“Justice by ZIP Code”: New Data Shows How Where You Live Decides Whether Kids Go to Jail

In 2023, 29,314 juveniles were held in residential facilities across the United States. On paper, that’s a single national system. In reality, whether a child ends up behind bars looks less like a question of crime — and more like a question of geography.

A new analysis from Suzuki Law Offices, based on the latest federal placement data from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), lays out just how uneven youth incarceration is across the country. Some states lock up thousands of children. Others incarcerate only a handful.

At the extremes sit Texas and Vermont. Texas confined 2,955 juveniles in 2023. Vermont confined six. That means a child in Texas was nearly 500 times more likely to be incarcerated than a child in Vermont.

“It stops being a crime conversation and becomes a policy conversation,” Suzuki’s team notes. “These aren’t small differences; they are life-altering disparities that determine whether a child gets help or handcuffs.”

The States Putting the Most Kids Behind Bars

Ten states account for more than half of all confined juveniles nationwide, according to the Suzuki Law Offices review. They are:

Nationally, the juvenile placement rate averages 87 per 100,000 youth, but that “average” hides extraordinary divergence. Some of these high-incarceration states also lean heavily on detention before a case is resolved, keeping young people confined while they await hearings or placements.

Texas, in particular, stands out. The state not only leads the country in total youth confinement, it mirrors its broader incarceration posture: Suzuki notes Texas’ overall incarceration rate (adults plus juveniles) now exceeds that of every democratic nation in the world. The study also highlights that Texas detained 66 children aged 12 or younger last year — one of the highest totals in the country.

Where Youth Incarceration Is the Exception, Not the Default

At the opposite end of the spectrum, a small cluster of states confine very few children:

These aren’t crime-free utopias, but they do treat incarceration as a last resort. Suzuki Law Offices points out that low-incarceration states tend to emphasize:

In those systems, the default response to youth offending is treatment and supervision, not a locked facility. The result: lower confinement numbers and lower recidivism.

What’s Actually Sending Kids Into Custody?

The study shows that violent offenses still drive a large share of youth confinement, but they’re not the whole story. The leading charges behind juvenile incarceration in 2023 included:

High-incarceration states like Texas and California see significant caseloads in these categories. But Suzuki stresses that policy choice is just as influential as crime type. Many states with low confinement numbers face serious offenses as well — they simply use more community-based responses instead of reflexively turning to cells and razor wire.

The Youngest Kids in the System

One of the most disturbing pieces of the dataset is the age of some children entering custody.

More than 390 children aged 12 or younger were incarcerated nationwide in 2023. Texas once again led the way, with 66 under-13s detained, followed by states including Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Georgia and others with double-digit counts.

For Suzuki’s legal team, that’s a flashing red warning sign: it suggests missed opportunities for early intervention, mental health support, and family services — and a system that is still prepared to treat very young children as offenders before it has fully tried alternatives.

Who Gets Locked Up? Race, Gender, and Age Gaps

The national figures also reinforce longstanding inequities:

In Texas, the racial divide is even starker. The study notes that more than a third of the state’s incarcerated juveniles are Black, while Black residents make up less than 12% of the total Texas population.

These patterns, Suzuki argues, are not accidental. They reflect how policing, charging decisions, and sentencing interact with race, poverty, and geography.

Recidivism: What Happens After Release

If the goal of youth incarceration is rehabilitation and public safety, the outcomes in some states are hard to defend.

Suzuki’s analysis cites Texas figures showing:

By contrast, states that rely more on diversion, therapy, and community-based supervision report lower reoffending rates, fewer school disruptions, and fewer youth graduating into the adult criminal justice system.

“Not Just a Statistic — a Moral Question”

For Suzuki Law Offices, which represents juveniles and families navigating this system, the numbers are more than an abstract policy debate.

“When a state like Texas incarcerates 2,955 youth and Vermont incarcerates only six, that is not just a legal statistic — that is a moral question,” the firm notes. “Juvenile justice should never depend on a child’s ZIP code.”

The takeaway from their analysis is blunt: in today’s America, the fate of a child in trouble with the law is shaped as much by their state line as by their actions. Some states are investing in alternatives and shrinking their youth prison populations. Others continue to lean hard on confinement — including for the very youngest kids.

For families, advocates, and policymakers, the data draws a clear line: a fairer, more rehabilitative juvenile justice system isn’t hypothetical. It already exists in several states. The question is whether others will follow.

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