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Steep Drop Since 2000 in Number of Facilities Confining Juveniles (2018)

Decline of 42% coincides with reduction in population of youth in custody.

The number of residential facilities holding youth in custody within the juvenile justice system fell 42 percent nationwide between 2000 and 2016, according to newly released data from the Juvenile Residential Facility Census Databook. A biennial census of the sites holding youth as well as the number of youth in custody found that the total number of facilities dropped from 3,047 to 1,772 in that period.

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