One and a half million young people are arrested each year in the United States, 89 percent of those are for non-violent crimes. Many of these young people arrested, even those non-violent offenders, receive custodial or residential sentences. In other words, they are taken away from their families, schools, friends, and community and placed in a locked facility.
Think about it, in dollars and cents. Each year, the United States spends $10,500 per child on education. We spend on average, eight times that amount on each youth incarcerated, or approximately $88,000 per child. What does this say about our priorities? Incarceration is more important than education?
The cost to these young adults and their families is far greater than money can account for. There are life-altering consequences anytime a young person interacts with the juvenile justice system.
Those consequences are starkly portrayed in a new documentary called, Kids for Cash. It’s the notorious story of the two juvenile court judges in the State of Pennsylvania, accused of accepting kickbacks from a for-profit detention center in exchange for a steady stream of referrals. The film, directed by Robert May, brings to life the trauma and life-long negative impact that these placements have on the young person, their families, and the communities in which they live.
After watching this film twice and working in the field for many years I was still struck by how traumatizing the events were to the young people and their families. Equally though, seeing how the young people interacted with Robert May, made me profoundly aware of the triumph of the human spirit. Charlie, Hillary, and Amanda, all present for the premiere, shared their stories of life after placement and demonstrated that no matter how traumatic a set of events are with the right support, life can go on and young people can overcome.
It might be easy to dismiss this film as extreme or something that doesn’t have anything to do with other communities; however, take a look at the data* as it tells another story.
- Among the 10 most populated states, Pennsylvania is the only state that saw an increase in the daily population of juveniles in residential placement between 2001 and 2010.
- Pennsylvania maintains the highest rate of juveniles in placement among the ten most populated states nationwide. Despite declines in the daily census of juveniles in placement, in 2011 Pennsylvania has retained its #1 rank among the 10 most populated states.
- Pennsylvania also ranks 1st among the 10 most populated states in the proportion of juveniles committed to privately operated residential facilities.
- Based on the most recent available data, Pennsylvania spends approximately $804,505 EVERY DAY to maintain juvenile offenders in residential placement ($293,644,552 a year).
We are still out-spending, over-utilizing residential placements, versus looking at each individual young person and asking “what is in the best interest of this child, their family, and their future?”
I wish Kids for Cash were not a universal story, unfortunately, it is.
*Data provided comes from Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Juvenile Arrests 2011
