From Prison Policy Initiative:
New study finds confined neurodivergent youth of color are particularly vulnerable to physical assault by staff
A new study analyzing a national survey of youth in custody reveals stark disparities in rates of staff physical assault among Black and neurodivergent youth.
by Emily Widra, August 19, 2025
Even though the rate of youth incarceration is more than three times lower than it was twenty years ago, youth of color and youth with disabilities are still overrepresented in custody — and these disparities are getting worse.
These children were already among the most vulnerable to involvement in the juvenile legal system, but as the system decarcerates, their vulnerability is compounded by the fact that they are also among the most likely to suffer abuse while confined, including being violently victimized by adults.
New research underscores the extent to which staff violence against incarcerated neurodivergent youth of color is substantially worse than it is for white neurotypical youth. Brianna Suslovic and her colleagues at the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, identified significant disparities in the likelihood of staff physical assault between confined youth of different racial identities, and between neurodivergent and neurotypical incarcerated youth. They found that the odds of Black youth reporting staff physical assault are 79% higher than the odds of white youth reporting assault, and the odds of neurodivergent youth reporting staff assault are 59% times higher than the odds of neurotypical youth reporting assault. Even more alarmingly, for neurodivergent youth of color, the odds of reporting staff physical assault are more than twice the odds of their white, neurotypical peers.
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