Juvenile confinement exacerbates adversity burden: A neurobiological impetus for decarceration

Every year, about 700,000 youth arrests occur in the United States, creating significant neurodevelopmental strain; this is especially concerning as most of these youth have early life adversity exposures that may alter brain development. Males, Black, and Latinx youth, and individuals from low socioeconomic status households have disproportionate contact with the juvenile justice system (JJS). Youth confined in the JJS are frequently exposed to threat and abuse, in addition to separation from family and other social supports. Youths' educational and exploratory behaviors and activities are substantially restricted, and youth are confined to sterile environments that often lack sufficient enrichment resources. In addition to their demonstrated ineffectiveness in preventing future delinquent behaviors, high recidivism rates, and costs, juvenile conditions of confinement likely exacerbate youths' adversity burden and neurodevelopmentally harm youth during the temporally sensitive window of adolescence. Developmentally appropriate methods that capitalize on adolescents' unique rehabilitative potential should be instated through interventions that minimize confinement. Such changes would require joint advocacy from the pediatric and behavioral health care communities. The distinct nature of children, their initial dependent, and developmental state, their unique human potential as well as their vulnerability, all demand the need for more, rather than less, legal and other protection from all forms of violence (United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2007).

Automated summary

Every year, a large number of youth arrests in the United States put significant neurodevelopmental strain on these young individuals, particularly those who have experienced early life adversity. Disproportionate contact with the juvenile justice system is observed among males, Black and Latinx youth, and those from low socioeconomic status households. The conditions of confinement in the system, which include threat, abuse, and isolation from family and social supports, restrict youths' educational and exploratory behaviors. These conditions, along with their ineffectiveness in preventing future delinquent behaviors and high recidivism rates, likely worsen the adversity burden and harm neurodevelopment during adolescence. Developmentally appropriate interventions that minimize confinement and leverage adolescents' rehabilitative potential should be advocated for by pediatric and behavioral health care communities.