NCJ Number
150411
Journal
Detention Reporter Issue: 126 Dated: (April 1994) Pages: 3-10
Date Published
1994
Length
8 pages
Annotation
In 1994, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) released the results of a national survey of all 984 public and private juvenile detention centers, reception centers, training schools, ranches, camps, and farms, which in 1991, held about 65,000 juveniles.
Abstract
The most significant problems in juvenile facilities concern inadequate living space, health care, and control of suicidal behavior. The findings do not support the perception that high levels of facility conformance to nationally recognized standards guarantee improved conditions of confinement. While existing standards emphasize procedural regularity, they neglect to a certain extent performance, by failing to establish outcomes that facilities should achieve. Performance standards are particularly necessary in the areas of education, treatment services, and health care. Deficiencies were widely distributed among facilities; substantial improvements in the overall quality of the juvenile correctional system will require that many less seriously deficient facilities improve several areas of their operations. 2 tables