NCJ Number
156845
Date Published
1994
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This video training focuses on the management of seriously disturbed juvenile offenders who engage in acts of self-injury, mutilation, and suicidal behaviors.
Abstract
The video's format consists of lecture interspersed with illustrative slides and video of assessment interviews with residents of a juvenile correctional facility. The lecturer is a psychologist on the staff of a juvenile facility in Seattle, Wash. She first describes the facilities and services of the new facility in which she works, along with resident population specifications. She advises that virtually all residents of the facility have background characteristics and emotional disorders that place them at high risk for suicide and self-mutilation compared with the general adolescent population. Following a chart outline of the purposes of the current juvenile justice system, she lists the typical health issues of juvenile residents and the characteristics of most juvenile inmates. A major theme of the lecture is that existing screening tools cannot identify suicidal tendencies in a juvenile population characterized by multiple emotional disorders. She notes that new residents must be screened through personal interviews that explore their experiences and inquire about suicidal thoughts and previous suicidal attempts and self-mutilation. Four video assessment interviews are portrayed, followed by the lecturer's comments on the goals of the interviews. Some tools or implements that have been used for self-mutilation are displayed, and the psychological dynamics of self-mutilation are explained. Goals and strategies for intervention are discussed as well.