NCJ Number
165238
Journal
Federal Probation Volume: 60 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1996) Pages: 54-60
Date Published
1996
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article reports on National Detention Association research on training needs assessments for juvenile detention staff.
Abstract
The issues addressed focus on the status of training in juvenile detention. These issues include what has been learned about training needs assessments, what this knowledge of training needs assessments means for staff training, and how this information applies to training programs and curriculum development. Based on research findings, the National Juvenile Detention Association recommends that juvenile careworker training should meet the 120-hour American Correctional Association standard during the first year of employment. Unfortunately, the reality of juvenile detention training is the inability to produce that amount of training during the new staff member's first year of employment. Not only are training resources unavailable, small facilities cannot justify the expenses to train only one or two people in a substantial training program; therefore, by identification of the most important training topics and development of a basic 40-hour curriculum, the National Juvenile Detention Association and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention created a first step in addressing first-year training needs. The companion training concept is the development of staff trainers. For juvenile detention training efforts to survive, access to relevant training materials must coincide with the presence of capable staff trainers. One effective strategy is the development of supervisory staff members as trainers, an approach that received endorsement by the new administration of the Wayne County Juvenile Detention Facility in Detroit, Mich. A comprehensive training strategy thus includes a training for trainers program. The development of the Care Giver Curriculum should reduce training costs when delivered by in-house trainers. It also complements regional training efforts, since basic training can be delivered in a cost-effective manner to several facilities simultaneously. 3 figures and 16 references