A RECENT REPORT based on a yearlong study of court and commitment records in New Hampshire shows that 70 percent of kids who are sent to the state’s Youth Development Center have some kind of disability. According to an article in the Union Leader, the report, released by the Institute on Disability and Justiceworks (UNH), states that kids with disabilities are sent to YDC for less serious offenses than those without disabilities.

Lead researcher and NH attorney Michael Skibbie says that the research showed that "information that would help the courts deal with the problems these kids have isn’t making it into the courts." The research also showed that more disabled girls than boys are committed to YDC (or other correctional facilities) in New Hampshire than nationally.

The critical years for such youth seem to be between ninth and tenth grades, demonstrating that the transition from middle to high school is critical for at-risk youth. The obvious question," says Jan Nisbet, director of the Institute on Disability, "is whether or not we as a state are criminalizing behaviors that flow from disabilities among children. It would appear that we are…."

The full text of the article may be found on page A11 of the Union Leader of October 27, 2004.

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