Housing of youth
- youth are to be housed in the least restrictive setting as possible
- if not, state violates constitutional rights
- SC - never ruled on constitutional right to treatment- comes from juvenile system ideals
Rates are down; incarceration is up. Why?
- mandatory sentencing
- lowering of ages for juveniles
- easier to obtain waivers for adult court
- greater access to juvenile records
Probation
most common disposition of juv. court
- father of probation: John Augustus
Reasons for probation
- public protection
- hold juveniles accountable
- teach citizenship
probation officer: counsels’ youth, links to other services
Problems probation officers face
- # 1: huge caseloads
- lack training & resources
CBC
why does JJS use community-based corrections more for youth rather than adults? B/c juveniles have significantly more family & community ties
5 nonsecure residential programs
- shelters
- group homes
- foster homes
- foster group homes
- other nonsecure facilities (farms, ranches, camps, etc.)
Detention centers
- secure locked facilities providing education, visitation, private communication, counseling, supervision, medical care, nutrition, recreation, etc.
3 purposes of detention
- secure presence in court
- hold those who can’t be sent home
- prevent self-harm & harm to others
Prison is most dangerous place for young offenders
- all 50 states have laws to allow juveniles to be tried as adults
- 42 states have toughened those laws
- suicide rates are higher for youth in adult facilities
- sexual attacks… rape, (5x more likely to be sexually assaulted… 2x more likely to be beaten than in juv. facility)
Intermediate sanctions
intensive supervision, monitoring, or detention as disposition, types include intensive supervision, electronic monitoring, & boot camps
3 levels of prevention
- primary - directed at population as a whole, neighborhood watches
- secondary - aimed at specific at-risk population, changing behavior of those who might become delinquent
- tertiary - target offending population to prevent a repeat performance, treatment & rehabilitation
Effective early intervention: Prenatal/Early infancy project
- Appalachian region of NY
- study of unmarried mothers form lowest socioeconomic group (1/2 were teens)
- nurse home visits began during pregnancy & continued until child reached age of 2
- nurses provided mothers w/health & parent ed., job & education counseling & emotional support
Early prenatal/infancy intervention: results
- 2 years after program rate of child abuse & neglect was 4% for program participants & 19% for control group
- for mothers who did not have HS diplomas, were 2x as likely as control group to have graduated from high school
Perry preschool program, Michigan
- study of how poor single families & their 3–4-year-olds
- discovery of language through activities & play to foster social & intellectual development
- teacher met w/each child & mother weekly
Perry preschool program: results
- children attach greater importance to school & academic achievement than control group
- only 31% of program participants had ever been arrested or charged w/crime by age 19… compared to 51% of those in control group
- program also lowered level of needing public assistance
How important is preschool?
longitudinal study found that at age 40, participants who experienced preschool program:
- had fewer teenage pregnancies
- more likely to have graduated from HS
- more likely to hold job & have higher earnings
- committed fewer crimes
- owned their own home & car
Parent training programs
- help parents define behavior in observable terms & recognize antisocial behavior
- help parents respond consistently to child’s behavior
Parent training programs: results
- parent programs reduce child’s antisocial behavior & improve family management practices
- short term parent programs don’t succeed for families that are unstable & have excessive conflict
- Patterson- ave. family 31 hours, crisis prone families 100 hours of training
Criteria for successful intervention programs (APA)
- begin as early as possible
- successfully address aggression
- include multiple components that include family, school, peer groups, media, community, etc.
- take advantage of windows of opportunity (birth, entry into preschool, elementary school, & adolescence
Desistance
process between late adolescence and early adulthood that discourages youths from life of crime
- Earls & Reiss… desistance has occurred if offender takes part in minor violations instead of past serious crimes, time between offenses is substantially reduced, time between offenses is greater than the past, most delinquents as teens turn away from crime while a minority don’t, why?
