NCJ Number
110118
Journal
Michigan Law Review Volume: 84 Issue: 2 Dated: (November 1985) Pages: 286-307
Date Published
1985
Length
22 pages
Annotation
No single answer exists to the question of whether involuntarily incarcerated juveniles have a constitutional right to rehabilitative treatment because the existence of such a right depends ultimately on an evaluation of the delinquent act that led to the juvenile's incarceration.
Abstract
The claims of a right to treatment have rested on three main theories: (1) that welfare of the juvenile is the goal of incarceration and that due process requires attention to that goal, (2) that rehabilitation is required in return for the reduced procedural safeguards provided in juvenile proceedings, and (3) that confinement without rehabilitation violates evolving standards of decency and thereby violates the eighth amendment. However, rehabilitation is not required when the State is incarcerating the juvenile through its police power rather than through a rehabilitative goal. In addition, the reduction of procedural safeguards should not give rise to a substantive constitutional right to rehabilitation. Finally, rehabilitation is required by the eighth amendment in cases where the State is relying on a rehabilitative purpose to justify the juvenile's confinement. Thus, the State must conduct a thorough factual inquiry into the circumstances surrounding an individual's confinement. 153 footnotes.