The American Psychological Association seeks comments from all interested individuals and groups – including psychologists, mental health professionals, researchers, carceral facility staff, carceral facility detainees and their families, APA elected and appointed leaders, and the general public – on the Proposed Resolution Opposing Involuntary Individual Isolation of Youth in Carceral and Detention Settings.
If approved by Council, this proposed resolution will be considered APA policy and APA will then advocate for approaches, consistent with the resolution, that foster positive youth development and behavior changes in adolescence, and advocate against the use of solitary confinement in juvenile justice settings.
This proposed resolution was developed based on an APA task force report from 2020 and was updated in 2023 by additional experts who added more recent research and best practices from youth carceral and detention settings. Your comments will provide valuable input to the experts as they develop the final proposal for consideration by Council.
Please review the 2023 draft resolution and 2020 report and then provide comments at the following link: https://apps.apa.org/
Comments must be submitted by 11:59 pm Eastern Time, December 20, 2023.
As comments are submitted, an e-mail acknowledgement will be sent to the e-mail address listed below. Thank you for your participation. If you have any questions concerning the comment process, please contact Maya Allen or Theresa McGregor.