Chapter 10

Institutional/ResidentialInterventions

Juvenile Justice: An Introduction, 7th ed.

Chapter 11• 81,015 juvenile offenders were in public, private, or tribal

residential placement on the date of most recent consensus. In addition, more than 2,700 juveniles were in adult prisons according to recent data.

• Boot camps can be cost-effective and result in academic progress. They do not reduce recidivism, however, despite the common sense belief that military-type discipline is beneficial.

• Recent statistics indicate that 55% of juveniles released from state facilities are rearrested. On the other hand, effective programs can reduce recidivism significantly.

• The most prevalent problem in the juvenile justice system is the presence of mental disorders. Studies show that more than 2/3 of juveniles in the juvenile justice system experience mental disorders.

What You Need to Know

Chapter 11• Estimates of victimization, including sexual victimization, in juvenile

facilities vary; some estimates indicate that almost 2/3 of youths are victimized. In a recent government study, 12% of youths in state juvenile facilities and large private facilities reported one or more incidents of sexual victimization in the previous year or since their admission to the facility.

• Racial tension has been a problem in juvenile facilities. In 2007, minorities constituted 66% of the committed juveniles in custody in public and private facilities nationwide.

• Deinstitutionalization or stopping involuntary placements of status offenders continues; in 2007, only 2,486 committed status offenders were in residential placement.

• Many wilderness programs have not been effective, but a recent evaluation showed that such programs with treatment enhancements can reduce recidivism.

What You Need to Know (cont’d)

Chapter 11

Institutional Corrections for Juveniles• In 2008, 81,015 juvenile offenders were placed in detention,

correctional or shelter facilities. • According to the most recent report, in 2009, there were

2,717 juveniles in state (adult) prisons. Six states (Connecticut, New York, Florida, North Carolina, Texas, and Arizona) held more than half of all juveniles in state prisons.

• Although probation handles many more youths, institutions involve a significant minority of the offenders who go through the juvenile justice system. They are the costliest part of the system, New York reported a cost of more than $80,000 a year.

• This chapter examines various types of institutional and residential interventions with juveniles, including state training schools, youth camps, private placements, and group homes.

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State Training Schools• State training schools - the juvenile justice system equivalent of the

adult prison, which serve to house delinquents whom juvenile court judges consider unfit for probation or some lesser punishment.

• Some state training schools resemble adult prisons in terms of their architecture (i.e. high walls/fences, locked cell blocks, self sufficiency facilities, and solitary confinement).

• Other training schools have the so-called cottage system and may resemble dormitories.

• State training schools offer a combination of academic/vocational education (life skills development, remedial reading/writing, conflict resolution skills, computer literacy, mathematics etc.) and behavior modification (daily rewards for appropriate behavior and reduction of privileges for inappropriate behavior).

Chapter 11

Boot Camps• Boot camps (or shock incarceration) — short time facilities

(90 days – 6 months) intended to resemble basic training facilities for the military. – There is a considerable emphasis on discipline and physical

training such as marching, running, calisthenics, and other types of conditioning.

• Boot camps were intended to help to protect the public, reduce prison crowding, reduce costs, punish offenders, hold offenders accountable, deter additional crime, and rehabilitate (counseling and education).

• Though adult and juvenile participants rate their camp experience as positive, the evidence shows that boots camps have little to no effect on recidivism.

Chapter 11IYC Joliet

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Institutional Life• Within the juvenile justice system, institutional placement

must provide a caring and nurturing environment that will allow the delinquents to change to pro-social behavior in the institution. This will then carry over into future behavior after release.

• The most prevalent problem in the juvenile justice system is mental disorders. Studies show that more than 2/3 of juveniles in the juvenile justice system experience mental disorders.

• The most dramatic example of a negative effect of the institution on incarcerated youths is the problem of victimization, which ranges from the relatively insignificant act of taking a boy’s dessert to forcing a boy to perform sexual acts.

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Institutional Life (cont.)• Racial tension - A problem in juvenile institutions. Bartollas

and Sieverdes (1981) found African-American youths to be more dominant and more aggressive than white inmates: “Twice as many black as white residents were classified by staff members as highly aggressive towards others and over 40% of whites were defined by staff as passive.”

• Inmate misconduct - A study of 4,686 youths released from a large Southern juvenile correctional system showed that on average each delinquent committed about 53 misconduct incidents while incarcerated.

• Deprivation of heterosexual contact - Another negative effect of institutions is that incarcerated youths are deprived of heterosexual relationships at a time when such relationships are critical in helping the teenager to define himself or herself as a mature sexual adult.

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New Direction in Institutional Interventions• Since the mid-1970s there has been a movement away from

placing status offenders and delinquents in the same state-operated institutions. In fact much of this movement has been one of deinstitutionalization, which tries to avoid any involuntary placements of status offenders .

• Blended sentencing - Allows either the juvenile court or the adult court to impose a sentence that can involve either the juvenile or the adult correctional system or both. Blended sentencing can increase a youth’s chance to become victimized.

• Wilderness programs, which appeal to common-sense thinking, range from short stays in outdoor settings or rather long wagon train or ocean ship trips to provide juveniles with survival skills, limits, and self esteem. This may help juveniles to turn to more constructive activities than delinquency.

Chapter 11

Program Effectiveness

• Studies such as Lipsey’s (2009) meta-analysis show that effective interventions can reduce recidivism significantly.

• Since many youths in custody often have drug usage and/or substance abuse problems, correctional programs need to address substance abuse.

• One issue is treatment integrity, that is, ensuring that treatment programs are carried out faithfully. In some cases, programs have actually violated the principles of the intended program.