Summary of the 2008 KIDS COUNT Essay on Juvenile Justice Reform Now Available
August 2008 – A summary version of the 2008 KIDS COUNT essay, A Road Map for Juvenile Justice, presents the six pervasive challenges raised in the essay that face our nation’s juvenile justice systems today. It highlights key facts and data, and offers promising solutions for approaches that have been proven to improve outcomes for youth, families, taxpayers and communities.

Report on Birth Outcomes Ranks RI 3rd Best in Prenatal Care
August 6, 2008 - The report, Right Start for America’s Newborns: City and State Trends 2008, is now available online. At 2.2%, RI has the 3rd lowest rate in the nation of mothers receiving late or no prenatal care. According to the report, RI made positive progress in 4 out of 8 measures of infant well-being since 1990, and RI ranks in the top half of the nation in 7 out of 8 measures of infant well-being. View the press release for more information about the report.

2008 KIDS COUNT Data Book: A Roadmap for Juvenile Justice Reform
June 12, 2008 - RI ranks 21st among the states for overall child well-being in the 19th annual KIDS COUNT Data Book, a national and state-by-state profile of the well-being of America’s children that ranks states on 10 key measures and provides data on the economic, health, education, and social conditions of America’s children and families.

This year's Data Book essay outlines key action steps and model programs with the potential to change the reality and prospects for the nearly 100,000 youth confined in U.S. juvenile facilities on any given night. According to the report, in 2006 the rate of detained and committed youth in custody in RI was lower than the national rate. In 2006, the ratio of youth of color to White youth in custody in Rhode Island was worse than the U.S. ratio. View the article in the Providence Journal.