The Juvenile Residential Facility Census provides data on facility operations

Facility census describes 3,534 juvenile facilities

In October 2002, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) administered the second Juvenile Residential Facility Census (JRFC). OJJDP administers JRFC every other year. The 2002 JRFC collected data from 3,534 juvenile facilities, 2,964 of which held a total of 102,388 offenders younger than 21 on the census date (570 facilities reported no juvenile offenders). JRFC does not capture data on adult prisons or jails, nor does it include facilities that are used exclusively for mental health or substance abuse treatment or for dependent children. Thus, JRFC includes most, but not all, facilities that hold juvenile offenders.

JRFC is one component in a multitiered effort to describe the youth placed in residential facilities and the facilities themselves. Other components include the following:

  • The National Juvenile Court Data Archive, which collects information on the processing of juvenile court cases and the sanctions imposed by juvenile courts.

  • The Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement, which collects information on each youth held in residential placement as a result of contact with the juvenile justice system.

  • The Survey of Youth in Residential Placement, which collects a broad range of self-report information (on youth’s custody experience, past offense histories, education, and other important life events) from interviews with individual youth in residential placement.
JRFC is designed to routinely collect information on how facilities operate and the services they provide. It includes detailed questions on facility security, crowding, injuries and deaths in custody, and facility ownership and operation. It also asks about specific services (e.g., mental health and substance abuse services).

On October 23, 2002, 40% of juvenile facilities were publicly operated;
they held 69% of juvenile offenders
Juvenile facilities
Juvenile offenders
    Juvenile facilities
Juvenile offenders
State Total Public Private Total Public Private   State Total Public Private Total Public Private
U.S. Total* 2,964     1,182     1,773     102,388     70,243     31,992       Missouri 72 60 12 1,559 1,332 227
Alabama 48 12 36 1,539 827 712   Montana 24  7 15    308    177   99
Alaska 23 7 16   402 303   99   Nebraska 19  5 14    732    513 219
Arizona 51 16 32 1,892  1,488 320   Nevada 18 10   8 1,169    861 308
Arkansas 35  9 26   733  211 522   New Hampshire   8   2   6    234    137   97
California 286   122   164   17,294    15,561 1,733      New Jersey 49 42   7 2,043 1,972   71
Colorado 65 12 52 2,063      928 1,131     New Mexico 27 18   9    803    698 105
Connecticut 26   4 22  665    244 421   New York 221  51 170  4,455 2,328 2,127  
Delaware   6   4   2  271    243  28   North Carolina 66 27 39 1,286    870 416
Dist. of Columbia 13   2 11  280    183 97   North Dakota 11   4  7    246    131 115
Florida 181 53 128   8,508   3,043 5,465       Ohio 97 66 31 4,480 4,023 457
Georgia 53 30 23 2,681    2,224 457    Oklahoma 56 14 41 1,010    634 351
Hawaii 5   2   3 112      99 13   Oregon 45 26 19 1,473 1,262 211
Idaho 22 14   8 466    402 64   Pennsylvania 179   33 146  5,080 1,262 3,818   
Illinois 45 25 20 2,921   2,539 382     Rhode Island 14   1 13    346    223 123
Indiana 95 42 53 3,433    2,386 1,047       South Carolina 38 14 24 1,461    966 495
Iowa 65 16 49 941   376 565   South Dakota 22   8 12    598    334 256
Kansas 56 17 39 1,114      809 305   Tennessee 58 26 32 1,659    830 829
Kentucky 50 32 18 985   814 171   Texas 129   78 51 8,371 6,726 1,645  
Louisiana 62 21 41 2,363    1,830   533   Utah 47 17 30 1,073    472 601
Maine 14   2 12 278  242   36   Vermont   5   1   4     61      27   34
Maryland 43 10 33 1,216     611 605   Virginia 71 63   8 2,635 2,448 187
Massachusetts 68 18 50 1,400     452 948   Washington 40 30 10 1,931 1,759 172
Michigan 94 37 57 2,856    1,353   1,503      West Virginia 23   6 17    394    281 113
Minnesota 100 24 76 1,699    886 813   Wisconsin 81 25 56 1,784 1,182 602
Mississippi 17 15  2 668   600   68   Wyoming 21   2 19    417    141 276

Note: State is the state where the facility is located. Offenders sent to out-of-state facilities are counted in the state where the facility is located, not the state where their offense occurred.

* U.S. total includes 153 offenders in 9 tribal facilities. These tribal facilities were located in Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Oklahoma, and South Dakota.

Source: Author's analysis of Juvenile Residential Facility Census 2002 [machine-readable data file].


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Juvenile Residential Facility Census,
2002: Selected Findings		 OJJDP National Report Series Bulletin
June 2006