Teens say staff gave them cheesesteaks to assault other kids, and more takeaways from our youth justice investigation
An Inquirer investigation found Philadelphia has become an outlier in its rate of youth incarceration, as cities across the country have worked to curb reliance on institutions rife with abuse.
An Inquirer investigation found Philadelphia has become an outlier in its rate of youth incarceration, as cities across the country have worked to curb reliance on institutions rife with abuse.
Philadelphia prosecutors say they’re only doing what’s necessary to keep up with the gun crisis, noting one in four juvenile cases now involves a firearm. Defense lawyers point to data showing Philly still locks up kids who are assessed as low risk, and cite concerning examples, such as a child held in detention for the alleged theft of his uncle’s dog, months after the uncle and his pet had been reunited.
The investigation found that, despite some progress, many Philly kids end up in dangerous institutions, even when the system’s own assessments deem the youths low risk or appropriate to release.
Philly locks up kids more than other big cities.
Measuring by both annual admissions and population, Philadelphia holds teens in detention and sentences them to institutions at a higher rate than the other largest U.S. cities.
Leaders nationwide and in Pennsylvania have called for less incarceration of youth, in light of widespread abuses and research that shows locking up kids leads to worse outcomes for them, and for public safety.
Philly has reduced its use as well. Yet it has fallen behind other places in the state, region and country.
Within Pennsylvania, Philadelphia accounts for about 13% of teenagers, but nearly half of juvenile detention admissions and almost 60% of the sentenced population in state secure institutions. The majority of those in state custody are deemed low or moderate risk on standardized assessments.
Staff covered up abuses, while officials were slow to react.
An Inquirer review found more than 650 lawsuits, state inspection reports and criminal cases describing physical and sexual abuse in youth facilities across Pennsylvania over 15 years. But that’s a fraction of more than 7,000 institutional abuse allegations made with the state in the past decade, most of which were not believed. Just 4% were substantiated by inspectors. Abuses persisted for years at some facilities before state or local authorities removed kids — often failing to coordinate with one another.
Philly teens and staffers said that, as cameras are in wide use, a new trend has emerged: Staffers at Philly’s juvenile detention center offered cheesesteaks as bribes to beat up kids who were disrespectful. It’s like “putting a hit out on a kid,” one former counselor said. Then, the teens who fought can be placed in lockdowns, which a city watchdog found are routinely imposed in excess of strict limits set by state law.
Even if an assault is caught on video, that’s no guarantee of speedy action. After a staffer at a private institution head-butted and tackled a teen, The Inquirer found that initial paperwork appeared to cover up the nature of the incident and place blame on the teen. After the teen’s lawyer filed a complaint, the staffer was fired.
Allegations of abuse go back two centuries.
This year marks the 200th anniversary of the advent of juvenile detention in America, with the opening of the House of Refuge in New York, followed by a Philadelphia version a few years later. For much of that history, youth had few rights, and could be incarcerated without a trial for years on end.
Moreover, claims of abuse and maltreatment emerged almost from the start — and became endemic to the system. Throughout, such allegations have been disbelieved or ignored, while spikes in crime typically brought a renewed zeal for incarcerating kids. Here’s a timeline of how that system evolved.
Philly incarcerates Black teens the most by far.
In Philly, racial disparities exist in every stage of the juvenile system, with escalating impacts.
Black kids are about nine times more likely than white kids to be charged, according to state court data. They are 13 times more likely to be detained, and 20 times more likely to be sentenced to a secure institution.
Here’s a visualization of how that dynamic plays out.
High recidivism raises questions.
Philadelphia’s District Attorney has acknowledged that the juvenile system is not succeeding, with a 57% five-year recidivism rate that increases to 80% for youth who’ve been arrested at least twice.
Even though crime remains near historic lows, calls to reform the system have largely faded amid spikes in youth violent crime coming out of the pandemic.
This article was supported in part by funding from the Stoneleigh Foundation, a philanthropic organization seeking to improve the life outcomes of young people. Inquirer articles are created independently of donor support.