LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kentucky's youth incarceration rate has dropped slightly statewide, including in Jefferson County.
The new data was released by Kentucky Youth Advocates. The rate is measured per 1,000 kids.
Between 2021 and 2023, 17 out of every 1,000 Kentucky kids were behind bars. That's an improvement from 21 out of every 1,000 in 2016 and 2018.
"Are there young people who are a danger to themselves and others? Absolutely, and we need places to secure those kids," Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates, said. "Now, I hope those places do more than just throw the key away, that they rehabilitate."
Youth incarceration has been a topic of conversation as Louisville prepares to reopen its Juvenile Detention Center. It also comes as the state's juvenile jails deal with a staffing "crisis" over not having access to regular therapists, which social workers said is the key to keeping kids out of jail.
Jefferson County's youth incarceration rate stands at 30 per 1,000 kids. For a breakdown of that data, click on the PDF embedded in this story.
The state's juvenile justice system is at the center of a statewide civil investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the conditions at eight youth detention centers and a youth development center in Kentucky in mid-May, in response to allegations of institutional abuse and mistreatment of children.
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