Alabama has a long history of incarcerating Black children. For generations, Black youth have been overly criminalized, pushed out of school without due process, and given harsher punishments than their white counterparts. However, today youth incarceration has evolved into a lucrative business in Alabama, as for-profit youth detention facilities maximize profit margins while subjecting children to abuse and harm.
Our report, Only Young Once: Alabama鈥檚 Overreliance on School Pushout and For-Profit Youth Incarceration, details how a narrative of youth crime contributes to overly punitive school discipline, racial disparities, and an expensive youth legal system that is not designed for rehabilitation.
Only Young Once also recommends opportunities that would be more productive for Alabama鈥檚 youth and more cost-effective for taxpayers.
鈥淎 child should never be pushed out of school without due process, nor should their abuse support a profitable business model. Unfortunately, in Alabama we have both,鈥� said Delvin Davis, 蜜桃传媒 senior policy analyst and author of the report. 鈥淚t will take intentionality from state officials to correct policies that have harmed Alabama youth for years.鈥�
Read the report
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Other reports
This is the third report in a series of reports about youth incarceration across the Deep South.
- Louisiana: Only Young Once: The Urgent Need for Reform of Louisiana鈥檚 Youth Justice System
- Mississippi: Only Young Once: The Case for Mississippi鈥檚 Investment in Youth Decarceration
Illustration at top by Kingsley Nebechi
