Juvenile Corrections

Correctional options

• Probation

• Intensive probation

• Day treatment

• Group homes

• Wilderness programs

• Foster care

• Shelter care

Correctional options

• Boot camps

• House arrest/home detention

• Electronic monitoring

• Restitution/community service

• Residential: state and private

• Legal issues

• Treatment

Community corrections

• Probation

• Differs from adult system in terms of:

• Indeterminate nature

• Use of formal and informal probation (not allowed with adults)

• Use of probation with status offenses

• Greater role at earlier stages of the process

Probation organization

• Administered by:• Centralized statewide system• County or city, partial state• Combined—largest city has its own, state

runs the rest• Locally and judicially administered

(traditional—about 60% are administered this way)

Probation

• Debate about organization

• Administered locally and judicially: advantages are (1) prestige of judges

• (2) judicial immunity for officers

• (3) flexible, more discretion

• (4) better cooperation between officers and judges

Probation

• Statewide:

• (1) more uniformity of services, less political allocation of funds based on judge’s clout

• Overall standards and training, better dissemination of information

• Set up for services

Probation

• National advisory Commission suggested that probation should be state run, but with juvenile intake officers under court administration

• Training and education of juvenile probation officers

• Conditions of probation: reasonable, relevant and constitutional

Probation programs

• Intensive supervision

• Classification into levels of supervision, use of risk factors

• Avoidance of net widening

• Appear to be as effective as residential treatment at less cost

Probation programs

• Home detention, house arrest

• “passive system” home is called periodically, youth must be there (some systems relatively sophisticated

• More likely to be used if parents are perceived as cooperative

• “active system: electronic monitoring (EM)

Probation programs

• Recidivism rates similar to those of residential programs, costs are significantly less, reduces residential overcrowding

• Felony offenders, substance abusers and repeat offenders did more poorly with EM

• The longer the sentence, failure more likely

Probation programs

• Wilderness/Outward Bound programs• Strip them from city environment, physical

and psychological challenges; confrontational style

• VisionQuest, (wagon trains) Associated Marine Institutes

• Short term reductions in recidivism among well run programs

Probation programs

• Day treatment

• Structured activities during the day, return to home during the evening

• Cheaper than residential, works well if the family is not too dysfunctional

Foster care

• Family paid by the state to board an abused, status offender, or delinquent child

• Often from lower class deprived families, chaotic environment

• Parents may be mentally ill, addicts, or in prison, likely to have been abuse and neglect

Foster care

• Those who are a threat to others, incorrigible, or antisocial runaways do not do well in foster care

• Foster homes must be licensed—adequate space, nutritious meals, good reputation in the community

Problems of foster parents

• Frequent crises• Dealing with the biological parent• Older children may be out of control• Most suffering from emotional problems• Might treat foster children differently from

their own, creating conflicts• Some foster parents not well trained;

become punitive

Foster parents

• Foster parents might become attached, find it difficult to give a child up

• Foster care is difficult to monitor• Sometime it could be avoided if other

services were available (homemaker, daycare, etc, treatment facilities that allow children)

• Foster children display more problems

Boot camps

• Combine boot camp drill and education, substance abuse treatment, social skills training

• Short term improvements in personality measures, less antisocial, educational levels

• Little effect on recidivism• Might reduce overcrowding, costs (if net

widening is avoided)

Restitution/community service

• Rehabilitative, restitution provides compensation to victims, saves money

• Community service also might be rehabilitative, provides services to community that otherwise might not be available

• Most orders are completed, recidivism a little lower

Group homes

• Non-secure structured residences

• Public and private

• Halfway-in, halfway out

• Usually around 12 youths

• Residents: most are 16-18, more likely to be middle class, status offenders or property offenders, multiple family problems

Group homes

• Family group home vs. staffed group home, or combination

• Group homes somewhat selective

• Vary in terms of population (some take certain types of youths), length of stay, screening, treatment, staffing and physical facility

Group homes

• Youths are in school. Some large group homes have their own school

• In most instances, youths attend a local school. A criteria for admittance is often whether the youth can behave in school

• Group homes in Massachusetts

Group homes

• Highfields projects: lower recidivism rates, concluded that it was as effective as a training school, and less expensive to operate

• Silverlake experiment: compared group home attendees, one group received GGI, the other did not. Both groups showed declines in delinquency

Group homes

• Project New Pride: emphasis on academic skills and vocational training

• Successful programs:

• Address a variety of skills

• Have intensive contacts (group therapy)

• Socially grounded approach