Corrections and Treatment

There is a wide choice of correctional treatments available for juveniles, which can be subdivided into two major categories: community treatment and institutional treat- ment. Community treatment refers to efforts to provide care, protection, and treat- ment for juveniles in need. These efforts include probation; treatment services (such as individual and group counseling); restitution; and other programs. The term com- munity treatment also refers to the use of privately maintained residences, such as foster homes, small-group homes, and boarding schools, which are located in the community. Nonresidential programs, where youths remain in their own homes but are required to receive counseling, vocational training, and other services, also fall under the rubric of community treatment.

Institutional treatment facilities are correctional centers operated by federal, state, and county governments; these facilities restrict the movement of residents through staff monitoring, locked exits, and interior fence controls. There are several types of institutional facilities in juvenile corrections, including reception centers that screen juveniles and assign them to an appropriate facility; specialized facilities that provide specific types of care, such as drug treatment; training schools or refor- matories for youths needing a long-term secure setting; ranch or forestry camps that provide long-term residential care; and boot camps, which seek to rehabilitate youth through the application of rigorous physical training.

Choosing the proper mode of juvenile corrections can be difficult. Some experts believe that any hope for rehabilitating juvenile offenders and resolving the problems of juvenile crime lies in community treatment programs. Such programs are smaller than secure facilities for juveniles, operate in a community setting, and offer creative approaches to treating the offender. In contrast, institutionalizing young offenders may do more harm than good. It exposes them to prisonlike conditions and to more experi- enced delinquents without giving them the benefit of constructive treatment programs.

Those who favor secure treatment are concerned about the threat that violent young offenders present to the community and believe that a stay in a juvenile institu-

Started in the late 1980s, juvenile boot

camps were introduced as a way to get

tough on youthful offenders through rig-

orous military-style training, while at the

same time providing them with treatment

programs. In theory, a successful boot

camp program should rehabilitate juve-

nile offenders, reduce the number of beds

needed in secure institutional programs,

and thus reduce the overall cost of care.

However, evaluations of these programs

across the country found this not to be

the case, and some found juveniles in

boot camps to have higher recidivism

rates than similar youths in other institu-

tional settings. Research shows that one

of the main reasons for their ineffective-

ness is that the treatment component is

often left out. In New Jersey, juvenile jus-

tice administrators are trying to change

this trend. Here, juvenile boot camps

combine rigorous physical training with a

strong emphasis on education, drug

counseling, job skills training, and other

treatment programs to help them prepare

for their return to the community. One

other change that administrators point to

as promising is that boot camp leaders

are trained to act as mentors or role mod-

els to the juvenile offenders.

Case Study Treatment Plan