Cost-Effective Youth Corrections
According to Cost-Effective Youth Corrections: Rationalizing the Fiscal Architecture of Juvenile Justice Systems (27 pages, PDF), community-based services have a proven track record of reducing youth imprisonment and re-arrests while promoting better outcomes for youth — and their community — as they transition to adulthood. They're also more cost-effective than state-funded institutions. Among other things, the Justice Policy Institute report profiles five states that have successfully altered the economic structure of their juvenile justice systems.
