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Abstract: 

As of 2002, approximately 100,000 juveniles were being held in juvenile detention facilities (JDFs) in the United States (Sickmund, 2006). This number has risen over the past decade. The vast majority of youth in such facilities are male, of lower socioeconomic status, and members of minority groups (Snyder & Sickmund, 1999). Although approximately 80% of these juveniles are male, there has been a gradual increase in the numbers of adolescent girls being arrested and confined (Snyder & Sickmund, 1999). Landmark work in the 1980s documented medical problems in almost half of all youth entering JDFs (Hein et al., 1980; Litt & Cohen, 1974). Nearly twothirds of such youth did not have a primarycare provider and nine out of 10 had untreated dental disease (Feinstein et al., 1998). These findings underscore the potential importance of JDFs in assessing disease and intervening to treat and prevent its progression.

Keywords: Communicable, STD, ADHD, depression, anxiety, comorbidity, CSSD, UCHC, accreditation, suicide, Peer Psychiatric Review

Affiliations:  1: University of Connecticut Health Center; 2: University of Connecticut Health Center; 3: University of Connecticut Health Center.