The US has affected its juvenile population through its criminal justice system since its infancy. This incarceration of the youth has been practiced in different forms. For instance, such avenues of youth incarceration have included the confinement of children in boarding schools designed for the indigenous children, institutions whose target was to pray the gay way that were designed to deal with the LGBTQ juveniles, juvenile detention, and other forms (Shakur, 2017). Despite a decline in the prevalence of youth incarceration in the nation, the US has the highest rate of incarcerated juvenile population in comparison to the rest of the world (Shakur, 2017). It is notable that a majority of the states in the nation continue their usage of harmful and outdated ‘training school model,’ which confines children to remote facilities that resemble prisons from where they are cut-off from interacting with the rest of their families. It is also notable that the government spends almost too much money and other economic resources on juvenile incarceration, which stretches state and federal budgets while imposing additional ‘unnecessary tax burden on the public. This essay reviews on juvenile incarceration in the US and proposes a need for change in policy concerning this practice considering that it exposes children to untold physical and psychological suffering.
In 2015, the Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement approximated that more than forty-six thousand youths were in placements of some type within private, local, or state facilities. It is also notable that one trend has persisted concerning juvenile incarceration in the country, which is the disproportionate discrimination of minorities and people of color (Jacobson, 2015). The legal distinctions concerning age offer unique hurdles for the youth who undergo the penal system. It is understood that such people face restrictive rights founded on age within a nation that profits from imprisonment (Shakur, 2017). Comprehending the history of incarceration in the US demands an examination of the manner in which the country defines a child’s age as well as the ways in which the law should treat them. The English common law affected the earliest American states that distinguished adults from infants (Shakur, 2017). In this case, the cited study notes, the infants were seven years or younger and the law indicated they could not be charged with some forms of crime, such as felony. Contrarily, adults were individuals above the age of fourteen years. The trend suggests that people between the ages of seven and fourteen years fell within a gray zone, as the American Bar Association notes (Jacobson, 2015). The law also defined that an individual attained the majority age when they fell within the age bracket that would identify them as a minor or when they were exempt legally from their parents or guardians’ financial support, and such laws varied from state to state.
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Despite the definition by law of the age bracket within which people were considered adults or infants, the representation of the youth in the juvenile criminal justice system has been disproportionate. For instance, by 2015, Black youthful individuals were over five times more likely to be committed or detained compared to their White counterparts (The Sentencing Project, 2017). It should further be noted that ethnic and racial disparities have plagued the criminal justice system across the nation for a long time and the information released in 2015 suggested that the trend would still rise since in comparison to 2001, African American youth were approximately four times more likely to undergo incarceration as did the Whites.
The prevalence of juvenile incarceration declined by an estimated fifty-four percent between 2001 and 2015 yet the youth of color realized a slow drop than the Whites did (The Sentencing Project, 2017). This statistics indicates that the racial representation of juveniles in the criminal justice system worsened over the comparison years. For instance, the nationwide the incidence of youthful incarceration was 152 youths for every 100000. Nevertheless the rate of African American youths was 433 for the same group of individuals while that of the Whites was as low as 86 for a similar number of individuals (The Sentencing Project, 2017). Consequently, the analyzed statistics suggest that the disparities in racial representation of the American youth in criminal justice procedures involving incarceration increased by approximately twenty-two percent from 2011 to 2015. The issue of disproportionate representation of the youth in the system of criminal justice did not affect the national outlook alone, but affected all the states although differently.
Thirty-seven states across the country realized a growth in the racial disparities concerning youth incarceration while thirteen of them saw the figures drop. For instance, African American youth are approximately ten times more likely to be detained or placed in correctional facilities of some type compared their White counterparts in six states, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, Montana, Wisconsin, and New Jersey (The Sentencing Project, 2017). Furthermore, realized a double growth in their rates of racial disparities concerning the representation of the youth through the criminal justice system, especially incarceration, and they included Wisconsin, Delaware, Connecticut, Montana, and Maryland. Only three states realized a fall in their racial disparities, which were New Hampshire, West Virginia, and Vermont (The Sentencing Project, 2017). Figure 1 presents a summary of the change in the incarceration rates for the Black and White youth for every 100000 persons between 2001 and 2015.
Figure 1 : the changes in the disparities in incarceration rates of African American Youths from 2001 to 2015. Adapted from (The Sentencing Project, 2017)
It is factual that the American system of criminal justice disproportionately incarcerates the Black youth. However, this is not the only problem with the system that requires to be changed. The overall incarceration of juveniles in the nation is a problem that requires immediate attention because of the health effects it produces on the affected individuals. Dealing with the issue of the health needs and status of American youth who are incarcerated is a problem to the nexus of reforms within the system of criminal justice as well as health care (Barnert, Perry, & Morris, 2016). For instance, literature on the effect of incarceration on health indicates that incarcerated juveniles have disproportionately higher mortality and morbidity in comparison to the rest of the adolescent populations (Barnert, Perry, & Morris, 2016). The report also indicates that this group of people has exceptional high requirements for mental health, reproductive health, and dental health services. The requirements emerge for the fact that that their status denies them access to such services, the engagement of such people in high-risk behaviors, as well as predisposing disparities in health. Related studies also find that exposure to violence and instances of injury are among the most significant contributors to health disparities among this group. It should be noted that juvenile incarceration in itself is a critical factor determining the health of persons. For instance, it is thought that youth incarceration has a relationship with adverse social and health functioning abilities across the course of life (Desai et al., 2006). Health care facilities within correctional units allow health care practitioners time to deal with the unmet mental and physical health needs of this proportion of the population. Nevertheless, fundamental factors challenge the provision of such services within the detention facilities while the quality of care provided within such settings varies significantly.
The cost of youth incarceration is another factor prompting the need for policy change within the criminal justice system. Taxpayers are indirectly involved in meeting the costs of juvenile incarceration. Statistics suggest that it costs the states an approximated $407.58 to incarcerate one individual per day, which amounts to an annual cost of $148767 annually using the most costly option ( Sneed, 2014 ). Figure 2 indicates the cost of youth incarceration across the American states. Therefore, it is costly for the government to sustain the incarceration facilities for all the youth represented within the system, which is why proper policies should be adopted to deal with the issue.
Figure 2 : the cost of incarcerating one person per year for each state. Adapted from ( Sneed, 2014 )
In summary, the US has an unacceptable incidence of juvenile incarceration since it is the leading in such statistics in the world. Some people might consider the findings of this study normal, yet they have a significant implication on policy within the criminal justice system. For instance, policymakers and other chief players in the department might want to consider options that would reduce the overall rate of juvenile incarceration, which might include the creation of alternatives to the system. The second issue that affects policy concerns the disproportionate representation of some of the racial groups in the country, especially the African Americans and other groups of color. In this case, it would be useful for the department to explore avenues to the solution of this problem. Whatever the case with race, incarcerating the youth has negative health effects on them, which signals immediate intervention. Lastly, the American correctional system requires significant change that would drive the profit-orientations of some players who have industrialized it to create extra pressure on federal spending on incarceration.
References
Barnert, E. S., Perry, R., & Morris, R. E. (2016). Juvenile incarceration and health. Academic pediatrics , 16 (2), 99-109.
Desai, R. A., Goulet, J. L., Robbins, J., Chapman, J. F., Migdole, S. J., & Hoge, M. A. (2006). Mental health care in juvenile detention facilities: a review. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law .
Jacobson, J. (2015). What Mass Incarceration Looks Like for Juveniles . Retrieved 15 April 2018, from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/11/opinion/what-mass-incarceration-looks-like-for-juveniles.html?mcubz=0
Shakur, P. (2017). A Full Timeline of How Young People Have Been Imprisoned in the United States . Teen Vogue . Retrieved 15 April 2018, from https://www.teenvogue.com/story/youth-incarceration-in-the-united-states-explained
Sneed, T. (2014). What Youth Incarceration Costs Taxpayers . Retrieved April 15, 2018 from https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2014/12/09/what-youth-incarceration-costs-taxpayers
The Sentencing Project (2017). Black Disparities in Youth Incarceration . Retrieved 15 April 2018, from https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/black-disparities-youth-incarceration/
