Sticker Shock: Calculating the Full Price Tag for Youth Incarceration

From Dr. Ana Yañez Correa of the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition.  Sticker shock indeed.  We should be paying on the front end of this school to prison pipeline with excellent schools. -Angela

Dear friends,

As you may know, the State of Texas spends $159,545 annually to incarcerate a young person in state juvenile facilities, and $62,649 annually to confine a young person in county facilities. This is in addition to the estimated billions of dollars in long-term costs nationally created by the excessive use of youth confinement, including reduced income levels, lower tax revenue, greater reliance on public assistance, higher costs to future crime victims, and increased rates of recidivism.

We encourage you to read the latest report, Sticker Shock: Calculating the Full Price Tag for Youth Incarceration, and help us spread the word about the need for juvenile justice reform in Texas by visiting JusticePolicy.org/StickerShockTX. There, you’ll find ready-made social media posts and infographics to share with friends, family, colleagues, and (most importantly) policy-makers.

You’ll also find Twitter info for many of the state’s elected leaders, so making your voice heard is as easy as the push of a button.

Texas is one of a few select states (along with Florida, Nevada, South Carolina, and West Virginia) to be highlighted during the Sticker Shock social media campaign over the month of March.

During this week (March 9 to March 15), we hope you’ll get those tweets and Facebook posts firing. We need our leaders to recognize the enormous costs we’re imposing on our young people, our taxpayers, and our communities, and acknowledge that it’s time for juvenile justice reform in Texas. We hope we can count on you to join us in that effort.

Sincerely,

Ana
Ana Yáñez-Correa, PhD.
Texas Criminal Justice Coalition | Executive Director 
Cell Phone: (512) 587-7010