MENU TITLE: Juveniles in Private Facilities 1991-1995.
Series: OJJDP
Published: April 1997
3 pages
4,332 bytes

Juveniles in Private Facilities, 1991-1995

The juvenile population in private facilities
increased 9.6% from 1991 to 1995

Private juvenile residential facilities held 39,671
juveniles on February 15, 1995. This population
stood at 35,626 in 1993 and at 36,190 in 1991.

Since 1971, the Department of Justice has conducted
a census of residential facilities that house
juveniles involved in the juvenile justice system.
The Census of Public and Private Juvenile
Detention, Correctional, and Shelter Facilities
seeks to count the number of juvenile delinquent
and status offenders held out of their homes.
Private facilities have played a significant role
in juvenile corrections during the past 20 years.
For the purposes of this census, a private facility
is one that has the authority to house juvenile
offenders and has a population that is at least 10%
offender.

Private facilities have traditionally specialized
in one particular method of treatment or one type
of offender. For example, a private facility might
hold only status offenders or juveniles who require
more intensive psychiatric treatment. Accordingly,
private facilities have different types of
populations than public facilities.

Almost 41% of the residents in private facilities
in 1995 were not being held for a delinquent or
status offense

Unlike public facilities, private facilities hold a
significant number of juveniles for reasons other
than a legally defined offense. Since 1991,
however, private facilities have seen a drop in the
proportion and number of these nonoffenders. This
population decreased 1.9% from 1991 to 1995. The
parallel increase in the delinquent offender
population has resulted in a greater number of
delinquent offenders in these facilities for the
first time in this decade.

Between 1991 and 1995, private facilities
experienced a substantial increase in the number of
juveniles held for delinquent offenses. Over this
period of time, this population grew 24.4%, from
14,433 in 1991 to 17,781 in 1995.

About 74% of juveniles in private facilities in
1995 were committed by the juvenile justice system

The census classifies juveniles into three legal
status categories: detained (held pending
adjudication or further placement), committed (held
in a facility after adjudication and as part of a
sentence), and voluntarily admitted (placed in the
system by the juvenile's own accord or on the
authority of an agency other than the juvenile
justice system). The detained population in private
facilities has remained small, although it has
shown the greatest relative increase from 1991 to
1995: 22% over this period compared with 9% for the
committed population and 6% for the voluntary
population.

Males have increased slightly as a proportion of
the population in private facilities

The proportion of males increased from 71.3% to
73.5% between 1991 and 1995. The number of males
held increased 13% in this period, from 25,801 to
29,176. The female population, on the other hand,
decreased slightly from 1991 to 1993 and rose again
to approximately the same number in 1995.

While the number of white, non-Hispanic juveniles
is largely the same in 1991 and 1995, the number of
minority youth has increased

From 1991 to 1995, the number of white youth
increased 2.6%. However, the number of black youth
increased 15% and the number of Hispanic youth
increased 31%. Youth of other races (including
Asian, Native American, and Pacific Islander)
increased 29.5%. The growth in the number of
minority youth was greater than the 11% growth in
the overall population.

Few of the juveniles held in private facilities are
18 years of age or older

Although the majority of juveniles are under 15
years of age, the fastest growing segment of the
private facility population is the group age 16 and
older. Between 1991 and 1995, the number of
juveniles age 16 and 17 increased 18%. The number
of juveniles age 18 and older increased 20%. This
increase exceeded the 11% overall growth for those
years.

Joseph Moone serves as Social Science Program
Specialist in OJJDP's Research and Program
Development Division.