Youth organizations join to call an end to nonviolent youth incarceration

Maine Public Broadcasting  A national coalition of more than 50 youth development organizations is calling on judges, state and local policymakers around the country to end the practice of youth incarceration. Instead, the National Collaboration for Youth says jails should only be used for a small number of violent kids and that other youth offenders should be placed in community-based programs. To bolster its argument, the coalition released a report that says there’s overwhelming evidence to show that youth prisons are “harmful, ineffective and excessively expensive.” The report, titled “ Beyond Bars: Keeping Young People Safe at Home and Out of Youth Prisons ,” backs up what Deborah Hodges says has become crystal clear in research over the past several years. “Research shows that locking up kids makes kids worse. And once they are returned to the community they can actually pose a greater threat,” she says.