate the children’s lives effectively to enhance their chance to avoid the juvenile justice system. Instead juvenile detention centers are the juvenile justice system’s version of “jail,” sharing the same dynamics, where the youth are being held before the court has judged them delinquent. “Studies have shown that as many as 69 % of juvenile delinquent parolees are rearrested for serious crimes within six years of their release (Bilderaya, 2005).” Some youth in detention are detained due to failing the conditions of their probation or parole, or waiting in detention before their placement. …show more content…
Casey Foundation “40% of juvenile commitments and detention are due to technical violations of probation, drug possession, low-level property offenses, public order offenses and status offenses; activities that would not be considered crimes as adults, such as possession of alcohol and truancy (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2003).” Which means many of the reasons for the youth even begin detained is for pointless and nonviolent circumstances. Incarcerating juveniles does not really evolve a different in the youth’s life besides to reduce their educational development and increase the probability of adult incarceration. In juvenile detention facilities there is an essential concern for improvement in the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs for