The Cost of Confinement

Dear CfJJ Members and Friends:

In case you haven’t read it yet, we suggest looking at the Justice Policy Institute’s report The Costs of Confinement: Why Good Juvenile Justice Policies Make Good Fiscal Sense. The report highlights the high rates of youth incarceration across the country and describes how relying on confinement is both costly and ineffective at reducing recidivism. The report goes on to identify the progress that a number of states have made in reducing confinement of youth and highlights several effective community-based alternatives.

It should be noted that Massachusetts has been experiencing substantial decreases in the number of youth held in secure confinement. Detention admissions (youth held in secure facilities while awaiting trial) was 22% lower in 2009 than 2008, and new commitments (youth adjudicated and sentenced to the Department of Youth Services) went down 13% within this one year period as well.