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Wednesday, October 9, 2024

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Hurricane Milton makes landfall near Siesta Key; expected to remain a hurricane as it moves across central FL; Groups file an emergency lawsuit to reopen FL voter registration amid hurricanes; ND wildfires: Heavy damage to cropland; importance of early warnings; Report: 67 PA counties boom for low unemployment, job growth, wage increase.

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President Biden denounces disinformation about federal disaster response. Experts address concerns about how hurricanes impact voting, and activists left and right question VP Harris' stance on meat.

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Hurricane Helene has some rural North Carolina towns worried larger communities might get more attention, mixed feelings about ranked choice voting on the Oregon ballot next month, and New York farmers earn money feeding school kids.

Report highlights decline in youth incarceration but challenges remain

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Thursday, September 5, 2024   

A new report revealed while the United States has made significant progress in reducing youth incarceration rates, troubling disparities still exist.

The "Youth Justice By the Numbers" report by The Sentencing Project highlighted a dramatic 75% decline in youth incarceration nationwide, with the number of youths in juvenile justice facilities dropping from 108,000 in 2000 to just 27,000 in 2022. Florida has mirrored the national trend with a notable decline in youth incarceration.

Christian Minor, executive director of the Florida Juvenile Justice Association, attributed the decrease to a "philosophical shift" in the state's approach to juvenile justice.

"They used to lock a ton of kids up in residential settings for violations of probation, which would be things like missing curfew, failed drug test, you know, we're not talking new crime, and now it's nothing like that," Minor recounted. "The biggest thing was the implementation of the risk assessment."

Minor explained along with a "disposition matrix" to help guide juvenile probation officers in their recommendations to the court, the approach diverts more youths away from the deeper end of the justice system.

The report found reducing youth incarceration rates has not led to an increase in juvenile crime.

Josh Rovner, director of youth justice for The Sentencing Project and the report's author, explained the decrease in youth incarceration is primarily due to a long-term decline in youth arrests.

"It is not surprising that when we have fewer kids getting arrested that we have fewer kids getting locked up," Rovner noted. "I think what some people may find surprising is the extent of these long-term trends, particularly when so many people believe that crime is on the rise."

Despite the positive trends, the report highlights significant racial disparities persisting within the juvenile justice system.

Minor added disparities exist in the use and issuance of juvenile delinquency citations, with youths of color more likely to receive harsher penalties than their white peers. He advocated for a more equitable use of diversion programs, such as juvenile delinquency citations, especially in low-income and at-risk communities.


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