Facilities evaluating youth for mental health needs, by facility operation and facility type, 2020

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), Serving Children, Families, and Communities

Printer-friendly

Facility Practices and Services

Q:	Mental Health: Are youth in residential placement evaluated for mental health needs?
A:	Nearly all (99%) reporting facilities evaluated youth for mental health needs in 2020.

	Total facilities	Reporting facilities	All youth	Some youth	None
Total	1,323	1,209	68%	31%	1%

Facility operation
Public	838	776	60%	39%	1%
State	317	295	80%	19%	1%
Local	521	481	47%	51%	2%
Private	485	433	84%	15%	0%

Facility type¹
Detention center	599	553	51%	48%	2%
Long-term secure	136	133	85%	15%	0%
Reception/diagnostic center	28	25	84%	16%	0%
Group home	219	192	74%	26%	0%
Residential treatment center	452	428	85%	15%	0%
Ranch/wilderness camp	22	19	79%	21%	0%
Shelter	82	70	56%	43%	1%

Notes: The term ‘youth’ refers to persons under age 21 who were in a facility because they were charged with or adjudicated for an offense.

Counts include evaluations conducted either on or offsite the facility location.

Percent based on number of reporting facilities.

¹ Facility type counts sum to more than the total number of facilities because facilities could select more than one facility type.

The COVID-19 pandemic had significant effects on all stages of the juvenile justice system, including juvenile residential facilities, which may have impacted multiple aspects of the 2020 JRFC data, such as reporting, the number of youth in residential placement, and the services received.

[ CSV file ]

Nearly 7 in 10 (68%) reporting facilities evaluated all youth for mental health needs in 2020.
Private facilities (84%) were more likely than public facilities (60%) to evaluate all youth, while state facilities (80%) were more likely than local facilities (47%) to evaluate all youth.
Long-term secure and residential treatment centers were the most likely (85% each) to evaluate all youth in 2020, followed closely by reception/diagnostic centers (84%). Detention centers (51%) and shelters (56%) were the least likely to evaluate all youth for mental health needs, but were among the most likely to evaluate some youth (48% for detention centers and 43% for shelters).

Internet citation: OJJDP Statistical Briefing Book. Online. Available: https://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/corrections/qa08540.asp?qaDate=2020. Released on January 10, 2023.

Data Source: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Authors' analysis of Juvenile Residential Facility Census 2020 [machine-readable data files]. Washington, D.C.: OJJDP.