NCJ Number
107336
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 49 Issue: 6 Dated: (October 1987) Pages: 44,46,48,105
Date Published
1987
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Minimum security detention, which embodies the concept of safety and control primarily through staffing rather than architecture alone, is a cost-effective means for detaining the vast majority of juveniles.
Abstract
Studies show that the majority of juveniles now detained are charged with property offenses, and they do not constitute a serious threat to the community. Experience and research document the negative psychosocial impact on juveniles of harshly restrictive institutional care. In facilities where security is primarily a function of staffing and restrictive construction and programming have given way to behavioral control through staff-resident interactions, a noncoercive and potentially therapeutic environment has been implemented. Minimum security facilities not only promise a more humane and rehabilitative enivironment for juvenile detainees, but they are also considerably less expensive to construct than maximum security facilities. Although the community must be adequately protected from violent juvenile offenders, the majority of juvenile offenders can be housed in minimum security facilities at a significantly lower cost and in an environment more conducive to the fostering of normative behaviors.