JRFC provides a detailed picture of the facilities that hold juvenile offenders and the services these facilities provide. The Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement (CJRP), the companion collection to JRFC conducted in alternating years, collects information on the demographics and legal attributes of each youth in a juvenile facility on the census date. Together they provide the most comprehensive picture available of youth sanctioned to residential placement and the facilities and services the youth are provided. Specific objectives of JRFC include:

• Establishing a comprehensive, manageable, and reliable statistical series covering facilities that hold juvenile offenders.
• Collecting basic information on facility characteristics, including size, structure, security arrangements, and ownership.
• Collecting information on the use of bedspace in the facility, which indicates whether the facility is overcrowded.
• Collecting information about the type of facility, such as detention center, training school, or group home.
• Collecting information about the other residential services that the facility provides, such as independent living, foster care, or other arrangements.
• Collecting information on the health care, education, substance use treatment, and mental health treatment provided to youth in these facilities.
• Collecting information on the use of screenings or assessments conducted to determine counseling, education, health, or substance use treatment needs.
• Collecting information on prominent issues about conditions of confinement, including the restraint of youth, the use of isolation to control behavior, and improper absences from the facility.
• Collecting information on the number of deaths of juveniles in custody.

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