Press Releases
09/15/2016
Gov. Malloy Says Large Decline in Number of Youthful Offenders Demonstrates Success of Recent Juvenile Justice Reforms
Connecticut Sees a 53% Decline in Arrests and a 54% Decline in Prisoners Aged 18-21 in Recent Years
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(HARTFORD, CT) - Governor Dannel P. Malloy today highlighted the release of new statistics from the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management's Criminal Justice Policy and Planning Division, which show that the state has experienced a 54 percent decline over the last seven years in the number of inmates within its prison population who are aged 18 to 21. Additionally, the number of arrests of persons in the same age group has decreased by 53 percent over a similar time period - a drop that corresponds to recent juvenile justice reforms the state implemented during the last several years.
The Governor noted that these statistics are a positive sign that crime rates will continue to decline over the coming years, as one of the most powerful indicators whether someone will become a career criminal is if they have entered the prison system at a young age. These decreases can be largely attributed to the raising the age of juvenile offenders to 18, which took full effect in July 2012, and school based diversionary programs that have been instituted.
"Since taking office, we have been working to reform our criminal justice system - lowering the crime rate, making our communities safer and reducing the number of people caught up in a cycle of repeat offenses," Governor Malloy said, adding that Connecticut is currently experiencing the lowest crime rate in 50 years and lowest prison population in 20 years. "We know that if we can keep young people from entering our criminal justice system, the odds are in their favor that they will experience better lifelong outcomes. It is clear that our recent efforts have been successful, and that is why we are proposing to expand these reforms even further. We cannot take a one-size-fits-all attitude to corrections and expect further gains - and we cannot treat a low-risk adult the same way we treat a career criminal. Our prisons should not serve as crime schools."
Today, Connecticut has 899 inmates aged 18 to 21 - down from 2,067 on July 1, 2009. The reduction has been constant each year since 2009. This is a direct result of the dramatic decline in the number of young being people arrested. For example, in 2008 a total of 6,624 17-year-olds were arrested. Last year, the number of 17-year-olds that were arrested was 2,289 - a reduction of 66 percent.
Youthful offenders of surrounding ages are also experiencing similar declines. Between 2009 and 2016, there has been a 23 percent decline in the number of inmates aged 22 to 29. Inmates under the age of 18 have dropped from 332 in 2009 to 76 in 2016 - a decrease of 77 percent.
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