In 1997, the U.S. Census Bureau, through an interagency agreement with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), administered the Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement (CJRP) for the first time. CJRP replaced the Census of Public and Private Juvenile Detention, Correctional, and Shelter Facilities, also known as the Children in Custody census, which had been conducted since the early 1970s. The census typically takes place on the fourth Wednesday in October in odd numbered years.
CJRP asks all juvenile residential facilities in the United States to describe each person younger than 21 assigned a bed in the facility on the census date as a result of a status or delinquency offense. Facilities report individual-level information on gender, date of birth, race, placement authority, most serious offense charged, court adjudication status, and admission date.
CJRP does not capture data on youth in adult prisons or jails or those placed in facilities used exclusively for mental health or substance use treatment or for dependent children.