Custody Data (1997-Present)

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), Serving Children, Families, and Communities

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Q:	How did the security status of juvenile offenders in residential placement vary by age in 1997?
A:	In general, the proportion of offenders held in locked settings increased with age.

Security status of juveniles in residential placement by age, 1997

Age	All facilities				Public facilities				Private facilities
Age	Staff secure		Locked		Staff secure		Locked		Staff secure		Locked

Total	29	%	71	%	14	%	86	%	70	%	30	%
Age 12 or younger	43		57		12		88		81		19
Age 13	38		62		14		86		76		24
Age 14	34		66		14		86		74		26
Age 15	32		68		14		86		72		28
Age 16	28		72		13		87		69		31
Age 17	27		73		13		87		66		34
Age 18 or older	23		77		14		86		64		36

Note: To protect the confidentiality of juvenile residents all published data from the Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement (CJRP) are rounded to the nearest multiple of three. Each cell is rounded independently, without consideration as to row or column totals. As a result, in many tables, the internal cells do not add to the marginal totals. Rates and percentages presented from CJRP are also based on rounded totals. More information on this rounding rule is available on the CJRP Databook Web site.

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Juvenile residential placement facilities vary in their degree of security. The use of fences, walls, and surveillance equipment is increasingly common in juvenile facilities, although security hardware in juvenile facilities is generally not as elaborate as that found in adult jails and prisons. In fact, national accreditation standards for juvenile facilities express a preference for relying on staff, rather than on hardware to provide security. The guiding principle is to house juvenile offenders in the "least restrictive placement alternative." Staff security measures include perimeter checks, periodically taking counts of the youth in custody, using classification and separation procedures, and maintaining an adequate ratio of security staff to juveniles.
For each juvenile in residential placement, the Census of Juveniles Residential Placement asked respondents about the "locked doors and/or gates [that] confined THIS young person within the facility and its grounds during the afterschool, daytime hours on October 29, 1997."
There was not substantial variation across age in the security status of juveniles in placement in public facilities, although there was for those in private facility placement. In general, among juveniles housed in private facilities, the probability of locked security arrangements increased with age.

Internet citation: OJJDP Statistical Briefing Book. Online. Available: http://ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/ojstatbb/corrections/qa08514.asp?qaDate=20010228. Released on February 28, 2001.

Adapted from Sickmund, M. (2000). Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement 1997. Pittsburgh, PA: National Center for Juvenile Justice.

Data Source: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement 1997 [machine-readable data files]. Washington, D.C.: OJJDP.