What if I told you that there are more kids in Indiana locked up than the entire population of Jasonville? Similarly, what if more children were in jail in this state than the population of Bloomfield? Or, the equivalent of half of Linton was incarcerated?
Well, what I'd be telling you would be the truth. An estimated 2,616 youths were in custody in Indiana on any given day in 2006, the latest year data was available.
This makes Indiana ranked sixth among all of the states with the most juveniles locked up, an alarming situation that should prompt the state to re-examine its youth justice system, a report released on June 12th said.
This state-by-state comparison report, released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation the other day, showed Indiana's rate of detained and committed youths was 183 per 100,000 youths, which is above the national rate of 125 per 100,000 youths.
So, what's the problem causing this?
It's a social issue, as well as an economic one. Having this many kids in the system is not cheap, nor is it productive.
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This blog post by Chris Wathen was also published in his Linton, Indiana based Greene County Daily World blog entitled, “Riddle Me This”.
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