Juvenile Law Center

Youth committed to juvenile detention or other correctional facilities have a right be safe in these settings. Youth-on-youth violence and sexual assault, staff-on-youth violence and sexual assault, improper or inadequate medical care, improper or inadequate suicide-prevention practices, and extreme punishments and security measures all compromise youth safety. In 1994, the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention found that more than 24,000 youth were assaulted by other youth in juvenile facilities each year.¹ More recent investigations of juvenile institutions have uncovered high rates of physical injuries to youth, routine use of pepper spray and other dangerous restraint techniques, a failure to provide medical treatment, and placement of youth in isolation cells for extended periods of time.² A 2010 report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that over 3,000 residents in juvenile facilities nationwide reported experiencing one or more incidents of sexual victimization by another youth or staff member in the previous year.³

When youth are removed from their homes and placed in secure facilities, the government has a responsibility to protect them from harm. Through legislative advocacy at both the national and state levels as well as litigation, we work to prevent the mistreatment of youth and to improve the conditions of confinement in juvenile correctional settings. Our current work in this area includes litigation on behalf of two boys who were subjected to prolonged periods of isolation while confined in New Jersey state-run juvenile facilities, shut off entirely from their peers and denied participation in any treatment, education or other programming, with little or no procedural due process. We also worked with colleagues to recommend and set national standards for the implementation of the Prison Rape Elimination Act in juvenile facilities. Our work helps to ensure that the juvenile justice system maintains its rehabilitative focus no matter where children are confined so that they may successfully re-join their families and communities.

¹Parent, Dale G. et al., Conditions of Confinement: Juvenile Detention and Corrections Facilities: Research Report – Executive Summary. Washington D.C.: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 1994. 1-2. Web.
²Soler, Mark, Shoenberg, Dana & Schindler, Marc. “Juvenile Justice: Lessons for a New Era.” Symposium Issue 2009 Spec. issue of Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy 16.2009 (2009): 483-541. Web.
³Beck, Allen, Harrison, Paige, and Guerino, Paul, Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report: Sexual Victimization in Juvenile Facilities Reported by Youth, 2008-2009. Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2010. 1. Web.

Last updated December 2011