Community Corrections and Juvenile Jusice

Community Corrections and Juvenile Justice

"Office of Juvenile Justice and delinquency Prevention"

Bradford Morris

Community Corrections

CRJ 341

Community Corrections and Juvenile Justice

"Office of Juvenile Justice and delinquency Prevention"

Justice has always been the goal of our court system, but it is not always served. In my research I focused on the juvenile justice system and its impact on society and the community. It seems that the judiciary process has changed from a system that at first did not originally consider juveniles, to now, when juveniles have their own court proceedings, facilities, and even rules and laws. A juvenile is considered to be an individual who is under the age of 18 and resembles an adult. However, resembling an adult does not mean that juveniles have an adult mindset. Therefore, juveniles need to receive extra attention to put their lives back in order. Statistics have showed that juveniles that are in high crime areas have trouble putting their lives in order. My paper will look at all aspects involving juveniles, juvenile correction facilities and, juvenile programming.

One of the big differences between juveniles and adult correction facilities is the large number of private facilities for juveniles. "Private facilities have the comfort of being able to "cherry-pick" their clients and they can also sometimes do things and perform treatments that public facilities cannot do." (Champion 2003) A big problem in juvenile justice is how long it takes to get an arrested juvenile tried and considered a delinquent. Only after they have been adjudicated can they be placed in a "rehabilitation" program. The delay makes it a problem for delivering psychological services in a timely fashion.

The juvenile system has short-term facilities (detention centers), also shelters and diagnostic centers (Champion 2003). Long-term facilities are training schools, farms, forestry camps, boot camps, halfway houses, and group homes. There are many private institutions and a lot of psychiatric hospitals and treatment centers. The correctional makeup of juvenile justice is different from the adult correctional system. While most facilities are small, the United States has about 70 large facilities for juveniles. "The average length of time served in all types of facilities is six to seven months." (Champion 2003)

It is not uncommon for juveniles in need of rehabilitation to have a lot of problems. "Estimates of mental health problems among juvenile inmates run as high as 90%." (Ulzen & Hamilton 1998)

As Bartol & Bartol (2004) suggest, there are approximately seven different models of treatment for juvenile offenders. Not all of them are going to be successful as expected, but treatment programs for juveniles tend to take a life of their own.

The list below is not presented in a particular order, and only represents programs which have found some acceptance or recognition in forensic psychology:

* group home models - group homes are the most common type of semi-secure or insecure facility, and they use the principle that the least restrictive alternative can be used, unless facts suggests otherwise.

* multi-systemic models - "multi-systemic" is a term for approaches based on Bronfenbrenner's (1979) family systems theory, which implies that the best approach is one which disregard the offender, and joins him or her in blaming their family, their peer groups, their school, and neighborhood.

* substance abuse models - these are generally relapse prevention programs that are delivered on an inpatient (avg. stay 6 months) or outpatient (twice weekly) basis where "community" meetings are held and clients set goals for themselves.

* Boot camp models - these are faddish government programs, most popular from 1987-1997 which attempt