A new study of suicidal behaviors among juveniles indicates that young offenders are more likely to commit suicide than is commonly thought, and they do so for different reasons than adults. 

"These kids are at a much greater risk for all types of problems than their adult counterparts," said Dr. Lindsay Hayes, Project Director of the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives, which conducted the research. Hayes citied high rates of mental illness, substance abuse histories, and detrimental family situations among juvenile offenders as reasons for the results.

Hayes has studied adult suicide in prisons, jails, detention centers and private facilities for the past 20 years.  A decade ago, he began a campaign to conduct a specific study on juvenile suicides in confinement, but only now have his ambitions materialized. 

Hayes finally succeeded in gaining the support he needed for the first national study of juvenile suicide in confinement in 1999, and the report was released last February.

"It's ironic that we've never known how many children have died," said Hayes.  "We've had guesses and estimations, but never any raw data." 

While studies on adult suicides in confinement have been conducted for the past two decades, Hayes found that these findings often do not apply to juvenile suicides.  "There are many more differences between juvenile and adult suicides than there are similarities," he said. 

The study, which is the first large-scale, systematic look at juvenile suicide in confinement, identified 110 juvenile suicides between 1995 and 1999 and analyzed all 79 of the cases for which records were available.  Of these suicides, 48.1 percent took place in facilities run by state agencies, while 39.2 percent occurred in county facilities and 12.7 percent in private programs.

Of the 79 suicides included in the study, 13 offenders were on suicide precaution status at the time of their deaths, a statistic Hayes believes is unacceptable.  The goal of suicide watch, he said, is to provide a safe haven for inmates where they can stabilize before returning to the general offender population.

"No one on suicide watch should be dying.  This should be a safe environment," said Hayes. 

Hayes added that juvenile facilities need to reconsider how suicide watches are implemented to protect suicidal youth. 

"To me, suicide watch is an assessment of how effective the evaluation process is," said Hayes.  "If no one is on suicide watch, this is probably an indication that the facility does not have many good identification schemes."  Yet if there are high numbers of inmates on suicide watch, Hayes continued, the facility may be failing to get these juveniles the treatment they need to rejoin the general population. 

"The goal is not to keep people on suicide watch, but to keep them safe until they can return to the general community," he said. 

The study also found a link between isolation and juvenile suicide; a full 50 percent of suicide victims were confined to their rooms at the time of their death.  "This is probably one of our most significant findings," said Hayes.  

"The suicides are not in reaction to the conditions of the rooms themselves, because many times juveniles are sent to their own sleeping rooms," said Hayes.  Rather, he suggests, the suicides are likely to be a psychological reaction to isolation. 

Given the time, opportunity and privacy inherent to room confinement, these youth will often attempt suicide either as an attention-seeking gesture or as an attempt to escape what they feel is unfair treatment, Hayes said.

"When they're disciplined in such a manner, they often become very angry and feel that they're being singled out unjustifiably.  In reaction to this anger, they often take it out on themselves," he said.  Hayes says that this reaction is common because incarcerated youth tend to be impulsive and have poor coping skills, especially when they believe they are being treated unfairly. 

Hayes' conclusion that many juvenile suicides are a result of strong emotional reactions to forced isolation is supported by the fact that juvenile suicides often take place within a single hour of an inmate being placed in room confinement. 

"I think that shows these kids are reacting in an impulsive manner, without thinking their actions through," said Hayes. 

While Hayes does not believe that room confinement should be completely eliminated, he says that correctional workers sometimes rely too heavily on isolation, allowing it to take the place of counseling.  "Room confinement is an easier solution for staff than sitting down with a kid and looking for the reasons behind their inappropriate behavior," Hayes said.  "But it should be the last resort."  According to Hayes, room confinement should be used less frequently and for shorter periods of time to be both safe and effective. 

To better understand the connection between suicide and room confinement, Hayes said that personnel working with juveniles need specialized training that emphasizes the different reasoning processes that seem to lead to adult and juvenile suicides.  While adult suicide in correction facilities is currently better understood, Hayes said, "We [still] need a dramatic increase in awareness in juvenile facilities."

Beyond that, Hayes said facilities should have detailed, written suicide prevention policies that conform to national correctional standards.  Hayes' study recommends that these policies address seven points: training, identification and screening, communication, housing, levels of supervision, reporting and follow-up.  Hayes also suggests that medical and mental health employees should receive annual instruction as well as thorough initial training in youth suicide prevention.

 "The juvenile justice community needs to pay close attention to this issue and be aware of its consequences," he said.

The First National Study on Juvenile Suicide in Confinement was conducted by the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives and funded by the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. 

The full report is available at: http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/ojjdp/grants/206354.pdf