CHEYENNE - Wyoming should re-examine its willingness to jail youths for minor offenses, a new report argues, particularly because jail is the most expensive option for handling juveniles and sometimes introduces young inmates to new ways of getting in trouble.

The report by Beth Evans, Wyoming's juvenile justice program coordinator, also says that Wyoming's courts and communities are inconsistent in their approaches to troubled juveniles, including how they're tracked through the system.

"When it comes right down to it, Wyoming doesn't really know why juveniles are locked up. Our lack of a systematic way of collecting data makes it very difficult to accurately develop a profile of juvenile offenses and reasons for detention," Evans said in the report.

Evans' study was funded by a U.S. Department of Justice grant to the Wyoming County Commissioners Association. Evans is an independent contractor working under the nonprofit association.

Tony Lewis, director of the Wyoming Department of Family Services, agreed that Wyoming should do more to keep juveniles out of jail whenever possible. But he said improvement is being made, especially compared to where the state was just a few years ago.

"I think everybody understands now - and I don't hear any disagreement with the concept - jail is not good for kids," Lewis said Monday. "Unless there is a threat to the community or themselves, they shouldn't be there."

This year's report by Evans showed a slight decrease in detained juveniles, from 2,563 in 2006 to 2,384 in 2007. The 2007 number was still up from the 2,170 count in 2005.

A separate study of Wyoming youths - this year's Kids Count report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation - found that Wyoming has the nation's second-highest rate of locking up juveniles. Nearly three-quarters of those youths go to jail for nonviolent offenses, the group said in its June report.

Evans made clear in her report that gathering the information wasn't easy. For example, she said many youths are locked up for violating probation, but documentation showing what those youths did to get in trouble in the first place can be difficult to track down.

She also said local law enforcement agencies have different systems for tracking juveniles.

"Our separate and incompatible information systems make it difficult to monitor juvenile incarcerations in a comprehensive and integrated manner," Evans wrote.

Evans was especially critical of Wyoming's variety of local approaches to juvenile justice and how that causes inconsistency as to which kids are locked up and which ones stay out of detention or jail.

"Wyoming may be The Equality State, but equality has little to do with how juveniles are treated within our justice system," she wrote. "Where a juvenile lives in Wyoming is far more indicative of how that youth will be treated and whether or not they will spend time in jail."

She suggested that the state re-examine its "heavy reliance" on jail and juvenile detention when it deals with juveniles. She said that locking up youths for underage drinking, possessing tobacco, violating curfew or other crimes that are only crimes because of the defendant's age doesn't improve public safety.

"Placing youth in adult jails because it's the only option results in `priming' our youth for the adult correctional system," she wrote.

Wyoming is the only state that doesn't attempt to comply with the federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, the federal law governing how and when youths under 18 should be locked up. Wyoming loses out on federal funding for not participating in the act.