There are more children being put behind bars in the United States than in any other country. Research shows that the Land of the Free is locking up their kids in a 5-1 ratio compared to other nations.

Statistics show that more than two million juveniles are being detailed each year in the United States. About 95 percent of them are for nonviolent offenses. Yes, this is far greater than any other country in the western world. What makes this even more frustrating is that many minors are left defenseless as they lack support behind bars.

In criminal justice systems a youth detention center, also known as a juvenile detention center, juvenile detention, juvenile hall or more colloquially as juvie, is a prison for children who commit crimes but are still under the age. Several different reports suggest that many young children in America are imperiled by abuse, neglect, domestic and community violence, and poverty.

To make matters worse, many of these detention centers are privately owned, which means they rely on the crimes of your kids in order to stay in business.

Also, many critics of detention centers are worried that there is very little support for children who end up serving their time, as there isn’t much in terms of post-sentencing rehabilitation. In fact, mental health professionals believe that some juveniles may pose a greater threat to society and to themselves and therefore are in need of a stay in a supervised juvenile detention center.

Back in 2014, some politicians recommended that juvenile courts raise the age of teens they serve from 18 years old to somewhere between 21 and 24 years old. The argument, which mostly came from former juvenile probation officers, was that many young people who commit crimes are not always thinking correctly.

Parents are fined for each day that their child is in a juvenile detention. Parents are charged $25 a day every day that their child is locked up, and that's just one of the many fees assessed for kids in the juvenile justice system. The average child stays about 23 days in a juvenile hall or detention center.

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