Juvenile Residential Facility Census, 2006: Selected Findings

Source: Sarah Hockenberry, Melissa Sickmund, and Anthony Sladky, U.S. Dept. of Justice. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, December 2009

The Juvenile Residential Facility Census (JRFC) is designed to collect information regarding juvenile facilities (e.g., type, size, structure, security arrangements, ownership, services, and juvenile deaths) and their operations. While the number of juveniles in custody has decreased by 3%, overcrowding remains a problem with 31% of facilities at over capacity. Other findings include: although most facilities are small and private, most offenders are held in large public facilities; security features and size varied across types of facilities; facility crowding affected a substantial proportion of youth in custody; most juvenile offenders were evaluated for education needs and attended school while held in facilities; most youth offenders were housed in facilities that provided physical healthcare services; most facilities reported screening youth for substance abuse problems; most juvenile offenders are held in facilities that evaluate all youth for suicide risk on their first day; half of juvenile offenders are in facilities where in-house mental health professionals assess all youth; 9 tribal facilities provided data; and facilities overall reported 15 deaths of juveniles in custody over 12 months -- 4 were suicides.