Detention
When is secure detention used?A youth may be placed in a secure juvenile detention facility at various points during the processing of a case through the juvenile justice system. Most delinquency cases, however, do not involve detention. Although detention practices vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, a general model of detention practices is useful. When a case is referred to juvenile court, intake staff may decide to hold the youth in a detention facility while the case is being processed. In general, the youth will be detained if there is reason to believe the youth is a threat to the community, will be at risk if returned to the community, or may fail to appear at an upcoming hearing. The youth may also be detained for diagnostic evaluation purposes. In all States, legislation requires that a detention hearing be held within a few days (generally within 24 to 48 hours). At that time, a judge reviews the decision to detain the youth and either orders the youth released or continues the detention. Juvenile Court Statistics Reports count the number of cases that involve the use of detention during a calendar year. As a case is processed, the youth may be detained and released more than once between case referral and disposition. A youth also may have more than one case involving detention during the year. Juvenile court data do not count “detentions,” nor do they count the number of youth detained. In addition, although in a few States juveniles may be committed to a detention facility as part of a disposition order, the court data do not include such placements in the count of cases involving detention. Growth in the number of cases detained was less than the growth in overall caseloads
Compared with the increase in the overall delinquency caseload, the relative growth in the number of cases involving detention was smaller. Growth in the use of detention may have been limited by facility crowding.
Property cases continue to account for the largest volume of delinquency cases involving detention, but their share of total detained cases has diminished. The proportion of person offense cases in the detention caseload was greater in 1997 than in 1988.
In 1997, secure detention was nearly twice as likely in cases involving black youth as in cases involving white youth, even after controlling for general offense category. Detention was least likely in cases involving white youth charged with property crimes and most likely in cases involving black youth charged with drug offenses.
As a result of their greater likelihood of detention, as noted above, black youth were overrepresented in the detention caseload, compared with their proportions in the overall delinquency caseload. Although black youth made up 31% of all delinquency cases processed in 1997, they were involved in 44% of detained cases. This overrepresentation was greatest for drug offenses: black youth accounted for 32% of all drug cases processed but 55% of drug cases detained.
| Previous | Contents | Next |
 |
|
| Offenders in Juvenile Court, 1997 | |