1. Rick Ruddell & Matthew O. Thomas

2. Juvenile Corrections: An Overview

3.  We used to perceive juvenile offenders as kids from troubled
families who needed help, support and guidance
 Our views of juvenile and crime are what shape the types of
juvenile justice systems that we develop
 When the public considers juvenile crime as out-of-control, youth
are typically sentenced as adult offenders and sent to prison
instead of trying to reform them in juvenile justice systems
 The public generally supports a juvenile justice system that
provides rehabilitation, support and guidance to youth in trouble
with the law
 The U.S. is the only nation where 13- and 14-year-olds can be
sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole (WAS)
 Roper v. Simmons (2005) abolished the death penalty for crimes that
16- and 17-year-olds committed

4.  Juvenile facilities are based on rehabilitation &
punishment ( Department of Social Services V
Department of Corrections)
 Juveniles become adults at age:
 16 (NY & NC)
 17 (GA, IL, LA, MA, MI, MO, NH, SC, TC & WI)
 18 (remaining states & DC)
 Can be held in juvenile correctional facilities until
their 21st birthday in most states (25th birthday in
CA)
 757 detention centers in the U.S.
 Average stay in juvenile hall is 2 weeks

5. Community Placements
 Most are on probation (most common sanction of juvenile
court)
 Must participate in alcohol or drug treatment, adhere to curfew,
continue their education, report to court when ordered, follow
directions of & report to probation officer on a regular basis
 Can include house arrest or electronic monitoring
 Group homes – generally open (free to come & go); required
to attend school, do chores, participate in group meetings
 Wilderness experience programs & boot camps – very
popular in the 1980s and 1990s
 Usually first-time non-violent offenders
 Constructively occupied dusk to dawn
 Typically there 3-6 months
 Found to be ineffective

6. Institutional Placements
 In 2006, about 93,000 youths held here
 Typically large, operated by state government
& closely resembles adult prisons with higher
levels of security
 State-raised youth – has a lengthy history of
crime, including serious offenders, usually
difficult to manage, previously living in foster
care, often drawn to gangs, expresses antisocial
beliefs

7.  In 2006, 92,854 youths were committed to state
training schools or other out-of-home placements
 15% were girls – of these 13,943 girls, 29% were being
held on violent offenses
 1,951 young women (about 14%) are held for committing acts
that would not be crimes if they were older
 Between 1997 and 2006, girls’ arrest for violent
crimes decreased by 12%, males decreased by 22%;
; assaults committed by girls increased 19%, males
decreased by 4%; arrests for driving under the
influence by males decreased by 6%; girls
increased 39%

8.  One of the biggest challenges is disproportionate
minority contact (DMC) – from arrest to confinement,
minority youth are overrepresented compared to their
population in the community
 Blacks and Latinos accounted for about 12.3% and
12.5% of the national population in 2000, Black
juveniles represented about 40.2% of the residential
population while Latinos accounted for 20.49% of the
total in 2006.
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 A 2004 study in Illinois and New Jersey of youth in
juvenile corrections populations reported that 18.9%
suffered from anxiety disorders, 27% had mood
disorders such as depression, and almost one-third had
disruptive disorders

9.  Age of Juveniles in Residential Placement, 2006
 12 & under 1,207
 13 3,424
 14 9,127
 15 17,574
 16 24,646
 17 23,761
 18 & older 13,115 Total of 92,854 juveniles
 Younger residents often require more supervision as they
tend to be more impulsive and disruptive than older
adolescents
 Incarcerated juveniles tend to have lower rates of
educational or employment successes and they have
histories of abuse and victimization
 1,215,839 persons under the age of 18 years were arrested in
2007, a decrease of 20.4% from 1998