Health Needs of Youth in Detention With Limited Justice Involvement

Although incarcerated youth (i.e., youth sentenced to secure custody) have high health needs, the health of detained youth with limited justice involvement remains poorly understood. Between September 2018 and February 2019, social workers from the Los Angeles County Whole Person Care Juvenile Reentry Aftercare Program (WPC) assessed the health and social needs of youth in pre-trial detention. We partnered with the WPC team to analyze assessments completed by 83 youth participants. Youth were on average 16 years old, most (83%) identified as male, and all were from racial or ethnic minority groups. Participants reported high behavioral health needs, including a high prevalence of prior suicide attempts (16%) and history of substance use (81%). Participants demonstrated a pattern of crisis healthcare utilization. Youth also indicated areas of strength, including personal positive traits, engagement in extracurricular activities, educational achievements, and having multiple sources of social support. The majority of youth (74%) desired vocational training and nearly all (94 %) wanted to return to school after release. Overall, the findings indicate that detained youth with limited involvement in the justice system are a resilient group that have notably higher health risk than same-age peers, signifying a critical opportunity for intervention.