Problems at Pittsburgh’s Shuman Juvenile Detention Center reflect larger issues in the integrity of the juvenile-justice system.

"According to a state violation report from April 2016, a staff member threw a resident against a bed so forcefully that the metal frame sliced into the resident’s skin, nearly severing the child’s ear. The resident was taken to the hospital and received 30 stitches. 

And these are just a few of the violent incidents reported over the past five years. Juvenile-justice lawyer Jessica Feierman says a single instance of violence in a juvenile-detention center is too many. 

“It’s certainly true that one of the problems with secure facilities and especially larger secure facilities is that the research consistently shows that despite everyone’s best intentions, it’s not uncommon to have violence,” says Feierman, associate director of the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center.  “The bottom line is, regardless of what’s happening anywhere else, this facility and every facility has a responsibility to ensure that young people in their care are safe and not subject to violence.”"