Youth Detention Center - Concerns and Criticism

Concerns and Criticism

Juvenile detention centers and long-term confinement facilities have constantly been discussed and debated around two major concerns: overcrowding and ineffectiveness. As the number of juvenile cases has increased in the past 15 years, so has the number of juveniles spending time in secure and confined facilities. As a result, the systems have become overpopulated and overcrowded and many times this leads to the issue of too many residents and not enough empty beds.

Crowding can create extremely dangerous environments in juvenile detention centers and juvenile correctional facilities. Many times the administration is not prepared to handle the large number of residents and therefore the facilities can become unstable and create instability in simple logistics. Furthermore, overcrowding can also bring about an increase in violence. Overcrowding has been found to exist in many facilities for juveniles.

Overcrowding may also lead to the decrease in availability to provide the youth with much needed and promised programs and services while they are in the facility. If funding is an issue with a specific facility, overcrowding can be problematic in terms of the availability of services such as education and mental health to all of the youth.

In addition to overcrowding, juvenile secure facilities are questioned for their overall effectiveness in the bigger picture life of the youth. What causes many critics to question the overall effectiveness of secure detention centers and confinement facilities is the high juvenile recidivism rate.

If juvenile centers are to provide the basic needs of the youth it serves, another large criticism by many is that the centers fail to meet the basic educational, mental health, and necessary rehabilitative needs of the youth. Part of the reason why overall effectiveness is a concern for juvenile secure settings is also due to the belief that all special education services may not be upheld to all youth in need while staying in the facility. Additionally, many juvenile centers have been found to lack basic educational programs for the youth.

Education is seen by many as a direct link to recidivism as is mental health needs of juveniles. Another area of concern in the bigger picture of juvenile facilities is the adequacy of mental health programs. It has been found that many juvenile facilities have well executed mental health programs for the youth.