Kansas Sees 63% Decline in Youth Confinement
Summary
When Kansas embarked on a path to improve juvenile justice, state leaders, policymakers, and stakeholders looked to data and research to inform the legislation adopted in 2016. A little more than two years after enactment, the reforms are showing clear signs of progress.
A recent report from the Kansas Juvenile Justice Oversight Committee shows that the population of the state’s youth prison, the Juvenile Correctional Facility, fell from 237 in 2015 to 164 in 2018, a 31 percent reduction. In total, state statistics show that the out-of-home youth population dropped by 63 percent between 2015 and 2018. And, based on the latest available data, the total number of juvenile arrests decreased by 29 percent from 2015 to 2017, showing that justice reforms and public safety improvements can proceed in tandem.
Source: Pew Trusts (2019). Kansas Sees 63% Decline in Youth Confinement.