Elevating youth perspectives on developmentally supportive environments: Qualitative interviews with youth in detention in San Francisco

• In Event: Centering the Perspectives and Strengths of Youth and Communities Impacted by the Justice System

Abstract

Developmentally supportive environments leverage the opportunities of adolescence to promote positive development and thriving. However, over 25,000 youth are incarcerated in detention centers that do not align with developmentally supportive environments. To center the perspectives of young people and reduce the harms of incarceration, we conducted qualitative interviews with 30 youth about their experiences and perspectives of a juvenile hall to support thriving. To develop themes, we coded transcripts in Nvivo using an a priori coding scheme derived from the literature on developmentally supportive environments.
Our findings indicate that youth perceive both alignment with and divergence from developmentally supportive environments. First, youth experienced that the detention center did and did not meet basic needs. While programming was available, there were limited opportunities for youth input or choice in programming. Further, the detention center constrained opportunities for young people to connect with family members. Finally, young people found some staff to be caring and respectful, while some also reported that staff treated young people unfairly.
Our findings align with prior research that youth detention as currently practiced may diverge from the evidence on youth development, highlighting the need to implement policy changes to create developmentally supportive spaces as harm reduction.

Authors

• Maura Shramko, American Institutes for Research

• Keegan Giffels, American Institutes for Research

• Candace Hester, American Institutes for Research