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In the US criminal justice system, a youth detention center ( YDC) may also be referred to as a juvenile detention center ( JDC),Stahl, Dean, Karen Kerchelich, and Ralph De Sola. Abbreviations Dictionary. CRC Press, 2001. 1202 . Retrieved 23 August 2010. , . juvenile detention, juvenile jail, juvenile hall, observation home and a remand home. Colloquially it is often referred to as " juvie". A YDC or JDC is a prison for youth offenders under the age of 18, also legally referred to as minors or under the age of majority. Juvenile offenders are tried in juvenile court, which is a separate system for youth offenders. After arrest as well as depending upon many factors, such as the frequency and nature of their crimes, juveniles either await trial or placement in a long-term care program, with the goal of rehabilitation.
Some juveniles are released directly back into the community and must undergo community-based rehabilitative programs. Those offenders who pose a greater threat to society and to themselves are sentenced to a full-time, supervised juvenile detention center. If a juvenile is sent by the courts to a juvenile detention center, there are two types of facilities: secure detention and secure confinement.
Secure detention means that juveniles are held for usually short periods of time in facilities in order to await current trial hearings and further placement decisions. By holding juveniles in secure detention, it ensures their appearance in court and also keeps the community safe. This type of facility is usually called "juvenile hall" ("juvie"), which is a holding center for juvenile delinquents. On the other hand, secure confinement implies that the juvenile has been committed by the court into the Arrest of a secure juvenile correctional facility for the duration of a specific program, which can span from a few months to many years.
Juvenile detention is not intended to be punitive. The goal of secure custody is to provide the offenders with care consistent with the doctrine of parens patriae, or "the state as parent". The state or local jurisdiction is usually responsible for providing education, recreation, health care, assessment, counseling and other intervention services with the intent of maintaining a youth's well-being during their stay in custody.
Generally speaking, secure detention is reserved for juveniles considered to be a threat to public safety or the court process, though in many cases, youths are held for violating a court order. Status offense, i.e., juveniles charged with running away from home, alcohol possession, and other offenses that are not crimes if committed by adults, may only be held for 24 hours or less, NCC.state.ne.us while initial case investigation is completed, and other alternatives are arranged.
There does not currently exist a uniform, cohesive definition for juvenile residential treatment programs. Within the categories of secure detention and secure confinement for juveniles, the overarching name of these facilities is "residential programs". Five overarching types of residential programs where a juvenile may be placed while in court custody are: The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention found the five types of residential programs for juveniles to be a broad range, which included detention, corrections, camp, community based, and residential treatment. The wide variety in juvenile placement options is due to the lack of a uniform definition of these residential treatment programs. Without a federal, uniform definition, this creates a lack of uniformity across all 50 states and the diverse and often confusing names for centers for "secure detention" and "secure confinement" for juvenile offenders.
Many different mental health treatment strategies exist for juveniles. It is the responsibility of case management to decide what type of intervention strategy works best for each youth in their mental health treatment plan. Mental health services that can be provided to the youth include, individual counseling, group counseling, crisis counseling, family intervention, medication management, and transition planning.
Despite research stating the need for strong educational programs in juvenile detention facilities, there does not exist a uniform standard for education in juvenile facilities as education settings in juvenile facilities greatly vary across the country. The overseer of the school within the juvenile facility differs from state to state. Some schools within juvenile detention facilities are decentralized, some are centralized and run by school districts, and others are overseen by a State education agency.
Being that there is a wide variety a short term or long term stay.
There is a grave presence of juveniles who are classified as youth with disabilities. The disabilities most prevalent in incarcerated juveniles include intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities, and emotional disturbances. Surveys and studies have found that a high number of incarcerated youth suffer from emotional disturbance disabilities as opposed to youth in general public schools. Even with key court decisions and acts, it has been found that a large number of juveniles held at both detention centers and confinement facilities are not being served the special education services they should be provided by law. It has been found that many juvenile detention institutions have struggling special education programs, especially for those centers that detain youth for short periods of time.
The rules at Juvenile Court Schools are strict and are based on zero tolerance policies. Zero Tolerance Policies may serve more to "push students further out of school and into the school-to-prison pipeline than to re engage them".journal Kennedy-Lewis, B. (2015). Second Chance or No Chance? A Case Study of One Urban Alternative Middle School. Journal of Educational Change, 16(2), 145. Students are being harshly punished for minor incidents that should be fixed without having to involve severe consequences. Zero tolerance policies have taken over the role of education. The definition of Zero Tolerance Policies is described in the article, A Study of Zero Tolerance Policies in Schools: A Multi-Integrated Systems Approach to Improve Outcomes for Adolescents, as "…a widespread application to minor offenses can be attributed to the "Broken Windows" theory of crime. This theory analogizes the spread of crime to a few broken windows in a building that go un-repaired and consequently attract vagrants who break more windows and soon become squatters".journal Teske, S. C. (2011). A study of zero tolerance policies in schools: A multi‐integrated systems approach to improve outcomes for adolescents. Journal of Child And Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, 24(2), 88-97
Stephen Hoffman in his article, "Zero Benefit: Estimating the Effect of Zero Tolerance Discipline Policies on Racial Disparities in School Discipline" states that, "...zero tolerance discipline policies are associated with poorer school climate, lower student achievement, higher dropout rates…"Hoffman, S. (2014). Zero Benefit: Estimating the Effect of Zero Tolerance Discipline Policies on Racial Disparities in School Discipline. Educational Policy, 28(1), 69. At Juvenile Court Schools, students are expected to follow a set of rules. The rules at the Court Schools differ from those at traditional schools; they are more punitive.
Overcrowding exists in many facilities for juveniles, and in overcrowded juvenile detention centers and correctional facilities increased violence can occur. Furthermore, overcrowding can lead to a shortage of necessary and promised programs and services in the facility. Underfunding an overcrowded facility can lead to a shortage of services for the youth, such as education and mental health services.
Apart from overcrowding, the overall efficacy of juvenile secure facilities in the life of youth has been questioned. The high juvenile recidivism rate has caused many critics to question the overall efficacy of secure detention centers and confinement facilities.
Some Youth Detention Centers have earned a street term known as "Gladiator Schools" by the wards who were incarcerated there. An oral history of stories from inside the California Youth Authority is documented by David Reeve (2017-2024). " Gladiator School: Stories from Inside YTS (An oral history from those who were incarcerated in the California Youth Authority)".
DYRS offers and operates a range of services and placements for their committed youth. The secure centers that DYRS operates are Youth Services Center (YSC) and New Beginnings Youth Development Center. YSC is the District's secure detention center. New Beginnings Youth Development Center is a secure confinement facility for the District's committed youth.
YSC is operated by DYRS as the District of Columbia's secure juvenile detention center, which was opened in 2004. It is an 88-bed facility for male and female detained (not committed) youth who have been accused of delinquent acts and are awaiting their court hearings. YSC's meets the required needs of the youth it serves. Education services in YSC are provided by the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS), which delivers a range of services to the residents. The facility also provides programs and services to meet the essential mental health, emotional, physical, and social needs of the youth. YSC provides a secure and humane environment and coordinates all court meetings and team meetings for its youth. Above all else, YSC makes certain that the protection of the legal rights of the juveniles are being upheld.
New Beginnings Youth Development Center is another secure DYRS operation. The center is a 60-bed, all-male secure center for DC's most serious youth delinquents. The $46 million facilityPierre, Robert E. " Oak Hill Center Emptied And Its Baggage Left Behind ." The Washington Post. Friday 29 May 2009. Retrieved on 7 October 2010. opened in 2009" in unincorporated Anne Arundel County, Maryland," GR2009052900126.gif." The Washington Post. Retrieved on 7 October 2010. near Laurel. New Beginnings replaced the Oak Hill Youth Center, which was located away in unincorporated Anne Arundel County.
The main goal of New Beginnings is to provide residents with 24-hour supervision as well as programs and services that allow for successful transitions back into the DC community. The services provided include educational, recreation, medical, dental, and mental health programs. DYRS created a partnership with the See Forever Foundation to provide the educational services of Maya Angelou Academy for the residents. Behavioral health staff oversee the mental health programs. The facility is a 9–12-month program, which is modeled after the very successful Missouri Model.
Maya Angelou Academy was founded in 2008, first at Oak Hill Youth Center, and now is the education program serving DYRS committed youth at New Beginnings Youth Development Center. Maya Angelou Academy is part of the Maya Angelou Charter School Network in the DC area. The academy provides a safe, structured, and intensive learning environment to the youth it serves at New Beginnings Youth Development Center.
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