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the independent voice for Kentucky's children

Juvenile Justice

Publications | Press Releases | Resources

All youth need strong connections to family, community, and school to help them move more successfully into adulthood.  However, the juvenile justice system often further disconnects youth from these supports. Although youth crime is on the decline, punishments have become increasingly harsh in recent years. National research suggests many youth are inappropriately confined during the justice process, oftentimes with profound long-term consequences. 

Research shows that undue or inappropriate confinement, particularly for minor offenses, can disengage youth from family, school, and work and increase the likelihood that youth will re-offend.  More than any demographic factor, juvenile detention is the strongest predictor that an individual will be incarcerated as an adult.

Early in its history, KYA led the passage and funding of a regional juvenile detention and placement plan.  Of the organization’s four founding goals, two focused specifically on juvenile justice:

  1. “Assure that delinquent children and those with emotional problems receive effective and humane treatment”
  2. “Prevent the unnecessary jailing and detention of youth and secure adequate remedial services for these youth” 

Recent Work

A report released today by Kentucky Youth Advocates measures the level of disproportionality at key decision-making points within Kentucky’s juvenile justice system, with data as recent as 2008. The report finds that not only do youth encounter disparate treatment at each stage, but those disparities are compounded as they move further into the system.

Issue Brief (pdf) | Press Release (pdf)

The brief finds that secure detention for youth who commit status offenses is not only the most expensive approach -- exceeding the price of emergency shelter care, supervised foster care, and home detention -- but it is also the least effective.

Issue Brief (pdf) | Press Release (pdf)

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