Forty percent of youth who are incarcerated in the United States are incarcerated for low-level offenses and technical violations. According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, such offenses include drug possession, possession of alcohol, truancy and status offenses. The overincarceration of youth for low-level offenses has been proven to be ineffective in reducing recidivism and has been costly for states.
The cost of youth incarceration exceeds $100,000 annually per youth for most states and jurisdictions in the country, according to “Sticker Shock: Calculating the Full Price Tag for Youth Incarceration,” the report published by the Justice Policy Institute. This continued reliance on detention also negatively affects youth development by disrupting communal and familial bonds.
As juvenile justice advocates and reformers push for community-based alternatives to detention for court-involved youth, juvenile justice stakeholders must work to build relationships with community stakeholders. Assessing community capacity and garnering support for such policies requires that community stakeholders share their perspectives and ideas on resources and how to best meet the needs of court-involved youth in light of such assets.
[For more of this story, written by Juliana Stratton, go to http://jjie.org/op-ed-communit...stice-reform/108592/]
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