Editorial: Justice-Involved Youth: A National State of Emergency in Children’s Mental Health

In 2020, an estimated 424,300 youth were arrested and nearly 128,000 youth were detained in the United States, with disproportionately higher rates for minoritized youth when compared to White youth.1 Although the number of youth in detention facilities has decreased since the late 1990s, a staggering number of children and adolescents enter the justice system each year. This remains a critical issue for child and adolescent psychiatrists. By the time youth enter juvenile detention, individual mental health needs are already exceptionally high.