In 2023, 29,314 juveniles had been held in residential amenities throughout the USA. On paper, that’s a single nationwide system. In actuality, whether or not a baby finally ends up behind bars appears much less like a query of crime — and extra like a query of geography.
A brand new evaluation from Suzuki Legislation Places of work, based mostly on the newest federal placement knowledge from the Workplace of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), lays out simply how uneven youth incarceration is throughout the nation. Some states lock up hundreds of kids. Others incarcerate solely a handful.
On the extremes sit Texas and Vermont. Texas confined 2,955 juveniles in 2023. Vermont confined six. Meaning a baby in Texas was practically 500 instances extra doubtless to be incarcerated than a baby in Vermont.
“It stops being a criminal offense dialog and turns into a coverage dialog,” Suzuki’s crew notes. “These aren’t small variations; they’re life-altering disparities that decide whether or not a baby will get assist or handcuffs.”
The States Placing the Most Children Behind Bars
Ten states account for greater than half of all confined juveniles nationwide, in response to the Suzuki Legislation Places of work evaluate. They’re:
- Texas — 2,955
- California — 2,433
- Ohio — 1,824
- Florida — 1,749
- Pennsylvania — 1,122
- New York — 1,119
- Indiana — 894
- Virginia — 879
- Georgia — 858
- Louisiana — 771
Nationally, the juvenile placement fee averages 87 per 100,000 youth, however that “common” hides extraordinary divergence. A few of these high-incarceration states additionally lean closely on detention earlier than a case is resolved, conserving younger individuals confined whereas they await hearings or placements.
Texas, specifically, stands out. The state not solely leads the nation in whole youth confinement, it mirrors its broader incarceration posture: Suzuki notes Texas’ total incarceration fee (adults plus juveniles) now exceeds that of each democratic nation on the planet. The examine additionally highlights that Texas detained 66 youngsters aged 12 or youthful final yr — one of many highest totals within the nation.
The place Youth Incarceration Is the Exception, Not the Default
On the reverse finish of the spectrum, a small cluster of states confine only a few youngsters:
- Vermont — 6
- Hawaii — 33
- New Hampshire — 33
- Maine — 36
- North Dakota — 42
These aren’t crime-free utopias, however they do deal with incarceration as a final resort. Suzuki Legislation Places of work factors out that low-incarceration states have a tendency to emphasise:
- Diversion applications
- Restorative justice
- Group supervision
- Counseling and youth help companies
In these techniques, the default response to youth offending is therapy and supervision, not a locked facility. The outcome: decrease confinement numbers and decrease recidivism.
What’s Really Sending Children Into Custody?
The examine reveals that violent offenses nonetheless drive a big share of youth confinement, however they’re not the entire story. The main prices behind juvenile incarceration in 2023 included:
- Aggravated assault — 3,683 circumstances
- Weapons offenses — 3,005 circumstances
- Theft — 2,857 circumstances
Excessive-incarceration states like Texas and California see vital caseloads in these classes. However Suzuki stresses that coverage alternative is simply as influential as crime sort. Many states with low confinement numbers face severe offenses as properly — they merely use extra community-based responses as an alternative of reflexively turning to cells and razor wire.
The Youngest Children within the System
Some of the disturbing items of the dataset is the age of some youngsters getting into custody.
Greater than 390 youngsters aged 12 or youthful had been incarcerated nationwide in 2023. Texas as soon as once more led the way in which, with 66 under-13s detained, adopted by states together with Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Georgia and others with double-digit counts.
For Suzuki’s authorized crew, that’s a flashing crimson warning signal: it suggests missed alternatives for early intervention, psychological well being help, and household companies — and a system that’s nonetheless ready to deal with very younger youngsters as offenders earlier than it has totally tried alternate options.
Who Will get Locked Up? Race, Gender, and Age Gaps
The nationwide figures additionally reinforce longstanding inequities:
- Almost 40% of all incarcerated juveniles in 2023 had been Black, regardless of Black youth making up a a lot smaller share of the general youth inhabitants.
- Males represented 83% of confined youth.
- Seventeen-year-olds had been the one most incarcerated age group.
In Texas, the racial divide is even starker. The examine notes that greater than a 3rd of the state’s incarcerated juveniles are Black, whereas Black residents make up lower than 12% of the full Texas inhabitants.
These patterns, Suzuki argues, will not be unintended. They replicate how policing, charging selections, and sentencing work together with race, poverty, and geography.
Recidivism: What Occurs After Launch
If the purpose of youth incarceration is rehabilitation and public security, the outcomes in some states are arduous to defend.
Suzuki’s evaluation cites Texas figures displaying:
- 64% of youth dealt with by county probation departments had been rearrested inside three years
- 77% of these launched from state amenities reoffended
Against this, states that rely extra on diversion, remedy, and community-based supervision report decrease reoffending charges, fewer college disruptions, and fewer youth graduating into the grownup legal justice system.
“Not Only a Statistic — a Ethical Query”
For Suzuki Legislation Places of work, which represents juveniles and households navigating this technique, the numbers are greater than an summary coverage debate.
“When a state like Texas incarcerates 2,955 youth and Vermont incarcerates solely six, that’s not only a authorized statistic — that could be a ethical query,” the agency notes. “Juvenile justice ought to by no means depend upon a baby’s ZIP code.”
The takeaway from their evaluation is blunt: in at the moment’s America, the destiny of a kid in bother with the regulation is formed as a lot by their state line as by their actions. Some states are investing in alternate options and shrinking their youth jail populations. Others proceed to lean arduous on confinement — together with for the very youngest youngsters.
For households, advocates, and policymakers, the info attracts a transparent line: a fairer, extra rehabilitative juvenile justice system isn’t hypothetical. It already exists in a number of states. The query is whether or not others will observe.
