Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice

1991 Words4 Pages

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention found that high numbers of detention orders were being issued for status youth statewide. The main issue of concern was the valid court order exception to the DSO core requirement was used 2,000 times. This allowed judges to order non-delinquent youth in locked detention facility whose most serious violations involved repeat offenses of running away, skipping school or being rebelling against authority figures. The disturbing thing about this statistic is that the same year almost half the other states used the VCO 250 times or less. Three states used the VCO more than 1,000 times. Kentucky’s overuse of detention orders at that time raised eyebrows in light of the cash for kid’s scandal in Pennsylvania. (Davis 2010)

D.) Disproportional minority populations- Another disturbing trend is the disproportionate amount of youth of color and girls being institutionalized. This trend still continues today. Currently female offenders account for 14% of youth in Juvenile facilities for delinquency. However, they make up about 41% of those in facilities for status offenses. Juvenile justice was founded apart from the adult system to focus on working with youth to learn from their mistakes and avoid going down the road of involvement with the criminal justice system. Rehabilitative approaches not only benefits youth but society as a whole because the safety of the pubic improves when youth attain direction towards the correct path. This positive guidance has long term benefits to society if the youth are guided to positive directions into adulthood.

All youth should have the same opportunity to pay for their mistakes and only face consequences in direct proportion to the level of...

... middle of paper ...

...

Sexual Victimization in Juvenile Facilities Reported by Youth, 2008-09 Allen J. Beck, Ph.D., Paul Guerino, Paige M. Harrison January 7, 2010

http://www.prisonpolicy.org/research/juveniles/

http://www.kyyouth.org/ Reducing the Use of Incarceration for Status Offenses in Kentucky Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Public Welfare Foundation.2010

Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA)

Sexual Assault Summary of Responses from Juvenile Focus Group on Staff Sexual Misconduct and Youth on Youth Sexual Assault Radisson Hotel, Lexington, KY November 10, 2005 NIC/Moss

Kentucky's 'evolved' boot camp yields 90 percent success rate Juvenile Justice Digest, Oct 27, 2000 by Newcom, Kim

Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice

New York City Dept. of Juvenile Justice: The Beginnings of the Juvenile Justice System

Funding Universe: Correctional Services Corporation

Open Document