The Annie E. Casey Foundation, through its juvenile justice initiative, has documented widespread maltreatment of youth in state-funded juvenile corrections facilities, including high rates of sexual victimization and the heavy-handed use of disciplinary isolation. The results include high levels of recidivism and annual costs that often exceed $100,000 per young person. The findings have led the foundation’s president, Patrick McCarthy, to call on states to close their youth prisons and use more evidence-based approaches that would be more effective, humane and cost efficient. He has also pledged the Foundation’s support to any state willing to close its youth prisons.
To learn more, we’re joined by Patrick McCarthy, who has led the Casey Foundation since 2010 and has been at the foundation since 1994. Prior to that he held a range of positions focused on youth and families, including division director within Delaware’s human services agency.