United States of Disparities

United States

One-day count

Data in this section show how many youth are detained, committed, or otherwise sleeping somewhere other than their homes per orders of the court on "any given day" in select years. Data is available for the nation and on a state-by-state basis, and are based upon one-day counts of youth in residential placement facilities conducted in 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2015. Learn more »

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Year White Black Latino Native American Asian Other All youth of color All youth

Annual decision points

This section includes data at nine key juvenile justice annual decision points. Data are available at the county and state-level, but only for counties that report. This section allows you to view the data from many different angles and all of the data is broken down by race and ethnicity. Learn more »

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Measurement

Number of youth
Rates
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How are measurements calculated?

Race/ethnicity Select all

Year

Data not available for every year. (Why?)

Available years are those for which states have submitted data to OJJDP. States do not submit data on an annual basis.

Case flow diagram

Click on a decision-making point to see the data for that point. Click additional decision-making points to the graph to compare.

  1. Youth population
  2. Youth arrests
  3. Referred to court2
    1. Diverted
    2. Petition filed
    3. Detained
    1. Found delinquent
    2. Adult court
    1. Probation
    2. Incarceration

  • 1Comparison of arrest to population is rate per 1,000 youth. All other annual decision points are rate per 100 youth at the prior decision-making point.
  • 2Due to differences in how states define arrests and referrals to court, some states may have more referrals to court than arrests.
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Decision White Black Latino American Indian or Alaskan Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander Asian Other All youth of color All youth

254 of 254 counties (Why?)

Originally, states were only required to examine three counties: those with the greatest proportions of minority youth within their juvenile population, as well as those that contained the greatest numbers of minority youth. Only recently has OJJDP required that states track DMC data for all potential DMC reduction sites on a regular basis (at least every 3 years). If a county is not a DMC reduction site, data may not be available.

Detention statute

Juvenile courts may hold delinquents in a secure detention facility if the court believes it is in the best interest of the community or the child. After arrest a youth is often brought to the local juvenile detention facility by law enforcement. Juvenile probation officers or detention workers review the case and decide if the juvenile should be held pending a hearing by a judge.

Jurisdiction ages

  • 10–16
  • Extended Age of Delinquency Jurisdiction: 20

Age of detention

10–16

Standard for detention

(b) A child taken into custody may be detained prior to hearing on the petition only if:

(1) the child is likely to abscond or be removed from the jurisdiction of the court;

(2) suitable supervision, care, or protection for the child is not being provided by a parent, guardian, custodian, or other person;

(3) the child has no parent, guardian, custodian, or other person able to return the child to the court when required;

(4) the child may be dangerous to himself or herself or the child may threaten the safety of the public if released;

(5) the child has previously been found to be a delinquent child or has previously been convicted of a penal offense punishable by a term in jail or prison and is likely to commit an offense if released; or

(6) the child's detention is required under Subsection (f).

Detention hearing timeline

Tex. Fam. Code Ann. §§ 54.01 and 54.011.

No later than the second working day after the child is taken into custody; provided, however, that when a child is detained on a Friday or Saturday, then such detention hearing shall be held on the first working day after the child is taken into custody.

Contact

Please email Anna Wong with any updates to contact information for your DMC coordinator, JJS coordinator, or DMC subcommittee chair.

DMC coordinator

Lance White
Criminal Justice Division
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, TX 78711
Phone: 512-463-1919
lwhite@governor.state.tx.us

There is no DMC website

JJS coordinator

Lance White
Criminal Justice Division
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, TX 78711
Phone: 512-463-1919
lwhite@governor.state.tx.us

DMC subcommittee chair

Glenn Brooks
Grants Manager Director
Texas CASA, Inc.
1501 West Anderson Lane, B2
Austin, TX 78757
Phone: 512-473-2627, ext122
gbrooks@texascasa.org

Reform efforts

States that wish to post their most recent three-year plans or share other relevant publications about their reform work should contact Anna Wong. We would be happy to link to relevant documents and information.

DMC reform efforts

The Interagency Council for Addressing Disproportionality is examining the level of DMC at each stage of juvenile justice, child welfare, and mental health systems. Recommendations filed December 1, 2012

State plan

There is no link available to the current State Plan

  • Just completed a 5-year cycle: conducted a qualitiative and quantitative study. All counties now have RRI information.
  • Conducted a community listening studies and published a report.
  • Currently creating next 5-year plan

State Advisory Group (SAG)

Early intervention and prevention are important components in crime reduction. The Criminal Justice Division (CJD) recognizes this by funding prevention initiatives that impact the youngest Texans, involve schools, families, and communities, and build meaningful relationships between children and adults. CJD's prevention projects provide violent behavior alternatives, drug and alcohol abuse prevention, mentor programs, school safety education, after school activities (e.g., tutors, sports, arts), and gang prevention.

Juvenile justice projects focus on holding juvenile offenders accountable while providing meaningful intervention. Projects involve substance abuse treatment, professional training and education, school resource officers, gang intervention, gender-specific programming, juvenile court assistance, drug court assistance, juvenile supervision programming, family services, and prosecution.

CJD's comprehensive strategic approach extends to juvenile justice solutions incorporating appropriate statistics to shape and develop programs. Coordinated planning among juvenile justice professionals is essential to accommodate juvenile population growth while building and providing successful programs that maintain public safety. CJD improves the coordination, administration, and effectiveness of the juvenile justice system by expanding the capacity of existing projects and supporting innovative programs. Juvenile programming supported by CJD includes prevention, early intervention, academic assistance, substance abuse and mental health treatment, juvenile law enforcement, and sentencing alternatives.

CJD supports programs under the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act2 that focus on delinquency prevention and accountability, while at the same time providing opportunities for healthy guidance to at-risk children. The support provided is essential to enhancing the well-being of children and communities in Texas.

SAG chair

Glenn Brooks
Grants Manager Director
Texas CASA, Inc.
1501 West Anderson Lane, B2
Austin, TX 78757
Phone: 512-473-2627, ext122
gbrooks@texascasa.org
Website

Organizational structure

Appointed by governor. Recommendations are made by criminal justice division, along with others. Members represent various agencies

Committees

  • DMC
  • Compliance Monitoring
  • Mental Health Concerns
  • Education

Membership

There is no membership information available at this time.