Juveniles in Jail - Special Issues for a Population Subgroup (From Mental Health Services in Local Jails - Report of a Special National Workshop, P 149-156, 1982, Christopher S Dunn and Henry J Steadman, ed. - See NCJ-85919)

• NCJ Number: 85925
• Author(s): D A Rademacher
• Date Published: 1982
• Length: 8 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Publication Type: Statistics
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Available on microfiche as NCJ-85919

Annotation

This paper raises policy issues to be resolved before the development of specific mental health services to juveniles in jails.

Abstract

The problem of juvenile incarceration in adult facilities concerns not only county jails but the 12,000 or more lockups operated by city law enforcement agencies, where conditions are potentially even more threatening to the physical and mental health of inmates than the larger and better staffed jails. Despite public lobbying to remove juveniles from adult detention facilities, only a few States have laws that prohibit or restrict the practice. Studies on juveniles in jail have provided estimates which indicate an increasing trend toward incarceration -- a growth of 400 percent in 13 years. Elimination of juvenile detention in adult jails is supported by the fact that over 88 percent of jailed juveniles are held for status offenses and protective custody rather than because of dangerousness. The Standards and Goals for Juvenile Justice call for legislation that prohibits juvenile detention in jails and provides special facilities for juveniles who have committed criminal acts, but the implementation period of such a mandate will be long and incarcerated juvenile must be protected in the interim. States and courts should establish criteria covering juvenile jail detention. Suggested criteria include adequate screening and services admission of a juvenile only if no other alternative exists, only if the nature of the charge is known, and only upon order of the court or intake personnel. Facilities should house juveniles separately from other inmates, where jail staff have direct sight contact of every juvenile in their custody. If these criteria cannot be met, detention facilities should be prohibited by court order from incarcerating juveniles. Prerequisite to further policymaking is information from all detention facilities and a comprehensive national data retrieval system on jails and lockups. The reference list includes 16 items.