Note: please note that this page should (a) link back to the issue overview on this topic, (b) be focused either the local, state, national, or global level, and (c) be neutrally presented, based on facts, and include footnotes for each of the items.  See the Research Guide and Information Sources to assist you. 

• Link here to the overview page: Juvenile Offender Reentry

Scope of the Problem  factual statements on the extent of the problem in the past, current, or future

• Each year, approximately 100,000 youth under the age of 18 leave secure residential facilities, including juvenile facilities, jails and prisons, following adjudication.^[1]
• Approximately 200,000 of the 700,000 individuals released from state or federal prisons, or equivalent custodial facilities in the juvenile justice system, are age 24 and under."^[2] 
• In 2004, juvenile courts nationwide processed approximately 1.6 million delinquency cases. An additional 9,400 youth were transferred to adult criminal court that same year. Of the population the population processed in juvenile court, about 700,000 were 16 or older."^[3]
• A youth ages out of the juvenile justice system when he or she reaches the age of majority while in detention, on probation, in institutional care, or otherwise receiving services through the juvenile system. Once under state juvenile justice authority, the state can maintain authority over "juvenile wards" until they reach a higher maximum age, frequently 21 years old. Upon aging out in either way, many of the youth are no longer eligible for services they received through the juvenile justice system. 
• Nationally, we are spending almost $6 billion annually on youth corrections and, in many states, the average cost per bed, per year exceeds $200,000.^[4]
• Youth are often discharged from care back to families struggling with domestic violence,drug and alcohol abuse, and unresolved mental health disabilities. Many youth are placed back into neighborhoods with few youth supportive programs, high crime rates, poverty, and poor performing schools. 
• The number of youth incarcerated in this country rose sharply in the 1990s, arguably due  to the institution of punitive policies that resulted in a rise of youth being adjudicated and placed in residential settings with longer sentences.
• Existing research suggests that the recidivism rate for juvenile parolees ranges anywhere from 55 to 75 percent. 

Past Policy  key legislation and milestones including significant policy and funding shifts, major studies, etc.

• Prior to national legislation, like the Second Chance Act, little programming existed for offender reentry, and the literature prior to these kinds of national policies, is little.

Current Policy  summary of current policies in the form of legislation, programs, and funding

• Second Chance Act

• TJC Initiative

• Comprehensive Multisystemic Therapy (MST) Initiative

Key Organizations/Individuals   contacts for public and private organizations and key individuals

• Government
• National Reentry Resource Center
• CASES
• Project HOPE
• Prisoner Reentry In Perspective
• PBS Film on Reentry
• Justice4All
• Project SUPPORT
• McLaughlin Youth Center
• Desktop Guide to Reentry for Juvenile Confinement Facilities

• The Family Integrated Transitions Project

Bibliography   web sites, reports, articles, and other reference material 

• Owen, G., Heineman, J. and Decker Gerrard, M. 2007. Overview of Homelessness in Minnesota 2006: Key

  Facts From the Statewide Survey. Wilder Research Center. St. Paul, Minnesota. September 4, 2007

Footnotes

1. "Juveniles." 2012. The National Reentry Resource Center, http://www.nationalreentryresourcecenter.org/topics/juveniles. ▲
2. Mears, Daniel P. and Travis, Jeremy. 2004. "The Dimensions, Pathways, and Consequences of Youth Reentry." The Urban Institute, http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/410927_youth_reentry.pdf. ▲
3. "Supporting Youth in Transition to Adulthood: Lessons Learned from Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice." April 2009. The Center for Juvenile Justice Reform and the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, http://cjjr.georgetown.edu/pdfs/TransitionPaperFinal.pdf. ▲
4. "The Missouri Model: Reinventing the Practice of Rehabilitating Youthful Offenders." 2010. The Annie E. Casey Foundation, http://www.aecf.org/~/media/Pubs/Initiatives/Juvenile%20Detention%20Alternatives%20Initiative/MOModel/MO_Fullreport_webfinal.pdf. ▲