Improving our knowledge of the number of incarcerated youth with disabilities can assist educators, other professionals, and policymakers to develop more effective services for youth. This article reports the findings of a national survey conducted to determine the number of youth identified as having disabilities in the juvenile corrections systems in the United States. The data show that, when compared to the national average, there is an overrepresentation of students identified as having disabilities, especially emotional disturbance, in those systems.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BullisM.YovanoffP.MuellerG.HavelE. (2002). Life on the “outs”: Examination of the facility-to-community transition of incarcerated youth. Exceptional Children, 69, 7–22.
2.
CaseyP.KeilitzI. (1990). Estimating the prevalence of learning disabled and mentally retarded juvenile offenders: A meta-analysis. In LeoneP. E. (Ed.), Understanding troubled and troubling youth (pp. 82–101). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
3.
Center on Crime, Communities, and Culture (1997). Education as crime prevention (Occasional Paper Series No. 2). New York: Author.
4.
Coordinating Council of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, (1997, March). Youth with learning and other disabilities in the juvenile justice system: Focus group report. Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice.
5.
FinkC. M. (1990). Special education students at risk: A comparative study of delinquency. In LeoneP. E. (Ed.), Understanding troubled and troubling youth (pp. 61–81). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
6.
FornessS. R. (1992). Legalism versus professionalism in diagnosing SED in the public schools. School Psychology Review, 21 (1), 29–34.
7.
FornessS. R.KavaleK. A.KingB. H.KasariC. (1994). Simple versus complex conduct disorders: Identification and phenomenology. Behavioral Disorders, 19, 306–312.
8.
GonzalezP. (1991). A comparison of state policy of the federal definition and a proposed definition of “serious emotional disturbance.”Washington, DC: National Association of State Directors of Special Education.
9.
KeilitzI.DunivantN. (1987). The learning disabled offender. In NelsonC. M.RutherfordR. B.WolfordB. I. (Eds.), Special education in the criminal justice system (pp. 120–137). Columbus, OH: Merrill.
10.
KendzioraK. T.OsherD. (in press). Fostering resilience among youth in the juvenile justice system. In Clauss-EhlersC. C.WeistM. (Eds.), Community planning to foster resiliency in children. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
11.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997, P. L. No. 105–17, 105th Congress., 1st session.
12.
LarsonK. A. (1988). A research review and alternative hypothesis explaining the link between learning disabilities and delinquency. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 21, 257–263, 369.
13.
LeoneP. E.MeiselS. (1997). Improving education services for students in detention and confinement facilities. Children's Legal Rights Journal, 17, 1–12.
14.
MoffittT. E. (1990). Juvenile delinquency and attention deficit disorder: Boys' developmental trajectories from age 3 to age 15. Child Development, 61, 893–910.
15.
MurphyD. M. (1986). The prevalence of handicapping conditions among juvenile delinquents. Remedial and Special Education, 7, 7–17.
16.
NelsonC. M. (2000). Educating students with emotional and behavioral disabilities in the 21st Century: Looking through windows, opening doors. Education and Treatment of Children, 23, 204–222.
17.
NelsonC. M.LeoneP. E.RutherfordR. B. (2004). Youth delinquency: Prevention and intervention research. In RutherfordR. B.QuinnM. M.MathurS. R. (Eds.), Handbook of research in emotional and behavioral disorders (pp. 282–301). New York: Guilford.
18.
OsherD.WoodruffD.SimsA. (2002). Schools make a difference: The relationship between education services for African American children and youth and their overrepresentation in the juvenile justice system. In LosenD. (Ed.), Minority issues in special education (pp. 93–116). Cambridge, MA: The Civil Rights Project, Harvard University and the Harvard Education Publishing Group.
19.
OttoR. K.GreensteinJ. J.JohnsonM. K.FriedmanR. M. (1992). Prevalence of mental disorders among youth in the juvenile justice system. In CocozzaJ. J. (Ed.), Responding to the mental health needs of youth in the juvenile justice system (pp. 7–48). Seattle, WA: National Coalition for the Mentally Ill in the Criminal Justice System.
20.
PostC. H. (1981). The link between learning disabilities and juvenile delinquency: Cause, effect and “present solutions.”Juvenile and Family Court Journal, 32, 58–68.
21.
RutherfordR. B.NelsonC. M.WolfordB. I. (1985). Special education in the most restrictive environment: Correctional/special education. Journal of Special Education, 19, 59–71.
22.
SchumacherM.KurzG. A. (2000). The 8% Solution: Preventing serious, repeat juvenile crime. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
23.
SheltonD. (2001). Emotional disorders in young offenders. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 33, 259–263.
24.
SickmundM. (2002, March). Juvenile offenders in residential placement: 1997–1999. OJJDP fact sheet. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
25.
SinclairE.AlexsonJ. (1992). Relationship of behavioral characteristics to educational needs. Behavioral Disorders, 17, 296–304.
26.
TeplinL. A.AbramK. M.McClellandG. M.DulcanM. K.MericleA. A. (2002). Psychiatric disorders in youth in juvenile detention. Archives of General Psychiatry, 59, 1133–1143.
27.
U.S. Department of Education. (1994). Statement of interest of the United States Department of Education regarding the interpretation of federal education statutes. Washington DC: Author.
28.
U.S. Department of Education. (1998). Twentieth annual report to Congress on the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Washington, DC: Author.
29.
U.S. Department of Education. (2001). Twenty-third annual report to Congress on the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Washington, DC: Author.
