Youth Incarceration Increases 60 Percent

HARTFORD, Conn. — The number of 16-year-old boys incarcerated in Connecticut has increased by more than 60 percent since 2002, according to state prison officials.

There were 122 boys that age incarcerated during a 2006 tally, up from 76 in 2002. Advocates are pushing for a variety of preventive measures to combat the increase, including improving after-school programs and summer jobs, funding programs to reduce truancy, and funding youth service bureaus to help keep at-risk youths out of correctional facilities. Several agencies have pledged to cooperate and work together to find a solution.

The influx of incarcerated youth in Connecticut follows the national trend of increased crime among juveniles younger than 18 years old. That age group had a 20 percent increase in murder arrests from 2004 to 2005 and an 11 percent increase in robbery arrests.