On any given day in the United States, approximately 70,000 young people are in juvenile detention or correctional facilities. Though violent crime arrest rates for juveniles are only marginally higher than in many other nations, the U.S. detains and commits children at close to five times the rate of its nearest successor, South Africa. For the past eight years photographer Richard Ross has documented the placement and treatment of American juveniles housed by law in facilities that treat, confine, punish, assist and, occasionally, harm them. To date, the project includes photographs and interviews with more than 1,000 juveniles at over 300 facilities in 32 states in the U.S., from detention, correction, and treatment facilities to group homes, police departments, and juvenile courtrooms. These riveting photographs, accompanied by the life stories that these young people in custody shared with Ross, give voice to imprisoned children from families that have no resources in communities that have no power. The hope is that by seeing these images, people will have a better understanding of the conditions that exist.
For more about the project, please visit the website: www.juvenile-in-justice.com
Photography by Richard Ross
About the Artist
Richard Ross is a photographer, researcher and professor of art based in Santa Barbara, California. Ross has been the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, MacArthur and the Center for Cultural Innovation. Ross was awarded both Fulbright and Guggenheim Fellowships. His most recent work, the — In Justice series, turns a lens on the placement and treatment of American juveniles housed by law in facilities that treat, confine, punish, assist and, occasionally, harm them. Two books and traveling exhibitions of the work continue to see great success while Ross collaborates with juvenile justice stakeholders, using the images as a catalyst for change.
This exhibit was made possible through generous support from the Sage Fund, the School of Social Work and Milner Library.