“OAKLAND, Calif., April 1, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) has published a series of reports regarding the dramatic reduction of youth incarceration rates in most US states. The latest data from the US Justice Department showed that the rate of youth in confinement dropped 41% between 2001 and 2011. Since 2001, 48 states have experienced such a decline.
Yet, despite the overall reduction in incarceration rates among youth, much higher percentages of youth of color remain under formal supervision and in state secure facilities. Dr. Angela Irvine, an author of the study and the director of research in NCCD’s Oakland office, said, “States across the country have been successful at reducing the overall numbers of youth in the juvenile justice system. At the same time, youth of color have jumped from 68% to 81% of all youth sentenced in juvenile court. In order to reverse this trend, we will have to find solutions that we’ve never tried before on a large scale—solutions that come from the communities most impacted by incarceration.”
NCCD collected information for the study through interviews and listening sessions involving than 140 key stakeholders, who were well-versed in research that exposes the problems associated with unnecessary contact with the juvenile justice system.”
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