Young Minds Locked Up: The Mental Health Crisis in Juvenile Detention

A recent congressional report highlights a troubling trend: kids with mental health issues are being held in juvenile detention centers instead of receiving proper care. This isn't a new problem, but it's one that's getting more attention. About half of the juvenile detention facilities surveyed admitted to keeping kids locked up when they could have been sent to mental health treatment centers. This means that many young people are spending days or even months in detention, waiting for a spot to open up in a psychiatric facility. One respondent from North Dakota pointed out that there aren't enough safe and secure options for mentally ill youth in the state. This forces them to be placed in correctional facilities, which aren't equipped to handle their needs.Linda Teplin, a professor of psychiatry, has been studying this issue for decades. She says that the number of kids with psychiatric disorders in juvenile facilities is much higher than in the general population. However, very few of these kids receive the services they need, either in detention or after they're released. Teplin also emphasizes that being in a detention center can make mental health problems worse. It's a harsh environment that doesn't provide the support these kids need. Sen. Jon Ossoff, who co-commissioned the report, calls this a decades-old crisis. He believes that the solution lies in bipartisan legislation that addresses both juvenile mental health and incarceration. But is this really a surprise? We've known for a long time that our mental health system is broken. The question is, what are we going to do about it?