No Place For Kids - Prisons

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A new report from The Annie E. Casey Foundation, No Place for Kids, brings heavy evidence showing that incarcerating youth just doesn't work.

Our rate of young people in correctional facilities is five times that of the next country; 60,500 youth are in prison nationally, disproportionately those of color. Two-fifths are African American and one fifth Hispanic.

Youth prisons waste huge amounts of taxpayer dollars and do not reduce future offending. They frequently expose youth to dangerous and abusive conditions. A map of the states showing such conditions where recurring maltreatment occurs is included in the report.

Where many states have substantially reduced their juvenile correctional facility populations, in recent years there has not been an increase in juvenile crime or violence.

The report highlights successful reform efforts in Missouri and California, recommending ways for states to reduce juvenile incarceration rates and redesign their juvenile correction systems, serving both youth and the public better.

Reported By Dr. Marciene Mattleman, KYW Newsradio