The Harm is Not Done: Juvenile Incarceration in an Adult Facility and Violent Victimization During Adulthood

• In Event: How the Justice System Treats People Matters

Abstract

Although a waning practice, juveniles across the United States are bound over to adult court each year and sentenced to serve time in adult correctional facilities – Jails and Prisons. These facilities, as designed, do not provide the services necessary for a juvenile to properly develop across key formative years and, more importantly, could exposed incarcerated youth to a variety of adverse experiences (e.g., physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect). The growing body of literature has pointed to the life-course effects of being incarcerated in an adult facility as an indication of the cruel and usual nature of this punishment. Nonetheless, more research is needed to further assess the life-course effects of incarcerating youth within adult facilities. The current study addresses this need for research by assessing the effects of juvenile incarceration in an adult facility on violent victimization after the age of 18. The findings suggest that youth incarcerated in adult facilities have a heightened risk of experiencing violent victimization and experience violent victimization earlier after the age of 18 than their non-incarcerated counterparts. The policy implications of the current study are discussed.

Author

• Ian A. Silver, RTI International