54,000 Children: The Geography of America’s Dysfunctional & Racially Disparate Youth Incarceration Complex
Youth First Initiative
Mar 10, 2016

“On any given day American incarcerates 54,000 youth within the juvenile justice system. Throughout the U.S., places that incarcerate youth come in many forms and take on various names; training schools, diagnostic centers, assessment centers, residential treatment facilities, wilderness camps, forestry camps, shelters, boot camps, detention centers, juvenile halls, juvenile correctional centers, youth study centers, campuses, cottages, youth development centers, academies, challenge centers, youth centers, children’s centers, youth camps, group homes, and girls or boys schools. These institutions are often named after the town or region where they are located, and on occasion after nearby geographic features such as mountains, lakes and rivers. These vague or pleasant names often obscure the fact that these facilities echo some of the most abusive elements of adult incarceration; solitary confinement, physical and sexual abuse, physical and chemical restraints, and widening margins of racial disparity.”

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