Research

Fundamental fairness is at the heart of a just society and essential to healthy adolescent development. Young people need to feel they are treated fairly, respected and their voices matter. They also need to see the justice system as fair. But one look at the overwhelming disproportionate number of young people of color who are sent to secure juvenile facilities challenge any sense of fairness.

Looking at the experiences of young people in confinement facilities, the dissertation finds race and ethnicity is a significant predictor of a young person experiencing more control-oriented interventions, longer lengths of stay in confinement and fewer connections to reentry services. More specifically, the researcher found Black, Hispanic and minority young people were confined or restrained more often than others, stayed longer in facilities and had fewer connections to reentry services, adding to the cumulative negative impact of system involvement on young people of color. A summary of the dissertation is in the works and will be shared when available.

Using staff demographic characteristics to predict two important issues in juvenile confinement facilities: (1) the use of restraints during behavioral incidents and (2) staff perceptions of safety. Specifically, we investigated whether individuals who belong to racial and ethnic groups that have experienced systematic and individual oppression (referred to as minoritized staff) differ in their use of restraints during incidents than non-minoritized staff. Then, we investigated whether the proportion of female staff predicts staff perceptions of safety in the facility.

This brief looks at family visitation, staff safety, and behavioral incidents before (April 2019) and after (April 2021) the start of the pandemic. There are two aims: 1) to assess if facility-level family visits, staff perceptions of safety, and behavioral incidents post-pandemic significantly differ from pre-pandemic expected levels, and 2) to assess the relationship between family visits and behavioral incidents as well as the relationship between behavioral incidents and staff safety.

Research by Alyssa Mikytuck, MPP and Jennifer Woolard, PhD of Georgetown University's Department of Psychology.

A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Staff Training carried out by the University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate class, focusing on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

Research by Caitlin Cavanagh on the impact of family on youths' educational success and reentry preparedness.

The following report summarizes research conducted on behalf of the PbS Learning Institute on the conditions of confinement for juvenile detention facilities, correctional facilities, and assessment centers across the U.S. Using data from facilities that have participated in the Performance-based Standards for Youth Correction and Detention Facilities (PbS) project since 2004, we use statistical analyses to examine how characteristics of facilities and individuals within them relate to a series of safety, order, and security outcome measures, as well as to the likelihood that youth are victimized while incarcerated and to the likelihood of suicide attempts within facilities. Our data come from a variety of sources, each of which is part of the PbS data collection initiative, including: detailed information about every unusual incident that occurred during that month; information from the records of juveniles released during those periods; and surveys of current residents (youth climate surveys), staff (staff climate surveys) and residents released since the last data collection (youth exit interviews).

This research aims to understand whether and how the PbS system impacts safety, order and security within juvenile facilities. Every April and October, participating facilities submit to PbS general information about their populations; detailed information about every unusual incident that occurred during the month; information from the records of juveniles released during those periods; and surveys of current residents (youth climate surveys), staff (staff climate surveys) and residents released since the last data collection (youth exit interviews). Information from April and October data collection periods, 2004-2006, comprise this study’s data. The anonymity promised to participating facilities by PbS currently makes it impossible to link survey, incident or record data to specific youth. Therefore, it is possible to analyze how youth in a particular facility responded to the climate survey and to the exit survey, but it is not possible to compare any particular youth’s responses across these two files, or to the youth record file. To test the impact of the PbS system on safety, order and security within juvenile facilities, the researchers adopted a multi-stage analysis strategy.