Youth detention center

Juvenile detention centres (JDCs), also known as juvenile detention, juvenile jail, juvenile hall, or more colloquially as juvie/juvy, are a type of prison for minors who have been sentenced and committed for a period of time, or detained temporarily pending trial or placement in a long-term care programme. The juvenile court is a specialised court that handles cases involving minors and issues such as sentencing and commitment to a certain programme or institution.

Numerous options exist for minors once they have been through the juvenile justice system. Some juvenile offenders are sent straight back into the community to participate in community-based rehabilitation programmes, while others, who represent a larger risk to society and to themselves, may need a stay in a supervised juvenile detention facility. Court-ordered placement of a minor in a juvenile detention centre may occur in either a secure detention or secure confinement facility.

Juveniles who are in need of a secure detention setting while they await ongoing court proceedings and placement decisions are typically only detained for a limited amount of time. Juveniles are better served by being held in secure confinement, which guarantees their attendance in court and keeps them out of the community. Commonly referred to as a "juvenile hall," this sort of institution serves as a detention centre for young offenders. Secure confinement, on the other hand, indicates that the child has been committed to the care of a secure juvenile detention institution for the term of a particular programme, which might be anywhere from a few months to several years.

Detention centres for juveniles are not meant as punishment. Instead, the theory of parens patriae (the state as parent) is often applied to minors in safe custody. Education, leisure, health, evaluation, counselling, and other intervention programmes designed to keep a young person healthy and safe while they are in state or municipal custody are often the responsibility of the jurisdiction in which they are being held.

Youths are often detained for breaking a court order, but secure confinement is reserved for those who pose a danger to public safety or the judicial process. Juveniles who have committed "status offences," such as truancy, underage alcohol possession, and similar offences, may only be detained for a maximum of 24 hours until initial case investigation is finished and alternatives are established.

Residential programmes is a broad term that encompasses both secure detention and secure incarceration for youths. There are five broad categories of residential programmes where a child may be put while in the care of the court: Detention, prison, camp, community-based, and residential therapy are only five of the many kinds of residential programmes for youth identified by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The lack of a universal definition of residential treatment programmes is the root cause of the diversity in juveniles' placement possibilities. Due to this, there is no standardisation across states, and juvenile secure custody and confinement facilities have a wide range of names.