The National Archive of Criminal Justice Data has recently released census information for 2010 of the number of juveniles placed in juvenile residential facilities in each state. The data can be reviewed through Easy Access to the Census Juveniles in Residential Placement 1997-2010, including data for both secure (juvenile corrections, juvenile detention) and non-secure (group homes, residential treatment centers, etc.). The data is a snapshot of youth in residence on a single day in 2010, and for Wisconsin the data highlights:
• The continuing racial disproportionality of youth in placements, with approximately 61% of children in placement being children of color;
• Nearly one-half (45%) of juveniles in placement have listed some form of person offense as their most serious offense;
• The vast majority (84%) of youth in placement were boys.
Within this website, there are tools you can use to further define some of the data, although it is not available on a county-by-county basis. So, you can go into the site and select various tables/data to highlight.
What we do know from the best available research is that while out-of-home placements can be a useful tool to use to help stabilize and support a youth getting back on track, removal from their community also has some negative impacts. Therefore, supporting efforts to keep kids living in the community, where they need to learn to grow up, is the best strategy in most cases. Enjoy!!! by Jim Moeser
