aecf-NoPlaceForKidsFullReport-2011

equired to improve conditions and comply withsettlement agreements have been substantial.Perhaps the biggest cost associated with America’scontinuing overreliance on correctional facilitiesand other residential placements is what economistsrefer to as opportunity cost—the lost valueof benefits that could be realized if these fundswere reapplied to more productive uses.In this era of mass unemployment and runawaydeficits at every level of government, publicagencies are slashing the budgets of manyprograms crucial to the well-being of children,families, and communities. Teachers are beinglaid off in many jurisdictions; police officersas well. Summer youth employment programsand afterschool recreational programs are beingdefunded. These cutbacks are particularly damagingfor youth at risk for involvement in thejuvenile justice system. Yet many states continueto spend tens or hundreds of millions of dollarscommitting youth to correctional facilities thatare dangerous, ineffective, wasteful, and oftenunnecessary.6.Inadequate Despite their exorbitant daily costs, most juvenilecorrectional facilities are ill-prepared to address the needs of manyconfined youth. Often, they fail to provide even the minimum servicesappropriate for the care and rehabilitation of youth in confinement.To a remarkable extent, the adolescent boys andgirls confined by America’s juvenile correctionssystems suffer from severe disadvantage. In fact,many placements into juvenile facilities areprompted more by the difficulties young peopleface—their deep and unmet needs—than by thecrimes they have committed. In effect, juvenilejustice has become the treatment system of lastresort for many needy youth.But by and large, juvenile corrections facilitiesare both poorly positioned and ill-equipped toprovide effective treatment for youth with severemental health conditions, learning disabilities,out-of-control substance abuse habits, and otheracute needs.Youth in Dire Need. In 2010, the U.S. Officeof Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Preventionreleased the first-ever survey of youth confined byAmerica’s juvenile justice systems. This Survey ofYouth in Residential Placement revealed that theyoung people locked inside our nation’s deep-endjuvenile justice facilities are overwhelmingly theproduct of tragic circumstances. (See Fig. 9 onp. 24.)Three of every 10 youth confined in correctionalfacilities had, on at least one occasion,attempted suicide. Seventy percent said that theyhad personally “seen someone severely injured orkilled,” and 72 percent said that they had “hadsomething very bad or terrible happen to you.” 87Among committed youth in all types of juvenilefacilities, 30 percent had been physically and/or sexually abused. 88 More than 60 percent ofyouth included in the survey suffered with angermanagement issues. 89 Half exhibited elevated22