The Pros and Cons of Juvenile Boot Camps

In its report, "Boot Camps for Adult and Juvenile Offenders," the National Criminal Justice Reference Service concluded that under the right circumstances, boot camps could reduce institutional costs and overcrowding. Their results were drawn from mail surveys of State correctional departments in all 50 States and the District of Columbia between May and June 1993, telephone surveys of State juvenile correctional agencies in August 1992 and an ongoing evaluation of boot camps by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Although heralded as a working solution by the Reference Service, juvenile boot camps have their detractors.

Juvenile Boot Camp Style

Juvenile boot camps model themselves after the military's basic training programs. Incoming offenders become part of their boot camp "platoons" or "squads" and must adhere to military-like protocols such as wearing uniforms, marching to and from camp activities and rapidly responding in military style to commands given to them by their "drill instructors." They undergo strenuous physical fitness programs but must also perform satisfactorily in academic courses. Punishments for misbehavior or lack of performance also mirror those of the military's with its copious amounts of push-ups, marches and other like punitive activities.

Pros Of Juvenile Boot Camps

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention contends that the camps' structures give their staffs more control over their charges than what they would have in more traditional facilities. Juveniles in boot camps frequently also give positive responses, citing the advantages of the camps' structures that better prepare them for release into society. They point to the therapeutic programs available in boot camps that are typically not available elsewhere. Staff and juveniles alike say that juvenile boot camps create safe environments where positive personal growth and change to counter-productive behavior can be achieved.

Boot Camps' Selectivity

Juvenile boot camp administrators attribute some of their success of juvenile offender rehabilitation to their ability to select the offenders. Unlike traditional rehabilitation or incarceration facilities which must accept all court adjudicated juvenile offenders, juvenile boot camps reject large numbers of juveniles with psychological problems or those who are deemed to be suicide risks. Most camps also require psychological, medical and physical evaluations as part of their acceptance programs, and in 25 percent of past cases, juveniles had to volunteer for the camps' programs in order to be admitted.

Cons Of Juvenile Boot Camps

Muting the juvenile justice system's support of boot camps, the news of the death of a 14-year-old boy in a Utah juvenile boot camp, for instance, tarnished the camps' reputations. According to the NY Times, the Utah fatality was the fifth such mishap in 1999 alone and resulted in child abuse homicide charges to be lodged against a youth boot camp and two of its instructors. Brent G. Berkley, the deputy county attorney for Millard County, Utah who litigated the case said that the deceased was overweight and ill-equipped to participate in a long midday desert hike. His indictment of the youth boot camp begs the question whether the singular military format is conducive to the varied individual needs that troubled juvenile offenders need in order to overcome their problems. In the Utah case, the camp's adherence to its protocols were paramount to the physical needs of their wards which then resulted in the death of a juvenile.

Research Results

The National Institute of Justice indicates that even though juvenile boot camps are radically different from their more traditional facilities' counterparts, neither approach is more effective than the other in reducing recidivism. Measured differences include higher levels of initial anxiety for boot camp youths and higher levels of initial depression among youthful offenders in other facilities, but ultimately any differences in the results between both options remain statistically insignificant.

REFERENCES

National Institute of Justice: A National Study of Boot Camp Facilities for Juvenile Offenders
http://conference2000.dnapolicy.net/NIJ/pdf/187680.pdf

National Criminal Justice Reference Service: Abstract - Boot Camps for Adult and Juvenile Offenders
http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=149175

The NY Times: Outdoor Therapy Camp Workers Charged in Hiking Death of Boy
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/21/national/21UTAH.html