Juvenile Confinement in Context

Posted by on July 16, 2012

Harmful, expensive, and useless

In an article in American Educator, Richard Mendel writes that America’s heavy reliance on juvenile incarceration institutions — training schools, reformatories, and youth-corrections centers — is unique among the world’s developed nations, though our juvenile-violent-crime rates are only marginally higher. The latest count of youth in custody found 48,000 Americans confined in facilities by order of a delinquency court — disproportionately minority — despite overwhelming indication that incarceration of juvenile offenders is counterproductive. A small number of youth offenders are a threat and must be confined, but a broader swath are no threat to public safety. We waste vast sums of taxpayer dollars and often increase the recidivism of those locked up. Strikingly, research finds juvenile rehabilitation programs work if, and only if, they focus on developing skills and addressing challenges. “For the first time in a generation, America has the opportunity to redesign the deep end of its juvenile justice system,” Mendel writes. “The open question is whether we will seize this opportunity, whether we will not only abandon the long-standing incarceration model but also embrace a more constructive, humane, and cost-effective paradigm for how we treat, educate, and punish youth who break the law.”

Read more: http://www.aft.org/newspubs/periodicals/ae/index.cfm

http://www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/summer2012/mendel.pdf