Excerpts from the Report

Forward

It is my pleasure to present to you the report Juvenile Suicide in Confinement: A National Survey. This study, commissioned by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in 1999, is the first comprehensive effort to determine the scope and distribution of suicides by youth confined in our public and private juvenile facilities throughout the country. In many ways, this report closely supports two prior initiatives funded by this office, both Conditions of Confinement: Juvenile Detention and Corrections Facilities and the Performance-Based Standards Project. This report should be viewed as a working companion to those landmark OJJDP initiatives.

The results of this research present many challenges to both direct care and health care personnel who work with confined youth on a daily basis, as well as for administrators who have the responsibility for providing safety and security to this very vulnerable population. Suicide prevention is a primary goal for all of us who work in and manage juvenile facilities. At a minimum, however, we must ensure that each death within our facilities is accounted for, comprehensively reviewed, and provisions made for appropriate corrective action. It is my hope that the data and insights offered in this comprehensive first national survey will provide motivation for continued efforts at reducing the opportunity for suicide within our public and private juvenile facilities throughout the country.

J. Robert Flores
Administrator
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Acknowledgements

. . . On a final note, it should be said that this project was both frustrating and rewarding on several fronts. It was not only disconcerting to review the circumstances surrounding the suicides of so many young people in confinement (many of which were preventable), but, quite frankly, frustrating to encounter some resistance to our data collection efforts. We found more than a handful of facility directors who chose not to participate in the survey process, citing time and/or manpower constraints, litigation and advice from legal counsel, sensitivity of the subject matter, or perceived confidentiality issues. Fueling this frustration was the fact that more than a third of all suicides we identified were unknown in any state agency, thus limiting our ability to gather collaborative data. As stated in the report, the fact that any suicide occurring within a juvenile facility throughout the United States could remain outside the purview of a regulatory agency should be cause for great concern within the juvenile justice community.

Lindsay M. Hayes
Project Director
National Center on Institutions and Alternatives

Executive Summary

The study identified 110 juvenile suicides occurring between 1995 and 1999. Data was analyzed on 79 cases.

► More than one-third of the suicides identified in this study were unknown to many agencies responsible for the care and advocacy of confined youth. The fact that any suicide occurring within a juvenile facility throughout the United States could remain outside the purview of a regulatory agency should be cause for great concern within the juvenile justice community. At a minimum, we must ensure that each death within our juvenile facilities is accounted for, comprehensively reviewed, and provisions made for appropriate corrective action.

Main Report

► It should be noted, however, that of the 54 suicides self-reported from facility directors, only 28 (51.8%) of these deaths were also known to any state agency (i.e., state departments of juvenile corrections, as well as other state agencies responsible for licensing and regulatory services). Further, the 15 suicides that were identified through both newspaper articles and “other” sources were also unknown to any state agency. Therefore, 39% (43 of 110) of the juvenile suicides identified in this study were unknown to any state agency (i.e., departments of juvenile corrections, as well as agencies responsible for licensing and regulatory services). Most of these suicides occurred in either county detention centers or private residential treatment centers.

► Also of interest, although 27% of the total number of suicides (N=110) occurred in private facilities, many of which were residential treatment centers, approximately two-thirds (67%) of all non-responses to survey requests came from private facilities.

► Most of the deaths that were unknown to state agencies occurred in either county detention centers or private residential treatment centers.  Many of the reported suicides in this study were also unknown to many child advocacy agencies. The fact that any suicide occurring within a juvenile facility throughout the United States could remain outside the purview of a regulatory agency should be cause for great concern within the juvenile justice community.