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Thursday, June 12, 2008

Ind. Courts - "Indiana 6th in nation in juveniles locked up"

Angela Mapes Turner of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports today:

Indiana ranks sixth among states with the most juveniles locked up, a grade that should prompt the state to re-examine its youth justice system, a report released today said.

The latest Kids Count Data Book shows an estimated 2,616 youths were in custody in Indiana on any given day in 2006, the latest year U.S. census data were available.

The state-by-state report, released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, said Indiana’s rate of detained and committed youths was 183 per 100,000 youths, above the national rate of 125 per 100,000 youths.

Of those, 74 percent were in custody for non-violent offenses, compared with 66 percent nationally, according to the study.

The Indiana Youth Institute, a non-profit organization that released the report in Indiana, said it hoped the state would study the research to determine why Indiana’s rates of juvenile defenders are higher than other states.

The report noted that children who remain in contact with the juvenile justice system don’t go as far with their education, work and earn less, experience chronic health problems, fail to form enduring families and are more likely to be imprisoned again later in life.

The rate at which youths are released from juvenile detention is also alarming, said Doug Church, president of the Indiana State Bar Association, which is sponsoring a pilot program in six counties that screens youths entering detention centers for mental illness.

Church said 50 percent to 80 percent of youths released from juvenile detention centers are rearrested within three years.

Ken Kusmer of the AP has this story today. Some quotes:
The report, based on U.S. Census data, showed Indiana detained and committed 10- to 15-year-olds for juvenile offenses in 2006 at a rate of 183 per 100,000, compared with a national rate of 125 per 100,000. The only higher rates were found in South Dakota (373 per 100,000), Wyoming (334), the District of Columbia (294), Alabama (201) and South Carolina (185).

Data shows children in the juvenile justice system don't go as far in school, work and earn less, have less stable families, more health problems and are more likely to be imprisoned again, said the report compiled by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a private charity working to improve the lives of children.

Also, 50 percent to 80 percent of youths released from juvenile detention centers are rearrested within three years, a trend noted by Doug Church, president of the Indiana State Bar Association.

"It comes as no shock once many of these children are in the juvenile justice system these children are on a path to be lifelong residents of our prison system," Church said.

Here is the Kids Count website.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 12, 2008 08:25 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts