Juvenile Delinquency And Juvenile Criminal Justice System

Juvenile delinquency is a relatively new phenomenon. For this reason, society’s reactions and solutions to the problem of delinquency are also modern developments. The United States developed the first youth court in 1899 and is now home to many new and formerly untested methods of juvenile rehabilitation and correction. One of many unique programs within the Juvenile Justice system, boot camps are institutions designed to keep delinquent juveniles out of traditional incarceration facilities and still provide a structured method of punishment and rehabilitation. Boot camps developed in the early 1990s and quickly proliferated throughout the nation. Specifically, they are “…short-term residential programs modeled after

This paper evaluates the history of correctional boot camps, the eligibility of whom is accepted into the program, the graduation statics, and crime recidivism after completion of the program.

Many of the punishments included with juveniles generally, don’t include therapeutic programs. They aren’t designed to deal with the underlying emotional or behavioural problems most children struggle with. According to Kathryn Rudlin of LCSW “Youth Boot-camps are not effective as there can be many reasons, why the teen would do the crime. So, unless the facility caters for these teens it isn’t going to be effective or help them with for the future.” (Kathryn Rudlin, 2016)

Boot camp techniques vary across the country but usually the methods are predominantly structured to parallel military training camps for new military associates, in which staff members act as drill sergeants, inmates are referred to as recruits, and intense physical challenges are routine. Two months to a year stays in residential programs filled with military drills, counseling, and education are viewed generally as “intermediate sanction” in the juvenile justice system. Proceeding from the “tough on crime” increase of the late 80’s and early 90’s, the intent of boot camps for juvenile offenders has been to discipline and “curb criminal tendencies.”( Erin Hanusa,2006). However, the popularity of boot camps has suffered

“The juvenile justice system was first created in the late 1800s to reform United States policies on how to handle youth offenders. Since that time, a number of reforms - aimed at both protecting the "due process of law" rights of youth, and creating an aversion toward jail among the young - have made the juvenile justice system more comparable to the adult system, which is a shift from the United States’ original intent (2008,Lawyer Shop.com).” The

Juvenile boot camps are what are known as a shock incarceration technique. The purpose of shock incarceration is to scare the convicted into changing their ways. Unlike most other shock incarceration techniques, the boot camp method is designed as a way to promote structure and discipline into the lives of the juveniles. They do this by having a highly structured routine that includes physical training, marching in formation, and professional development activities. The use of juvenile boot camps has been used in the United States since the early 1980’s, but has recently been under fire for not being effective in reducing the rate of recidivism in the juveniles who participate in it. They were first created as an alternative to traditional sentences such as incarceration and parole. Boot camps also benefited the system by being more cost effective to run than those traditional techniques because the programs are much shorter than traditional sentences. The other benefit to the system was it reduced prison overcrowding. The ultimate goal of boot camps is to reduce recidivism, but the question is, are juvenile boot camps accomplishing this goal.

This paper will highlight the history of the juvenile justice system and juvenile intervention programs to show a link between the current trend of the juvenile justice system, highlighting ineffective and effective juvenile programs. Findings show that housing adults and juveniles together in prison have a negative impact on juvenile delinquency along with ineffective programs such as Scared Straight and boot camps. This research paper will address two research questions focusing on juveniles, how harsh sentencing practices influence juvenile offenders and how juvenile programs has impacted in the criminal justice system. According to the research, harsh sentences have a negative impact on juveniles and their recidivism rates, while programs

A., & Kurlychek, M. C. (2003). An Outcome Evaluation of Pennsylvania's Boot Camp: Does Rehabilitative Programming within a Disciplinary Setting Reduce Recidivism? Retrieved April 8, 2017, from

Currently to deal with juvenile offenders involved in the youth crime, there are two options available. The first option that prevails to a larger extent is known to us as incarceration while the second option that is slowly gaining trends is known to us as rehabilitation programs. This paper focuses on thorough analysis of both these options and the impact that they have on the offenders as well as the society as a whole. The paper also assesses the viability of these options in order to determine which of these will prove to be more effective and beneficial.

In most cases, programs tend to be ineffective due to the officials that create them. In addition, they fail to see policy verses practice of prior programs and there failures. Different programs carrying the same approach will always have the same outcome unless the delivery is more focused on rehabilitation and stability. Therefore, hiring and retaining the best qualified staff to teach classes are imperative. Juvenile boots camps have been effective to a certain extent. Over the years, the mission of the program had been misplaced with "gut feelings" from staff which could have contributed to its ineffectiveness.

The child-essentially good, as they saw it was made to feel that he is the object of the state's care and solicitude, not that he was under arrest or on trial” (In re Gault, 1967).

The purpose of this paper was to examine how sentencing juveniles with adults have a negative impact on youth. According to the results, juveniles housed with adults are twice as likely to commit suicide due to the harsh environment. Plus the youth’s likely to reengage in crime upon released from adult prisons. This paper also concentrates on programs that have an impact on juveniles, highlighting equally ineffective and effective. Youth attending ineffective programs such as boot camps are more likely to reenter the life of crime compared to juveniles who attend effective programs, which reduce recidivism rates in youth. The history of the juvenile justice system and intervention programs are important because it shows the developments in

Parents with troubled teens sometimes turn to boot camps to help their children. Juvenile boot camps are styled after military training camps and are designed to instill disciple and structure in young people. It started as an alternative to jail teenagers who had committed crimes and most state run programs for these troubled teens.

This is a short-term residential programs that resemble military basic training and target adjudicated juvenile offenders.  There is no one definition or structure of how these boot camps are ran because some may be privately owned and depending on their financial ability determines how this boot camp will be.  “There are generally three types of boot camps: the military drilling style that focuses on strict discipline; (2) the rehabilitative model; and (3) the educational/vocational model. Juvenile boot camps may employ elements from the rehabilitative and educational/vocational models” ("Juvenile Boot Camps," n.d.).  On one hand the cost may be cheaper than housing and feeding a juvenile for months at a time in a detention facility but since boot camps do not show any signs of being effective they do not save any money due to their high recidivism rates.  They do not save any money because the likelihood of the juvenile returning for another offence is

Juvenile boot camps do not always produce the results they are perceived to. Primarily, they are not reducing the amount of crime that is intended. Subsequently, these boot