The United States incarcerates an alarming number of children and adolescents every year. Disproportionately, they are youth of color.

Given the short- and long-term damages stemming from youth out of home placement, it is vital to understand its true scope. In 2019, there were more than 240,000 instances of a young person detained, committed, or both in the juvenile justice system. However, youth incarceration is typically measured via a one-day count taken in late October. This metric vastly understates its footprint: at least 80% of incarcerated youth are excluded from the one-day count.

Data on youth detentions and commitment reveal sharp racial and ethnic disparities. Youth of color encounter police more often than their white peers and are disproportionately arrested despite modest differences in behavior that cannot explain the extent of arrest disparities. Disparities in incarceration start with arrests but grow at each point of contact along the justice system continuum. In roughly one-quarter of delinquency cases throughout the decade, a youth was detained pre-adjudication. When youth of color are arrested, they are more likely to be detained than their white peers.

This report calculates detention and commitment frequencies by race and ethnicity, providing a fresh view of the extent of placement disparities. That youth of color are more likely to be held in placement than their white peers is well established. The report reveals how, among those youth referred to court, detention grew even more common for Black, Latinx, and Asian/Pacific Islander youth while holding steady for white and Tribal youth. On the other hand, juvenile courts committed delinquent youth of all races and ethnicities less often than at the start of the decade.Overall, the system shrank, but its unfairness increased.

As large as the system appears in the popular data, the use of confinement in America’s juvenile justice system is far larger than generally understood. A one-day count cannot accurately reflect the wide and deep footprint of youth incarceration.

It’s time for a better view.

To read more of Josh Rovner's article, please click here.