In 20 states, the custody rate in 2002 was higher than the national custody rate

The extent to which states depend on private facilities varies substantially

In most states, public facilities had more offenders younger than 21 in residential placement than private facilities; thus, public facility custody rates were higher than private facility rates. Some states rely heavily on public facilities. In seven states (California, Delaware, Mississippi, New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia, and Washington), the public facility custody rate was more than 8 times the private facility rate.

In 11 states (Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Utah, Vermont, and Wyoming), the custody rate for private facilities was greater than the rate for public facilities. Some states rely heavily on private facilities. In Wyoming, the state with the highest overall custody rate, the private facility rate was nearly double the public facility rate. In Pennsylvania, the state with the largest proportion of juvenile offenders in private facilities (75%), the private facility custody rate was more than 3 times the public facility custody rate. Private facilities in some states, like Pennsylvania, also house significant numbers of youth from other states.

In 2002, 326 juvenile offenders were in custody
per 100,000 youth ages 10 through the upper age of juvenile jurisdiction in each state
  Custody rate per 100,000 juveniles, 10/23/2002
     Custody rate per 100,000 juveniles, 10/23/2002
State Total Public Private   State Total Public Private
U.S. Total* 326 224 102   Missouri 273 233 40
Alabama 302 162 140   Montana 286 164 92
Alaska 435 328 107   Nebraska 358 251 107  
Arizona 291 229  49   Nevada 469 345 124  
Arkansas 236  68 168   New Hampshire 176 103 73
California 407 366   41   New Jersey 211 204   7
Colorado 397 179 218   New Mexico 342 297 45
Connecticut 215  79 136   New York 277 145 132  
Delaware 311 279   32   North Carolina 182 123 59
Dist. of Columbia 599 392 208   North Dakota 343 183 160  
Florida 473 169 304   Ohio 336 302 34
Georgia 303 251   52   Oklahoma 251 158 87
Hawaii  85  75   10   Oregon 371 318 53
Idaho 273 235   37   Pennsylvania 369   92 277  
Illinois 227 198   30   Rhode Island 306 197 109  
Indiana 472 328 144   South Carolina 369 244 125 
Iowa 285 114 171   South Dakota 640 357 274  
Kansas 346 251  95   Tennessee 259 130 130  
Kentucky 231 191 40   Texas 352 283 69
Louisiana 496 384 112   Utah 354 156 198  
Maine 197 171   25   Vermont   86  38 48
Maryland 190   96   95   Virginia 325 301 23
Massachusetts 236  76 160   Washington 273 249 24
Michigan 270 128 142   West Virginia 211 151 61
Minnesota 285 149 136   Wisconsin 319 211 108  
Mississippi 192 173   20   Wyoming 688 233 456

States with the highest custody rates included both densely and sparsely populated states

States with the highest custody rates included both densely and sparsely populated states
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 nine 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