The entire family is impacted by incarceration.  Family reunification to reconnect families that were separated because of incarceration promotes healthy communication and positive relationships.   PGI (Preventing Generations of Incarceration), a preventative measure, is designed to break the pattern of incarceration and to minimize the impact of trauma on children and youth, helping them learn to cope with challenges and set-backs.  

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Delinquency cases are rising in our juvenile courts and youth offenders are increasing.  Third graders are in gangs and fifth graders are threatening harm to other children.  Though they are children they are making adult decisions that is requiring the same level of attention as an adult criminal case. 

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According to the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice:

• In FY 2021, 49.5% of juvenile intake cases were white, 40.7% were black, 63.9% wee non-Hispanic, 10.9% were Hispanic, 22.2% had unknown ethnicity information.

• 67% were males and 33% were female

• The average age in 2021 of juvenile intake cases were 15.9 years and over half the cases in 2019 were 16-17 years of age

• 59.5% of juvenile intake cases resulted in detention

 

According to the Sentencing Policy Institute, over the past quarter century, there has been a profound change in the involvement of women within the criminal justice system.

• Female incarcerated population stands over seven times higher than in 1980.  Between 1980 and 2019, the number of incarcerated women increased by more than 700%, rising from a total of 26,378 in 1980 to 222,455 in 2019. 

• More than 60% of women in state prisons have a child under the age of 18.