WHO ARE YOUTH-IN-CUSTODY?
The Utah State Board of Education defines youth-in-custody as: “Individuals under the age of 21 who are in the custody of or receiving services from the Utah Department of Human Services or an equivalent Native American tribe, or who are being held in juvenile detention facilities.” STEMCAP works in facilities that span the whole spectrum of youth-in-custody, working in facilities that range from juvenile detention centers to residential treatment centers. See "Youth Center information" below.
Youth-in-custody (YIC) are required by law to receive an education. We work with teachers at the centers to carry out our programming primarily during students’ science class periods. In the 2022-2023 fiscal year, Utah Juvenile Justice and Youth Services served 6,134 individual juveniles.
For more information about Utah Juvenile Justice and Youth Services and Utah YIC, please see the most recent annual report available to the public (2016) or the Online Data Dashboard, updated annually.
Annual Data Dashboard
At any given time in the United States, there are on average 48,000 youth held in facilities away from their homes because of state or criminal involvement. This chart demonstrates the breakdown of holding facilities across the country.
