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Context of Juvenile Detention and Correctional Planning in Three States

NCJ Number
199171
Author(s)
Daniel P. Mears; Jeffrey A. Butts; Alexa Hirst; Paul DeMuro; Emily Busse
Date Published
November 2001
Length
116 pages
Annotation
This report, prepared as part of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s Space Needs Assessment Study, assesses the supply and demand for juvenile detention space in Kentucky, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Abstract
Following an introduction arguing that understanding the ways that States plan for detention and correctional bed space should be a relatively straight-forward manner, the authors of this report contend that a surprisingly wide range of factors bear on juvenile detention and correctional bed space construction and use. The report details the varied ways that the States of Kentucky, West Virginia, and Wisconsin plan for juvenile bed space needs by profiling each State according to demographics, social conditions, crime, juvenile justice, and criminal justice. After briefly comparing these States by presenting statistical profiles, the report describes each State’s recent history of juvenile correctional planning, organization of juvenile justice, stages of case processing, confinement capacity, detention and correctional bed space, decision-making contexts including organizational, legislative, and economic factors, and the processes used to anticipate and project future needs for bed space. Following an in-depth discussion of the various ways that each of the three States profiled dealt with the issues of juvenile detention space needs, the authors conclude that Wisconsin’s greatest challenges to finding sufficient bed space include rapidly changing juvenile crime rates, while Kentucky’s challenges are related to the Federal Government investigating the State’s residential treatment facilities. West Virginia faced the greatest number of challenges related to securing enough bed space for juvenile offenders with increases in juvenile arrests, overcrowding in detention and correctional facilities, and increases in out-of-state placements all contributing to bed shortages. Tables, references