NCJ Number
105980
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 49 Issue: 3 Dated: (June 1987) Pages: 26-30
Date Published
1987
Length
5 pages
Annotation
The proposed recommendations should facilitate increased cooperation between the public school system and juvenile corrections agencies in providing educational services for mentally handicapped juvenile delinquents.
Abstract
The 1975 Education for All Handicapped Children Act requires States to identify, evaluate, and provide appropriate special education and related services for all handicapped persons under 21 years old. A 1985 General Accounting Office study of compliance with this law in juvenile correction facilities in the District of Columbia found a variety of service gaps. A 1985 George Washington University study found that public school and correctional educators in the Mid-Atlantic region had meager cooperation in educational services for juvenile delinquents. Correctional procedures should provide for the routine notification of incarcerated juveniles' public schools and for the timely transmission of public school educational records. Educators with special education skills should be recruited for teaching handicapped delinquents. A prerelease planning team of correctional education and public school personnel would facilitate the exchange of information and records as well as appropriate placement. A correctional education/public school liaison to coordinate services between the two systems would also improve services. 11 references.