Non-profit group The Prison Policy Initiative (PPI) on Thursday (December 19) released a report exposing failures in the juvenile justice system that mirror ones found in the adult system.
The study, “Youth Confinement: The Whole Pie 2019,” indicates that although the number of youths detained in juvenile detention centers has decreased by 60 precent since 2000, data shows that “Black and American Indian youth are overrepresented in juvenile facilities, while white youth are underrepresented.” According to the report, racial disparities are most pronounced among Black boys and Black girls. It also states that “American Indian girls make up a small part of the confined population, [but] they are extremely overrepresented relative to their share of the total youth population.”