Excerpt: “Key Findings: 1) The number of juveniles incarcerated in all U.S. adult prisons or jails declined from a peak of 10,420 in 2008 to a low of 2,250 in 2021; 2) In 2021, local jails had custody of 1,960 juveniles while state and federal adult prisons held 290; 3) The percent of the total jail population who were juveniles declined from 0.9% in 2002 to 0.3% in 2021; 4) The percent of the total prison population who were juveniles declined from 0.2% in 2002 to 0.02% in 2021; and 5) In 2021, 87% of juveniles in adult correctional facilities were held in local jails and 13% were held in prisons, compared to 66% in local jails and 34% in prisons in 2002, the earliest year for which comparable data are available for both populations.” (footnote omitted)
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