Alternatives to Incarceration for Young Offenders There have been so many crimes in which young people have been involved in recent years. The crime rate has really increased. There are too many young people detained in our prisons; the percentage is so high that we really need to do something about it. “Despite the decline in juvenile crime over the last decade, the population of young people held in preventive custody has steadily grown. On an average day, more than 27,000 youth are estimated to reside in locked detention centers, a number that has grown by 72 percent since the early 1990s.” ("Center for Children's Law and Policy"). This means that over the last twenty-five years crime has increased and a lot of our taxpayers' money has gone into the system to cater for these criminals. The jail and prisons are so full it's almost unbelievable, which is why there is such a desperate need to get these criminals out and fend for themselves. The system is really trying to offer programs to all inmates, while also focusing on the younger population. Detention is very expensive because the prisoner must be provided with clothes, food, bed and other necessary things. Keeping them locked up is simply preventing our society from moving forward. So why waste? There have been so many concerns about whether it is a good idea to charge minors as adults. There are so many criminals in prisons who started their sentences before the age of eighteen. This is a big concern because even if they committed a crime they are young and don't really know it, so why charge them as adults. When they come in as young delinquents it is much easier for them to stay in the system, so let's help our society by helping these delinquents and making them work for what they want. If we incarcerate them, we give them everything they need, so why not make them work for what they do?