Why does juvenile justice matter?

Because:
“Nearly 100,000 youth are confined in juvenile jails, prisons, boot camps, and other residential facilities on any given night.” - Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Statistical Briefing Book

And yet:
“Among all of the policy areas affecting vulnerable children and families, juvenile justice has probably suffered the most glaring gaps between best practice and common practice, between what we know and what we most often do.

"Perhaps because it serves an unpopular and powerless segment of our society—behaviorally troubled, primarily poor, mostly minority teenagers...”

- Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT Data Book essay, “A Road Map for Juvenile Justice Reform”