Brief Data Snapshot of Youth Incarceration in Connecticut: 2020 Update
Colette Marcellin, Samantha Harvell
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Although Connecticut’s youth detention rates have declined significantly in the past decade, the state incarcerates an increasing proportion and disproportionate number of youth of color. In 2019, 84 percent of youth admitted to detention were youth of color, even though only about 33 percent of the state’s youth population were youth of color. In 2018, the governor closed the Connecticut Juvenile Training School (CJTS), the state’s only remaining youth prison; boys in Connecticut are now incarcerated in special postconviction units in one of two youth detention centers, whereas girls are placed in a private facility. However, no publicly available data exists on youth incarcerated postadjudication following the closure of CJTS, and the state recently engaged in a strategic planning process to determine how best to supervise youth placed out of home. This data snapshot explores youth incarceration in Connecticut with a focus on youth held in juvenile detention centers preadjudication and youth supervised by the Department of Corrections, and provides data to state partners working with the YouthFirst Initiative, a national advocacy campaign supporting state juvenile justice reform efforts.

Research Areas Crime, justice, and safety Children and youth
Tags Corrections Juvenile justice Delinquency and crime Mass incarceration Youth development
Policy Centers Justice Policy Center