NCJ Number
146950
Journal
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology Volume: 26 Issue: 3 Dated: (December 1993) Pages: 219-231
Date Published
1993
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This paper presents some theoretical dimensions of a large-scale empirical study of secure accommodation commissioned by the British Government and undertaken in the late 1980's.
Abstract
Secure accommodation is both incarceration and alternative to incarceration, since it is a form of control imposed so treatment may be provided. It also has expansionist tendencies. As humane custody with therapeutic aspirations, it is attractive to liberal rehabilitative and conservative law and order lobbies. Professionally, by embracing both juveniles who would otherwise be in prison and those who would otherwise be in open conditions, secure accommodation has created pressure for more "experts," better trained and with enhanced influence and status, to decide on juveniles' suitability for secure units. The pursuit of the "key" to a juvenile's behavioral problems causes correctional staff to retain in secure facilities those juveniles whose behavior has not changed. Secure accommodation does provide a pause in a temporarily uncontrollable adolescent life; however, when the juvenile is in secure residential facilities, three problems arise. The field social worker may do little to facilitate discharge; residential staff may focus on uncovering previously unsuspected problems that require more work, time, and resources; and the child, having settled into the unit, may be enjoying the rare experience of being heard and reluctant to leave. 44 references and 8 notes