Hispanic Family Facts: Hispanic youth experience steep declines in residential placement

Rates of residential placement (placement in out-of-home residential facilities) among youth in the juvenile justice system decreased by more than 40 percent between 1997 and 2015. The new America’s Children in Brief report from the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics also finds that for Hispanic youth, residential placement dropped by 30 percent.
 
The goals of the juvenile justice system are to promote rehabilitation and public safety, but most youth are rearrested within two years of their release from residential placement, and research finds that juvenile incarceration hinders adolescent development and endangers the emotional and physical well-being of youth.
 
While the gap between Hispanic and white youth narrowed during this period, Hispanic youth are still sentenced to residential placement at nearly twice the rate of their white peers, and thus disproportionately subject to the negative effects of residential placement.