State detention rates by race/ethnicity, 2019

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

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State Comparisons

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Q:	How do detention rates vary by race?
A:	For every 100,000 non-Hispanic black juveniles living in the U.S., 139 were held in detention on October 23, 2019 - for Hispanics the rate was 41, and for non-Hispanic whites it was 22.

¹American Indian includes Alaskan Natives; Asian includes Pacific Islanders.
* Rate based on fewer than 10 observations.
† Interpret data with caution. In these states, 30% or more of the information for detention and/or race/ethnicity was imputed. Visit the EZACJRP methods section for more information about imputation.

Notes: This information is based on the state where the offense was committed. However, the state of offense is not always reported. Detained youth for whom state of offense was unknown are included in U.S. totals (493 in 2019). These instances are not evenly distributed across states. As such, users should exercise caution when examining state-level trends or comparing states. Visit the EZACJRP methods section for more information.

U.S. total excludes youth in tribal facilities.

Detained youth are those held in residential placement prior to adjudication. The detention rate is the number of juvenile offenders in residential placement on October 23, 2019 per 100,000 juveniles age 10 through the upper age of original juvenile court jurisdiction in each state.

Minorities include blacks, Hispanics, American Indians/Alaskan Natives, Asians/Pacific Islanders, and those identified as other race.

To preserve the privacy of the juvenile residents, state cell counts have been rounded to the nearest multiple of three. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. Rates are based on rounded totals. More information on this rounding rule is available on the EZACJRP Web site.

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In all but 8 states and the District of Columbia, the detention rate for black juvenile offenders exceeded the rate for other race/ethnicity groups.
Nationally, the ratio of the detention rate for minorities to that for whites was 3.2 to 1.
In 27 states, the ratio between the minority-to-white detention rate was above the national average. In 23 states the minority-to-white detention rate was more than 4 to 1.
In 9 states the ratio of detention rates for minority and white youth was less than 2 to 1.

Internet citation: OJJDP Statistical Briefing Book. Online. Available: https://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/corrections/qa08611.asp?qaDate=2019. Released on May 21, 2021.

Data Source: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement 2019 [machine-readable data files]. Washington, D.C.: OJJDP.