WCCF has just posted a 2010 Report on the use of Juvenile Detention that indicates a slowing but continued decline in the number of youth held in temporary juvenile detention centers – from as many as 14,000 admitted in 2007 to approximately 9,600 youth admitted in 2010. Highlights of interest include:
• Consistent with earlier years, there is a continuing decrease in average daily population with juveniles being held in detention. In the beginning of 2009, there were 224 juveniles being held in detention on an average day and by the end of 2010 there were 214. This is not a huge decrease but a dramatic decrease from the beginning of 2008 when there were over 300 juveniles being held in detention on an average day.
• The disproportionality of youth being admitted and held in detention is still a problem. 79% percent of Wisconsin’s juvenile populations (aged 10-16) are White, but Whites only represent 47% of the juvenile detention population. While Black juveniles are only 9% of the juvenile population they make up 40% of detention admissions.
• There is a wide gap in the average length of stay across the 17 juvenile detention facilities in Wisconsin. It ranged from as short as 4 days in Lacrosse to almost 13 days at Racine.
• Girls were 22% of all 2010 admissions, consistent with the 2009 report.
• State and Federal laws discourage holding juvenile status offenders in secure detention facilities. Facilities admitting status offenders range from over 8% of their admissions at Marathon to 0% at Dane.
To check out more data on juvenile detention in 2010 and prior years check out the reports here.
By Allan Goetsch
