Community-Based Alternatives to Incarceration

Since 1992, Ohio’s youth prison population topped 2,500 and was projected to rise to 4,000. In 1994, Ohio began implementing programs to incentivize local courts to keep youth closer to home. Today less than 500 youth are admitted to Ohio youth prisons each year and Ohio makes significant investments in redirecting youth to community-based alternatives that are less expensive and more effective than locked facilities.In October 2015, the Juvenile Justice Coalition released the Bring Youth Home report on Ohio’s deincarceration programs for other states to use as they create new or reevaluate existing deincarceration programs as well as to encourage continued innovation in Ohio. Use the following links to read the report, an executive summary, and an accompanying infographic. The report was covered extensively in the media, including a front page story in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and by NPR, the Huffington Post, the Toledo Blade, Columbus TV Channel NBC4, Dayton TV Channel WDTN, and the Associated Press. In addition, JJC was interviewed for a BlogTalkRadio show.