WASHINGTON — A new report from the Prison Policy Initiative shows that, while the number of young people in confinement has dropped dramatically over the last two decades, racial disparities in the juvenile system remain stark and, in some cases, are worsening.
The report, Youth Confinement: The Whole Pie 2025, was released Monday and provides the most comprehensive national snapshot to date of how many youth are incarcerated, where they are held, under what conditions, and for what kinds of offenses.
According to PPI, roughly 25,000 youth are currently confined in the United States, down from a peak of nearly 110,000 in the early 2000s. But the report warns that the progress masks deeply entrenched inequities.
“The overall youth confinement population has decreased over the past two decades, but that decline has not been experienced equally,” the report stated. “Black and Indigenous youth are still locked up at far higher rates than their white peers, reflecting systemic racism that continues to pervade the juvenile justice system.”
The Prison Policy Initiative explained that thousands of youth remain incarcerated for low-level behaviors that could be addressed through community-based alternatives. Many of the offenses are categorized as “status offenses” — such as truancy, running away or curfew violations — that would not be crimes if committed by adults.
“Too often, youth are confined in prison-like conditions that exacerbate trauma rather than provide meaningful rehabilitation,” the Initiative wrote. “The juvenile system should be designed to support development, not derail it.”
PPI’s data shows that Black youth are confined at more than four times the rate of white youth nationwide, while Indigenous youth are confined at nearly three times the rate. Latino youth are also disproportionately represented. These racial disparities have remained stubborn even as the overall number of youth behind bars has declined.
“The system continues to warehouse kids rather than provide the services and supports they need,” the report argues. “When children are locked away, they are cut off from family, community, and education — the very things proven to keep them out of the justice system.”
Advocates stress that such disparities are not the result of higher offending rates among youth of color but rather systemic inequities at every stage of the process — from policing and charging decisions to sentencing and placement. PPI noted that research consistently shows white and Black youth engage in similar levels of misbehavior, but Black youth are more likely to be arrested, detained and sentenced to confinement.
The report also critiques the conditions under which youth are confined. Many facilities resemble adult jails or prisons, with strict discipline, solitary confinement, and limited access to education or mental health services. PPI found that these environments are especially harmful to youth who already enter the system with histories of trauma, family instability or unmet mental health needs.
“Too often, confinement looks more like punishment than rehabilitation,” the Initiative stated. “Facilities strip away normal childhood experiences and instead expose youth to violence, neglect, and stigma that follow them long after release.”
Advocates have raised concerns that these conditions create long-term harms, including higher dropout rates, difficulty finding employment and increased likelihood of re-offending. According to PPI, locking children in punitive environments undercuts public safety rather than improving it.
The 2025 report builds on PPI’s earlier Whole Pie analyses, which have been published annually since 2018. Each report has shown steady declines in total youth incarceration but highlighted how reforms often bypass youth of color.
For example, the 2023 Whole Pie report documented that, while overall youth detention dropped by more than half in the prior decade, Black youth were still five times more likely to be confined than white youth.
PPI emphasized that the persistence of disparities reveals that system reforms have been unevenly implemented. States that have invested in diversion programs, restorative justice initiatives and community-based alternatives have seen the most equitable outcomes, but many jurisdictions continue to rely heavily on detention and incarceration.
The Department of Justice has also raised alarms about youth confinement practices. A 2022 DOJ study cited by PPI found that one in four confined youth were held for technical violations of probation, not new crimes. The DOJ has also documented frequent use of solitary confinement in juvenile facilities, despite evidence that isolation causes lasting psychological harm to children.
Civil rights organizations argue that such practices not only violate children’s rights but also contribute to the racial disparities flagged in PPI’s report.
“Reducing the number of confined youth is not enough if the reductions continue to leave behind children of color,” the Initiative stated. “Ending youth confinement as we know it requires dismantling the structural racism that drives disparities at every decision point.”
PPI’s report concludes with a call to invest in alternatives that keep children in their communities and address root causes of youth misbehavior. Community-based diversion programs, mentoring and restorative justice practices have been shown to be more effective than incarceration in reducing recidivism and supporting healthy development.
“Ending the overincarceration of youth — particularly Black and Indigenous youth — requires policymakers to go beyond shrinking the system,” the Initiative wrote. “It requires reimagining public safety so that children are not funneled into cells but are instead supported with education, healthcare and stable communities.”
By publishing Youth Confinement: The Whole Pie 2025, the Prison Policy Initiative said it hopes to give lawmakers, advocates and the public a clear picture of how the juvenile justice system continues to fail children of color. While progress has been made in reducing the number of youth behind bars, PPI warns that without targeted efforts to confront racial inequities, the system will remain deeply unjust.
“The declines in youth confinement are real,” the report stated, “but they are incomplete. Without racial justice, there is no real reform.”
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