Boot Camps

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Recommended: Rehabilitation programs reduce recividism rates among juvenile offenders

Boot Camps

The history and explanation of how these institutions are operated

The increase in violent behavior amongst America's youth has prompted the implementation of more effective rehabilitation methods. With the percentage of non-violent offenders on the rise, prison incarceration or juvenile detention doesn't seem to be the right solution for rehabilitation.

In December 1983 a new idea emerged in Giorgia. This new idea was shock incarceration or boot camp. These temporary institutions were the beginnings of a trend to try and help with the rehabilitation efforts of young offenders. During the early years the majority of the juvenile justice community did not accept this idea with only four institutions existing by 1987. That trend did not last long. With the rise in juvenile violence and increased media coverage of juvenile violence that number exploded to 46 institutions operating in thirty states just five years after the idea was introduced.

Boot camps are institutions that rehabilitate non-violent offenders. In the beginning these institutions were only designed for young male offenders with ages ranging from 11 to 17. The early participants were hand selected and categorized as being the most influential or easily manipulated by his environment. Usually first time non-violent offenders were chosen for this program and completion of the program would shorten their sentence. "Boot camp programs operate under a military-like routine wherein young offenders convicted of less serious, nonviolent crimes are confined for a short period of time, typically from 3 to 6 months. They are given close supervision while being exposed to a demanding regimen of strict discipline, physical training, drill,...

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...enile

System: Implementation of Three Demonstration Programs." Koch Crime Institute:

1-12. Online. Netscape Communicator. 2 December 1999. Available www:

http://kci.org/publications/bootcamp/docs/nij/correctional_boot_camp/chpt9.htm.

Gowdy, Voncile B. "Historical Perspective": 1-7. Online. Netscape Communicator. 2

December 1999. Available www:

http://kci.org/publications/bootcamp/docs/nij/correctional_boot_camp/chpt1.htm.

Hayeslip, David W. "The Future of Boot Camps": 1-11. Online. Netscape

Communicator. 2 December 1999. Available www:

http://kci.org/publications/bootcamp/docs/nij/correctional_boot_camp/chpt19.htm.

Lab, Stevens P., John T. Whithead. Juvenile Justice An Introduction. Ohio: Anderson,

1999.

Stevens, Joseph. Black Youths, Delinquency, and Juvenile Justice. Connecticut: Praeger,

1995.

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