Nationally, on any given night, approximately 81,000 youth are confined to juvenile facilities and 10,000 children are held in adult jails and prisons. Approximately 1 in 10 young male high school dropouts is incarcerated or in juvenile detention. For African Americans, that number is 1 in 4. Research shows that just over two million youth under the age of 18 were arrested in 2008. Of these two million, about 95 percent had not been accused of violent crimes. In 2010, of the nearly 100,000 youth under the age of 18 who were serving time in a juvenile residential placement facility, 26 percent had been convicted of property crimes only, such as burglary, arson, or theft. Access to education both stems the tide of incarceration and improves inmates chances of re-acclimating to society after their release.
“Advocates see Close to Home, launched in New York City in 2012 when Michael Bloomberg was mayor, as one model that can be increasingly replicated nationwide. Rather than funneling children who had been determined by a Family Court judge to be “delinquent” to rural prisons, Close to Home allowed them, as the name suggests, to stay in rehabilitative facilities, usually group homes, near their families, allowing for visits and family counseling.“
The Nation
April 8, 2019
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