Most juvenile offenders are held in facilities that evaluate all youth for suicide risk on their first day

Facilities that screen all youth for suicide risk hold 81% of the juvenile offenders in custody

In 2002, 68% of facilities that reported information on suicide screening said that they evaluated all youth for suicide risk. An additional 17% said that they evaluated some youth. The proportion of facilities reporting that all youth are evaluated for suicide risk increased 6 percentage points from 2000 to 2002. Some facilities said they didn’t evaluate any youth for suicide risk (15%).

Suicide screening	2000	2002
Total facilities	3,061	2,964
Facilities reporting	2,754	2,837
All reporting facilities	100%	100%
All youth screened	62	68
Some youth screened	24	17
No youth screened	15	15

In 2002, a greater proportion of public than private facilities said that they evaluated all youth for suicide risk (79% vs. 60%).

Larger facilities were more likely than smaller facilities to screen all youth for suicide risk and less likely to not screen any youth in 2002
		Facility size based on resident population
Suicide screening	Total	1–10	11–20	21–50	51–100	101–200	200+
Total facilities	2,964	1,003	648	704	350	171	88
Facilities reporting	2,837	957	614	673	339	167	87
All reporting facilities	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%
All youth screened	68	52	70	78	76	79	90
Some youth screened	17	23	15	13	16	11	9
No youth screened	15	25	15	9	8	10	1

Detention centers, reception/diagnostic centers, and training schools were more likely than other types of facilities to screen all youth for suicide risk in 2002
	Facility type
Suicide screening	Detention center	Shelter	Reception/ diagnostic center	Group home	Boot camp	Ranch/ wilderness camp	Training school
Total facilities	769	289	104	1,136	56	157	389
Facilities reporting	754	280	101	1,074	56	153	386
All reporting facilities	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%
All youth screened	84	57	85	55	68	62	82
Some youth screened	10	24	12	20	16	13	12
No youth screened	6	19	3	24	16	25	6
Source: Author's analysis of Juvenile Residential Facility Census 2002 [machine-readable data file].

JRFC asks facilities about their suicide screening procedures After arrival at this facility, are any young persons evaluated to determine whether they are at risk for suicide? If yes . . . Are all young persons evaluated after arrival in this facility to determine whether they are at risk for suicide? If not all . . . Which young persons are evaluated for suicide risk? When are young persons evaluated for suicide risk? Who evaluates young persons for suicide risk?

Of the 476 facilities in 2002 that said they screened some but not all youth, 99% said they screened youth who display or communicate suicide risk; 47% said they also screened those who were known to have a prior suicide attempt; 11% said they also screened other groups of youth (e.g., youth with no mental health record available or youth who came to the facility directly from home rather than from another facility).

In 2002, among facilities that reported suicide screening information, those that screened all youth for suicide risk held 81% of juvenile offenders who were in residential placement—up from 78% in 2000. An additional 12% of juvenile offenders in 2002 were in facilities that screened some youth.

Suicide screening	2000	2002
Total juvenile offenders	110,284	102,388
Offenders in reporting facilities	104,956	100,110
Total offenders	100%	100%
All youth screened	78	81
Some youth screened	16	12
No youth screened	6	7

The most common approach to suicide risk evaluations in 2002 was to screen all youth on the day they arrive at the facility
	Number of juvenile facilities			As a percent of facilities that screened for suicide risk
		Suicide screening			Suicide screening
When youth are screened	All facilities	All screened	Some screened	Facilities that screened	All screened	Some screened
Total facilities	2,964	1,925	476	100%	80%	20%
By end of first day	1,581	1,454	127	66	61	5
Day two through       end of first week	368	271	97	15	11	4
After first week	94	67	27	4	3	1
Other	358	133	225	15	6	9
No youth screened    (or not reported)	563	–	–	–	–	–

In 2002, 7 in 10 juvenile offenders in facilities that screened for suicide risk were in facilities that conducted suicide screenings on all youth on the day they arrived at the facility
	Number of juvenile offenders			As a percent of juvenile offenders in facilities that screened for suicide risk
		Suicide screening		Facilities that screened	Suicide screening
When youth are screened	All facilities	All screened	Some screened		All screened	Some screened
Total juvenile    offenders	102,388	81,486	11,577	100%	88%	12%
By end of first day	68,853	65,343	3,510	74	70	4
Day two through end    of first week	11,121	9,075	2,046	12	10	2
After first week	3,714	2,838	876	4	3	1
Other	9,375	4,230	5,145	10	5	6
No youth screened    (or not reported)	9,325	–	–	–	–	–
Two-thirds of facilities (66%) that reported screening for suicide risk said they conducted the screenings on youth's first day at the facility. Facilities that said they screened all youth and did so on the youth's first day made up 61% of facilities that screened for suicide risk; they held 70% of the juvenile offenders in facilities that reported suicide screening. Other facilities that reported they screened all youth said they conducted their suicide screenings during youth's first week at the facility. Taken together, facilities that screened all youth on the first day and those that screened all youth by the end of the first week accounted for more than 7 of 10 facilities that reported suicide screen­ing. Taken together, these facilities held 80% of juvenile offenders who were in facilities reporting that they screened for suicide risk. A small proportion of facilities conducted suicide risk screenings only after the youth had been in the facility for a week. Some facilities indicated that they conducted screenings within other time limits. A number of facilities said they conducted suicide risk evaluations “at intake” but did not specify a particular timeframe. Some facilities said such screenings occurred before the youth was admitted, as part of pre-intake assessments; however, most said they made an evaluation of suicide risk based on youth's behavior or staff recommendation rather than by a particular deadline. Seven percent of facilities that screened for suicide risk used this “as needed” approach in addition to initial screenings.
—Not applicable Source: Author's analysis of Juvenile Residential Facility Census 2002 [machine-readable data file].

Most facilities use professional mental health staff to conduct suicide screening

More than half (56%) of facilities that screened some or all youth for suicide risk reported that the screenings were conducted by mental health professionals with at least a master’s degree in psychology or social work. Some facilities also used counselors to conduct screenings. Fewer than 1 facility in 5 used neither mental health professionals nor counselors trained by a mental health professional to conduct suicide screenings.

Few facilities experience suicides or serious attempts

Eight facilities reported having a resident die of suicide during the year, and 114 reported a suicide attempt during the month prior to the census that was serious enough to require hospitalization. Together, this was 122 facilities—fewer than 4% of all facilities. Facilities identified only as “detention centers” were the most common type of facility to report a suicide or serious suicide attempt. Facilities identified only as a “group home/ halfway house” were the second most common type of facility to report a suicide or serious attempt. Facilities identified only as a “training school/long-term secure” facility (with no other purpose) constituted 8 of the 122 with a suicide or serious attempt.

Facilities reporting a suicide or a pastmonth attempt requiring hospitalization

Facility type	Single-purpose	Multi-purpose*
Total	97	25
Detention	37	6
Shelter	4	10
Reception/diagnostic	1	7
Group home	22	10
Boot camp	1	1
Ranch/wilderness camp	5	1
Training school	8	15
Other type	19	9
* Counts sum to more than the total number of facilities because facilities could select more than one facility type category.