Keep The Numbers Low: Reducing Youth Confinement in the Wake of COVID-19: Youth Detention Trends During and After COVID-19

In 2020 and the following years, the COVID-19 pandemic changed how jurisdictions responded to delinquency, which affected the use of youth confinement. In this episode, our host speaks with Tom Woods from the Annie E. Casey Foundation about their survey to track the youth detention population and what he has learned from jurisdictions around the country through the results.

For a tool that youth confinement decisionmakers can use to keep youth confinement numbers low, download the Checklist for Juvenile Confinement Decisions During and After COVID-19.

Guest Bio:

Tom Woods is a Senior Associate in the Juvenile Justice Strategy Group (JJSG) at the Annie E Casey Foundation. His current responsibilities include direction of JJSG data initiatives including the Monthly Detention Survey; providing technical assistance for sites in the practices of data-driven decision making; and supporting work across the foundation related to juvenile justice research. While at Casey, Tom has worked with state and local jurisdictions in more than two dozen states on both child welfare and juvenile justice initiatives, and led Casey’s support for juvenile justice transformation in Virginia from 2014 to 2019.

Resources: Annie E. Casey Foundation Juvenile Justice Strategies, Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Youth Detention Survey During COVID-19