A recently released report from the Sentencing Project, Declines in Youth Commitments and Facilities in the 21st Century, summarizes the dramatic declines in youth confinement that have occurred across the country over the last decade or so. This is not news to those who have followed the trends of dramatic declines in juvenile arrests and watched as nearly 1,000 juvenile facilities closed during the period of 2002 to 2012.

Wisconsin had the 10th highest decline in the number of youth confined, down 65% from 2001 to 2013, while the rate of youth confined per 100,000 remains in about the middle of the pack (22nd). But, amid the good news that these reductions have not prompted any increase in juvenile crime, is the reality that across the country youth of color are disproportionately represented in the number of youth confined. For example, for Wisconsin the rate of confinement for black youth is fifteen times the rate for white youth, putting Wisconsin as the fourth worst state in that comparison.

These numbers represent progress for some but are a far cry from reaching the kind of equity goals we should be working toward. We need to do better. By Jim Moeser