COLUMBIA – The South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice (SCDJJ) punishes, isolates, and re-traumatizes some of the state's most vulnerable youth in a pattern of widening racial inequality, according to a new report published today by the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina. The report is available here:
"Vulnerable youth are suffering through a crisis in the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice, and our state owes them a chance at real healing and rehabilitation," said Jace Woodrum, Executive Director of the ACLU of South Carolina. "We are calling on the state legislature to address the dangers and inequities exposed in this report. These children can't wait another year for justice."
The ACLU of South Carolina will host a virtual press conference on Thursday, Sept. 10, at 10 a.m. to discuss the findings of the report and answer questions from journalists. If you would like to attend the press conference, email [email protected] for a registration link.
The full report, titled Youth Behind the Fence: A report on trauma and inequality in South Carolina’s juvenile justice system, includes previously unreleased statistics and in-depth interviews with experts. These are some of the key findings:
South Carolina continues to lock up children for status offenses, or activities that are only illegal because of the offender’s age. South Carolina is the only state in America that sends minors into its juvenile justice system based solely on a status offense. In the 2025 fiscal year, 14% of SCDJJ referrals and 8% of detentions were for status offenses including truancy, incorrigibility, running away, and possession of alcohol while underage.
Racial inequality in the juvenile justice system is getting worse. Solicitors and schools continue to refer a disproportionate number of Black youth to SCDJJ, and the agency detains a disproportionate number of them. Black children comprise roughly 28% of South Carolina’s youth population, but more than 75% of the children detained by SCDJJ in 2025.
The S.C. Department of Juvenile Justice continues to place vulnerable youth in harm’s way. After years of rampant staff turnover, corruption, and multiple high-profile instances of violence at the hands of corrections officers and fellow youth, the agency still fails to protect traumatized youth from further traumatization while in its care.
Interactive data visualizations including county-level data are available on the Explore the Data page:
All public records used in this report are also available to download.
The Youth Behind the Fence report is based on publicly available records; new records obtained through a Freedom of Information request; and dozens of hours of interviews with experts, formerly incarcerated people, public defenders, former SCDJJ staff, and scholars of the juvenile justice system.
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