The number of youth confined in state and county facilities nationwide declined significantly in 2011, affirming the benefits of juvenile justice reforms enacted in various states in the past decade. These findings are part of a MacArthur-supported report released by the National Juvenile Justice Network and the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Center for Effective Justice. The report highlights the continued positive trend in the nine states leading the nation in reducing incarceration, and showcases a handful of states that, while not keeping pace with the nationwide trend, have opened the door for future progress by adopting crucial incarceration-reducing policies that have been shown to improve conditions for youth and communities.
